Review of Cerrnss LiFePo4 48V100ah battery modules

[Skabboz]

I will go to their office and let you know the update.

Please do ASAP. You received the battery 4 MONTHS AGO. Four months.

 

[Selo09]

Hey guys, in April 2022 I purchased 3 of the following LifePo4 batteries: Cerrnss 48V 100AH SMART TYPE Nominal Capacity:5Kwh (32 Parallel),Nominal Voltage:48V (Built-in 16S Smart BMS). They were purchased from Shenzhen Hyuan International Trade Co., Ltd on Alibaba.

I currently have a 9kwh solar PV system with hybrid 6Kwh Solis (Ginlong) inverter, now with batteries integrated in the system. A video of the battery system wired and installed can be viewed at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QntgW8-gBySf5jelZFA_VTKpJhtjFFYj/view?usp=sharing

Before purchase I was looking into potentially installing the Li-ion batteries of an old Leaf as battery wall for the house but the price seemed to be quite expensive when compared to many benefits of a lifepo4 battery such as many (many!) more life cycles and the general inability to self ignite!. I was initially looking at the Cerrnss batteries on aliexpress, specifically the 100ah 24V but then decided to check for options on Alibaba. The same company that produces the Cerrnss batteries and sells them on Aliexpress also produced a 5kwh battery module that I eventually bought. It took just over 3 months from purchase to arrival at my door.

View attachment 105477

Before shipping I organised a 3rd party independent inspection by SGS, a certification body that does such inspections on the Alibaba platform for an extra cost (180 USD). As they are independent, this is the way to go if you are spending serious money on it (I spent 3,684 USD on the batteries including 1,100 USD of shipping costs to Europe in April 2022). Before the batteries were fully built and completed an inspector went and inspected the factory and the batteries in a day. I had specific questions for him such as to make sure that the cells used in the batteries were new, testing the actual voltage and amperage of the batteries, among a long list of other questions.
The inspector got most of the factory workers to get together and to wire 32 of these batteries in parallel since that was one of the advertised specifications. The seller complied although it was a mighty job since every battery weight nearly 50 kg/100 lb and most of them were already packaged for shipping to various customers. However, everything worked out fine and the inspector was shown the results of the 32 strong parallel connection. I can sympathise with the seller after having received the batteries and having installed them in the garage - they are very heavy, no doubts there.

The inspector found two faults in the inspection, one was that they used an old sticker in the battery case that showed outdated specs relating to the number of battery cycles and the other issue related to the picture in the ad showing two positive and two negative terminals per battery module, although there is only one of each. All in all I wasn’t overly concerned as these were more advertising/cosmetic issues rather than actual physical, quality or manufacture issues with the batteries. I think the battery cycle advertised (Cycle life (80%DOD): ≥4000 cycles) are probably true enough to reality even if the seller based his claim on the stats and tests provided by the cell supplier (CATL) rather than an actual test in the factory. You have to make some small compromises for a cost saving, which these batteries had, compared to other options I could have bought in Europe - all quite overpriced in my humble opinion.

Before the inspection I enquired about the nature and sourcing of the cells they used and the answer given was CATL, and I was supplied a picture or two of such cells and the codes. The engineer said that CATL's cells do not have a logo, but the brand-new cells will have a QR code that can be scanned. Based on what they said, this is CATL's internal barcode:
View attachment 105482
View attachment 105483
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Does any of you know of the CATL codes? Can you confirm these are CATL cell codes?

After the SGS inspection I was much more at ease in that: 1 the factory existed, 2: the batteries were of very good build quality, 3: the specs advertised checked out, 4: no other issues/red flags with the staff, the factory or the batteries were highlighted by the inspector.

Fast forward 2.5 months and I receive the batteries. The unboxing was exciting - solid black metal boxes weighting 50 kg each and looking great. I pressed the on button in each battery and the display loaded up the key parameters. All batteries were storing around 107-109ah which I thought was a good sign. I was reading online that a second hand lifepo4 cell that may have undergone 500-600 cycles already (usually sold to second life user between 500 and 1000 cycles), and may only show 95% of the total ah potential.

I brought the batteries to the garage and connected them in parallel, as shown below, positive to positive terminals, and negative to negative terminals – with each cable leading to the respective positive/negative attachment of the inverter.
View attachment 105478
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After having connected the CAN cables from battery to battery and then from the 3rd battery to the inverter I couldn’t see any battery recognition from the inverter. Of the various "Battery Select" settings (i.e. select which type or brand of battery you have connected) pre-programmed in the inverter I used "User Define" as this battery was not in the list and I could customise all charge and discharge parameters (i.e. key communication thresholds between inverter and battery system). Turns out the issue of recognition had to do with properly setting the 6 little white switches in each battery battery module.

