ShunBin Battery Packs: 12V/24V 100AH and up ! A Complete RIP-OFF ! AVOID

[Steve_S]

I've got problems. One battery, the positive lead got hot as I was wiring them in parallel. It's been two hours and three of the batteries are reading 13.2v. The one that was hot is reading 12.8v. positive end still warm/hot. This is the first week I have used these additional two batteries. First two were wired in parallel and doing great for the past four months.

This was suposed to be 24V/200AH (reality 175AH as that is what the cells are) and was sitting Stand Alone with no other LFP and NOT using their kraptasic NoName unkown BMS. I had replaced the Aluminium Bus Bars with 110 Copper Stock, ripped out the CCA wire & installed copper welding cable instead internally AND used a Chargery BMS8T. So the only "original" stuff was the casing (nice stainless steel case too) with LED Voltage Readout and the Cells themselves. I do not recall if they had any issues if Paralleled or setup in Series in regards to their Kraptastic BMS.

@kernel WHAT ? I bought the XUBA 280AH's after this shenanigan
Don't echo the "ignored" you should be better than that, certainly should know better.

 

[Delta-V]

Thanks for the heads-up, Steve. A couple of months ago, I moved my Shunbin battery box to our recreational hunt camp. I setup a 2nd solar power configuration alongside our original lead-acid golf cart battery bank.

A few weeks ago, I checked each cell of the Shunbin battery thanks to your mentioning the ghosting issue earlier. Everything checked out OK. All cells had similar voltages. The battery is still doing OK and working as expected.

My buddy has been going to the camp just about every weekend since Spring Break and hasn't reported any issues with the battery as it's now set as the camp's primary power source. He's actually there now. I'll be going to the camp in the next few weeks or so and I'll check the battery again to include checking for temperature differences.

 

[Stiffmeister]

I'm in deep crap. I rewired my batteries in series tonight. All 13.3 volts except the 12.8. No choice with meet in fridge, etc. Voltage has dropped to 12.6. I'm going to have to pull it out. Will try charging three batteries 36v in series which will tell me if bad battery stopped them from charging (FM80 does 36v). Then try Outback at 36v. If that does not work, I'm done for. Camping in Mexico, total police lockdown and no frikken power and don't think I can drive to California during pandemic. Should I open the top and troubleshoot the problem? Messaged SHUN BIN today. Have multimeter, tools but cannot solder.

 

[Delta-V]

I guess it depends on how comfortable you are with working electrical stuff. Unscrewing and lifting the cover off the top of the box isn't going to hurt anything. You could at least use a multi-meter to check the voltage of each cell. No solder needed at this point.

If I remember right, both Steve and I have posted pictures of the insides of the box. So, you'll have some incites of what to expect.

 

[Stiffmeister]

Right now, I have three at 13.1 and the bad dropped to 12.3. Yanking it out in the morning. How do I test each cell for shorting? I will gladly clip wires if I know where the problem is. These are the 500ah ones. I just need power at 48v. Here is reply from SHUN BIN. I assure you 48v in series has not seen a massive drain. I made coffee and in the morning and have 15 300watt panels hooked up. Babied these batteries for four days. Did not even realize they were not charging until day four and seeing 12.9v.

Hello, please receive the attached user's manual. I suggest that you replace 4 pieces of BMS board in series. Because the 48V battery pack in series, BMS can not withstand large current discharge and it will be damaged
Did this solve your problem?

 

[Delta-V]

Looks like Steve has be the best overview pic.

Disconnect the battery box from anything connected to it. Remove all the side screws that hold down the top cover. Remove top cover. You may have to wrestle with and slice away any caulking along the way.

You should not have to clip any wires for an initial test.

---***---
>> Ah, forgot these are 12V instead of 24V. You'll likely see a similar cell pattern. But, cell testing should be pretty much the same approach. <<
---***---

For 24V, inside there's 16 long skinny cells that go horizontally down the length of the long box (under the vertical amber colored plastic coverings). Not sure for 12V, but probably similar configuration with half as many cells.

There's a left vertical column of screws/ bolts and a right column. Touch one multi-meter prob to a left bolt and the other probe to the corresponding right bolt. Note the voltage reading (plus or negative). Do this with all cells.

This is an initial voltage test before undoing anything further. You still may be able to notice a significant voltage difference with one of the cells before having to dismantle anything further.

If all cells show the same voltage, then you may have to unscrew the screws/ bolts and remove the aluminum bus bars from between the cells. Take pictures first and keep track of the wires/ bus bars. Be careful to make sure you don't short-circuit anything. You wanna make sure each cell terminal is not connected to any other cell terminal when re-checking the voltage readings.

