This battery really goes with; you get what you pay for :-(. I’m so glad we have people like you that lets us know about these things. Lot better than reading reviews. Thanks so much.
Thank you for the test. The reason the inverter showed a lower voltage is because of the draw. Check it with no load. You might want to check actual battery voltage when inverter turns off because if your cables are undersized it will turn off too early
Not sure if you mention it later in the video, but that voltage gauge is never going to be a good indicator of state-of-charge, since it's not a shunt.
Great review,saw another review on this battery.the low temp protect was set at a lower temp than needed to protect.and positive cable was loose.the foam inside couldve done a better job.but you get what you pay for
The meter looks to be a volt meter. Two wires only, to the pack itself. No data from the BMS and no separate shunt for itself. It won't be all that useful as a state of charge indicator for a LiFePO4 battery, but it will tell you when it's > 80% and < 20% in terms of voltage. The percent values are for lead acid. Just a thought, it is a JBD BMS so it probably has a serial port on it somewhere that is capable of providing full stats from the battery. I know an assembler like this outfit won't have the chops to do it, but a basic display + a microcontroller to run it could show the SOC and voltage from the BMS.
The battery’s voltage monitor seems to be calibrated for a lead acid battery and it won’t be accurate while drawing down anyway. It’s a cheap voltage monitor. You counted 6 cells in your video when there is actually 4. I had to go back in the video to make sure I heard it right. Ironic that they are using a full size case for pouch cells when other manufacturers are using mini cases for their pouch cell batteries. I guess that’s one way to keep cost down. Over all, it didn’t impress me as other pouch cell batteries with better build quality are now close to the same price
My guess is the manufacturer didn't calibrate the battery monitoring or may not have configured it for the correct battery size. Properly working and configured BMSes should self-correct over a full charge-discharge cycle or two to do the coulomb count from the BMS' over-discharge cell cut-off voltage to end-of-charge cell cut-off voltage. If you don't drain the battery until the BMS cuts off, then the BMS has no idea where its configured bottom actually is.
I was thinking about getting some of these, may have to think about that. The cheap foam inside was a little concerning. "Off grid basement" also tested these for max amperage draw and i believe it went over 200 amps and the bms never kicked off, something else to think about. Use in lower amp settings though, might still be worth it.
Nice review. I think for the cold temperature sensor you have to use something that’s below freezing. So like if you had a frozen peas bag from the freezer, you could sandwich the sensor in between them. I’m not sure water or ice water is below 32. But I could be wrong. Another idea with these less expensive batteries, especially ones even less expensive B cells, is to have them as the reserve power for the winter. if you can get them really inexpensive then you can get three 100 amp hour batteries and only cycle during December at most and maybe January so they’re charged up the rest of the time and not cycling. just an idea. I know from my off grid systems especially in cold weather December 10 through January 20 is the most challenging because of the number of hours of daylight and clouds/snow Love the videos Aloha
Mahalo Rick! Actually had frozen ice salt water in the freezer ready to go. The battery performed very well, and I will for sure have it charged and ready for what may come. Pleased to see the price keeps dropping on most batteries. We're getting so much sun lately here... like what we used to call Indian summer in the mountains. Aloha!🤙
What will the price point be in 5 years times? I'm sure way less than now. probably $150- but maybe even $100-. But what interests me is the market for used batteries. There will be plenty of folks and plenty of companies swapping out there batteries (and the rest of their system) for newer more powerful ones. These batteries should easily last 20 years if looked after, so I think that if you can buy one of these in 5 years time for 30 bucks then you have yourself a bargain. We already see how many people save a fortune by buying second hand solar panels.....I think the same will happen for batteries. Great video.
Mahalo! So far the price keeps coming down as more and more competition is out there. That is great news for all of us. I agree these batteries should do 20 years if taken care of. That will put me into my 80's! No telling what will be around then! Aloha!🤙
Isn't it true that Lithium iron ph pouch cells should not discharge more that 30 Amps or so? I wouldn't put them in a battery like this. Many people expect to get 100 amps out of these batterys.