You need to set these up in a specific order, as highlighted in one of the tables in the battery manual, so that they correctly communicate with the inverter and also among the other batteries.

These batteries are set up as master and slave/s. The master battery has a code, while the slave or secondary batteries have other codes that you need to key in. It’s not hard, you just need the manual to do that. However, since I hadn’t received the manual in the box, I didn’t know how to do that and wasn't sure what the buttons did. The seller was very useful across hundreds of questions I asked and helped me all throughout the installation process. The manual was forwarded as a PDF after I requested it. The main thing I needed help with was setting the parameters for the battery in the User Define battery mode where you have to set up voltage and currents between the inverter and the battery so that the inverter sends the right amount of electricity to the battery and doesn’t trip the battery BMS, and viceversa. To set up those parameters optimally it took me about a week of back and forth with the seller, mainly because the Solis inverter manual is not overly precise in explaining what each parameter actually means and so I had to speak to Solis staff in Europe to clarify the meaning of a few parameters. Anyhow, we eventually managed to get through this and I was supplied with all the relevant parameter values. Being a biologist myself and not by any means an expert in electrical stuff it took me a little while to read up and understand that the values provided made sense and were generally applicable to a battery with this voltage and amperage.

The battery BMS got tripped only once in the past 4 weeks of operation, and to fix it I lowered the parameters for max ah discharge from 100 to 97 ah, and lowered the max charge voltage from 58 V to 57.8 V, and increased the minimum charge voltage from 43.2 to 43.4 V. Since making those changes the battery and inverter seemed to have communicated fine without tripping any alarm on either side. Based on these parameters I noticed that can discharge a maximum load of 5Kwh from the batteries and if the house load is higher - then there is either the PV supplying the balance, or the grid. The picture below shows the current setting for the battery after all my back and forth with Solis, the seller and my experience with tripping the BMS alarm.
View attachment 105489

All in all, the system is working great, we are putting all the excess solar energy we don’t use during the day in the battery, while the excess goes to the grid, and from the evening till early morning the 15kwh battery supplies all the energy we need. We are pretty much off grid now (in Ireland) noting that we still export 25-40 Kwh to the grid, daily after the battery has been charged and discharged daily. We wont be so lucky in the winter but the plan is to buy back the energy exported in spring and summer and hopefully get to a net zero annual balance, or better.

View attachment 105481

If you are thinking of buying some well-priced lifepo4 batteries from a Chinese supplier I would recommend the Cerrnss lifepo4 batteries from Shenzhen Hyuan International Trade Co., Ltd. Once again, a video of the battery system wired and installed can be viewed at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QntgW8-gBySf5jelZFA_VTKpJhtjFFYj/view?usp=sharing

Hoping this may be of help.

Cheers and good luck to you.
V

Hello,

Can you tell me, can I adopt the settings in user define? I have 120Ah battery.
Thanks

 

[Mirlen]

This is such a beautiful example of how doing business with China is such a pain in the ass. Disorganized, bad communication, lack of follow-up, questionable ethics. It's like a drama movie you didn't want the lead role in.

 

[magnet creek]

Not all business with China is a pain in the ass imho. My experience has been quite the opposite and I have bought over $30m (professionally so not my money) of value in China so I'm no novice. Sure, it is different and requires some "rethinking" of standard US practices but it has been quite an enjoyable experience for me especially considering the time difference and cultural differences.
I have a harder time getting a $50 credit on T mobile bill figured out than I had ordering solar panels and inverters directly from China.....
But I feel your pain, wish I could help.
Best piece of advice: GET ON WECHAT and do not give up!

 

[Skabboz]

This is such a beautiful example of how doing business with China is such a pain in the ass. Disorganized, bad communication, lack of follow-up, questionable ethics. It's like a drama movie you didn't want the lead role in.

That's unreal. And the funny thing is that they have plenty of amazing reviews. I wonder how they got them!

Not all business with China is a pain in the ass imho. My experience has been quite the opposite and I have bought over $30m (professionally so not my money) of value in China so I'm no novice. Sure, it is different and requires some "rethinking" of standard US practices but it has been quite an enjoyable experience for me especially considering the time difference and cultural differences.
I have a harder time getting a $50 credit on T mobile bill figured out than I had ordering solar panels and inverters directly from China.....
But I feel your pain, wish I could help.
Best piece of advice: GET ON WECHAT and do not give up!

