VoltX 100ah lithium battery review

[@MatthewSummerton]

Please do more lithium battery breakdowns/analysis for the Australian market. Fantastic work!!!

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

We do seem to get different batteries when compared to other countries, from what I can see you can not buy a battery this cheap in the USA. I have ordered some a grade 100 amp hour prismatic cells and will be showing the comparison between the two and repacking the voltX case with them

[@johnhoyle7542]

Awesome investigation and assessment of the Voltx 100 amp power Battery. Found it very useful and informative. Thank you

[@DoctorVernAcula]

Thanks for the fantastic video. I got a random brand one from ebay and inspired by your teardown, got out the angle grinder and cut off the lid. Trap for young players, this new one fills the box completely and I think that it might be 120Ah rather than 100Ah. Sweet! But the wires are very close to the inside of the case, so I was lucky not to cut them. I put banana binding posts on each cell and put it back together, so it is now easy to test and do experiments. OK, when purchased, cells all about half full and completely different voltages. That may not be as bad as it sounds. So I got the BMS specs and put it on 14.7V 20A charger and put it on a data logger. Some secrets so anyone reading this doesn't need to cut off the lid: First, the BMS works fine. Just trust it. But it only top-balances, so you have to leave it on charge for things to equalise. Second, it is ok to leave it on charge forever, the BMS will handle that. Third, the balance currents are very low compared to the capacity, so it only balances once it is almost charged, and it took a week to fully balance. But it did get there and in the end the cells were balanced to three decimal places. I'm using these for home batteries so in this situation I think the key is to charge/discharge once a day but ensure that there is an hour or so a day when it stays fully charged. This is the time when it is able to balance. And if using intermittently, just leave it on a charger. These are all very different rules compared to lead-acid batteries. These LiFePo4 batteries are now under $300Au for effectively 1.2kWh, which is very good value.

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Thanks for all the info and the hard work you put in to finding out how well the batteries you have purchased worked out. Yes it’s a bit hard cutting the battery box open and trying not to cut through things that are not supposed to be cut. Most of these cheap batteries now I have learnt have low-grade cells that are brand-new there is actually companies in China that are making low-grade cells So they’re not old and they’re not used, they just purposely built oversized but lower in capacity then a high grade cells of the same size. Leaving the charger on is like having a lithium battery charger with a absorption mode, it does take a lot of time to balance cells and it doesn’t matter how expensive the BMS is, on passive balancing it takes time, Active balancing I’m finding is really good on the charge cycle but pretty pointless on the discharge cycle as it is wasting power. I find it very hard to spend big dollars on batteries especially when you can buy 3 to 4 100amp hour cheap lithium batteries for the price of one expensive hundred amp our battery. The beauty of this is if you have 400 amp hours of cheap lithium batteries that you are not cycling them as hard as what you would if you only had 100 amp hour thousand plus dollar battery so in theory you should get more life out of the cheap ones,in my own opinion though. Let us know how your setup goes and thanks for the comment cheers Phil

[@DoctorVernAcula]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 Hi Phil, thanks for the detailed reply. I'm trialling a few different ideas for home battery storage. The simple solution is you charge batteries somehow (solar/grid off peak/generator) and run things on an inverter. I've gone for something a bit more complex but I think more flexible. I've got a SMA meter in the meter box and it measures power in and out of the house every 5 seconds and transmits this via UDP messages through the internal home ethernet. I can pick up these messages with an arduino and then turn things on and off. So I can turn on a battery charger. Or to discharge the battery, I'm using grid-intertie micro inverters that are meant for solar panels, but they work fine for sending power from a battery back into the grid. Only catch there, the voltages are best for 24V or 36V. I can turn on and off a hot water service and pre-heat water that then goes into the main hot water service. So lots of ways of creating a house that looks like it is using no power from the grid. As for balancing, I got some Nissan Leaf cells, 24kWh and built a custom made system that charges each cell individually so they are always balanced. That does work, but there are an awful lot of wires! So I think it is simpler to use these LiFePo4 12V batteries. My super simple system I am testing now is three LiFePo4 batteries, each has its own standard 12V charger, the discharge is via a 600W grid tie inverter, and I have the charge on a timer switch, and the discharge on a timer switch. I've set it up so it has an hour a day of 'floating' to balance.

