LFP battery choice

[Guest]

Will's review is what helped me decide to switch from Lion to SOK on this trailer. I doubled my amp hours but not my cost. I never considered the Battle Borns personally. Even during their seconds sales they're overpriced in my personal opinion.

This is a valid statement since Battle Born batteries are very good quality but they are over priced IMO. Why? Look at Battle Born's' parent companies DragonFly and Dynavolt which warrants their batteries for 3 years at full replacement through the OEM and two years prorated by Dragonfly. Why not 8 year full replacement and 2 years prorated?

There are many good quality batteries out there.

Jim

[howson]

Man do I wish I could do that. I walk by my trailer in the yard multiple times a day and I check my batteries and solar on my phone at least once a day! Imagine what I do when I'm actually out camping! It's an addiction, really.

As the sign says, "The only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys."

[Country Campers]

I would think that size and weight would be a consideration as well as cost or ah rating.

Brian

[Scott'n'Wendy]

You could be 80% discharged and not know it if looking only at voltage.

You can, it's just not as big a change as with an FLA battery. Like 13.7v to 13.1v. Maybe I'll change my mind in the future after changing my setup to lifepo4, but I don't monitor my FLA battery now, so I don't see myself eyeballing the more reliable lifepo4 battery either.

Good point on the control centre leds. I'll have to look at those and see if it's something simple to recalibrate, maybe with a multi-turn pot.
The BMV-712 looks like a nice bit of kit, but, IMO, waaay over priced for what it does. Up here in Canada they want in the range of $275.

[howson]

The BMV-712 looks like a nice bit of kit, but, IMO, waaay over priced for what it does. Up here in Canada they want in the range of $275.

[Guest]

You can, it's just not as big a change as with an FLA battery. Like 13.7v to 13.1v. Maybe I'll change my mind in the future after changing my setup to lifepo4, but I don't monitor my FLA battery now, so I don't see myself eyeballing the more reliable lifepo4 battery either.

Good point on the control centre leds. I'll have to look at those and see if it's something simple to recalibrate, maybe with a multi-turn pot.
The BMV-712 looks like a nice bit of kit, but, IMO, waaay over priced for what it does. Up here in Canada they want in the range of $275.

Scott,

The Victron Smart Shunt does all the same stuff but without the display. So Bluetooth only which is all I use anyway.

https://www.amazon.com/Victron-Smart...NsaWNrPXRydWU=

Jim

[Paul & Deb]

Scott,

The Victron Smart Shunt does all the same stuff but without the display. So Bluetooth only which is all I use anyway.

Jim

I had the BMV-712 in my last 2 trailers and, like you, I seldom looked at the display. So, this time I installed the shunt and I like it, but I find the negative reviews to be accurate in that the Bluetooth seems less effective for some reason. Mine constantly reloads or buffers or whatever it's doing. I have to be very close to the front storage where everything is mounted to get a solid signal. If I were buying again, I might go with the BMV-712, I'm not sure. I did like the $ savings!

[Guest]

I had the BMV-712 in my last 2 trailers and, like you, I seldom looked at the display. So, this time I installed the shunt and I like it, but I find the negative reviews to be accurate in that the Bluetooth seems less effective for some reason. Mine constantly reloads or buffers or whatever it's doing. I have to be very close to the front storage where everything is mounted to get a solid signal. If I were buying again, I might go with the BMV-712, I'm not sure. I did like the $ savings!

Paul thats good info.

My display is mounted in the face of the docking station so maybe with it being closer to the outside of the rig helps? Most likely the communicator is in the display on the BMV-712 on and on the shunt for your model. Have you written Victron?

I can connect to the Victron app while driving but I honestly didn't expect to be able to do that.

Jim

[Scott'n'Wendy]

howson
It's amazing you picked a video with that monitor in it. I have that monitor. I bought it 8 years ago for $14.95 off eBay. Identical schematic on the back of it. It is impressively accurate and it is still working to this day.
I use it on my work bench, not a trailer, so it doesn't get bounced around, but I use it often and it has held up.

