Lithium battery problems

Hughcr · Member

Lithium battery problems

Whenarewethere · Guru

It seems to be that this brand is 11kg for 100Ah. That is far too light.

Stick it on the scales & weigh it.

If it is around this weight chuck it & buy a proper lithium battery from Victron or similar.

yobarr · Guru

Whenarewethere wrote:
It seems to be that this brand is 11kg for 100Ah. That is far too light.
Stick it on the scales & weigh it.
If it is around this weight chuck it & buy a proper lithium battery from Victron or similar.

Victron 100ah is 13.8kg,so around 25% heavier.Cheers

boab · Senior Member

the itec 120 is just 12 kgs

yobarr · Guru

boab wrote:
the itec 120 is just 12 kgs

You might like to refer to the post by Jonathan.(Whenarewethere) Using Victron as a guide,it seems the itec should weigh over 16kg? Cheers

Whenarewethere · Guru

Teardown thread:

https://thegreynomads.activeboard.com/t67455852/lithium-battery-teardown-examples/

Personally I would open a new battery to have a look inside.

If people could add photos of the inside of their old lithium batteries to the above thread it would build up the knowledge base so others don't make the same mistake & buy cheap lithium batteries, which at best probably only have B grade cells.

boab · Senior Member

after about 48 hrs of running my engel the battery had released 95 amps was still 12.8 volts the guys at itec told me they would go down by 105 amps before the safety shut off was activated i am happy with my buy if you are calling the people at itec that make these batteries liars or mis representing the product i can pass on there contact details to you

yobarr · Guru

boab wrote:
after about 48 hrs of running my engel the battery had released 95 amps was still 12.8 volts the guys at itec told me they would go down by 105 amps before the safety shut off was activated i am happy with my buy if you are calling the people at itec that make these batteries liars or mis representing the product i can pass on there contact details to you

All we're saying is that "Oils ain't oils".

Dicko1 · Senior Member

yobarr wrote:
boab wrote:
after about 48 hrs of running my engel the battery had released 95 amps was still 12.8 volts the guys at itec told me they would go down by 105 amps before the safety shut off was activated i am happy with my buy if you are calling the people at itec that make these batteries liars or mis representing the product i can pass on there contact details to you
All we're saying is that "Oils ain't oils".

I also ran mine down and shut down at 106amps on the meter. Cant complain about that. I ran the 3 batteries down and all were very similar. I,m happy so will leave the squabbling to the gurus...

Whenarewethere · Guru

Since you have 3 of them you should open one up.

Dicko1 · Senior Member

Whenarewethere wrote:
Since you have 3 of them you should open one up.

Somehow mate your logic doesn't quite do it for me....

Whenarewethere · Guru

I pull everything apart to see what the suppliers are fleecing me off with as you couldn't trust them as far as you can throw them, and with batteries you can't throw them very far!

Main fuse box in my car, one of 3 fuse boxes, I wanted to see what's inside.

In comparison opening a lithium battery to see what is inside is a piece of cake!

Dicko1 · Senior Member

boab wrote:
after about 48 hrs of running my engel the battery had released 95 amps was still 12.8 volts the guys at itec told me they would go down by 105 amps before the safety shut off was activated i am happy with my buy if you are calling the people at itec that make these batteries liars or mis representing the product i can pass on there contact details to you

Here is a link to a chap who retested his Itech lithium after 13 months (older model battery than the new 120X). Not bad as it also spent 10 months under his cars bonnet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjJqzs1k27Q

Dicko1 · Senior Member

Whenarewethere wrote:
I pull everything apart to see what the suppliers are fleecing me off with as you couldn't trust them as far as you can throw them, and with batteries you can't throw them very far!
Main fuse box in my car, one of 3 fuse boxes, I wanted to see what's inside.

In comparison opening a lithium battery to see what is inside is a piece of cake!

Spent many years repairing outback communications equipment and now that I am retired the last thing I want to do is start pulling electronic gizmos apart again>>> biggrin

Whenarewethere · Guru

60 seconds running a cutter around the side. A stickybeak & tape it back together, easy!