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

@@DoctorVernAcula Sorry James I just went through and edited my reply to you, for some reason you can read it 50 times and you don’t pick up the mistakes, so I fixed them up now. Well all I can say is wow you have been busy it would be good to see you do a few KZbin videos on your set up and the things you have done. Charging the cells individually works very well but as you said is a lot of work to set up and probably not really relevant to do all the time. Having a active balancer that only switches on when on the charge cycle as I said works very well. Some BMS is have this option now I believe. I’m mainly look at batteries from my caravan and camping side of things as I’m an automotive electrician and deal with the problems that people have with their batteries and set up. Having lithium batteries in your caravan is a great way of making you spend money. First you bye the batteries and the charging set up and then you think I can run an inverter off this and then everything else then blows out from there. Buying expensive lithium batteries is a great way of making you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside I believe. If you look at all the individual Parts prices there’s no reason to pay $1200 plus for 100 amp hours worth of battery. It’s best to have a set up that charges the battery well I believe rather than wasting big dollars on expensive batteries. Things do change if you require to live off the batteries full time you just gotta do the math. A $10,000 lithium set up in a caravan is a lot of nights stay in a caravan park on a powered site. Sorry got a bit off track there. I’ve purchased individual so-called A grade lithium cells and after testing found they do not make their stated capacity, I have spoken to a couple of lithium battery assemblies in Australia and they are finding the same thing on testing there batteries failed to reach their capacity , I believe this is because all the high-grade cells are getting sold into the EV market and we are left with the rejects.

[@Deano155]

Iv got the older type Voltx with the round cells 100ah batterys X2 in parallel. I fly rc helis and planes so I know lithium polymer very well and lithium phosphate is similar battery So wen I got my voltx battery's i disassembled them straight away to check the individual cell voltage I can't remember exactly but they was close after 1st charge they was all in balance iv been running the batteries in parallel for offer 12 months now after watching this video I went back and check my batteries my cell voltage is out 0.01 over the 8 cells so it's doing very well. I might go do a capacity test now see how it's holding up when they was brand new I got 108 ah per battery. They have been looked after so I'm keen to see what they do You Betcha!!!

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

I hope mine last as well. The cell in balance of my batteries was quite disgusting, but after charging the cells individually they have manage to stay in balance so far.

[@M8YM8]

Thanks mate really comprehensive, was looking at picking one of these up to put in a simple battery box to run a 12v fridge for weekend trips with maybe a solar blanket input. Sounds like it’ll work much better then an AGM the same size.

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Will do the job well and lighter to lug around. If weight is not a issue and price is you can get a good agm now for $200 AUD but how well a lithium battery takes charge is hard to beat.

[@M8YM8]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 thanks mate appreciate it

[@__beer__]

Great video mate, I was thinking about these but was unsure. I think this will suit my needs cheers

[@phiromtauch6059]

I bought a Mobi lithium 175ah. Would like to see you test those brands if possible.

[@oneeyedphotographer]

See whether you can find a positive review.

[@Karl7219]

Another great teardown video. Cheers 🍻

[@evil17]

Re-watching this tear down Phil, this is really a quite reasonable quality battery and the BMS stood a reasonable test of abuse too, cant complain about any of that. It would have been good to see what the Internal resistance was of each cell before and after testing, but this battery seems overall ok and I look forward to the follow up as I reckon if you top balance all the cells u may have a good battery. JBD aren’t too bad BMS but their balance current and algorithm is crap for these cells, which is their failing IMO. Nice tear down, thanks for all ur great info. Cheers

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Thanks Evan. Out of action at the moment with back surgery. I ordered some A grade cells to do a comparison test unfortunately they fail testing 94ah at 50amp load (I stuffed up the video of the testing)and I sent them back most A grade cells you get nowadays Second rate cells as all the good quality cells are going into EV manufacturing and what not , what you buy online now is what manufacturers don’t want even though they call it A grade cell.

[@evil17]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 That is absolutely correct. Resellers only get cells that dont pass a stringent test for EV grade, and then resell as ‘A’ grade, but I think they are mostly fairly good, especially in a stationary solar setup, unfortunately there will be some bad or at least suspect cells along the way like u got. Been there with the back surgery, hope all goes well and you recover soon so we see some more vids from ya, Cheers

[@evil17]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 I just received 12 of 16cells, 304Ah cells, they seem ok so far, just giving them a charge so I can do a top balance, they all were 23 m’ohm and then I will add a 48v ‘200A JK’ BMS. Doing a “Andy” type setup. Cheers

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

@@evil17 I look at batteries caravan/ camping side of things as that’s the field I work in. When you have multiple battery cells in a big solar setup having a couple that are low is not an issue. When you have just 4 cells in a battery and 200ah of capacity it really does have an affect on the overall capacity and life of the battery. I think the best way to build a rv battery is to use 110ah cells and sell it as a real 100ah battery. Back surgery suck as it makes you better by taking away some of your ability to to things you like. I love Andy channel 👍 he is doing good things.

[@maccas44]

Awesome video and test Phil

[@RoyTheKing241]

The rrp on the VoltX batteries are like 1200, but currently going for 700 or so. Which one specifically did you get? Outbax seem to be selling these. Interesting you said it looks like second hand internals. Do you think they would all be like this? Great video btw.

[@moz9357]

Great video, very informative. So what’s with the hairdryer on a hot day, then running the air con off mains power? Why didn’t you plug the air con into your inverter and forget about the hairdryer? You would also have a cool workshop as a spin-off. :)

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

To true, the hair dryer was the only thing that I had that could get close to a 50amp load but yes I thought it was a dumb idea to heat up the place with a hair dryer and then try and cool it with the Aircon

[@moz9357]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 yes, I know, that’s how things sometimes just pan out….