[AZMike]

Being satisfied with the product is all that matters. Has it performed as expected and for a reasonable period of time for a reasonable price point. However, I'm a little sensitive with makers hanging the flag on their product and making the claim "Made in the USA" when they are Assembled mostly from Chinese components as listed in the description. Misleading.

https://www.sunfunkits.com/productgr...sphate-battery

Jim

I understand your concern but Sun Fun Kits (as you noted) clearly states that their products are built using parts from the US and Globally sourced. It appears that almost all of these cells from the different vendors come from China (at least from my research - I could be wrong). I was impressed with them before I made my purchase with my phone conversations (they even actually answered their phone on Sunday!). This video is also very informative, basically stating how they test and use only Grade A cells.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEUhlNvsqjQ

I have only had my kit for 5 months and I am very happy with it. As for longevity well, we will see. As of now, I'm a very happy customer.

[Scott'n'Wendy]

AZMike
So you basically spec out the parts you want from them and then when it's delivered you assemble it?

Certainly takes care of the 'what's in the box' question when it comes to lifepo4.

[Guest]

The market is moving toward claims of A, B and C grade cells where this should not be confused with Automotive Grade A cells. Our drop in batteries can be what is referred to as A grade but this is just an internal method of cell sorting. And that is good. No disrespect on one maker but when they hang the flag on the main page or USA on the side of the battery as in another maker, it it misleading. Here are good videos from Will and an overseas battery maker that provides good detail on battery cell sorting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w2JjOhDz2c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJlL-oX7oWM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N31Rvc_y1l0&t=0s

Jim

[AZMike]

AZMike
So you basically spec out the parts you want from them and then when it's delivered you assemble it?

Certainly takes care of the 'what's in the box' question when it comes to lifepo4.

Yes, you could do that. I opted to purchase mine fully assembled. They have also just announced their V3 kit which will accept 304 AH cells

[Guest]

So to be fair, Battle Born batteries will sort and categorize cells into modules and then assemble the overseas cells and BMS into a case. This quality control is reflected in the price so you do pay for this. Other assemblers or sellers would or should have tight quality control on an overseas battery pack supplier. This would involve testing of the battery pack before its sold.

Battle Born will sort cells and assemble a battery with higher capacity than the stated capacity, so batteries with lower performing cells in a pack will still deliver the stated capacity of the battery. And that's OK.

On my AIMSCORP battery the cell specification sheet is supplied and my pack was measured with an ANSI certified machine to check for total capacity. This battery also delivered over 100ah. They however do not use a low temp cut off on my older model battery which is puzzling but it's also not a concern for us since the battery is always warm. I also monitor battery temperature. Perhaps they do this because the AIMS chargers monitor battery temp. Who knows.

Jim

[Scott'n'Wendy]

So to be fair, Battle Born batteries will sort and categorize cells into modules and then assemble the overseas cells and BMS into a case. This quality control is reflected in the price so you do pay for this. Other assemblers or sellers would or should have tight quality control on an overseas battery pack supplier. This would involve testing of the battery pack before its sold.

Battle Born will sort cells and assemble a battery with higher capacity than the stated capacity, so batteries with lower performing cells in a pack will still deliver the stated capacity of the battery. And that's OK.

On my AIMSCORP battery the cell specification sheet is supplied and my pack was measured with an ANSI certified machine to check for total capacity. This battery also delivered over 100ah. They however do not use a low temp cut off on my older model battery which is puzzling but it's also not a concern for us since the battery is always warm. I also monitor battery temperature. Perhaps they do this because the AIMS chargers monitor battery temp. Who knows.

Jim

Even the cheapest batteries I've seen tested all tested over 100ah, so not sure their 'categorizing' really accomplishes much. I'm pretty sure the cells aren't the price difference, I believe it's the engineering and time involved in the solid packaging of the battery as a whole. And they are assembled here.