VariCore 3.2V 90Ah LiFePO4 cells from AliExpress

[tictag]

and you can tell he's not faking it ... funniest guy on the net

Did you see his 'What frequency hurts the most?' video? Classic Mehdi

 

[carlos1w]

Just make sure you pay with a CREDIT CARD and if its not what its suppose to be open a complaint and you will be fine ... It should take you about 60-90 days to get the batteries ...keep us posted as the results ... I avoid Aliexpress and normally use Alibaba for several reasons but thats not important here ... good luck ..

Yes, CC. I know it will take some time... And there is a risk. As long as the batteries don't burn the house I'd be reasonably happy

 

[ghostwriter66]

Did you see his 'What frequency hurts the most?' video? Classic Mehdi

... classic Mehdi ... I personnally liove the ones where he just gets whacked accidently -- I've learned not to watch them with either a full bladder or drinking coffee ... LOL

 

[ghostwriter66]

Here is a Compilation of some of his best whacks ..

SMART KIDS DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME - DUMB KIDS STOP WATCHING RIGHT NOW !! ..

 

[tictag]

I was definitely a dumb kid - once tried to recreate a school experiment (electrolysis of water into Hydrogen and Oxygen) using wires stuck into a mains outlet ... woke up on the other side of the room

 

[carlos1w]

I was definitely a dumb kid - once tried to recreate a school experiment (electrolysis of water into Hydrogen and Oxygen) using wires stuck into a mains outlet ... woke up on the other side of the room

I once tried to fix a bad connection to the TV (220 V) using aluminum foil... BANG! (I was 7). That put me in the path of science

 

[Frank in Thailand]

Does this guy just film all the time and make compilation videos of all his mistakes?

For sure not all his experiences, many do trigger memories of painful encounters with electricity and/or heat...

Most of his look like real accidents..
Not setup.
Then again, I'm super naïeve....

Most of the times things like that happen, I'm happy no camera as I feel super dumb grabbing something that I actually should know that it's HOT!
(Not glowing red doesn't make it cool, not after 5 minutes)

I mostly hate those burns that leave white marks... (Glowing wires)
They hurt the longest.

I'm lucky to be fast healer

 

[svetz]

...Does this guy just film all the time and make compilation videos of all his mistakes?...

I'm sure most are planned as a part of his act, he sort of teaches using the adage you learn more through failure. Besides, otherwise it'd just be a boring U-tube electronics video. But I'm sure some of those are real too (e.g., I suspect when he shorted out his hotel room in the UK epsiode on converters and the UK having the safest power connectors was real... although I could be wrong). All the ones where there's a long pause (or he's filling deadspace talking) before something catches fire/explodes is definitely fake...he's just killing time waiting for it to happen. Same with reaching through live wires, that's the "I couldn't think of any other way to get shocked in this 5 minutes".

I wonder how long it takes to plan out a video using mistakes to teach a topic in a way that's comical?

 

[AdventureDan760]

Hey Carlos,

Just wanted to thank you for the research you did. I just joined the forum now and been a Will Prowse viewer before he became super popular. I was overwhelmed trying to search china for batteries not knowing the market price etc. You saved me a lot of time. I have decided to go with the cells listed bellow shipped to San Diego, USA. Waiting to get a shipping qoute. I have a Renogy Adventurer 30amp pwm charge controller on my Teardrop camper and want to replace a pair of golf cart batteries that weight a ton. Now I need to find a BMS. I have a 1500 watt Go Power Pure sine wave inverter I would like to run to power my AC. I will add more solar at least 200watts maybe more if I get creative.

Another quote came in:
for 4*152 Ah cells via sea shipping (35 days) = total $241 (seems like an excellent price), via air (7 days) total $329 (not bad either)

This product is no longer available.

This product is no longer available.

www.alibaba.com

This is from Shenzhen Haomi Electronic Ms. Anny Jiang.

 

[Nicky9]

I just received 16 of the Varicore 90ah cells from Aliexpress Global Power Lt #2 store.
I also just received 16 of the same cells from Annie from Shenzhen Haomi on Alibaba. Slightly higher price (850 total vs 790 total on Aliexpress), but with fast shipping, the Alibaba Shenzhen Haomi order arrived in 2 weeks compared to the 7 weeks it took for the Aliexpress order to arrive.
Pics and capacity tests to follow.

 

[Frank in Thailand]

Tip:

For the 152Ah's , I have 48 of them.
They delaminate / bloat easy if the are not clamped /compressed on the large sides.

I learned this the hard way.
Please start with propper clamping setup before using, or share my experience.

 

[VagueDirector]

I also bought a bunch of 90Ah cells from "GlobalPower Co., LT No.2 Store."
8 of them was $651AUD total including shipping and GST. Shipped in 21 days to Australia. Cells tested as 94Ah, 308Wh at C/20.

I've made a 3D printable shroud/cap design for them (copied the Fortune design), which covers the terminals and has holes for M6 threaded rods. Link: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4567648

WIP pics of the potable system:

 

[carlos1w]

Tip:

For the 152Ah's , I have 48 of them.
They delaminate / bloat easy if the are not clamped /compressed on the large sides.