[@stefanlauster4877]

Great test mate, thanks for the review ✅

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@xtract_media]

Awesome work mate, great review

[@tighematthew]

Awesome mate i just brought one .They have 3 year warranty so im not really worried..

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

If you have low current demands, which most people only want a battery to run a fridge, lights and maybe a diesel heater and use a charger that has a temp sensor ( not needed if you camp when it warm) I think these batteries will easily do 3 years

[@tighematthew]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 cheers mate

[@plokijij7856]

You can’t series or parallel them at all! Now Aldi sell them there even cheaper so buy a bunch, rip the cells out and join them together with a Daly BMS for big power for a fraction of the price!

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

That will work

[@bullion78]

Thankyou so much for the comprehensive review mate. Can you recommend a budget dcdc charger? Also is there anything you can buy to heat the battery in cold climates? Ie: victorian winter? Or would you not entertain these batteries in southern Australia during winter

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

I have used most of the common cheep dc to dc chargers and all have worked fine but none of the cheap ones I have used have a lithium profile. If you are looking at using a lithium battery in below zero temperatures I would recommend using a DC to DC charger with a battery temp sensor probe like redarc units as they will switch off charging below 0° and yes redarc units don’t come cheap but I think there are a couple others out there that will have battery temperature monitoring just make sure it has the ability to switch off below 0°c and yes you can buy battery heating pads, just search for 12 V lithium battery heating pad or a battery with internal heating such as Renogy brand battery

[@evil17]

You could try a 12v pet or aquarium blanket for lizards etc, you can come across these reasonably cheap , put around or under cells/batteries with a protective layer. These pet blankets dont use much power in the needed ranges and often have a temp control as well and a 240v-12v adapter, just hook this up without the adaptor to ur 12v with a thermostat differential you can set to whatever u want to keep the cells above 0C and cutout at 2-3C, this wont use much power from battery and can turn it up a bit if u want if ur charging.

[@yallawallahalla]

Hey Phil, Great video, thanks. I’m looking at purchasing the ‘ultra premium plus’ version of this battery. It has 100amp constant capability. I can’t seem to figure out if the bms in these batteries have a cell equalization function. I’m no expert but this seems like an important function for the longevity of the battery. I called Volt-X and a Philippino call centre lady told me that they do equalise. She didn’t have any idea what that actually meant though so I’m finding it hard to take her word on it. Do you know? Cheers mate, ..Tim

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

All Bms have have passive balancing / cell equalisation in lithium batteries . In my opinion I think the Quality of VoltX batteries aren’t too bad. As for the more expensive ones I would like to cut one open to see if they have better cells or just a better BMS.

[@yallawallahalla]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 Thanks Phill, appreciate it 👍🏼 I saw somebody say that the cells in volt-x batteries are likely second hand and therefore I guess would have less remaining cycles (lifespan). I’m hoping the pricier batteries would use brand new A grade cells giving them maybe double the lifespan? Not sure if this is true but I do know lots of cheap battery manufacturers use second hand cells (eg knock off milwuakee/makita 18v batteries). The problem is that the price jump between the volt-x and the top of the range stuff is so big that even if the lifespan on a volt-x is half it would still be more economical.

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

@@yallawallahalla I have found out that there is actually manufactures in China that actually only make low-grade lithium cells for this market of cheap lithium batteries. So when VoltX say the cells are new they are but they are built to a price. I agree totally with you there is a big price jump between the cheap lithium and the top end stuff. My way of looking at is I would rather buy two cheap lithium batteries and double my capacity rather then be able to only afford one expensive battery

[@xboxice2005]

Can you link ua to the vidoe where you put them in parallel 😊

[@vicbitterdog]

great vid , is there anywhere to get a better bms, and to run in parallel or series thank you in geelong

[@samjones2112]

Hey mate, this is an awesome review. I'm struggling to comprehend why these can't be run in parallel. I actually bought 2 of the 200ah with the intention of joining them.. now I'm a bit confused. Particularly because the picture on the outbax website of the battery actually says "can run up to 4 in parallel" which has evidently been changed now but I based my inital purchase on that. They are for my tiny home, I won't be ever drawing a huge amperage. Do you think if I never draw more than 25 amps I can safely run them in parallel? Thanks again for the great review and breakdown.

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

I will be doing a proper video on how to parallel these and why they say that they can’t be put in parallel. But to answer your question Yes you can run them in parallel. Just fully charged them up individually first at 14.5v, let them sit for 12 hours not connected together, this is done to let the cell voltage settle or because one battery when charging can cut out on high-voltage disconnect and not actually be fully charged. Recheck the voltage, From what I found if the voltage is with in .10 of a volt each other ie 13.33v on one battery and 13.43 on the other it will be ok to join but only if they have been charged but if needed recharge the lower one leave it sit again for a few hours, recheck voltage and then join them together with a linking wire that has a 20amp fuse just in case the current when the voltage balances between the two batteries goes wild. Once the current stops transferring between the two batteries, use a amp meter to measure this or just wait about two hours. Recharge them as a pair And you will be good to go. When you install them make sure you put a fuse on each battery, say if the battery has a 50 amp continuous output put a 50 amp fuse on each of the batteries. This will stop one battery from taking all the load if the other battery is a bit dodgy or cannot discharge as quickly as the other one.

