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Summary of my battery options from China, lifepo4 3.2v 280ah cells.

Hi Guys, I'm all new here, I'm looking to buy 16 280ah EVE cells from Amy after reading through this thread. I have been looking at various suppliers for a while now, but have read of others' not so grade A experiences with them.


I have made contact with her through her Alibaba page, she seems very good to deal with so far. ill be posting the results of the order here when
it arrives.
 
FYI, there is a holiday in China from May 1-5. So more or less add another week to recent orders.

They sure do have a lot of holidays.
 
FYI, there is a holiday in China from May 1-5. So more or less add another week to recent orders.

They sure do have a lot of holidays.
And we have the weekend from 1 to 10! The Chinese won't catch up with us! :ROFLMAO:
 
Well after all my price & supplier research I didn't order from any of them. I ended up using the local fellow who offered to broker the batteries for me for basically a $100 fee. He orders from the same company all the time and normally sells locally or on ebay as I understand.

I had told him I wanted the batteries on Friday or Saturday and he had Fedex tracking for me the same day, along with pictures of the packages ready to go. I'll have to go pick them up from his place a couple hours away. I'm sure he would offer to have them drop shipped but would probably require payment up front in that case.

I will try to remember to report back when they arrive and the quality. but by then I'm sure everything battery related will have changed, as it seems to every couple months.
 
I ordered 8 280Ah from here 6 weeks ago and they're still not with me in UK :( Got a message on 3rd April saying
"Dear friend,your parcel is normal in transit to your country". I suspect that's when they were put on the boat though and not in UK as they would be here now.


$698.64 for 8 cells + $356.89 shipping
Batteries arrived yesterday ?

Ordered 10th March, arrived in UK 28th April.

Mine came with studs on the terminals.
 

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I ordered 8 280Ah from here 6 weeks ago and they're still not with me in UK :( Got a message on 3rd April saying
"Dear friend,your parcel is normal in transit to your country". I suspect that's when they were put on the boat though and not in UK as they would be here now.


$698.64 for 8 cells + $356.89 shipping
Hi Paul, i've been having similar problems.

I ordered 4 x 280Ah from Soonbuy via Ali express.com on the 19th of February for delivery to UK and am still waiting, starting to give up on the whole Lithium battery idea to be honest if its this much bloody hassle just buying the things.

Soonbuy are absolutely useless when it comes to communication, do not use them, all i'm getting is automated replies or BS, only went with them after watching 'Freely roaming' channel of his battery build on YT.

Is there somewhere in Europe for us Brits to be able to buy from, happy to pay a bit more if i dont have to wait 3 sodding months.

Cheers

Rog (UK)
 
Hi Paul, i've been having similar problems.

I ordered 4 x 280Ah from Soonbuy via Ali express.com on the 19th of February for delivery to UK and am still waiting, starting to give up on the whole Lithium battery idea to be honest if its this much bloody hassle just buying the things.

Soonbuy are absolutely useless when it comes to communication, do not use them, all i'm getting is automated replies or BS, only went with them after watching 'Freely roaming' channel of his battery build on YT.

Is there somewhere in Europe for us Brits to be able to buy from, happy to pay a bit more if i dont have to wait 3 sodding months.

Cheers

Rog (UK)

Sorry to hear that Rog. Mine arrived this week so took 7 weeks start to finish. I was a frustrating wait that's for sure.

Quite a few of the sellers on Aliexpress I used to buy from that have warehouses in Europe, that I've had stuff delivered in a few days from in the past, will only deliver direct from China now. I assume this is due to f'ing Brexit.

I just had a look on eBay and there's only 1 sellers of these cells with UK stock and they're going to £229 each. I got 8 from China for £750.
 
Sorry to hear that Rog. Mine arrived this week so took 7 weeks start to finish. I was a frustrating wait that's for sure.

Quite a few of the sellers on Aliexpress I used to buy from that have warehouses in Europe, that I've had stuff delivered in a few days from in the past, will only deliver direct from China now. I assume this is due to f'ing Brexit.

