off grid bas making my own going off grid in fl i still don,t use bms only bat balancer only been off grid 4 over a year no problems have new addtion its only 12volts have been buying used cells 75ah and 100ah i buy panels all sale or bank rupp used panels im 84 and having a time of my life i enjoy your info
Another great videos. for people who buy this style of battery, i think it would be a good buy. myself im a diy kind of guy, i been building batterys for my house for about 8 years. but really liking your channel.
Hello there Offgrid basement Quick question, once you top off the lithium battery to 100 percent and begin to draw down the state of charge to around 95 percent , will a li compatible converter begin to recharge that battery back up to 100 percent as soon as you attach it to the shore power? Or does the battery’s BMS not allow it to begin charging itself until it reaches a lower state of charge?? TIA
The battery wouldn't care. It will charge back up after being disconnected for a few minutes. The lithium setting in the charger should have some sort of float charge setting. It will again charge the battery to full then let it lower back down to around 13.6v - 13.8v and hold it there.
Li Time seems to make nice products. My charger is a RoyPow 3A LiPo Smart Charger which cost about $20. At 3 amps it takes about 35 hours to fully charge a depleted 100 Ah battery, but I'm in no hurry. If I was cycling my batteries frequently, I would need a bigger charger, but as is it works great, and no fan, so it's silent. 😃
I noticed on the ap there was a "cells" button. Does that perhaps reveal the individual cell voltages if you click on it? Seems like a nice battery and charger.
Thanks for another great video! Can you please do a video on chargers. I purchased the haisito 20A that you previously recommended - can you review / recommend a higher capacity charger (like 50A or 75A), for both 12v and 24v. The 20A works great day to day, but i'd like to be able to charge faster in an emergency. Cheers!
Just got this battery. If you tap on bms in the app, and it's just charged it to full, it will say something like shields up, bms is no longer accepting a charge. However, after it's been in standby for a while at 100%, it only says, bms is normal. I wonder if it would say anything about trying to charge it when it's too cold. Also, the balance button when flashing will indicate it's doing a balancing and tapping the balance button will say it is balancing. I too read 12.9 v when the app says it's at 13.4. Don't know why.
Thanks for the video! I’m new to batteries, and I have a very basic question. I didn’t understand your disappointment that the battery measured 13.02 volts when fully charged. It’s labelled as a 12.8 volt battery, so I thought being higher than that meant it delivered better than expected. What would you expect a fully charged battery to measure for voltage, and why? What is the downside that it only measured 13.02 volts fully charged? I’m missing something in my understanding. Thank you! Always appreciate how thorough you are and love your channel.
A fully charged lifepo4 battery is 14.6v then will quickly drop to 13.6 to 13.8v after being taken off the charger. A reading of 13v to 13.1v suggests the battery is not even half capacity if not under load. The app showed the battery is full and resting @13.5v which is fine. It was odd that the terminals measured one voltage, but the BMS app reads something different. Since I've cycled it a couple times now the measurements are the same. I hope that answers your question. Thanks for the comment.
What would happen to these batteries if you put say 15V across the terminals and left it. Would the bms stop letting charge into the battery when it reaches 100% charge?
It depends on if the BMS is correctly programmed to disconnect on that high of a voltage. I don't recommend charging at that high. It would start damaging the cells.
I have the same Li Time 14.6V 20A charger. When my battery is charged the charger will cycle on and off rapidly. Is this normal or does the charger have a defect?
I have the Li Time 200ah battery, something I don't understand is what is full voltage supposed to be? Is 13.50volt full? I thought it was supposed to be at 14.4 to be full. Or at least 14v. Am I misunderstanding this? Also why was your volt meter showing a much lower voltage than the app?
When you charge up to full the voltage is 14.4 to 14.6. when the charger turns off, the voltage will drop down to around 13.6 to 13.8. the BMS in the battery was lowering to the voltage at the posts. I'm not exactly sure why that is. Probably something to do with having a consistent voltage when at rest and under load. Hope this helps.