[@joeldesker]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 hi Phil. Is this video u mentioned out yet. I have 2 100AH and I'm considering running them in parallel. Thanks for this awesome breakdown.

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

@@joeldesker kzbin.info/www/bejne/f5DCqaubi8Z2iKc this is the video I did on paralleling the voltX battery, hope it helps

[@huggles79]

Thanks for the great review. Looking forward to running mine. Do you think it is ok to mount this battery under the bonnet?

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Heat is a killer of any LiFeP04 battery no matter the brand. The battery in this review is the older basic battery and it has no over temperature protection where as the newer one does so it should be okay to run the newer basic under the Bonnet but don’t expect it to maintain its capacity over time. The higher the temperature that a lithium battery is exposed to the quicker it loses capacity over time. Thing to remember with lithium batteries is that they can suffer from thermal run away google this to find out more information if you like, this is just something to be mindful of when placing a battery under the Bonnet or anywhere in a vehicle. They are a cheap battery so it doesn’t really matter if you kill it in a short period of time . The newer basic battery seems to be fairly well sealed so water ingress shouldn’t be a problem. The battery has a 50°c operation when charging and 65° discharge and the bms will disconnect the battery at about 70°c

[@oneeyedphotographer]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 It's worth remembering that 50+ in the shade has been officially measured in three places in Australia, twice a recent summer. If you are going to be driving around in an Australian summer, under the bonnet is not a good place.

[@jimmymack1079]

Great review mate. I just purchased one of these VoltX 100ah to run with an older VoltaX 100Ah in parallel. Do you think it will be OK? Are the VoltX just a rebranded VoltaX? They seem to have similar specs. Cheers Phil.

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Hi Jimmy to answer your question quickly I would say no but that does not stop you from giving it a try. Both VoltX and Volta X are supplied from company here in Oz but that does not mean they come out of the same factory in China. The Volta x has many cylindrical lithium cells in Parallel and series. The voltX has4 prismatic cells in series . If it was me I would drain one battery first and then switch over to the next and then charge the first battery while you’re using the second battery just to keep things safe. This can easily be done by using two isolator switches or 2 50/60amp push pull circuit breakers or 2 Narva breakers part No. 55960 or the like. Pop the circuit breaker on the discharge battery and then push the circuit breaker in to use the charge battery

[@mikey8316]

​​@@philsrandomstuff2392if they have their own individual BMS then I wouldn't do it

[@carlh2007]

it would be interesting if you can get to the QR code see what the cells are. they look a different colour so mix matched cells.

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

There is no QR codes on the cells. I have pealed back the decals and there is no codes

[@evil17]

Great vid Phil, I bought some real cheap ($280 100A Real) batteries recently, like Sam Jones, these were spec’s wrong, as china does. Anyhow turned out they only had a 25A-50A max capacity with no parallel or series ability, but I put them in parallel coupled with a Maxwell 16v cap & tried them on a 12v 6000-24000 lfsw inverter and all worked ok. I did a short test with a toaster that sucked 220 amps for 15-20 seconds & all still seemed ok for this short test as the cables were too small & geting warm I stopped it. I also have them set up in series on a 48v system I am using on my house at the moment for a bit of testing. They are coupled with a 48v Suntorque server rack battery as well and a 48v + 16v Maxwell capacitor and seem ok so far also. Ive only drawn 50+Amps with the microwave on so far. But I was wondering if the BMS could handle the 48v series circuit, & so far so good, nothing has gone bang yet. I believe the issue with series connection can be that the MOSFETS may not be high enough voltage for series in some cheap BMS’s, does that sound correct to you? Not saying these are ok yet, just some info for ya’s on the cheapest shit u can find lately. Like ur vid, good to see some Ozzy stuff on the tube. Cheers

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

To see what voltage the bms can handle all you need to do is get the part number of the mosfet on the bms look up the specs on Google, Looks like your like me having a bit of fun with these cheap batteries, I fine it hard to dump big buck on on something that I see as a consumable item. As a auto elec I spend most of my time fixing caravan and 4x4 auxiliary batteries system, most of the time they fail/have problems due to the owners not understanding what they have and how it works. I don’t do big dollar installs, just get people what they need to do the job so they can spend more of their money on travel. The a caps make all the difference when starting engines as they stop you from blowing up the mosfets on high in rush currents

[@brownies-midlifeadventure5333]

Great teardown and review, thanks mate 🤠👍 Q: I'm thinking of 2 x 12v 200Ah Voltx in series for 24v.... is that possible?

