diy solar

diy solar

Status thread: 32x 280Ah cells from Shenzhen Haomi through Alibaba

Update 1: All 32 cells arrived at my lab. I'll start testing and will update with results later. I'm still waiting for the 'cell tester' discussed above to arrive. I'm going to balance the cells in the mean time as well.

The order was placed on the 17th of March. They arrived on the 19th of May. Shipping was by land transport.

Packaging was excellent, box in a box, with reinforcements, and plenty of foam. Bus bars and screws included even though I did not ask for them and won't use them.

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More details when I have had the time to unpack them all and inspect them.
 
Very interested in your progress. I am replacing 800+ ah lead acid 48v system. Want lifepo with Bms. But want to get as much AH as feasible. Was looking at 500ah cells. But BMS really messes with my plans as I can’t find anything to manage that kind of ah.
 
Update 1: All 32 cells arrived at my lab. I'll start testing and will update with results later. I'm still waiting for the 'cell tester' discussed above to arrive. I'm going to balance the cells in the mean time as well...

...More details when I have had the time to unpack them all and inspect them.

How's this project going Up North? You had time to unpack, test and balance them?
 
Unpacked, and checked the basics. All voltages for all cells were at 3.303 +/-0.005V upon unpacking. The capacity meter I ordered got lost in transit somewhere, so I'll get a new one. I did check the capacity of a selection of cells here in the lab and those came out above the rated capacity, at between 285Ah and 290Ah. I will do this more thoroughly with the other meter as soon as I have one.

Balancing was done, no issues. As I mentioned in this thread, I'm going for a different approach to building a system around these. It'll take some time to install everything, since work and life stuff is getting in the way. As far as the battery cells are concerned: they look good, behave good, and so far have performed and exceeded as advertised - I'm happy with them and will most likely order 32 more later this year.
 
Unpacked, and checked the basics. All voltages for all cells were at 3.303 +/-0.005V upon unpacking. The capacity meter I ordered got lost in transit somewhere, so I'll get a new one. I did check the capacity of a selection of cells here in the lab and those came out above the rated capacity, at between 285Ah and 290Ah. I will do this more thoroughly with the other meter as soon as I have one.

Balancing was done, no issues. As I mentioned in this thread, I'm going for a different approach to building a system around these. It'll take some time to install everything, since work and life stuff is getting in the way. As far as the battery cells are concerned: they look good, behave good, and so far have performed and exceeded as advertised - I'm happy with them and will most likely order 32 more later this year.
Hi
So if I understand properly.
The batteries were $80 each and shipping was $80 each [so $160 per battery delivered essentially] and it took 2 months.
Have I got this correctly?

Thank you for your postings here. I appreciate them. :)
 
The batteries were $80 each and shipping was $80 each [so $160 per battery delivered essentially] and it took 2 months.
Have I got this correctly?

Cost was $82 per cell, and I got 32 cells. Shipping for the 32 cells was $968, so ~$30 per cell.
Time between order and receipt was about two months, yes.
 
Any update yet Up North? I know some of the members are waiting patiently for your test results! Maybe some pictures of the installation would help?

Very excited to see the numbers!
Cheers.
 
Sorry, just too busy with work. My previous post has some info on the cells; in short, all good.
I also have a bunch of other stuff to go through, and the solar panels arrived as well.

I've got all components, and will probably take most of July off to build the entire thing, so expect more information and pictures. I'll detail everything on my blog as well and might make a video.
 
No time to make a fancy graph, but I finished capacity testing on each cell (individually).
282 +4/-0 for each (meaning each cell sits between 282Ah lowest and 286Ah highest). These were done without stressing the cell (if I were to push it, I think it would add 2Ah or thereabouts), and using the cell tester we discussed at the beginning of the thread: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/8-In-1-150W-180W-Digital_62090055059.html
 
Cost was $82 per cell, and I got 32 cells. Shipping for the 32 cells was $968, so ~$30 per cell.
Time between order and receipt was about two months, yes.
Congratulations, was the duty included in the shipping price or was that separate?
 
It's been up and running for over a year now. No issues. Everything as hoped for, sometimes exceeded expectations. Considering the low cost of some of the components, this definitely turned out to be a winner. I expected at least something to blow up, but no...
 
It's been up and running for over a year now. No issues. Everything as hoped for, sometimes exceeded expectations. Considering the low cost of some of the components, this definitely turned out to be a winner. I expected at least something to blow up, but no...
Fantastic! That’s really good to hear.
 
Thanks for the input and update, it is good to see the entire story. Do you think that you could reorder at the same level of success or have things changed with the political climate? Any idea on price changes since you ordered?
 
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