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results of my CALBS.

Daddy Tanuki

Solar Wizard
Joined
May 11, 2021
Messages
1,807
I just did a full draw down and power cycle on my calb cells I bought from Jimmy in october. I was not able too do this properly before due to temp issues. -15°c is bad for balancing and charging i hear...

Cells are 2nd life CALB se 200's. seller claims they are grade A new. After several offline discussions we came to the agreement that they are shelf queens with occasional pulls from large packs that are going through their replacement every 2 years.

Remember international law forbids the transfer of hazwaste to another country to avoid rich countries sending their crap to another poorer country....

They are listed as 200 a/h, (400 a/h total @ 12 volts) and were in a 2p4s pack. they produced 390 a/h average on three draw downs and recharges. average recharge was 410 so they are used but they are in good shape. this was measured in the following manner. magnum 2012 with BMK measured 390, 384, 396 drawdown. powering all the lights in my shop and a fan to keep area clear over 11 hours. this was double checked with a DROK meter, and the pack was in 15°c temps . so 195 from a recycle cell. recharge was with a 12 volt charger through a daly BMS with cutoffs set at 3.65 per cell or 14.6 for the pack at 50 amps.

Pretty damn good for the price and the lack of bullshit IRT shipping and ordering. no bloated cells. no massive runners or sleepers. The cells were top balanced and drawn down three times to get this result. they will go into my system as a back up to the 30kw 48 volt pack that powers my house, power the heating pads in the winter and float though the year except when needed.

These are from the third batch i ordered from Jimmy. one order of 32 cells, one order of 16 cells and one order of eight cells. the first two were to make my house pack, the last 8 were ordered at the same time as the second as replacements/12 volt pack. The first two packs I could not truly test as winter was coming, but they lasted the winter with zero issues after a good top balance and are still running .003-.018 volts of variation. The .018 is during the high end of the charge and they quickly drop down to .003-.008 after charge is finished.

cheers

Ken
 
Sounds like a success Ken! Are these the plastic case CALBs?

Who's Jimmy? It isn't Jimmy from AUK Power, is it?
yes plastic case and yes Jimmy from AUK. I know some folks have a problem with him for reasons that are not known to me, but so far i have been blessed? or lucky? mine have been good to go.

I have thought this and expounded on another forum about this in the past.

1. you cannot ship used cells as they are considered hazmat. so any seller is going to say they are brand new to get by the restrictions in reagrds to international shipping laws.

2. the US government cannot even break its own laws and there are several ships that carry used transformers from the 70's that were used in Japan and the Philippines at military bases in the 70/80's that they cannot offload as they are considered hazwaste by international commissions. the US government is literally waiting for these ships to sink at sea to alleviate the issue. (PCB transformers)

3. supposed: so a used battery cell is technically illegal to ship. there is nobody, no seller that will admit in writing that the cells they ship are used or second use. it would immediately open them to international sanctions and lawsuits.

4. supposed: as a result they all claim to sell new cells. the proof is in the pudding, the better ones are selling new old stock from a wharehouse, or at best cells pulled from a regularly changed/swapped install that requires a regular changeout for continuity purposes. (think bank, hospital or large prime movers that get changed out for reliability) . this is where the cells we all buy come from. It is my personal opinion based on international laws, pricing and the overall product that this is what we are getting.

5. suposed but shown by many videos on youtube and this very forum that show cells that are listed above xxx and yet are assembled into packs and sold as a pack. Cells built into a battery pack such as GXXX or whomever is the newest supplier is simply a skirt around of the laws. it is sold as a new product, (complete power supply as is often listed on the export documents), no export requirements, no laws to skirt etc etc. it is simply China taking out the trash and selling it to us.

Not saying its good or bad, simply what it appears to me from a non seller, non importer viewpoint with experience inporting to and from the united states and Japan.

every time I raise this point that the Chinese are being dishonest to skirt laws, I get put on time out from the powers that be on several forums...why? because it hurts their bottom lines. you roll the dice and take your chances.
 
I've seen both positive and negative remarks about Jimmy. Someone I know had bought cells earlier from him, so gave my email address to Jimmy. I got a quote for those same 200Ah CALBs two years ago. I just went and looked, and it was $135 per cell, plus $390 to ship eight of them by sea to my place in Colorado. I ended up stalling and eventually told Jimmy thanks but no thanks. Last year I ended up getting eight EVE 230Ah cells for quite a bit less. However, I got them through the now-infamous "group buy". I was lucky though, as my cells were undamaged and have performed well.

I get what you are saying about the current market for cells coming from China. I think there are a number of things that are a bit sketchy, and probably in violation of multiple rules. Although I really like that I can get cells here in the US from a Texas warehouse, I have a strong feeling that warehouse is not on the books with anyone in the US, doesn't collect any sales taxes, etc.
 
for mine shipping to japan were quite a bit cheaper in all respects When I bought mine I was locked in at 115/cell and 225 shipping to yokohama. My first order I was worried about the quality and all of that but it all worked out in the end. and gave me a bit more confidence for the 2nd and third orders.
 
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