Professional purchases are handled pretty differently, I think. What you're looking at here is just a simple purchase from a client on a commercial platform (AliExpress).

And yeah, I agree with you, my experience has been really good on everything from China, but this. The most expensive purchase I've ever done, and I'm getting scammed

I will go to their office and let you know the update.

Any news?

 

[Zack Lin]

That's unreal. And the funny thing is that they have plenty of amazing reviews. I wonder how they got them!


Professional purchases are handled pretty differently, I think. What you're looking at here is just a simple purchase from a client on a commercial platform (AliExpress).

And yeah, I agree with you, my experience has been really good on everything from China, but this. The most expensive purchase I've ever done, and I'm getting scammed


Any news?

Sent email to you already.

 

[Skabboz]

Sent email to you already.

Where?

 

[Skabboz]

Sent email to you already.

That's unreal, the unprofessionalism shown here.

@Subella Li @Zack Lin why are you ruining your company reputation so bad?

 

[Joeysnowy]

That's unreal, the unprofessionalism shown here.

@Subella Li @Zack Lin why are you ruining your company reputation so bad?

Did this get resolved? Is this why the thread went dead?

 

[Skabboz]

Did this get resolved? Is this why the thread went dead?

Of course not. I just gave up, there's nothing else I can do. I know that I lost a ton of money.

I was thinking about reporting everything to their local chinese police headquarter, but it seems really complicated.

Stay away from CERRNSS / BEMORY (their new name, typical chinese tactic).

 

[Mark-]

Of course not. I just gave up, there's nothing else I can do. I know that I lost a ton of money.

I was thinking about reporting everything to their local chinese police headquarter, but it seems really complicated.

Stay away from CERRNSS / BEMORY (their new name, typical chinese tactic).

Yes, run from CERRNSS as fast as you can.

 

[Skabboz]

Yes, run from CERRNSS as fast as you can.

How much did they steal from you?

Did you do something? Or planning to?

 

[Mark-]

How much did they steal from you?

Did you do something? Or planning to?

A damaged battery was delivered. Damaged in transit or before shipment I do not know but, sill unusable by me. Via the AliExpress communications portal CERRNSS finally agreed (I sent them pictures of the damaged battery within a couple of hours of delivery) to a refund and to supply a shipping label. Weeks went by, nothing, kept getting the run around. Finally I protested with PayPal. CERRNSS protested, I assume, and PayPal agreed with CERRNSS. I appealed with PayPal and I protested with my CC company. I used PayPal for the purchase with a CC. The CC has done a chargeback and PayPal says they are reviewing it.

 

[Skabboz]

A damaged battery was delivered. Damaged in transit or before shipment I do not know but, sill unusable by me. Via the AliExpress communications portal CERRNSS finally agreed (I sent them pictures of the damaged battery within a couple of hours of delivery) to a refund and to supply a shipping label. Weeks went by, nothing, kept getting the run around. Finally I protested with PayPal. CERRNSS protested, I assume, and PayPal agreed with CERRNSS. I appealed with PayPal and I protested with my CC company. I used PayPal for the purchase with a CC. The CC has done a chargeback and PayPal says they are reviewing it.

Unfortunately there was no PayPal 1 year ago, and I can't open a dispute either with my bank since it's not a CC, but a DC.

 

[Mark-]

Unfortunately there was no PayPal 1 year ago, and I can't open a dispute either with my bank since it's not a CC, but a DC.

Yeah. I attempted a direct contact to CERRNSS, no response.

 

[Joeysnowy]

Yeah. I attempted a direct contact to CERRNSS, no response.

Unfortunately there was no PayPal 1 year ago, and I can't open a dispute either with my bank since it's not a CC, but a DC.

Wow OK guys sorry to hear about this experience you both had...I'm now down to Bettenergy as perhaps my final candidate for a battery shipped from overseas

 

[Zack Lin]

Yeah. I attempted a direct contact to CERRNSS, no response.

You got the refund in the beginning of March, right?
And how about the battery return? We still didn't get the battery back.

 

[Mark-]

You got the refund in the beginning of March, right?
And how about the battery return? We still didn't get the battery back.