Bob, do you think this battery would be fine, in a 48V configuration, using 4 of them? What kind of warranty comes with them? Thanks for your videos, brother! New Subscriber!
Just a little warning: got the same model for testing. On dissasembly some minutes ago i noticed an intense smell. First thought of the plastic and the glue that whas used. Btw same poor assemble quality in securing the cellpack in the battery case. I then found some liquid on the bottom of the case. One of the cellpack terminals was bent and i also noticed liquid around the cells IN the cellpack. Seems electrolyte was leaking from one of the pouch cells. So maybe you should be very careful considering buying this exact battery. The other GoKWH battery videos here on UA-cam show, that the cellpack seems to be much more secured in the case than in this battery. Even if the battery i got has been somehow damaged during transport - this might have happened due to the poor securement in the battery case.
@@Techboxreview It was sent for review. Got the newer smart bms model 2 weeks ago and just finished testing yesterday. Build quality much better, but the cells still look used - even if the battery goes for 102 Ah in capacity test (but that was also the case with the defective battery), no significant voltage drop (.3V max) at a load of roughly 1.1 kW and ran relatively stable with that for about an hour (just remembering, will check those values more closely when editing the video). The test and teardown of the simple display, non smart bms battery is available on my channel - it‘s german, but you might use english subtitles.
When you look at the internals of a battery like this, does it make you wonder about the other batteries you use? This one isn't the best built battery I've seen, but it isn't the worst either. I suppose as long as the foam survived shipping to you, it won't affect the future service life if you avoid tossing it around like it was treated while in transit. I suppose the risk for others buying it, is the chances of surviving shipping are not as good since that tape and low density foam may be less likely to survive.
I have wondered about that many times. I have only opened a few of the ones here, but honestly I don't dwell on it that much as every battery I run has worked perfectly. And this battery works quite well too. Although I can't unsee the packaging, it did actually get here safely, and I will work it out over time of course. I would have raved about it, especially the price, had it been just a skosh tighter on the protection. Aloha! 🤙
Yeah, guess you get what you pay for in regards to price/build quality. Personally, I don't care much about pouch cells and their cycle life. But thats why it's nice to see it taken apart. Nice capacity test!! Just a few pointers: A) The meter on those batteries is just a fairly inaccurate voltmeter using a discharge curve table to indicate %-capacity SOC(State of Charge), which really doesn't work with LiFePo4 due to the flat discharge curve in that chemistry. Those meters are really for not much use, at all. It should be mentioned, that they measure the voltage at the internal BMS level while your shunt/capacity meter and Victron at their measure points also measures the internal/external loss in wires, fuses, connections etc. hence some of the difference in voltage you see. B) Official capacity tests are always done with a 0.2C load! On a 100Ah(1280Wh) battery, that would be a load of about 20A/256W. In your test you use a much higher load. It will still give a good indication of capacity though. It is however not 100% comparable with the manufacturer official rating specs! Very nice video of your first capacity test!
B) yes, the standard is 0.2C but if you look at some of the other info in the datasheet LiFePO4 there is very little difference in capacity up to 1C. Since a lot of these larger cells are optimized for energy vs power they are going to have a max continuous of 1C and a burst of 2C. You'll actually probably get a better result doing a 0.5C or 0.6C test than a 0.2C test just due to the fact that you're hitting the cells hard enough to warm them up and unless you're already in an ambient environment of 25+ Celsius the heat generated is going to put them in their sweet spot around 30 Celsius where they will perform the "best" (using quotations because at the end of the day heat is the biggest degradation factor on all chemistries) I'm not wild about how these cells were put together. PowerQueen does a better job on their mini's that use them. I haven't seen enough data to really go one way or the other about cell construction and cycle life. We're talking about a chemistry that even at 100% DOD will go to 3000 cycles before hitting 80% nominal capacity so unless you're cycling daily you'd be hard pressed to get to the point where you degrade to 90% nominal capacity before we're deep into a newer chemistry that is cheaper/better.
first cheap battery that easy comes apart . That really just a volt meter. no shunt inside. not very good for LFP battery. could have done better with the foam. after this a low cost battery. for a basic battery this is good. after all did over 100 ah.
