Thanks for the update Glen, good result with the capacity test...if only the build quality was better. The cell damage could easily have been prevented. If it looked like it could withstand the 275988213 corrugations on the Peninsula Developmental Road I'd consider it, but I'd be wary - looking at the internals ! 🤠😎
Been using one of these often in parallel the Kings 120Ah. Was wondering what the insides of these are like. Got similar capacity test result to yours. I have put a Victron BMV-712 Smart monitoring in each battery box. Both together comfortably run a 1500W inverter which is mounted to the side of the 120Ah battery box. Thanks for sharing your experience. Don't forget to keep these with a storage charge whilst not in use folks. Give them a good working life.
At around $800 for their ProX 120 Ah battery, that would be an expensive video to make 😄 But I do want to get hold of some iTechworld batteries to build an iTechworld system and run some tests, especially their blue tooth battery. I have a mate that is one of iTechworld installer/resellers and I was only yesterday discussing battery option with him over a BBQ lunch 👍
No I didn't bother getting any temperatures as I was only pulling 1/4 of what the battery can deliver. So there would hardly be any heat generation with this lower current draw.
Hi I have this exact battery in the back of my vehicle hooked up to a 200 watt pure sine wave inverter that powers my Victron 5 amp charger. Battery runs a small fridge/ freezer. It was great to see it indeed have 60 amps. Didn’t like the damage to outside cells. Thanks for doing the tear down and capacity test. Question: will you put the battery back together and continue to use it?
I can't put it back together as I destroyed the case pulling it apart. But I do plan on using it (unless Kings want it back for inspection) and running tests to see how well it preforms with damaged cells. Will probable leave it open so as to keep an eye on the cells for any further swelling.
Great vid Glen, just wondering as I noticed you didn't have the SOC set on the shunt. is that important. The only reason i;m asking is I bought one of those shunts and fitted it into my atem battery box. I read that you had to configure the shunt to suit the battery.
If your setting the meter up to monitor a battery over time then yeah you do need to enter all the battery information into the meter. But for the test I was doing, the SOC doesn't matter. The best way to explain it is, Amp hours is volume and SOC is the level. I was wanting the total amp hour value that we could pull out of the battery which was displayed on the top right of the meter. It's like wanting to know how many litres of fuel one can get out of a fuel tank. The SOC is the percentage value in the battery which is like a fuel gauge reading the fuel level in a fuel tank. It is initially important to set up the battery specs in those meters, mainly I found if you don't have the shunt size set correct, you get the wrong readings. For example the shunt size on my meter is a 200 amp shunt so that dose need to be set correctly prior to doing my testing.
@@TheSimpleLivingAussie Thanks for the detailed explanation Glen. Mine was a 300amp unit, way overkill for my battery box but the price was right. I think they're a great little meter for the cost. I use all Bluetooth Victron gear in my Van, . 240-12v charger, MPPT controller and shunt.
Best to flatten the battery first, before setting values in the shunt meter. That way you get 0% and 100% as accurate as possible using the AH capacity of 64 rather than 60.
These cheap lithium irons work good enough. I built my own golf cart pack using cells more damaged than these and it works great. Three years old and still truckin. By the time these fail I’m sure we will have something twice as good at half the cost.
That's great to know one can use cells that have been damaged. I was wondering how long I will get out of this battery and for the price I paid I am not worried too much about longevity. I bought it mainly to run some tests on it for my channel so as long as the internals of the cells don't fail, short together and cause a fire. Thanks for the info of your experiences with damaged cells 👍
Yeah, nah - perhaps you didn't see the Yarra Valley Golf Clubhouse that was completely destroyed in 2023. Google this "Cause of ferocious blaze that destroyed Victorian golf clubhouse revealed"
Just watched this, and it got me thinking 🤔 about the inside of my 100ah enerdrive slimline like I would hope to see a lot more quality 😂 for the coin I forked out.
The cell volts measured in this and the previous test, show a large difference in voltages, suggesting poor cell balance. It's probable the cells are low grade rejects or recycled cells. Once the cell case is significantly damaged, with subsequent charge and discharge stress there is a serious risk of cell failure, release of electrolyte, toxic smoke and possible fire. If this battery is typical of the King's 60Ah product then its unsafe and the company should take steps to ensure a safe product.