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

2 in series is only possible if the bms in each of the batteries can handle over 36volts. I have tried to find the voltage specifications on BMS in my batteries and have come up short on info. I would be happy putting these batteries in parallel but unless specified by the manufacturer I would be hesitant to run them in series As you could find a BMS on one of the battery shutting down on overvoltage all the time. If you do decide to try put these batteries in series I would charge them individually and then connect them in parallel to balance each other out say leave them sit there like this for 24 hours and then connect them in series.

[@brownies-midlifeadventure5333]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 thanks for the info Phil 🤠👍

[@TheTenkade]

Thank you for the informative video. VoltX Webstie also outline you can't use their non RV/Advanced models in Parallel/Series anymore, I don't know if VoltaX rebranded to VoltX but the eBay listings from OutbaxCamping were all swapped from VoltaX to VoltX. A KZbinr in LA gave some details on batteries and outlined that some BMS/Internal wiring aren't sized for Series/Parallel, so maybe they decided to stop promoting Series/Parallel to promote buying the more expensive RV/Advanced units with the LED capacity screens. OutbaxCamping have a 200ah LiFePO4 200aH 2022 VoltX at $899 AUD 0S 0P supported and an "RV" 200ah LiFePO4 VoltX at $1099 AUD 4S 2P supported. If you are inclined, there are PowerAnt 12v LiFePO4 batteries promoting Series/Parallel. I'm trying to find a reliable brand to expand my 135aH VoltaX 12v banks.

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Hi and thanks for telling us about Powerant batteries they look like they have all the right things but no Magens of whether they have a great cells or not. There is also a Antpower battery brand. It is possible that some of these batteries are okay but if one is worried about warranty a battery purchased from a local manufacturer/assembler with a address and phone number will make things a hell of a lot easier when it comes for claiming warranty. It’s hard to not feel ripped off when you buy $1000 battery and see so many for sub $500. My thoughts on the parallel issue is that the batteries are very hard to get to be both at the same voltage so one is always discharging into the other and that the BMS has no thermal protection

[@TheTenkade]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 If you're interested, I picked up the 2 batteries yesterday and tested them with a simple test so far. 2x12v 135ah, charged them to "full" 29.2v charge @ 30a with my MPPSolar Controller/Inverter. didn't do a very good charge, one was reading 13.91v the other 13.44v as soon as I took them off, equalized them together back to 13.43v and let rest for 2 hours, then did a capacity test, and got 250ah out of them before the inverter wouldn't run anymore. The LCD screens they come with are a bit strange, they read an old value then update, while blinking between % and V, and then turn themselves off, so hard to tell if they normalised or were still testing, very weird. I will probably test them 1 more time before putting them into use, any suggestions would be appreciated. I plan to charge them to full again, leave them overnight test their new resting voltage and then try and fill them up and do a capacity test again.

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Sorry for the late reply. It looks like it might of been better to charge them in parallel first which is what I always do before connecting the batteries in series. The LCD screens I think on all these cheap lithium batteries are probably a more of a gimmick than of any value. As lithium batteries have a quite flat discharge curve the voltage reading doesn’t really mean much until the battery is almost flat. I think the LCD screens would probably work very well on a lead acid battery. Would love to know how they perform for you and I’ll be doing a few more videos on these voltX batteries when I’m not so snowed under with work.

[@beer7139]

Chinese manufacturers tend to change the name if the product receives poor reviews

[@oneeyedphotographer]

@@beer7139 Australian companies do that too. It's an effective way to kill off a bad (or even criminal) reputation.

[@Lime-Spider1959]

Hi Phil thanks for your review. I bought a VoltX 100ah about 12mths ago . All black case model LI-12V-G-AO-X. It says on the case that the standard discharge current is 100A with Max discharge current 200A. I use this battery in my tinny to run my electric outboard and my sounder and have had no issues. Is this the same battery as the one you tested or have VoltX changed the 100A battery ? Mine also says on the case it can be connected in parallel. Thanks again.

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Hi Michael that battery I believe had a different BMS, and Cylindrical cells , if it’s the one I’m thinking of

[@Lime-Spider1959]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 Thanks for the reply Phil. Great to have an Aussie perspective with your channel . Cheers

[@Mambey]

Need to work on the volume. Nice Vid.

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Volume is a hard one for me keep at the same level

[@SOL1C1T0R]

Which battery brands / models (Lithium preferable) would you recommend for someone that goes to remote areas?

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

The best battery to get is a battery that is in your budget and /or a battery that comes from a maker/ Assembler that you can talk to directly so they can set you up with the correct size battery and answer any questions that you have about getting the most out of your battery and support if something goes wrong with the battery. If you are based in Australia you could try custom lithium they assemble their own batteries, link below customlithium.com.au/

[@bentimmons8995]

Hey, wouild be great if you could do a review of the VoltX Shingled solar panels.. I just got a 200w fixed "Premium Panel" and it is hard-pressed getting 7amps/hr out of it

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

I’ve got 160w solar panels and at best get 4amp out of them so 7amps not bad. I would love to do more reviews but I do these at my cost and to help others, I make no money out of KZbin

[@bentimmons8995]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 I understand, thanks for the reply. Appreciate your review/videos.