I learned this the hard way.
Please start with propper clamping setup before using, or share my experience.

That sucks! I am waiting for my 200 Ah cells, but I will then clamp them then. Should one leave a some gaps between cells for ventilation? I was thinking something like a slotted plate so they'd be compressed every 1 cm but with 0.5 cm gaps for ventilation.

 

[Frank in Thailand]

That sucks! I am waiting for my 200 Ah cells, but I will then clamp them then. Should one leave a some gaps between cells for ventilation? I was thinking something like a slotted plate so they'd be compressed every 1 cm but with 0.5 cm gaps for ventilation.

Answer is simple : NO.

In my thread about making bus-bar (melting copper) we had quite a long discussion about it.

The 280Ah cells are supposed to me compressed with 300kg/f

To keep that simple, you don't need to crush them, just prevent delaminating / bloating.

For the terminals z they are more sensitive, max 8Nm torque!!
And that isn't a lot.

I was concerned at first also about heat.

We talk about a few degrees with normal solar charge and home use.
Nothing to worry about.

The copper bus-bars already make kind of heat transfer / cooling.
And probably you have space between the cells at the short end to be able to compress.

300kg/f is for 4 threaded rods on each side +/- 12Nm
That also isn't a lot.
Bit further then hand tight.
Little more force then the terminals

If you are ready worried for temperature rises, a friend and I did some brainstorming...
And came up with the following:
- Submerged in special non conductive liquid like mineral oil (with or without radiator. Depending on the liquid, 2 phase won't need, but then it needs to be closed)
- water cooling blocks,
- heat pipes,

 

[carlos1w]

The 280Ah cells are supposed to me compressed with 300kg/f
To keep that simple, you don't need to crush them, just prevent delaminating / bloating.
For the terminals z they are more sensitive, max 8Nm torque!!
And that isn't a lot.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Jeremiah]

Watch the voltage on the power supply...

You should cross-post this to the Humor section. Thanks for sharing I enjoyed it!

 

[OutdoorAcorn]

Answer is simple : NO.

In my thread about making bus-bar (melting copper) we had quite a long discussion about it.

The 280Ah cells are supposed to me compressed with 300kg/f

To keep that simple, you don't need to crush them, just prevent delaminating / bloating.

For the terminals z they are more sensitive, max 8Nm torque!!
And that isn't a lot.

I was concerned at first also about heat.

We talk about a few degrees with normal solar charge and home use.
Nothing to worry about.

The copper bus-bars already make kind of heat transfer / cooling.
And probably you have space between the cells at the short end to be able to compress.

300kg/f is for 4 threaded rods on each side +/- 12Nm
That also isn't a lot.
Bit further then hand tight.
Little more force then the terminals

If you are ready worried for temperature rises, a friend and I did some brainstorming...
And came up with the following:
- Submerged in special non conductive liquid like mineral oil (with or without radiator. Depending on the liquid, 2 phase won't need, but then it needs to be closed)
- water cooling blocks,
- heat pipes,

This is useful to know, thanks.

How would you clamp the cells? Wooden (or I guess any material really) blocks at either end of the cells with holes to pass threaded rod through?

Does this mean you would you not recommend @VagueDirector 's 3D printed shrouds as it creates gaps for the cells to bloat?

 

[VagueDirector]

@OutdoorAcorn
I'm interested in this too, there seems to be a few people adamant that cell compression is required. I remember reading that cell compression increases the service life of the cells.

The Fortune cells (from which my 3D printed deign is copied) are quite popular and have 1-2mm air gaps for cooling instead of compression. (I suppose they will compress the cells a bit after they have expanded to fill the gap, but it may be too late by then)

Since my use case is relatively light duty I expect them to last much longer than needed either way, but it would still be interesting to know how much difference it makes. I could always sandwich some aluminium or plastic plates in between the cells to fill the gaps if necessary.

 

[OutdoorAcorn]

Yeah I watched Will's video on the Fortune cells and thought the design of them was good. I was super happy that you had designed a 3D printed shroud (I bookmarked your reply!) but slightly concerned about compression after @fhorst 's reply...

I wonder if the charge/discharge rate will affect how likely the cells are to bloat. Like you, my use case is relatively light duty to what I imagine a lot of people on this forum are doing. I only plan on using a 30A Solar Charge Controller with all DC loads connected it. So even at max current that is 0.1C (280Ah cells) - 0.3C (100Ah cells) and I doubt I will even use the full 30A most of the time.

 

[Jeremiah]

Yeah I watched Will's video on the Fortune cells and thought the design of them was good. I was super happy that you had designed a 3D printed shroud (I bookmarked your reply!) but slightly concerned about compression after @fhorst 's reply...

I wonder if the charge/discharge rate will affect how likely the cells are to bloat. Like you, my use case is relatively light duty to what I imagine a lot of people on this forum are doing. I only plan on using a 30A Solar Charge Controller with all DC loads connected it. So even at max current that is 0.1C (280Ah cells) - 0.3C (100Ah cells) and I doubt I will even use the full 30A most of the time.

at 0.1C I suspect you'll be A-O.K.