Are there any safety concerns with cells in this sort of condition? When/if I go down this path I think I shall be spending the money on the best quality I can get my hands on.
It's hard to say as I have not delt with raw cells before. One person comment saying they have used cells with more damage and not had any issues so I am gonna keep doing tests on this battery and we see what happens. Lithium Iron phosphate is a safe chemistry compared to a lot of other Lithium batteries out there so if anything should fail in the cells, it shouldn't be to catastrophic, but one can never truly tell.
@@TheSimpleLivingAussiePersonally, I think that sort of cell damage will likely affect capacity a little longer term rather than be a safety issue. These LFP cells are pretty damn safe. I have a DCS LFP 12v in my Tesla, to replace the original Lead Acid. I can read the cell voltages by Bluetooth and there’s one cell that usually goes that high at top of charge. The battery is over four years old and still absolutely fine, despite often showing out of balance. (Yes, we all know that out of balance is not ideal.)
Good result indeed. Under $3 per Ah still seems a little high but the small size and weight makes up for that. At least out of its case you can monitor each cell during its life. Tear the other one down for a matching pair 😂 and see if it looks the same.
You should pull your two 60 Ah batteries apart and see if you have the same issues with the straps. Then you could rebuild the battery in it's own battery box and make it a 24 volt 60 Ah battery.
@@TheSimpleLivingAussie Yes I did think of doing that just so I could stick them in to one box as a 24V battery. Not overly concerned about the construction issues you pointed out as it's not an issue imho. Besides its like complaining about the weather, no one does anything about as Billy Connolly says.
I have sent some time testing one battery with real world use. The 12V kettle has also been working hard. Basically I made tea and coffee for the last few days mostly boiling 1 litre quantities many times to 85deg and filling the thermos for off schedule cuppas. I adjusted the Ah setting to 50Ah and with no external charge it is still only down to 15Ah or 25Ah if you include the 'missing' 10Ah to make up 60Ah at full charge. The other one has been running a 60W bulb on the 150W powertech inverter. I still haven't seen the voltage drop below 12.8V under load on either one. My conclusion is that the Kings 60Ah does exactly what it says on the tin and well worth the price
It's the C rating a battery has which would be too hard to explain here so I have found some info for you that will explain it and put the link below. Generally when testing a battery it is usually done at the 0.2C rate. www.power-sonic.com/blog/what-is-a-battery-c-rating/
The two tests I've personally done with my batteries is total capacity, and max output. This video shows a total capacity test, and as a result he's limiting the total output to be well and truly under the maximum. Maximum output would be a test of how much power you can pull from the battery in any given moment, or rather, how fast you can pull the power out of it. I was able to draw more than 60 amps (or 1c) from my Kings batteries, which indicates that it's possible to go from 100% charge, to 0% in 1 hour. Meanwhile this guy has gone from 100% charge to around 0% in over 6 hours, by choosing to drain it slower.
The battery just came off the charger so the cell voltage will read a little higher until they settle down. Just did a check on the cell voltage just now and two have come back at 3.36 volts and the other two at 3.37 volts. But they are still charging so will see what they rest at once they have finished charging.
hard to justiy double the price for 60 plus amps, simple shame is the overcharging bloat and associated strap damage, still assuming it lasts to a median its a sensible persons good choice.
Agreed - they look like probably 20AH used cells slapped together without regard to their voltage. I wouldn't have that battery anywhere near my car or house. Maybe out in the paddock to run a pump....
It usually sits around the 3.4 mark. I am putting it down to still having some surface voltage as it had just come off the charger. I will keep an eye on that cell and see where it sits. So I just checked the cells of the battery just now as we speak as it is currently on the charger and these are the values. 3.36 - 3.36 - 3.37 & 3.37 It is being charged at a rate of 10 amps and hasn't finished charging yet so when it's done, I will see what they read.
