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Xuba Electronics: DEAL - 280AH LiFePo4 cells. Purchase & Review

teekay18 said:
I received photos and a video of my 16 x 3.2v 280ah LFP cells from Xuba's Amy. All cells read 3.29v except 1 cell that read only 3.21v. Is that acceptable?
Click to expand...
Those are storage voltages. As others have said nothing to worry about. I just got my video and I couldn't read the numbers on the multimeter until I figured out it was upside down. Then I figured out it was volts and internal resistance. ;)
 
Steve_S said:
Amy has convinced her managers that they should double the bus bars sent. The ones they presently supply are 2mm thick x 15mm wide x 94mm long. These are fine IF your building a Series Only pack but they are too short if you have cells end-to-end. With the busbars doubled to 4mm, the screws don't bottom out either but they do if you only use one busbar @ 2mm thickness.
Click to expand...
Steve, there was a discussion on the best way to screw the buss bars down I read some time back, Now that I have received mine, I can't find it to save my life. Do you recall where that might have been?
The buss bars (not sure what the material is) that I received are just long enough to connect the cells in parallel. There was talk about putting a spacer of sorts between them way back when, no way with these bars. I have not checked to see if the length is enough to series connect the cells yet, which is what I will be doing. They are parallel balancing now.
The screws are just that, phillips machine thread screws, not bolts with a ratchet head. Not sure if that matters. I always see Will ratcheting away.
 
Technically Screws or Nuts, threaded posts with nuts all do the same thing. They are intended to connect the Bus Bars to the face of the contacts, the "threaded" part is not what carries the lions share of the voltage / amperage. The supplied bus bars are long enough to link cells together in series BUT not if you want to cross over... See image attached, when I mean in series is from one cell to the next (1+ & 2-) but going across from (4+ to 5-) Cell the bus bars are too short my 10mm if mem serves.
8S-24V-Square Pack.jpg
You are better off setting up / aligning the cells and binding them and then installing the busbars loose fit till all lined up and then tighten then down. Of course balancing leads etc all installed too. BE AWARE OF THREAD DEPTH ! Before doing anything else, without busbars, put a screw in and hand tighten it down to the bottom and see how much thread is left, next put two busbars on there and d the same (by hand only) and if it tightens up nicely your good to go. Ultimately you NEVER want that thread to bottom out in the cell, it could break through ad that would be Very BAD ! The best way to ensure that the thread isn't too deep is pre-checking it by hand. The "general / generic" rule is tighten the screw down by hand and then back it off at least 1 full turn and THAT is the tightest point you can safely go. With the screws supplied, two busbars & one washer ended up at just the right height. I was supplied with Stainless Steel Screws and Copper Busbars from Xuba. While I did get that material from Xuba, I elected to use COPPER C110 FLAT BAR ASTM-B133 0.125" x 0.750" to make my own busbars. The LONGER Bars to cross between 4+ & 5- are 4.250" long. (just looked up the quote) NB: I drilled the holes in my busbars to 5/16 so they are as snug as I can get while leaving a wee bit of jiggle room for adjustment.

Hope that helps, good luck.
 
Steve_S said:
Technically Screws or Nuts, threaded posts with nuts all do the same thing. They are intended to connect the Bus Bars to the face of the contacts, the "threaded" part is not what carries the lions share of the voltage / amperage. The supplied bus bars are long enough to link cells together in series BUT not if you want to cross over... See image attached, when I mean in series is from one cell to the next (1+ & 2-) but going across from (4+ to 5-) Cell the bus bars are too short my 10mm if mem serves.
View attachment 14373
You are better off setting up / aligning the cells and binding them and then installing the busbars loose fit till all lined up and then tighten then down. Of course balancing leads etc all installed too. BE AWARE OF THREAD DEPTH ! Before doing anything else, without busbars, put a screw in and hand tighten it down to the bottom and see how much thread is left, next put two busbars on there and d the same (by hand only) and if it tightens up nicely your good to go. Ultimately you NEVER want that thread to bottom out in the cell, it could break through ad that would be Very BAD ! The best way to ensure that the thread isn't too deep is pre-checking it by hand. The "general / generic" rule is tighten the screw down by hand and then back it off at least 1 full turn and THAT is the tightest point you can safely go. With the screws supplied, two busbars & one washer ended up at just the right height. I was supplied with Stainless Steel Screws and Copper Busbars from Xuba. While I did get that material from Xuba, I elected to use COPPER C110 FLAT BAR ASTM-B133 0.125" x 0.750" to make my own busbars. The LONGER Bars to cross between 4+ & 5- are 4.250" long. (just looked up the quote) NB: I drilled the holes in my busbars to 5/16 so they are as snug as I can get while leaving a wee bit of jiggle room for adjustment.

Hope that helps, good luck.
Click to expand...
Super helpful, thank you for this.
 
Electric Personality said:
Wouldn't studs be safer?
Click to expand...
Yes, that is my theory because I can control the depth of the studs. That is one reason I would not use nylock nuts with studs. I ordered 25 mm long studs. That means in most cases I will have as much as 5 to 7 mm of thread in which I will have to hold the stud to make sure the nylock nut does not turn the the stud.
 
Electric Personality said:
Wouldn't studs be safer?
Click to expand...

Steve’s method has added enough bus bar and a washer so it’s impossible to bottom out. He is starting out from one full turn off the bottom as his endpoint as well.