Re-test each cell again like before. If one of the cell voltages shows significantly different from the rest then you've identified your problem. If all cells are still close in voltage readings then inspect further. Check for loose connections, look for burn marks, or anything that catches your eye. Last thing would be the BMS circuit board which is located in the upper middle laying on top, between cell terminals (between the left column of screws/ bolts and the right column). Inspect it to see if anything looks cracked, burnt, or damaged.

 

[Steve_S]

Hello, please receive the attached user's manual. I suggest that you replace 4 pieces of BMS board in series. Because the 48V battery pack in series, BMS can not withstand large current discharge and it will be damaged
Did this solve your problem?

They replied with that ? ! Holy Crap, so replace the 4 BMS' ? Can't handle a Large Discharge ? I somehow doubt your discharges have been that high... A Users Manual ? They never offered one to me and I don't recall Delta getting one either. Can you attach it to this thread, I am curious as all heck. Disassembly Note: The White "Goop" they use is pretty serious goop, take your time as they gooped every screw and undoing the screws IS difficult as the stuff is like Loctite almost, so not to strip the screws use a proper sized phillips screw driver and work the screw back & forth... it is a ROYAL PITA if your strip a screw head ! Have that T-Shirt - you don't want it. Take your time taking it apart, they used lot's of Hot Glue & that white Goop stuff.

Delta-V' suggestions on the test process is bang on ! Please take Pictures ! It will help you obviously but please do post them here too. 12V/500AH will certainly be interesting. They used 16 x 174AH Cells to make up my supposed 24V/400AH (which is what I ordered but got 348AH instead). Good time to take Photo's of the Cells and any markings on them, would help to identify what they are and to try & find their specs, so you know exactly what you got there.

NOTE to BOTH OF YOU !
The heating occurred while the Pack was Charging. Ambient Temp was 11.0 Celsius, the pack was charging at the time from the SCC 70A @ 29.0 V
BMS Balancing is set to occur During Charge. The HOT spot was the (+) connection to the Cells which also happens to be the shortest wire from Cell to the Wire Terminal

 

[Supervstech]

Right now, I have three at 13.1 and the bad dropped to 12.3. Yanking it out in the morning. How do I test each cell for shorting? I will gladly clip wires if I know where the problem is. These are the 500ah ones. I just need power at 48v. Here is reply from SHUN BIN. I assure you 48v in series has not seen a massive drain. I made coffee and in the morning and have 15 300watt panels hooked up. Babied these batteries for four days. Did not even realize they were not charging until day four and seeing 12.9v.

Hello, please receive the attached user's manual. I suggest that you replace 4 pieces of BMS board in series. Because the 48V battery pack in series, BMS can not withstand large current discharge and it will be damaged
Did this solve your problem?

From the chinglish above... could they be saying the 12v batteries cannot perform in series?
try setting the low battery in parallel with the other 3 batteries all tied in parallel until all read the exact same voltage...
Then bypass the BMS on all batteries.
then put them back in series and see if they can charge.
Worth a try.

 

[Stiffmeister]

Last night I got the 48v inverter to work by lowering the low voltage cutoff. Ran everything plus made coffee this morning. The three battery have just charged in 36v series (again) so all that is fine. Bad battery will not charge 12v single. I will open it up today in accordance with the instructions above. SHUN BIN did ask about being able to charge the 10.7 to 14 (nope). Also made a comment about sending a new BMS. Not going to respond until I do tests above. Yes, positive terminal got hot as I was wiring them in series (no load, no charge controller). These three batteries can really suck up the juice. My 15 panels made 12kw yesterday charging them. Did not get inverter working till about 5pm

 

[Stiffmeister]

I opened the top. The LED indicator shows 10.7v. followed the thin wir s and measured the POS/neg cells where they connect and it's correct. However, when I measure POS/neg of main external posts, it reads 1.7v. Measuring from back neg cell (thin black wire) to main neg battery post reads over 7v.

 

[Delta-V]

If each of the cells are the same voltage then it sounds like it might be the BMS. Does the BMS look damaged (ie. Burn marks, cracked board, broken/ loose wires)?

Test the voltage from the negative post where the BMS connects to the cell and the Positive terminal on the outside of the box. Does that voltage show an expected 12V reading?

 

[Stiffmeister]

Negative cell to positive post is 10.7v. SHUN BIN is going to send out a new BMS. However, I do not have a solder iron yet and I'm also in Cabo San Lucas. Probably going to be a while till I can drive back to California. Price is cheaper on Amazon MX due to dollar to peso ratio right now!!