[@evil17]

Andy just did a review of the shingled solar panel on his channel Off Grid garage, I think they are a sham from his findings and not worth the extra$. My 1st red flag was that they had no power or amp rating on the panels and they did not perform as advertised, 8yo panels performed as well. I bought a 260watt panel from ebay, that only put out 130w at best, it had no power rating on back either.

[@bentimmons8995]

@@evil17 Thanks Evan, just saw this

[@denisvincent3249]

Great video

[@pauljeffery5691]

Great video. I’m looking at putting 120ah lifepo4 battery in my caravan but confused about charging and how I will wire it up. The caravan already has a 240v AC-DC charger (dometic mca1215) which provides 15a at 14.4v either constant (which they recommend for lithium) or with float of 13.8 or 13.5v. Will this charger still work ok even though battery spec says 20a charger? I also have about 20a charge coming from solar setup with a lifepo4 compatible mppt controller but obviously that won’t charge all the time. Then looking at when towing the van would I need a DC-DC charger or just have it running direct from alternator?

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Hi Paul sorry for the delay in responding. Your 240v charger will work fine. It’s not the chargers current output that matters so much but it’s voltage and 14.4 volts is fine. You can charge a lithium battery anywhere between 14.2 to 14.6. With only 15amp output it will just take awhile to charge up. The change current that they say is only a recommendation they will normally have a max charge current between 50 and 100amp. As to how to connect it up, if it was my van I would get a at minimum a 25amp charger dc to dc changer as you have a 20 amp solar input , which will be on average less than that. I would connect the solar, dc to dc and 240v charger directly to the battery or via some sort of battery monitor and a fuse for each charging device. That way when your driving you will have the solar and DCtoDC chargers working giving you up to 45amp and when parked up 35amp from solar and 240v and long as you don’t exceed the maximum charging current of the battery you will be fine. The more current you can put in the faster you’ll be able to charge the battery. Hopefully this helps cheers Phil

[@pauljeffery5691]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 thanks Phil for the reply. So the 15a 240v charger as I understand will just keep supplying power constantly so I’m guessing the internal bms in the battery will cut the charge once it’s full? I also have a 3 way fridge in my caravan which uses about 15a, currently I have a single Anderson plug from car that connects to my agm battery and fridge plus the solar Aldo connected to AGM so the fridge seems to work quite well getting power from car alternator and solar. Im guessing once I have the dc dc charger installed I can only have fridge either connected only to the car alternator (before the dcdc charger) or after the dcdc charger but then I’m guessing it will take a fair chunk of the current away from charging the battery.

[@annpeerkat2020]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 Are you sure you know what you're talking about? You told someone above that "you can charge a lithium battery anywhere between 14.2 to 14.6" (V). Paul Jeffery stated he has a dometic mca1215 which is NOT designed for or suitable for lithium batteries per its own installation and operating manual, and indicates someone told him he should charge/cook them with 14.4V "constant voltage" with no absorbtion of float reduction at all. Do you believe that lithium batteries can be floated at 14.2V - 14.6V continuously without harm?. It's one thing to pull a battery apart and measure cell voltages etc....it's another thing to give good advice about how to use a battery without cooking it. While many charger manufacturers are happy to shout that their chargers are "universal" and can charge any type of battery (while being designed for stone age lead acid/gel/agm).... reputable lithium battery manufacturer/sellers are generally very reticent, or refuse to endorse using conventional chargers, for a good reason- they are the ones that face the warranty and bad PR when lithiums get cooked through overvoltage.

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Are you 100% right. Floating a lithium battery for long periods of time at a high voltage is no good at all for the cells in the battery. That is why I made mention in the comment to install a battery monitor so you know when the battery is charged and the charger can be turned off. I should’ve added this to the comment but I had already posted it once I realised it hadn’t chance to edit the comment. Sorry

[@pauljeffery5691]

@@annpeerkat2020 actually if you read the manual for mca1215 it does mention it’s suitable for dometic estore lithium batteries

[@geoffsaul429]

The date on the cells was 2013. Were lifepo batteries available in 2013? lifepo appears to be a recent invention. Are these batteries waterproof? If so why do they put "do not leave your battery near water". Also they are not recommended for boats. I have been using these batteries for 2 years in my small boat powering a 54lb thrust electric motor with no problems.

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

The Chinese print there date backwards to us, so year is first than month. The battery case was glued together very well, don’t think water entry would be a problem. For what you are using these batteries I think they are ideal, why spend any more

[@geoffsaul429]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 Thanks Phil. Are these batteries be waterproof?

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

@@geoffsaul429 No but The two batteries I cut a part looked to have the top of the case glued to the bottom case very well and the pos and neg post are moulded into top of the case, so unless you put the battery completely under water I can not see water ingress being a problem. The only problem I can see is condensation buildup inside the battery case due to temp change but this will be a problem with any battery case that’s not vented to atmosphere, this condensation might cause problems with the bms . That’s way they make waterproof BMS for I guess

[@oneeyedphotographer]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 Actually, it's Americans are back to front. I used TTL digital logic in the 70s, IC were dated YYWW, so 7405 meant the fifth week of 1974. It might be ISO who regulates this stuff.

