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Short 1 310ah cell

BoatGuy64

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May 3, 2021
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Hi. This is my first post. Last summer I purchased 4 Litokala Varicore 310 ah cells. Built my own battery with BMS and it is awesome. I reordered 4 more cells. Then I was stranded away from my home for 5 months so the latest delivery of cells just waited for me. Now, five months after they were delivered I finally got them opened. 3 of the cells are 3.21 volts and one is dead. Literally nothing. Takes no charge. Holds no charge.

I contacted the seller but of course it’s been way to long. I offered to buy just 1 replacement cell but they said find a link from someone else. I hate having 3 useless cells here. Should I just store them as backup for the other battery or does anyone sell just a single 310ah varicore cell. Any help would be appreciated.
 

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Did you try to parallel all cells together with bus bars (providing the dead cell doesn't load down the bus as if it's shorted or over current), to see if it can bring it up?

Can even put a resistor in between the 3 to the 1 dead one (if it acts like it wants to draw too much current), but to do this to check and see if it is really bad. It seems like it is bad, as if it has an internal open or short in the cell...

It's because battery chargers won't usually allow charging if the voltage is too low. A regulated power supply or a 'jump start' off of another bank can help to bring up a fully dead cell. If the cell is failed in an open condition, then nothing will bring it back (no current will flow into it). If it is failed in a dead short or low resistance situation, it will draw way too much current all the time if trying to jump it.

Did you ask the seller at all, to just give you a full refund on the bank of 4? I suppose if your other bank is also 310AH cells then you could keep spares if you wanted...
 
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please do not connect the not dead cells in parallel with the dead cell.
If its a dead short it will kill the rest of them.
 
Sorry to hear about your troubles/bad cell

I purchased 4 Litokala Varicore 310 ah cells.
This does not help with your question but just to clarify, To the best of my knowledge Liitokala and Varicore are names of resellers/rebrands that buy/sell discount, often B grade, cells manufactured by other companies under their own names, and to the best of my knowledge there is no "310 Ah" cell manufactured by anyone. There is a 304Ah EVE cell, a 302Ah CATL cell, and I believe possibly a 302Ah cell manufactured by ETC (not positive about this last one.

So if you are looking for a replacement 4th cell, make sure you figure out what type of cell you actually have before replacing it.
 
Sorry to hear about your troubles/bad cell


This does not help with your question but just to clarify, To the best of my knowledge Liitokala and Varicore are names of resellers/rebrands that buy/sell discount, often B grade, cells manufactured by other companies under their own names, and to the best of my knowledge there is no "310 Ah" cell manufactured by anyone. There is a 304Ah EVE cell, a 302Ah CATL cell, and I believe possibly a 302Ah cell manufactured by ETC (not positive about this last one.

So if you are looking for a replacement 4th cell, make sure you figure out what type of cell you actually have before replacing it.
Actually this helps a lot. I would be happy to just purchase a single cell A or B to finish the pack. But I can’t see anything that tells me exactly what kind of cell it is. The QR code sends me to Varicore and the scratch means even less to me.
 

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Did you try to parallel all cells together with bus bars (providing the dead cell doesn't load down the bus as if it's shorted or over current), to see if it can bring it up?

Can even put a resistor in between the 3 to the 1 dead one (if it acts like it wants to draw too much current), but to do this to check and see if it is really bad. It seems like it is bad, as if it has an internal open or short in the cell...

It's because battery chargers won't usually allow charging if the voltage is too low. A regulated power supply or a 'jump start' off of another bank can help to bring up a fully dead cell. If the cell is failed in an open condition, then nothing will bring it back (no current will flow into it). If it is failed in a dead short or low resistance situation, it will draw way too much current all the time if trying to jump it.

Did you ask the seller at all, to just give you a full refund on the bank of 4? I suppose if your other bank is also 310AH cells then you could keep spares if you wanted...
I have it on a small regulated power supply now. It’s set at 3.2 volts at 5 amps. Will leave it (outside) overnight and see what happens. It is taking some current albeit slowly.
 
I have it on a small regulated power supply now. It’s set at 3.2 volts at 5 amps. Will leave it (outside) overnight and see what happens. It is taking some current albeit slowly.

IF in the weird odd that it just happens to come back up, and charges up all the way... Then take it off charge and just let it set there for some days, and if the voltage keeps going lower and lower, then it indicates a battery with not a full short, but some resistance leakage between the anode and cathode.
 
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IF in the weird odd that it just happens to come back up, and charges up all the way... Then take it off charge and just let it set there for some days, and if the voltage keeps going lower and lower, then it indicates a battery with not a full short, but some resistance leakage between the anode and cathode.
Thank you. I have nothing but time so I will wait and see.
 
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