Lithium LiFePo4 Batteries

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MoInEd

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We changed our trailer this past Sept (bought a new one) and am spending the time upgrading many things to make it ready for the next camping season. One of the things I did for the last trailer was to put 3x100W solar panels on the roof and 2x120ah batteries. This made us pretty independent of shore power. For the new trailer I already have a 120am deep cycle battery but am considering upgrading the whole thing to 2x100ah or 250ah Lithium LiFePo4 batteries. They are quite expensive locally. There are many suppliers on Alibaba and Aliexpress some with different reviews but still I am hesitant to drop several hundred dollars on an unknown brand. (you can get a 200ah or 250ah for around $600-$900).
If these are as good as they spec on paper I'd be happy to buy them.
What are your experiences with these type of suppliers? Most I find locally are also simply importers....
 
Following this thread although we are a year or two away from doing this as our trailer is coming with 2 x 6 volt AGM’s.
 
Given that even reputable brands and importers have little history and track record I think any of them are a pig in a poke. With the spendy brands you should at least get a human that will answer the phone and possibly manage a warranty claim for you, good luck getting that from china. So it is what it is, spend X on a battery you get to find out about and deal with, or 2X for one that has the potential of getting replaced in the event of a problem. The way I would approach it is the impact of failure. If this was going to run my oxygen machine I might lean towards reputation vs cost but one going into my camper to run a TV I think I could accept a bigger risk. I'm not even sure a direct report from a user counts, since with these suppliers the QC and sourcing is probably all over the place week to week. I think it can be assumed that the cheaper batteries are "seconds" in some way, and the price reflects that. They may be entirely suitable for your purposes though, just that you have to accept what you get.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
 
I see you are in Canada, have you checked out Alberta Lithium: Lithium Batteries I know someone on another message board that just installed 400 AH worth of their extreme cold batteries with heaters built in a couple of weeks ago.

As to LiFePo4 overall, I just finished doing the conversion on my coach, installing 420AH of ReBel brand LiFePo4 batteries with smart bluetooth BMS.
 
I see you are in Canada, have you checked out Alberta Lithium: Lithium Batteries I know someone on another message board that just installed 400 AH worth of their extreme cold batteries with heaters built in a couple of weeks ago.

As to LiFePo4 overall, I just finished doing the conversion on my coach, installing 420AH of ReBel brand LiFePo4 batteries with smart bluetooth BMS.
Yes, I have talked to Alberta Lithium, they are basically importers too. Good thing is they are local and perhaps can help for warranty if needed.

For the slight price difference go with Renogy they're reliable and have warranty they will be having a Christmas sale you just missed the Black Friday. 12V 100Ah Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery w/ Bluetooth If you do please let them know I referred you I could use the discount. sidley1963 at gmail dot com

I have their solar panels, controller, inverter, etc. They too are importers and priced on the higher side (perhaps for warranty). They are terrible for anything after sale based on my own experience and also what I read online, so their "warranty" is worth very little to me.
 
I posted this in a thread on another forum the other day, and am posting it here as it seems on point:

My take on LifePo4 drop in replacement batteries is that they can be grouped into 4 rough categories,



1, Rebranded generic made in China batteries like the Chins batteries, which seem to be relabeled and sold under a number of brand names.


2, Customized built to spec made in China batteries, like the ReBel batteries I recently bought, where the seller specifies all sorts of details about the construction of the battery pack, size and gauge of wire used inside, brand and model of BMS, type of cells, and even how they are secured internally, and the thread size of the terminal screws.


3, Custom designed, or exclusively distributed made in China batteries, the Renogy smart batteries with the RS485 port on top are probably a good example of these.


4, Premium assembled in North America (or Europe) batteries such as Battle Born. (using Chinese built components)




What each person has to decide is where do they choose to strike the balance between cost, build quality, warranty and support. Do you mind buying from a fly by night, no name brand with no contact information in the US for warranty claims, if they even have a warranty. How about the small shop, one man show selling customized batteries, do you prefer a bigger company like Renogy who has been active in the US selling solar panels and other solar accessories for about a decade, or maybe you prefer a dedicated LiFePo4 premium brand with premium level of support and very long warranty like Battleborn, that is somewhere between a one man shop, and a big company.

The Alberta Lithium batteries likely falls into this second camp, where they sell batteries that have been customized to their specs, this is compared to those importers that simply slap their label on the generic imported batteries like the Chins battery.