@einfelder8262 It sounds as if you dislike Kings mate. They can't be 20Ah used cells or they would not have given above 30 amp hour. As we are all welcome to our opinions and beliefs we do need to be mindful of what we put down in the comments, does need to be factual. TH-cam now-a-days is becoming a harder platform to operate in and content creators are being held more responsible for what is posted on their channels. So we do need to be carful on what we say..... ahh the joys of social media moving into 2025 :)
@@TheSimpleLivingAussie Yes I dislike Kings. How could anyone like what you have shown in this teardown? Your assertion that they can't be used cells because they give 30 amp hours does not make any sense. The 60AH battery should give 60 amps current for 1 hour, or 30 amps for 2 hours. 4 tired 80A cells with 80% remaining capacity would provide 64 amps for 1 hour. Kings aren't DCS (yet) I guess that now you have pulled the thing apart you have to look at it hopefully. The cells should have recognised manufacturer markings on the cases telling you exactly what they are, that's how quality cells are delivered - these have nothing on them..
@@TheSimpleLivingAussie be very careful mate, at 3.73v that cell is starting to degrade. The bms is not monitoring individual cells and has no cell over voltage protection or it would have shut down just over 3.65v. Will be interested to see if the passive balancer in that battery will ever be able to balance the cells. The differential voltage is of the charts for new battery.
once again thanks, for letting us know about products you have purchased and we learn by their plusses and minuses .
Thanks for the update Glen, good result with the capacity test...if only the build quality was better. The cell damage could easily have been prevented. If it looked like it could withstand the 275988213 corrugations on the Peninsula Developmental Road I'd consider it, but I'd be wary - looking at the internals ! 🤠😎
Been using one of these often in parallel the Kings 120Ah. Was wondering what the insides of these are like. Got similar capacity test result to yours. I have put a Victron BMV-712 Smart monitoring in each battery box. Both together comfortably run a 1500W inverter which is mounted to the side of the 120Ah battery box. Thanks for sharing your experience. Don't forget to keep these with a storage charge whilst not in use folks. Give them a good working life.
Looking forward to seeing your tear down of the itech world battery 😊
At around $800 for their ProX 120 Ah battery, that would be an expensive video to make 😄
But I do want to get hold of some iTechworld batteries to build an iTechworld system and run some tests, especially their blue tooth battery.
I have a mate that is one of iTechworld installer/resellers and I was only yesterday discussing battery option with him over a BBQ lunch 👍
Cool. Cheers mate.
I've often wondered about doing a capacity test on my vans battery bank but didn't know how.
You can get that little shunt / meter pretty cheap. It's a little bit of setting up but worth it to keep an eye on your battery health.
Good Vid Mate... My Question is.... How was the temps on the Batt while runnin did u get any Temps...?
No I didn't bother getting any temperatures as I was only pulling 1/4 of what the battery can deliver. So there would hardly be any heat generation with this lower current draw.
Hi I have this exact battery in the back of my vehicle hooked up to a 200 watt pure sine wave inverter that powers my Victron 5 amp charger.
Battery runs a small fridge/ freezer.
It was great to see it indeed have 60 amps.
Didn’t like the damage to outside cells.
Thanks for doing the tear down and capacity test.
Question: will you put the battery back together and continue to use it?
I can't put it back together as I destroyed the case pulling it apart. But I do plan on using it (unless Kings want it back for inspection) and running tests to see how well it preforms with damaged cells. Will probable leave it open so as to keep an eye on the cells for any further swelling.
I would show Kings so they can rectify the assembly process.
They might even give you a replacement you never know.
@@bellajess100 yeah I sent them an email with pics yesterday 👍
Great vid Glen, just wondering as I noticed you didn't have the SOC set on the shunt. is that important. The only reason i;m asking is I bought one of those shunts and fitted it into my atem battery box. I read that you had to configure the shunt to suit the battery.
If your setting the meter up to monitor a battery over time then yeah you do need to enter all the battery information into the meter. But for the test I was doing, the SOC doesn't matter. The best way to explain it is, Amp hours is volume and SOC is the level.
I was wanting the total amp hour value that we could pull out of the battery which was displayed on the top right of the meter. It's like wanting to know how many litres of fuel one can get out of a fuel tank. The SOC is the percentage value in the battery which is like a fuel gauge reading the fuel level in a fuel tank.
It is initially important to set up the battery specs in those meters, mainly I found if you don't have the shunt size set correct, you get the wrong readings. For example the shunt size on my meter is a 200 amp shunt so that dose need to be set correctly prior to doing my testing.