 

[DaveinAustin]

Hi, I'm new to this forum, and I haven't read this whole thread yet. I have 2 of the 24V 400ah Shun Bin battery packs. I hooked them up to my 2000w solar array going through a Victron 150/70 MPPT, and they are running an air conditioner and a small fridge all day and most of the night. This RV setup is still in the testing phase, but my friend (who is doing most of the work) says they are working well, and I'll be in great shape power wise if I hook up 2 more. I ordered them on the 15th of April, and looks like they are scheduled to arrive end of May. Then today I got an email from Amazon saying the company has not yet confirmed delivery, and so they haven't charged my credit card yet. I emailed Shun Bin and am waiting for a response.

So from what I'm reading here so far, seems like the complaints are mostly:
that it's 350ah, and not 400ah
no documentation
"mystery cells", possibly old or second hand
generic BMS and chargers

I'll let y'all know how it goes with mine. I plan on spending a lot of time in this RV this summer.

I did also have some correspondence with Shun Bin already. I asked what I should set the charge voltage to, and they said 58.4v is the charge voltage for my 48 volt system.

 

[DaveinAustin]

I've been camping out in my trailer for a few days now. Cranking up toons, lights on, using coffee pot....I just ordered three more 500 ah (or less, whatever) batteries. Not doing Battleborn. Maybe on my next solar setup (I have two properties in Cabo) I will try something different. So that's $8k in these batteries.

How are they doing now?

 

[Steve_S]

Quick update on my 24v/400AH (350ah in reality) pack.

I finally pulled that thing off the shelf and back into the house - nothing like heaving about 84kg's of battery pack... oivey !
Post ONE which is the (+) overheated ! to the point where it almost burned through the fiberglass material between the cells & the case top (stainless steel by the way). The Stainless bolt on that cell terminal, the washer & battery lug are also seriously discoloured from heat. Cell One seems to be holding voltage along wit he rest but it is a weak cell. Took photo's will post later with other stuff when I am up to it.

There are 3 generations of cell in my pack. They are ALL USED CELLS. The QR-Code, Serial Numbers & Manufacturer numbers have been ground off (mostly, did post the photo's of what was readable).

THE RUB: I paid 3K USD for this pack of bleep and then dumped more into it to replace the aluminium bus bars with 110 Copper and to replace that useless BMS which has no Low Temp cut-off (I'm in Canada, it IS important) that has unknown settings and params which they will NOT tell you about.

My XUBA Packs - 24v/280AH use New Grade-A EVE cells (8 cells in series) cost at TODAYS PRICE with S&H Total $1,093.52 plus BMS & BOX. Built my own boxes (3/4" Plywood) and used a Chargery BMS8T-300 with 2x 200A std relays (approximately $200 USD) So for < $1300 USD each for 24V/280AH so I bought 16 280AH CELLS (cheaper on shipping) built two packs at 280AH each for 560AH plus when I rebuild the Shunbin into TWO 8S packs @ 175AH each for 350AH I will have 910AH live.

Lesson learned.
for $2600.00 USD I built TWO 24/280AH packs for a total of 560AH.
Versus one ShunBin 24V/350AH for $3,000 USD for DUBIOUS !

What is most logical & rational while being Wallet Friendly ?

 

[Steve_S]

Here is 3 photo's that tell a story !
#1 just pulled the stainless cover off... EEKS !
#2 shows the heat was so bad, it burnt through two layers of f-glass and stopped at the "matt"
#3 heat discolouration on the copper lug, stainless bolt and overheated wrap on the wire...

CAUSE: The bolt holding the POS lead loosened off. I am pretty darn certain I had everything all tightened down correctly. I could have made an error and not tightened it down enough but I cannot be 100% certain now. So while the battery pack was charging and getting 50-80A, the bad connection caused arcing and heat. The result could have been VERY BAD but I was lucky and noticed the heat on the casing. Lesson Learned, LOCK WASHERS and triple check everything.... phew, dodged a nasty bullet there. Will have to do cell testing & verification later on, low priority ATM.

WARNING TO ALL BUILDER'S - I'm no rookie and pulled a rookie move, I got lucky !
Double & Triple Check every connection, every lead and every insulator before buttoning up the packs.

 

[DaveinAustin]

What seems to be the max charge voltage I should see on the 24v/400ah (nominal) battery packs?

 

[Stiffmeister]

I drove 1600 miles back to California. The replacement BMS did not arrive. As I am driving back to Mexico, SHUN BIN requested a photo. Battery remains in California. I am screwed

 

[Steve_S]

I drove 1600 miles back to California. The replacement BMS did not arrive. As I am driving back to Mexico, SHUN BIN requested a photo. Battery remains in California. I am screwed

I feel for ya, I can just feel the angst you are supressing so well... It's okay, go outside and scream, call them every name in the book.
TBH, would you really trust anything they sent you ? I still have the crap BMS they sent me with my pack, looks like a 5 year old soldered it together while burning the chips to boot.