[@darylnapper2897]

Go Phil Very 👍 good

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Thanks Daz

[@gadgetphilosophy8290]

Nice review man.

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Glad you like it

[@jordanwalters9447]

hey mate I commented on one of your other videos about the battery I have bought 2x 100 amp hour batteries and I was planning on running them parallel... do you know why they say they can't be run in parallel? do you think I would be able to get away with doing it I'm only using it to run a fridge and some led camp lights?

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Running them in parallel will not be a problem with that amount of load. Just remember to charge up the batteries individually first, leave the batteries sit for 24hours, check the voltage is with in .10 volt of each other If not recharge the lowest battery, leave sit again, Once happy with voltage parallel the batteries up with a 20amp fuse in one of the paralleling cables, this is just in case the current goes wild as the batteries balance to the same charge state and then recharge them as a paralleled set, do away with the 20amp fuse and your good to go. I fuse the batteries independently with 40amp fuse on each battery Why they say that the batteries can not be paralleled is I believe is because the BMS is not very good, It has no over current protection, just under voltage protection and no over/under temp protection, as you can see from my videos on the battery it’s possible to draw over 150amps and maybe causing a thermal runaway , so if you keep your amps to 50amp total it will be sweet

[@merdel9663]

How do you think these will go in a boat? Planning on getting 2 to run electronics and fridge

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Look so far I cannot really fault these batteries Besides the cell in balance issues but that is to be expected with a cheap lithium battery. The batteries are sealed up very well so I can’t see any issues with water entry and if you’re looking for a cheap battery that charges very quickly they are definitely the way to go. Just remember before joining the batteries in parallel to charge them fully individually with the same charger, let the batteries sit for 12 hours to let them internally balance , check that they are both at the same voltage and then join them in parallel. Cheers Phil

[@merdel9663]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 any idea why manufacturer says you can run in series or parallel?

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

@@merdel9663 I believe the manufacturer says they cannot be joined in parallel because it’s very hard to get these batteries to be matched in voltage. If you are to join two batteries together they must be at the same voltage otherwise one battery will discharge a lot of current very quickly into the lowest voltage battery to even out the voltage between the two batteries, this will cause the BMS in one of the batteries to cut out on overcurrent and you will have no chance of getting them to stay joined together in parallel. They must be charged, left sit for 12 to 24 hours voltage to settle, check the voltage again and if needed the battery with the lower voltage recharged and the same thing done again until they are sitting both the same voltage within 10 mV. I ended up buying a 3.6 V cell/battery charger to charge the cells individually this was the quickest way to get matched voltages. This is all shown when finish of part two. As long they a the same voltage flat or changed you should be right to parallel them

[@oneeyedphotographer]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 When I was a kid, we had domestic 32V nominal, using six volt car batteries. Dad just connected them in series with no special care. He had to add water regularly, and tested with a hydrometer. In the tractor, he had two 12V batteries in parallel. Part of the reason this worked, I think, is the internal resistance of the batteries. I wonder whether, to use LiFePO4 batteries in parallel, first charge them as you say, then wire them in parallel with a resistor in circuit to limit current flow between however many batteries you have. Next remove resistors, wire properly and charge. I think that any voltage disparities will become unimportant, and you won't be so concerned about timing

[@Riley_sutton]

Hey mate what Lithium charger would you recommend with this or just any charger i don’t know about it and about to buy one

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Choosing a charger really comes down to how much you know about batteries and how to recharge them. To keep things safe You can use any charger that says it has a lifeP04 lithium profile, After that it’s just looking at how many amps the charger can do.(having a lithium charger that has a absorption mode I find beneficial to help the BMS balance the cells to the best of it’s ability) The more amps the charger can deliver the faster it will recharge the battery but the more it cost. VoltX recommends a 14.6v 20amp charger for this battery. Going to more detail .To charge any lifeP0412 V lithium battery Properly it needs to reach over 3.5 V per cell or 14.00v for Passive cell balancing, you only need to reach 14.6v to get to 100% of capacity. Some manufacturers say not to charge to 14.6 V all the time as this can cause damage to the battery and to only charge the battery to 90% of capacity or thereabouts so anywhere between 14.2 and 14.5 V will be spot on and once every 3 months charge to 14.6v if The battery is getting cycled hard.

[@xboxice2005]

I was told these batteries couldn't be hucked uo in series parallel.

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

I have had mine joined in parallel since I did this video with no problems, can not comment on series

[@Itsme-zq3et]

Why do they make the boxes so big!

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

It’s just a standard 100ah agm battery box, I would imagine cost would be the reason not to make a smaller more suitable box. Also it easier to fit where an AGM battery once was

[@AstroBananna]

11:34 pun or no pun :)

[@__beer__]

Seems to be a fair bit more expensive now

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Yes they are. They have fitted a better bms

[@androidemulator6952]

is the VOLTX a rebadged OUTBAX ?