Aloha brother! I feel the same way. Found a few things that could have been a little tighter, but it does work as it should . I can live without the meter since I use the shunts. But , the capacity at this price point...nice! 🤙
Amazon has a Power Queen 100Ah for $240 with another 10% off available. Amazing.
Love that these batteries keep dropping in price! Aloha!🤙
Love your yard! Wish I was in a tropical location 😕. Stay sunny Bob 👊
Aloha!🤙
Most excellent review!! - Love your laid back review videos. I felt like I was right there at the workbench with you.
Mahalo! 🤙
Having a case that is not thermal welded is a plus.
The tabs are laser welded not user serviceable
Good to see affordable lifepo4 battery’s. If the build quality was a bit better then it would be a winner 👍
This battery really goes with; you get what you pay for :-(. I’m so glad we have people like you that lets us know about these things. Lot better than reading reviews. Thanks so much.
Great job, You went deeper than I did. Love the filming location. Keep up the great work.
Mahalo! I caught your video as well brother, and well done to you. I will find a place for this in a system and continue to work it out! Aloha!🤙
Thank you for the test. The reason the inverter showed a lower voltage is because of the draw. Check it with no load. You might want to check actual battery voltage when inverter turns off because if your cables are undersized it will turn off too early
Not sure if you mention it later in the video, but that voltage gauge is never going to be a good indicator of state-of-charge, since it's not a shunt.
Did not say that exactly, no. Mahalo!🤙
Thank you for the teardown, I wouldn’t buy that battery if it was $100 I don’t like those pouch cells
Pouch cells actually work just fine. Aloha!🤙
The build quality of the battery and the conditions that they have the pouch cells with all that Gunk.
Looks like these are reused pouch cells
Great review,saw another review on this battery.the low temp protect was set at a lower temp than needed to protect.and positive cable was loose.the foam inside couldve done a better job.but you get what you pay for
Good test! If nothing else, the voltmeter being built into the top of it gives a rough look at the state-of-charge. Aloha 🍍
Yeah, all in all it is a decent battery. Main thing in my mind is it pulls the load. Aloha!🤙
Wow wouldn’t open one of those myself especially after fully charging it…Have fun stay safe.
The meter looks to be a volt meter. Two wires only, to the pack itself. No data from the BMS and no separate shunt for itself. It won't be all that useful as a state of charge indicator for a LiFePO4 battery, but it will tell you when it's > 80% and < 20% in terms of voltage. The percent values are for lead acid.
Just a thought, it is a JBD BMS so it probably has a serial port on it somewhere that is capable of providing full stats from the battery. I know an assembler like this outfit won't have the chops to do it, but a basic display + a microcontroller to run it could show the SOC and voltage from the BMS.
Nice little plug-n-play battery. Awesome price point. Thanks for sharing
I have been working it out since the video, and it works great. Yes, fantastic price point! Aloha!🤙
The battery’s voltage monitor seems to be calibrated for a lead acid battery and it won’t be accurate while drawing down anyway. It’s a cheap voltage monitor. You counted 6 cells in your video when there is actually 4. I had to go back in the video to make sure I heard it right. Ironic that they are using a full size case for pouch cells when other manufacturers are using mini cases for their pouch cell batteries. I guess that’s one way to keep cost down. Over all, it didn’t impress me as other pouch cell batteries with better build quality are now close to the same price
My guess is the manufacturer didn't calibrate the battery monitoring or may not have configured it for the correct battery size. Properly working and configured BMSes should self-correct over a full charge-discharge cycle or two to do the coulomb count from the BMS' over-discharge cell cut-off voltage to end-of-charge cell cut-off voltage. If you don't drain the battery until the BMS cuts off, then the BMS has no idea where its configured bottom actually is.
I was thinking about getting some of these, may have to think about that. The cheap foam inside was a little concerning. "Off grid basement" also tested these for max amperage draw and i believe it went over 200 amps and the bms never kicked off, something else to think about. Use in lower amp settings though, might still be worth it.