Seriously, I would look at getting a Known Good BMS like a Daly, or ANT or something along that nature that people are using here if you want to keep it simple but more reliable. Just have to make sure the model you get can be used in series or parallel with other packs and your good to go.

 

[mandrews44]

I have 3 batteries from ShunBin. Their BMS was causing issues with my solar setup. Once the battery voltage got anywhere near 14.1, the BMS would start the balance as it should. However, it would intermittingly stop and start charging which caused 80-100 amps to ping-pong between the batteries. The BMS caused all kinds of voltage problems when it went through this cycle.

If you have more than one pack hooked up, monitor the current between the batteries at the end of the charge.. 0 amps to 100 amps cycle back and forth between the batteries.. Not a gradule balance.. 0 amps one second, 100 amps the next, back and forth between two batteries that have been together for 6 months and were charged together. It was quite annoying and now that I know the BMS is causing it, I'll be replacing them ASAP.

 

[Stiffmeister]

So I've been running off three out of four batteries with my 48v Outback invterter for two months now in Cabo. The new BMS did arrive from ShunBin but the batter and board are 1600 miles away in California. I still don't think there is any better bang for the buck than the ShunBin's. Just hooked up two AC's a few days ago....the setup is hitting 3800 watts most of the time. I gave my six golf cart batteries to my neighbor and they are just garbage. These ShunBin batteires may not be the end all/be all of LiFePO4 but I would be in deep crap without them. After reading Steve's post, I may look into building my own but have not looked at prices of components. My opinion for being off grid, the more battery power the better. Hoping to drive back to CA within a month, solder in the new board and pray that it works. The 2700 sq ft garage with 2300 sq ft house on top is about two months out from completion. I'm going with R24 walls and R60 ceiling using EPS/polyiso because I can probably only run three mini-split AC's at a time with a 7200 watt inverter.

 

[Steve_S]

Partial reposting from https://diysolarforum.com/threads/plug-n-play-vs-diy-lithium.8519/post-91682

After recovering from the ShunBin disaster I decided to DYI my own.
I paid $3,000 USD for the ShunBin 24V/175AH with crap BMS & Used cells. Was advertised as 24V/200AH.
I bought 16, 280AH LFP cells from Xuba Electronic Link to XUBA Alibaba Store which cost me Total Order Amount: USD 2,433.32 including the Shipping fee: USD 1,110.60. That was Pre-Covid and Air Freighted DDP (Duties/Taxes paid). From that, I build two 24V/280AH Packs and used one Chargery BMS8T per pack which I believe were about $140 ea) with relays & delay board. So for the cost of ONE ShunBin of Used Crap, I built 24V/560AH with new Grade-A EVE 280AH cells.

 

[Sparky]

I have three, 24v, 200AH shun bin batteries (I know, but it's not like I can return them).
So far I haven't changed anything in the cases, but since I'm stuck with them I'm using them.


One of them has started blinking at 26.4 volts. The other two seem happy at 26.6 and higher [they've gone up to 27.0]. I don't know that blinkenlights indicate a fault, but I'm not certain that it doesn't.

What are you charging yours at? It's not like i have a trusty Manual to pull out, so I'm appealing to the other buyers to chime in.


It stops blinking at. 26.3, so that may be my new high voltage.

(I tried starting this as a new chain but got 0 replies in 24 hours)

 

[Delta-V]

I have three, 24v, 200AH shun bin batteries (I know, but it's not like I can return them).
So far I haven't changed anything in the cases, but since I'm stuck with them I'm using them.


One of them has started blinking at 26.4 volts. The other two seem happy at 26.6 and higher [they've gone up to 27.0]. I don't know that blinkenlights indicate a fault, but I'm not certain that it doesn't.

What are you charging yours at? It's not like i have a trusty Manual to pull out, so I'm appealing to the other buyers to chime in.


It stops blinking at. 26.3, so that may be my new high voltage.

(I tried starting this as a new chain but got 0 replies in 24 hours)

For my 24V@348Ah Shunbin battery box, I set my Epever 40A Solar Charge controller to the Gel battery parameters. The only change I made was reduce the Boost Duration to the minimum setting of 10 minutes.

Boost Charging voltage: 28.4V
Float Charging voltage: 27.6V

Guess I've been fortunate. My Shunbin battery has been working as expected.

 

[Sparky]

For my 24V@348Ah Shunbin battery box, I set my Epever 40A Solar Charge controller to the Gel battery parameters. The only change I made was reduce the Boost Duration to the minimum setting of 10 minutes.

Boost Charging voltage: 28.4V
Float Charging voltage: 27.6V

Guess I've been fortunate. My Shunbin battery has been working as expected.

Thanks for the response. Hopefully we'll get more data from others, and form some semblance of a consensus, because we can't expect good info from the seller.