@@TheSimpleLivingAussie Thanks for the detailed explanation Glen. Mine was a 300amp unit, way overkill for my battery box but the price was right. I think they're a great little meter for the cost.
I use all Bluetooth Victron gear in my Van, . 240-12v charger, MPPT controller and shunt.
Best to flatten the battery first, before setting values in the shunt meter. That way you get 0% and 100% as accurate as possible using the AH capacity of 64 rather than 60.
These cheap lithium irons work good enough. I built my own golf cart pack using cells more damaged than these and it works great. Three years old and still truckin. By the time these fail I’m sure we will have something twice as good at half the cost.
That's great to know one can use cells that have been damaged. I was wondering how long I will get out of this battery and for the price I paid I am not worried too much about longevity.
I bought it mainly to run some tests on it for my channel so as long as the internals of the cells don't fail, short together and cause a fire.
Thanks for the info of your experiences with damaged cells 👍
Yeah, nah - perhaps you didn't see the Yarra Valley Golf Clubhouse that was completely destroyed in 2023. Google this "Cause of ferocious blaze that destroyed Victorian golf clubhouse revealed"
I have a juntec shunt but I don't think it has capacity reading.
It has kw consumed i think
Imagine a world with transparent battery cases! Mate, thanks for the video and showing the so called build quality. One I will avoid for sure.
there is one brand that does have them like that.. they dear and not to special really
Enercore
Just watched this, and it got me thinking 🤔 about the inside of my 100ah enerdrive slimline like I would hope to see a lot more quality 😂 for the coin I forked out.
The cell volts measured in this and the previous test, show a large difference in voltages, suggesting poor cell balance. It's probable the cells are low grade rejects or recycled cells. Once the cell case is significantly damaged, with subsequent charge and discharge stress there is a serious risk of cell failure, release of electrolyte, toxic smoke and possible fire.
If this battery is typical of the King's 60Ah product then its unsafe and the company should take steps to ensure a safe product.
Are there any safety concerns with cells in this sort of condition?
When/if I go down this path I think I shall be spending the money on the best quality I can get my hands on.
It's hard to say as I have not delt with raw cells before. One person comment saying they have used cells with more damage and not had any issues so I am gonna keep doing tests on this battery and we see what happens.
Lithium Iron phosphate is a safe chemistry compared to a lot of other Lithium batteries out there so if anything should fail in the cells, it shouldn't be to catastrophic, but one can never truly tell.
@@TheSimpleLivingAussiePersonally, I think that sort of cell damage will likely affect capacity a little longer term rather than be a safety issue. These LFP cells are pretty damn safe.
I have a DCS LFP 12v in my Tesla, to replace the original Lead Acid. I can read the cell voltages by Bluetooth and there’s one cell that usually goes that high at top of charge. The battery is over four years old and still absolutely fine, despite often showing out of balance. (Yes, we all know that out of balance is not ideal.)
Good result indeed. Under $3 per Ah still seems a little high but the small size and weight makes up for that. At least out of its case you can monitor each cell during its life. Tear the other one down for a matching pair 😂 and see if it looks the same.
You should pull your two 60 Ah batteries apart and see if you have the same issues with the straps. Then you could rebuild the battery in it's own battery box and make it a 24 volt 60 Ah battery.
@@TheSimpleLivingAussie Yes I did think of doing that just so I could stick them in to one box as a 24V battery. Not overly concerned about the construction issues you pointed out as it's not an issue imho. Besides its like complaining about the weather, no one does anything about as Billy Connolly says.
I have sent some time testing one battery with real world use. The 12V kettle has also been working hard. Basically I made tea and coffee for the last few days mostly boiling 1 litre quantities many times to 85deg and filling the thermos for off schedule cuppas. I adjusted the Ah setting to 50Ah and with no external charge it is still only down to 15Ah or 25Ah if you include the 'missing' 10Ah to make up 60Ah at full charge. The other one has been running a 60W bulb on the 150W powertech inverter. I still haven't seen the voltage drop below 12.8V under load on either one. My conclusion is that the Kings 60Ah does exactly what it says on the tin and well worth the price
That little shunt setup is handy.... whats the .2c charging about ? (excuse my ignorance)...