IMG_20210416_095655600~2.jpg

Dicko1 · Senior Member

I,ll drink my bottle of Bundy Rum and attack it with the 9 inch grinder......

orid · Senior Member

Hughcr wrote:
Over a year ago I Bought a Nomad lithium battery from Batteries All Types in Bunbury. The Nomad is a 100ah battery made in WA byRenewable Biz. Everything went well until it turned itself off recently for no apparent reason. It was out of warranty but had hardly been used due to COVID restrictions last year. The manufacturers found burnt out wiring and fixed it. we were then told that it had been wrongly connected by BAT and had been overcharging due to the way the solar panel and Redarc Controller were connected. Then after a short trip to Albany it turned itself off again and I am currently waiting for the manufacturer to respond. The problem seems to be one relating to new technology and lack of awareness of potential issues. Can anyone help with similar experiences?

Hi Hughcr, I will throw in my 2 cents here ,hope this doesn't sound too condescending,

With Lithium , especially important to be of good quality,

and it is really important to have everything fitted and wired by someone that really knows what they are doing , especially the charging side of the setup.

Regards Orid

-- Edited by orid on Friday 16th of April 2021 11:43:26 AM

boab · Senior Member

I think i will pulling things apart to some one else as i wouldnt know what i am looking at and good luck with any warranty claims if your battery or any other item has been attacked with an angle grinder. Advising people to pull any thing like a battery apart in my view is bordering on stupidity

gdayjr · Senior Member

boab wrote:
I think i will pulling things apart to some one else as i wouldnt know what i am looking at and good luck with any warranty claims if your battery or any other item has been attacked with an angle grinder. Advising people to pull any thing like a battery apart in my view is bordering on stupidity

I don't think its stupid to advise someone to pull a battery apart.

Its only stupid, if you attempt to do it, without knowing what you are doing.

Whenarewethere · Guru

Plenty of people repack battery power tools. They may not look the prettiest after ripping the case apart, but they work again & often better then originally.

Hughcr · Member

Thanks for that. All points of view are welcome on this one. The battery is an NMC lithium : Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (LiNiMnCoO2) and weighs 11kg. latest update is that the manufacturer is blaming the retailer for connecting it wrongly. Fortunately the retailer has offered an alternative which is probably an AGM battery. Dont think Ill go back to Lithium in a hurry until more is known about it.

Mike196 · Senior Member

Will they be refunding the price difference? Or they taking the cheap way out? (not trying to be difficult)

Mike196 · Senior Member

deleted

-- Edited by Mike196 on Friday 16th of April 2021 05:32:24 PM

Tony Bev · Guru

Hughcr wrote:
Thanks for that. All points of view are welcome on this one. The battery is an NMC lithium : Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (LiNiMnCoO2) and weighs 11kg. latest update is that the manufacturer is blaming the retailer for connecting it wrongly. Fortunately the retailer has offered an alternative which is probably an AGM battery. Dont think Ill go back to Lithium in a hurry until more is known about it.

Hi Hughcr

Thanks for putting this up

There are a lot of us on this forum, who are not techies, and know very little about batteries, especially lithium ones

It is always good to know about a battery that, (for whatever reasons), failed as soon as the warranty ran out

I for one, shall not be buying this brand of battery, unless I hear that the manufacturer has replaced it for you

I do not believe that any problems between the manufacturer/retailer/installer/ is a problem, the consumer has to worry about

Whenarewethere · Guru

Hughcr wrote:
The manufacturers found burnt out wiring and fixed it. we were then told that it had been wrongly connected by BAT and had been overcharging due to the way the solar panel and Redarc Controller were connected.

A 10 year old would have the reading & dexterity skills to install a controller.

2 wires go to the solar panels.

2 wires go to the battery.

2 wires go to the load, if it has that option.

Which wires were installed incorrectly?

Hughcr · Member

The Nomad has one input for unregulated and another for regulated power. BAT connected the Redarc to unregulated and solar panel, via its own regulator, to regulated. Outputs were connected to designated sockets eg fridge to Engel input. Manufacturer then said that this would overload the Nomad even though it has its own battery management system. So its not that simple.

BAT has now offered us a $300 discount on another product to fix the problem. Manufacturer has refused further contact and BAT no longer deals with him.