Here is a link to the batteries which I bought at a discounted price due to being somewhat irregular, and not meeting spec, for me the non-spec issues were not show stoppers. I am posting this as it talks about the sort of customization they have done vs simple relabelling of generic import batteries.
p.s. note I paid $668 for the 200Ah version about a month ago, not the $800+ mentioned in the video
 
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We bought LifeBlue batteries, three 200 amp hours batteries. We chose this brand because they have a built in heater for charging in low temps and very good customer service. The less expensive brands don’t have heaters, wind you need to look carefully at what sort of battery monitoring is done internally. Some have very limited, and it can cause under or over charging.
 
Well if you want brands
I have Bioenno Energy... They do not recommend paralleling batteries to increace capacity.> I'm fairly new to them (And it's a small "portable" so I can't yet give a recommendation but so far.. Happy.

Battle Born does parallel. And is a brand I've seen around... They also have an arrangement with Progressive Dynamics (or did at least) for a wizard to charge their batteries.

The cost is dropping.. I'd seriously consider LIFePO4 if I still had an RV.
 
We changed our trailer this past Sept (bought a new one) and am spending the time upgrading many things to make it ready for the next camping season. One of the things I did for the last trailer was to put 3x100W solar panels on the roof and 2x120ah batteries. This made us pretty independent of shore power. For the new trailer I already have a 120am deep cycle battery but am considering upgrading the whole thing to 2x100ah or 250ah Lithium LiFePo4 batteries. They are quite expensive locally. There are many suppliers on Alibaba and Aliexpress some with different reviews but still I am hesitant to drop several hundred dollars on an unknown brand. (you can get a 200ah or 250ah for around $600-$900).
If these are as good as they spec on paper I'd be happy to buy them.
What are your experiences with these type of suppliers? Most I find locally are also simply importers....
Hello there I been using sealed lead batteries Connected in parallel As you all know that if one goes below the requirements they all follow and next thing you know you have no more power.. So I went to search for the best type of batteries for solar panels and I found out that Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries are the selected and best type after I saw the price of them I almost fainted @ $400. Bucks It's quite up there for a battery I went with a reliable shipper (Amazon) they guaranteed the product as far as getting it to you and not damaged I went ahead and order one (1) only from a company called Ampere Time .
I bought their 12V 100Ah I was squeptical until I got the product Then I realized that I did go with the right company their packaging was first class (heavy duty cardboard and foam in the inside the weight of the battery surprisedly light they sent a booklet with the do's and don'ts like make sure it's fully charged before use cause the transportation measures aren't allowed to be fully charged the shipper gives a 5 yrs. Warranty so far I haven't gotten any problems with it so if you are still interested you may wanna check them out at
www time.com best of luck with your decisions and hopefully I can get another one of these puppies soon
 
Be careful with the Ampere Time batteries online review like this one
show as of a few months ago that these batteries did not have low temperature protection and will be damaged if they are charged at temperatures of below 32F degrees.
 
Be careful with the Ampere Time batteries online review like this one
show as of a few months ago that these batteries did not have low temperature protection and will be damaged if they are charged at temperatures of below 32F degrees.
I believe that as long as the buyer knew this, they could make it work without too much difficulty, unless they camped a lot during the winter in the northern states or Canada.
 
I tend to agree, it also depends on where the batteries are installed, though the ones I bought have low temperature protection, I opted to install them in a disused cabinet in the kitchen of our coach so they would be climate controlled rather than in the exposed battery tray under the entry steps where the old lead acid batteries are.
 
Well, I have ordered some LiFePo4 cells along with a BMS from Aliexpress to make my own battery packs. I am starting with a 200ah pack and see how it works with my 300W solar panel. If needed will add another 100ah pack later.
 
I will report back. The cells are supposed to be EVE (among better brands) and BMS is Daly (again among top ones). Will bench test them but the real test will be summer when camping...
 
Hello everyone Here we go six months down the line With comments about a battery that we all been discussing the famous and expensive lithium battery from China I really thought it was gonna be the remedy of all times by getting this battery Well I must apologize to many of you for making this one battery the best thing since the invention of the wheel It's not exactly what they claim in paper and yes it's an overpriced battery for the service that I expected to get out of it All in all I'm basically a disappointed customer even though I followed their instructions this battery stops functioning at 11.0 volts an unbearable thing to happen to someone that praise their product a five stars Once again my most sincere apologies to all the viewers and reviewers of this amazing Internet group
 

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