It's the C rating a battery has which would be too hard to explain here so I have found some info for you that will explain it and put the link below. Generally when testing a battery it is usually done at the 0.2C rate.
www.power-sonic.com/blog/what-is-a-battery-c-rating/
The two tests I've personally done with my batteries is total capacity, and max output. This video shows a total capacity test, and as a result he's limiting the total output to be well and truly under the maximum. Maximum output would be a test of how much power you can pull from the battery in any given moment, or rather, how fast you can pull the power out of it. I was able to draw more than 60 amps (or 1c) from my Kings batteries, which indicates that it's possible to go from 100% charge, to 0% in 1 hour. Meanwhile this guy has gone from 100% charge to around 0% in over 6 hours, by choosing to drain it slower.
Please explain. I see .2c of 60ah would be 30a draw not 15. Can you explain the maths?
@@PERTHSCOOTER07 .2 = 1/5 =15 ? Hope i got that correct lol
@ wouldn’t 1/5 of 60ah be 12?
Help us out here Glen.
A cell at 3.73V is a big red flag to me. The BMS isn't doing it's job keeping charge voltages and balnce in check.
The battery just came off the charger so the cell voltage will read a little higher until they settle down. Just did a check on the cell voltage just now and two have come back at 3.36 volts and the other two at 3.37 volts.
But they are still charging so will see what they rest at once they have finished charging.
@@TheSimpleLivingAussie BMS should have gone into overvoltage protection at 3.65V IMO
Cool ep
That dent made by the strap will have no consequence, if you just bought the cell it would be perfect.
not sure about the crushing on the layers inside the case though ?
@@TheSimpleLivingAussie I have had seriously dented cells work fine.
Maybe they swell the cases to squeese that extra 3ah 😂
lol 😆
hard to justiy double the price for 60 plus amps, simple shame is the overcharging bloat and associated strap damage, still assuming it lasts to a median its a sensible persons good choice.
What do you mean by double the pricec?
Shame king's don't add an active balancer. They are dirt cheap now.
Yeah there is a balancer within the BMS
@@TheSimpleLivingAussie But it doesn't work.
BMS is not functioning. You are better off building your own battery and including a separate balancer as well as the bms. Heaps cheaper and safer.
That battery is out of balance. A cell voltage over 3.7v is a very serious safety concern.
Agreed - they look like probably 20AH used cells slapped together without regard to their voltage. I wouldn't have that battery anywhere near my car or house. Maybe out in the paddock to run a pump....
It usually sits around the 3.4 mark. I am putting it down to still having some surface voltage as it had just come off the charger. I will keep an eye on that cell and see where it sits.
So I just checked the cells of the battery just now as we speak as it is currently on the charger and these are the values. 3.36 - 3.36 - 3.37 & 3.37
It is being charged at a rate of 10 amps and hasn't finished charging yet so when it's done, I will see what they read.
@einfelder8262
It sounds as if you dislike Kings mate. They can't be 20Ah used cells or they would not have given above 30 amp hour. As we are all welcome to our opinions and beliefs we do need to be mindful of what we put down in the comments, does need to be factual.
TH-cam now-a-days is becoming a harder platform to operate in and content creators are being held more responsible for what is posted on their channels. So we do need to be carful on what we say..... ahh the joys of social media moving into 2025 :)
@@TheSimpleLivingAussie Yes I dislike Kings. How could anyone like what you have shown in this teardown? Your assertion that they can't be used cells because they give 30 amp hours does not make any sense. The 60AH battery should give 60 amps current for 1 hour, or 30 amps for 2 hours. 4 tired 80A cells with 80% remaining capacity would provide 64 amps for 1 hour. Kings aren't DCS (yet) I guess that now you have pulled the thing apart you have to look at it hopefully. The cells should have recognised manufacturer markings on the cases telling you exactly what they are, that's how quality cells are delivered - these have nothing on them..
@@TheSimpleLivingAussie be very careful mate, at 3.73v that cell is starting to degrade. The bms is not monitoring individual cells and has no cell over voltage protection or it would have shut down just over 3.65v. Will be interested to see if the passive balancer in that battery will ever be able to balance the cells. The differential voltage is of the charts for new battery.