I just had a look on eBay and there's only 1 sellers of these cells with UK stock and they're going to £229 each. I got 8 from China for £750.
Hi Phil

Yeah its become a total ballache and taken the shine of what was going to be a fun project. I have opened a dispute with Soonbuy to get a full refund from them and try somewhere else. Since ordering those batteries i've ordered numerous bits and bobs via Ali express, new flatscreen radio for the car, various electronic stuff including the daly bms meant for the Lifepo4 build. All of which came within a week or so of ordering, i understand the batteries have to go by ship but three months is a piss take.

What i don't get is when casting my eye over several suppliers they have warehousing in Poland, Germany etc, i dont get why it can only come from China for UK orders, i guess Brexit may play a role although from the above orders mentioned everything else ive ordered has come in a timely fashion.

Once i get a refund i will try your supplier, would you recommend them on the strength of your experience?

Cheers
 
Once i get a refund i will try your supplier, would you recommend them on the strength of your experience?

Well... upsides
  • They arrived! :LOL:
  • The max Voltage difference in the cells was 0.08V which I thought was pretty good. 6 of them was within 0.04V
  • I've capacity tested 1 cell so far and got 278Ah and it was still at 2.65V
Downsides
  • 7 weeks is still pretty slow
  • Not overly happy with the terminals. They came with studs attached but the way they've done it restricts the contact area vs the other terminals I seen. See images below. I'd already bought some good studs and nuts from a local supplier.
This is for a campervan install. I've got a 3000W invertor (will have a 3000W induction hob). The fridge, lights, diesel heater and smaller DC loads will be connected straight to the 24V. I could be pulling 140A (unlikely for very long) from the battery and would've preferred the whole terminal to connect to.
 

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Well... upsides
  • They arrived! :LOL:
  • The max Voltage difference in the cells was 0.08V which I thought was pretty good. 6 of them was within 0.04V
  • I've capacity tested 1 cell so far and got 278Ah and it was still at 2.65V
Downsides
  • 7 weeks is still pretty slow
  • Not overly happy with the terminals. They came with studs attached but the way they've done it restricts the contact area vs the other terminals I seen. See images below. I'd already bought some good studs and nuts from a local supplier.
This is for a campervan install. I've got a 3000W invertor (will have a 3000W induction hob). The fridge, lights, diesel heater and smaller DC loads will be connected straight to the 24V. I could be pulling 140A (unlikely for very long) from the battery and would've preferred the whole terminal to connect to.
That is interesting and see your point for the lack of contact area. Wonder if the others that have gotten / ordered welded studs have this issue? I will have to go back and look at photos from Amy from the last conversation we had. If this is the case I may not order welded studs and keep it as my current ones whereas just adding the stud. Seems either way it will be M6 x 16ish.
 
I ordered 8 280Ah from here 6 weeks ago and they're still not with me in UK :( Got a message on 3rd April saying
"Dear friend,your parcel is normal in transit to your country". I suspect that's when they were put on the boat though and not in UK as they would be here now.


$698.64 for 8 cells + $356.89 shipping
Did you have to pay import duty or VAT on this order. I'm in the UK and don't want to be caught out on this.
 
Did you have to pay import duty or VAT on this order. I'm in the UK and don't want to be caught out on this.

No, no duty/VAT, came straight to me from the boat. I was kinda expecting to pay some tbh.

I bought a Raspberry Pi based GPS tracker from Germany recently and was stung by import duty. I've a feeling they might be cracking down on Brexit based tax more though.
 
Been looking at these on Blmpow's site this evening, without the studs and £80 cheaper than Soonbuy. Think i'll drop them an email to make sure i can get them sent to UK.

lifepo4.JPG
 
so I somewhat followed in ghost's footsteps. I bought the cheapest 280s I could find.

Amy wanted $120 for EVE cells. too much

Dongguan ALITHOR New Energy Co wanted $86 plus $640 to ship. They charged ghost $430 to deliver to Texas and quoted me $480 to Atlanta. but after I asked to price match $80/cell there was a shipping miscalculation and price went up to the $640. Im also not happy with how they're packaged.

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Shenzhen Mushang Electronics Co was out of 272/280, but had 300s for $87

Shenzhen Starmax Energy Technology Co is who ghost placed her second order with and they offered me REPT 280s for $80 cell and $586 shipping. Total for 32 was $3146. They could not match the $2948 due to price increases but I did get 8 free busbars. Woooo lol

now we wait
 

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