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Outbax sell voltX batteries

[@androidemulator6952]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 Thanx...was noticing Outbax specials on these Voltx... was almost tempted by the low prices.. lucky i found your video ;)

[@oliviatulloch1358]

bought a 300ah and a 200ah version of these voltx for no other reason than to test them, Neither would rest at more than 13.3v, fought tooth and nail to get them refunded, instead sent me a replacement that was the same, so sent them back again. outbax tried to tell me 13.3v is good for Lithium ahaha. thats a 90% battery. after two months they gave a refund, 4 batteries I received not one made the cut,, I run renogy batteries and all sit happily on 13.6v as they should. these are Junk batteries, you will not get a 100% battery, if you do your lucky. these are made for people who dont know better. the build quality looked good, But the cells are not A-grade as advertised. they are a rip off

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Your right 13.3v is low, this is common for low grade cells. The way they get there rating is to have low voltage cut off at 9/9.5 volts. So with my test 200ah voltX gets around 180ah to 10.5 volts which is a common cut off voltage for inverters and fridges. They are cheap for a reason and if you not asking a lot out of them it’s probably not a bad way to go. Renogy are doing some good products at very reasonable prices now. I think you’ll be very happy with your purchase. Thanks for your comment cheers, Phillip

[@stevecrowe176]

What was the battery price? Is there a link? Cheers

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Hi Steve I payed $375.00 each on sale from catch.com

[@jimmyp164]

write now on outbax is $469

[@stevecrowe176]

@@jimmyp164 Aldi had exactly the same battery $429 last Sat 2.4.22

[@truesight91]

How do these compare with Renogy?

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Renogy are better but you pay more for a reason

[@truesight91]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 Thanks can you give some main examples whats better?

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

@@truesight91 They have a lifespan of more than 4000 cycles, 100A continuous discharge current for there 12v 100ah battery , Bluetooth connection, pouch cells and ability to turn the battery off completely when not in use just to name a few. You need to look at how are you are going to use your batteries system, if you like me and use it for four weeks of the year I feel it is pointless buying a expensive battery but on the other hand if you intend on living full-time on battery power having something with a 4000 cycle life is going to save your money in the long run especially since you will be cycling the batteries a lot.

[@truesight91]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 Great response, all I needed thank you :)

[@Mambey]

Could be the BMS.

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

From what I have found The Bms only has over voltage and under voltage protection, no temp or short circuit protection and very low passive balancing. You could make it a better/safer battery with a better bms

[@andrewriley9913]

Why were drawing so many amps..0.2c

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Get the testing done quickly, the batteries are rated 50amp constant discharge.

[@shanekirby6078]

What do you mean second hand cells.

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

I spoke to a number lithium battery assemblies here in Australia and some of these people suggested that cells are secondhand as have done there time in USP power supply or EV vehicles. I now believe that the cells are new low grade cells. On YT there is some vids on how to identify a low grade cell.

[@shanekirby6078]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 What about the higher end market [ ones that are 2 to 3 grand batteries] do they use second hand or are they new cells

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

@@shanekirby6078 Hi Shayne all high and lithium batteries should have A grade cells once you reach the $800 plus mark. That’s why I suggest purchasing one off a company that Assembles the batteries in Australia, they will probably use Chinese made cells but they will know the quality of the cells. I believe that an $800 battery Will last the same amount of time/life as a $1400 100amp hour battery. Just remember a battery isn’t going to last forever and you need to contemplate when purchasing a battery how much you are going to use it versus how much you should pay for it. I.e. if you like me and only have four weeks a year holiday I can’t see the sense in spending any more than $700 on a battery I would rather spend my money on going on holidays. Putting weight aside the only reason why you have a lithium battery is for how fast you can recharge it compare to an AGM Not because people tell you are going to get 10 years out of it I constantly see AGM batteries lasting five or more years so this is a much viable way to go if your current demands don’t exceed the abilities of your AGM to recharge in time. Don’t fall into the trap of being the guy with the most expensive lithium set up. Cheers Phil

[@kaihe2665]

Chinese put year month day, So the manufacture date of the cells is 2021 July 13

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Thanks for confirming that for me. From the testing i’ve done these cells are definitely old cells. The cell voltages sag after charging, the battery will not charge up any higher than 90% (13.3v) capacity which would equate to from what I can tell the original capacity of the cells were roughly 110/120 amp hour cells

[@docification94]

@@philsrandomstuff2392 I suppose that's a good thing in a way. It means we get a cheap 100AH LiFePo4 battery, and the presumption that a precious resource was actually recycled rather than disposed of. Both positives.

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

@@docification94 that’s very true

[@simonjsanderson]

Oh I did laugh at kzbin.info/www/bejne/g3jVmIyne8SDi7M at your 'date of theft' comment. Politically incorrect but hilarious.

[@ozwelshcobs]

The audio is very low.

[@philsrandomstuff2392]

Sorry