Nice review. I think for the cold temperature sensor you have to use something that’s below freezing. So like if you had a frozen peas bag from the freezer, you could sandwich the sensor in between them. I’m not sure water or ice water is below 32.
But I could be wrong.
Another idea with these less expensive batteries, especially ones even less expensive B cells, is to have them as the reserve power for the winter. if you can get them really inexpensive then you can get three 100 amp hour batteries and only cycle during December at most and maybe January so they’re charged up the rest of the time and not cycling. just an idea.
I know from my off grid systems especially in cold weather December 10 through January 20 is the most challenging because of the number of hours of daylight and clouds/snow
Love the videos
Aloha
salt water is below 32F when frozen.
@@robertmeyer4744 cool
Mahalo Rick! Actually had frozen ice salt water in the freezer ready to go. The battery performed very well, and I will for sure have it charged and ready for what may come. Pleased to see the price keeps dropping on most batteries. We're getting so much sun lately here... like what we used to call Indian summer in the mountains. Aloha!🤙
What will the price point be in 5 years times? I'm sure way less than now. probably $150- but maybe even $100-.
But what interests me is the market for used batteries. There will be plenty of folks and plenty of companies swapping out there batteries (and the rest of their system) for newer more powerful ones.
These batteries should easily last 20 years if looked after, so I think that if you can buy one of these in 5 years time for 30 bucks then you have yourself a bargain. We already see how many people save a fortune by buying second hand solar panels.....I think the same will happen for batteries.
Great video.
Mahalo! So far the price keeps coming down as more and more competition is out there. That is great news for all of us. I agree these batteries should do 20 years if taken care of. That will put me into my 80's! No telling what will be around then! Aloha!🤙
Cool test!
Thank you 🙏
My pleasure, Aloha!🤙
Good Morning ! Thank You. TAKE CARE..
Aloha!🤙
Isn't it true that Lithium iron ph pouch cells should not discharge more that 30 Amps or so? I wouldn't put them in a battery like this. Many people expect to get 100 amps out of these batterys.
Bob, do you think this battery would be fine, in a 48V configuration, using 4 of them? What kind of warranty comes with them? Thanks for your videos, brother! New Subscriber!
Dang, those frogs are loud!
Yes they are!🤙
Did they ship this directly to Hawaii for free?
Just a little warning: got the same model for testing. On dissasembly some minutes ago i noticed an intense smell. First thought of the plastic and the glue that whas used. Btw same poor assemble quality in securing the cellpack in the battery case. I then found some liquid on the bottom of the case. One of the cellpack terminals was bent and i also noticed liquid around the cells IN the cellpack. Seems electrolyte was leaking from one of the pouch cells.
So maybe you should be very careful considering buying this exact battery. The other GoKWH battery videos here on UA-cam show, that the cellpack seems to be much more secured in the case than in this battery. Even if the battery i got has been somehow damaged during transport - this might have happened due to the poor securement in the battery case.
Mahalo for sharing this information with us! ALoha!🤙
Hi mate. Did you buy the battery or did Gokwh send one out for review?
@@Techboxreview It was sent for review. Got the newer smart bms model 2 weeks ago and just finished testing yesterday. Build quality much better, but the cells still look used - even if the battery goes for 102 Ah in capacity test (but that was also the case with the defective battery), no significant voltage drop (.3V max) at a load of roughly 1.1 kW and ran relatively stable with that for about an hour (just remembering, will check those values more closely when editing the video).
The test and teardown of the simple display, non smart bms battery is available on my channel - it‘s german, but you might use english subtitles.
When you look at the internals of a battery like this, does it make you wonder about the other batteries you use? This one isn't the best built battery I've seen, but it isn't the worst either. I suppose as long as the foam survived shipping to you, it won't affect the future service life if you avoid tossing it around like it was treated while in transit.
I suppose the risk for others buying it, is the chances of surviving shipping are not as good since that tape and low density foam may be less likely to survive.