#1 You did not issue a refund. The credit card company reversed the charge. You fought tooth and nail for me to keep the damaged battery.
#2 You said you would send someone to pick up the battery. You never did.
#3 I contacted you after the, alleged, courier to pick up the battery, did not show up.
#4 You still did not send a courier to pick up the battery.
#5 I "stored" your damaged battery for 5+ months.

Take responsibility.

 

[Zack Lin]

#1 You did not issue a refund. The credit card company reversed the charge. You fought tooth and nail for me to keep the damaged battery.
#2 You said you would send someone to pick up the battery. You never did.
#3 I contacted you after the, alleged, courier to pick up the battery, did not show up.
#4 You still did not send a courier to pick up the battery.
#5 I "stored" your damaged battery for 5+ months.

Take responsibility.

Emmm, why do you think it's not us but the credit company who made the refund?
If we don't do any reaction, you think the credit card company will use their own money to pay you?
Besides, you never told our collegue any details about the battery return before, he asked you about it, you just said it's gone. And now you told us you kept the battery for us?
The battery is just a handle damage, all other things works find, who knows if you're using it yourself or if you actually put it there?

 

[Mark-]

Now, just like your "collegue", you are writing falsehoods.

 

[Zack Lin]

Now, just like your "collegue", you are writing falsehoods.

Funny, just a spell mistak. If you are British, you are qualified to say this.
Forget the history in which you learned the language?
What a pity

 

[Mark-]

So sad, nothing to do with spelling. "Accomplice" might have been a better choice.

 

[HRTKD]

Stick to the facts people. Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

 

[Zack Lin]

Stick to the facts people. Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Sure, he's the one who keeps saying we're dishonest.
You can blame our colleague for not processing your refund in time, this is a fact, we accept it, and he also got the penalty.
Is distortion of the truth tolerated?
We at least provided proof of refund, and below you can see a transcript of the communication.
And what did he do? There is no evidence to accuse us of not sending someone to pick up the battery, and even want to charge us for battery storage fees.
From our colleague's chat story with him, you can see he said "the battery is gone" , but now told us nobody picked it.

 

[Mark-]

HA, part of the story.

>There is no evidence to accuse us of not sending someone to pick up the battery,

LOL, not sure how I would have "evidence" of someone (a carrier) NOT coming here to pick up the battery, and no proof you sent someone, because you did not. If you did send someone, FedEx or UPS would have a record.

>even want to charge us for battery storage fees.

True, after the charge-back was issued, a very small fee. Why would I store your battery?

Here are a few more bits:

23/10 19:15
Me:
The battery arrived today and the box was not damaged.
The battery is damaged.

bunch of back and forth

24/10 22:46
Me:
Send me a return shipping label and I will take the battery to a UPS location and you will issue a full refund.

Cerness:
OK, give me a minute, I'll find a client in the US.

26/10 08:50
Me:
Status of the return shipping label?

30/10 21:37
Cerness:
I haven't found a client yet. Give me a little more time.

02/11 04:39
Me:
You asked for a little more time and I patiently waited another 7 days.

Cerness:
But I haven't found any US clients for a while, is it ok to wait for 11.11 this week? I am looking for clients

Me:
I will wait until the morning of 11/11/2023 as you asked.

05/12
Me:
More than one month later and you still have not honored your word.

Cerness:
The point is that I don't have a way to give you a shipping label, can you ship to my customer's address? I can pay for your shipping.

Me:
Yes, I can. Issue the refund plus the shipping cost and I will ship it.

Cerness:
But I need to find a client in the States first.

04/03 18:31 (CC issued charge-back)
Me:
What say you?

Cerness:
What's the problem, my friend? [It appeared he did not know of the charge-back.]

Me:
You want your battery back or should I dispose of it?

Cerness:
I want my batteries[y] back.

Me:
OK, how do you want to get it back?

Cerness:
I'll give you the address of my other customer in the US and you can send it to him for me, is that OK?

Me:
No. You can have UPS or FedEx pick it up.

Cerness:
OK, I'll contact the logistics provider and see if it's possible to do this, give me a little time

Me:
You did me so wrong, I am not inclined to do anything for you. You have 48 hours.

Cerness:
My friend, I'll take care of it as soon as I can.

08/03 07:02
Me:
OK, gave you more than 48 hours. I will begin making arrangements to dispose of (give away/recycle/trash/etc.) the battery. snip

Cerness:
Friend. I'll take care of it right away. Give me a little time.


After another "Give me a little time." and all the time elapsed (137 days), I considered the battery abandoned.