Another method may be preferred by someone but it’s not safer IMHO.
 
JoeHam said:
Another method may be preferred by someone but it’s not safer IMHO.
Click to expand...
I can be a klutz at times and am risk adverse. Therefore I do not distinguish between personal safety and the safe process of reducing the risk of puncturing a cell. The solvents used in the electrolyte of these cells is volitile and my preference is to not do any thing that will increase the risk of releasing that solvent. I did that once with a Headway cell many year ago. I do not want to repeat that experience with a cell that is 30 times more powerful.
 
Jejochen said:
96 cells for my own bank. i am now running my house on 48 200 ah cells. Will more than double my capacity. The other 48 cells are for a friend
Click to expand...


What size array do you have? Im in the middle of trying to plan for expanding my system.
I currently have a midnight classic 200 charge controller, Aims 10,000 watt pure sinewave inverter, 24 (3 strings of 8) trojan L16 370 Ah batteries and 12 335 watt sunedison panels.

Im trying to figure out what i need to expand my system. Im looking at 3 strings of the 280 ah lithium, a sol ark 12k and 24 additional 335 watt panels for a total of 36.

Not sure yet on a bms as i have not seen anyone on here talking about a 48 volt bms. I also might have to step up to 2 sol ark 12ks.

I also have 2 1600 watt wind turbines that are a pain and havent ever worked right and a Kohler 6svg battery charger. Ive never even used it before not hooked up, have had it for 3 years.
 
Ampster said:
I can be a klutz at times and am risk adverse. Therefore I do not distinguish between personal safety and the safe process of reducing the risk of puncturing a cell. The solvents used in the electrolyte of these cells is volitile and my preference is to not do any thing that will increase the risk of releasing that solvent. I did that once with a Headway cell many year ago. I do not want to repeat that experience with a cell that is 30 times more powerful.
Click to expand...

I couldn’t agree more and I think Steve’s method achieves that goal.
 
! HEADS UP - CHANGES @ XUBA !
not good Changes for you, me and every other customer.

Things ae changing at XUBA and not for the best. Amy will likely be a Victim of these changes and their corporate policies are being chopped up some.

IF all of a sudden you are dealing with a New Person (possibly starting tomorrow) accept this as FAIR WARNING that things will not be as they have been. I cannot and will NOT elborate further as this is already possibly too much. Consider yourselves fairly warned in advance. As for new deals & packages and products that had been worked on, should be considered scrapped for all intents & purposes, unfortunately.
 
Steve_S said:
! HEADS UP - CHANGES @ XUBA !
not good Changes for you, me and every other customer.

Things ae changing at XUBA and not for the best. Amy will likely be a Victim of these changes and their corporate policies are being chopped up some.

IF all of a sudden you are dealing with a New Person (possibly starting tomorrow) accept this as FAIR WARNING that things will not be as they have been. I cannot and will NOT elborate further as this is already possibly too much. Consider yourselves fairly warned in advance. As for new deals & packages and products that had been worked on, should be considered scrapped for all intents & purposes, unfortunately.
Click to expand...
When i ordered mine, Amy at xuba let me order them at new shop they had set up on alibaba. I was the 1ste customer. Amy explained to me they at just expanding. I don't know the inside details though...
I suppose you know more?
 
She apologized a few days ago because she took 3 days personal leave. My little order of 4 cells hopefully ships in the next few days.
 
Ampster said:
She apologized a few days ago because she took 3 days personal leave. My little order of 4 cells hopefully ships in the next few days.
Click to expand...
She had a family emergency with her elderly parents which live a significant distance from her. But that's not the issue.
It's not good JuJu sadly for those of us counting on good consistent solid deals.
 
My 8 cells arrived today in oklahoma perfectly intact. 2 shipped per box on 4/20. All arrived at 3.33v.

Commencing testing, balancing, and assembly.


Thanks to all that found this deal and posted it up. Even if it seems it might be over. If the reasoning is corporate related please peel back the curtain.
 
@Steve_S Sad to hear that.
I had a similar situation with a provider I had developed a trusting relationship with .... That relationship was based solely on the sales rep. They decided to move on to another company in a different position ... the service from the replacement was very poor and I had to abandon using them.
In this case, it sounds like it may be a corporate decision to not sell to us "small" buyers ... but don't want to do too much speculation.
I hope Amy is recognized by management for the great job she has been doing.
 
Steve_S said:
! HEADS UP - CHANGES @ XUBA !
not good Changes for you, me and every other customer.

Things ae changing at XUBA and not for the best. Amy will likely be a Victim of these changes and their corporate policies are being chopped up some.

IF all of a sudden you are dealing with a New Person (possibly starting tomorrow) accept this as FAIR WARNING that things will not be as they have been. I cannot and will NOT elborate further as this is already possibly too much. Consider yourselves fairly warned in advance. As for new deals & packages and products that had been worked on, should be considered scrapped for all intents & purposes, unfortunately.
Click to expand...


I was fixing to order 48 cells. Do you recommend me not doing so?
 
Jejochen said:
When i ordered mine, Amy at xuba let me order them at new shop they had set up on alibaba. I was the 1ste customer. Amy explained to me they at just expanding. I don't know the inside details though...
I suppose you know more?
Click to expand...
Thanks for the warning Steve, I was going to pull the trigger on 8 more cells.
Jejochen do you have the link to the new store?
 
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