I have wondered about that many times. I have only opened a few of the ones here, but honestly I don't dwell on it that much as every battery I run has worked perfectly. And this battery works quite well too. Although I can't unsee the packaging, it did actually get here safely, and I will work it out over time of course. I would have raved about it, especially the price, had it been just a skosh tighter on the protection. Aloha! 🤙
Yeah, guess you get what you pay for in regards to price/build quality. Personally, I don't care much about pouch cells and their cycle life. But thats why it's nice to see it taken apart. Nice capacity test!! Just a few pointers:
A) The meter on those batteries is just a fairly inaccurate voltmeter using a discharge curve table to indicate %-capacity SOC(State of Charge), which really doesn't work with LiFePo4 due to the flat discharge curve in that chemistry. Those meters are really for not much use, at all. It should be mentioned, that they measure the voltage at the internal BMS level while your shunt/capacity meter and Victron at their measure points also measures the internal/external loss in wires, fuses, connections etc. hence some of the difference in voltage you see.
B) Official capacity tests are always done with a 0.2C load! On a 100Ah(1280Wh) battery, that would be a load of about 20A/256W. In your test you use a much higher load. It will still give a good indication of capacity though. It is however not 100% comparable with the manufacturer official rating specs!
Very nice video of your first capacity test!
B) yes, the standard is 0.2C but if you look at some of the other info in the datasheet LiFePO4 there is very little difference in capacity up to 1C. Since a lot of these larger cells are optimized for energy vs power they are going to have a max continuous of 1C and a burst of 2C. You'll actually probably get a better result doing a 0.5C or 0.6C test than a 0.2C test just due to the fact that you're hitting the cells hard enough to warm them up and unless you're already in an ambient environment of 25+ Celsius the heat generated is going to put them in their sweet spot around 30 Celsius where they will perform the "best" (using quotations because at the end of the day heat is the biggest degradation factor on all chemistries)
I'm not wild about how these cells were put together. PowerQueen does a better job on their mini's that use them. I haven't seen enough data to really go one way or the other about cell construction and cycle life. We're talking about a chemistry that even at 100% DOD will go to 3000 cycles before hitting 80% nominal capacity so unless you're cycling daily you'd be hard pressed to get to the point where you degrade to 90% nominal capacity before we're deep into a newer chemistry that is cheaper/better.
Thanks for your opinion on pouch cells. Then what is in other manufacturers battery packs. It's buyer beware. Thanks again. 73
What kind of Shunt do you have, i like the Display on that one.
This is the one I use on several systems. I love it, and it works well.amzn.to/3rWfSuq
@@ProjectsinParadise808not bad for 40 dollars probably better than the one built in to the battery case. 73
Great review! I have a 48v lifepo4 battery with that same monitor. It is not to be trusted, I trust my shunt.
Me too brother...me too! Aloha! 🤙
Is there an o-ring gasket for the top?
No there was not. Aloha!🤙
Great job be safe everyone
Mahalo!🤙
How did you get your inverter to not go into low vloltage beeping mode
It did actually beep at the end before shutting down, Just not on camera. Aloha!🤙
Have link to the power monitoring AC power strip?
Here ya go:amzn.to/46RHRdC
@@ProjectsinParadise808 Thanks!
I seen them on Amazon for 189.00
Wow! So they did go under $200! That's great! Aloha!🤙
Great video ❤
Mahalo!🤙
first cheap battery that easy comes apart . That really just a volt meter. no shunt inside. not very good for LFP battery. could have done better with the foam. after this a low cost battery. for a basic battery this is good. after all did over 100 ah.
Aloha brother! I feel the same way. Found a few things that could have been a little tighter, but it does work as it should . I can live without the meter since I use the shunts. But , the capacity at this price point...nice! 🤙
That battery is going to kill someone.
could catch fire and blow up
That's not how LFP cells/batteries work. Thermal runaway is virtually non-existent with this chemistry.
Your thinking of lithium ion.... not this chemistry. Super safe
is all same @@WattsMiner
Nice capacity test. Looking forward to the shunt test in future battery testing. ✌️✌️
Aloha
Aloha brother!🤙