Initial thoughts on the new Litime Group 24 Bluetooth and Low Temp Protection BMS

[Jkwilson]

Installed it a few days ago and thought I'd share my first impression in case others are considering it.

BLUF: Two thumbs up for everything but the app. App is okay, but could be improved. Not close to a deal breaker especially considering it's new.

So my first impression is that this battery is amazingly well put together. Fit, finish and materials on the case and terminals leaves nothing to be desired. That carries over to the packaging it was shipped in.

Details. Group 24, 100AH, 100A maximum continuous current. $310 shipped before sales tax.

Easy installation as you'd expect. Even the threads on the M8 bolts and the battery were as smooth as butter. My only "complaint" is that I had to pad the battery box since the Group 24 is smaller than it was designed for.

It does battery stuff well. Handles the jacks.

The app is easy to install and connect. My only issue with adding my battery was that there are two QR codes on top of the battery. It's the small one that has the Bluetooth data, not the large one. The app shows charge state, battery voltage, temperature, cycle number and current flow. It also allows you to turn battery discharge on and off. The app is simple and uncluttered which is a plus. I have a couple of complaints about the app. First is that it forces a notification on my phone when I leave the area telling me it's lost connection. No kidding, I'm hundreds of feet away from a BT device and you can't connect? Second, and a little bigger issue, is that when going back to the area it connects on its own about 20% of the time, requires manual reconnection about 70% of the time, and refuses to connect unless I force close the app and restart about 10% of the time.

Wishlist items would be some charge state history and notifications at user selectable charge states or discharge current events.

Charging with my 10 year old WFCO converter is fine. The converter runs most of the time at 13.6V, which results in slower charging, but as with any lithium iron phosphate battery, it charges to 100% in spite of the widely spread myth that basic converters only charge lithium ion batteries to 80%. I will probably upgrade my converter to get 14.6V charging which will be significantly faster.

👍👍

[Country Campers]

Great information, thanks for the report. It is also interesting that you get full charge from a standard converter, although it takes a while, I guess I learned something today as I was in the 80% camp from all others stating that is the way it was, great to have first hand knowledge.

Brian

[IDRVr]

I was looking at the Litime 100ah Smart, the one with the button. I’ve notice that it is now “out of stock” or unavailable everywhere so I suspect they may have replaced it with the bluetooth version. The smart version BMS had a 300-500 amps for 5 seconds BMS. The bluetooth version is shown as 500 amps for 1 sec. I don’t know what 1 second does for you. I need two batteries to be able to start a 5,500 watt Onan propane generator. 5 seconds would typically be enough. I think the Onan uses around 300 amps for starting. Hopefully two 100ah Litimes will do the trick.

[Jkwilson]

I was looking at the Litime 100ah Smart, the one with the button. I’ve notice that it is now “out of stock” or unavailable everywhere so I suspect they may have replaced it with the bluetooth version. The smart version BMS had a 300-500 amps for 5 seconds BMS. The bluetooth version is shown as 500 amps for 1 sec. I don’t know what 1 second does for you. I need two batteries to be able to start a 5,500 watt Onan propane generator. 5 seconds would typically be enough. I think the Onan uses around 300 amps for starting. Hopefully two 100ah Litimes will do the trick.

I would definitely contact the company before investing. The actual current when supplying a large, inductive load like a starter is not 0-500-0, but rather large positive and negative excursions before settling in relatively flat. The technique the BMS uses to determine overload factors heavily into how it will work.