I'm sure you could set an MPPT controller with manual setting options to work. I've heard Sodium doesn't like to be charge quickly so keep that in mind. Thanks for the comment.
It can charge two batteries in parallel with no problem. Just make sure to wire the batteries in parallel for 24 hours beforehand to make sure they are balanced.
@@OffGridBasement thanks, but a question. It was my understanding that in order for a battery to balance its cells, it has to be fully charged. But would that mean batteries would have to be individually balanced (ie charged individually) before connecting in parallel? Then after that they could be charged in parallel using charger? Thanks again.
I just received one of these batteries today and, when I attempted to connect the Bluetooth, the "device was not found". I tried charging it with a HTRC P20 set to LiFePo4 and 20A and it would not charge. I measured the voltage and it is showing 3.2 Volts. I think that the Volts are the problem and I'm wondering what you'd suggest to make this battery usable. In your video you expect something like 13.1 or 13.2 Volts with a new battery. Thoughts?? Thanks,
Your BMS in the battery looks to be asleep. You need to wake it up with another 12v source. Watch this video: th-cam.com/video/j2JjOpq50MI/w-d-xo.html This should help.
@@OffGridBasement Good Morning. Thanks very much for the help. I replace UPS batteries periodically and happened to have a 12V9Ah one in my workshop. I connected jumpers to that battery and touched the other ends of the jumpers to my new LiFePo4 battery and, when I tested the voltage of the new battery, it was 13.2. Voila!! I connected my Smart Charger and it's humming away (well, a little louder than humming) charging the battery. I do have some car battery chargers in the garage and I wonder if I could have used one of those to do the same thing?? I didn't know if there might be problems because those chargers are for lead/acid batteries and the new one is a LiFePo4. Again, I appreciate your help in getting me going with this project. I have a portable refrigerator that runs on either 12V or 110V. When travelling, I can plug it into a 12V outlet in the car but, when we get to a hotel, I lug it into our room so that it doesn't run down the car battery. I'm hoping to use this new battery to keep the fridge going in the car at night rather than having to lug it to a 110V outlet.
I only have a few that aren't currently in use and I keep them right at 50% SOC. Between 13.1v and 13.2v. Hope that helps! Thanks for the question and the comment.
I have that Li Time 20A charger, and I'm surprised to see that you are recommending it. I would recommend people avoid the Li Time chargers. Most LifePO4 chargers have some concept of "float" phase, where after the initial charge, the charger will pull back to a slightly lower charge, then maintain that voltage to keep the battery at 100%. What I have described is widely considered the best way to charge and maintain LifePO4 batteries. The Li Time chargers do not do this. Instead, when the battery reaches 100%... the charger just turns off. You can hear the relay click, you see the Red light turn to Green. When the battery discharges enough, the charger will turn back on and the process repeats itself. I've seen this with 10a, 20, and their 40a chargers. So why is this bad? If you leave your battery plugged in while fully charged, the charger will repeatedly cycle, by allowing slight discharge and then recharging. Each cycle, the charger will raise the voltage to 14.6V. If you have any kind of parasitic load on your battery, like a SOC-measuring Shunt, then the cycle happens frequently LifePO4 batteries are not intended to have 14.6 voltage on frequent cycles. This behavior is consistent with what is described in the manual, it is by design. Good LifePO4 batteries will have a 'float' phase where 100% SOC is maintained with a lower voltage. (13.0) Instead these chargers will cycle and raise the battery voltage to 14.6V many times each day. That's not a good thing, and why I would not be recommending these batteries.
off grid bas making my own going off grid in fl i still don,t use bms only bat balancer only been off grid 4 over a year no problems have new addtion its only 12volts have been buying used cells 75ah and 100ah i buy panels all sale or bank rupp used panels im 84 and having a time of my life i enjoy your info
Sounds like you are making everything work for you! Thanks for the comment!
Another great videos. for people who buy this style of battery, i think it would be a good buy. myself im a diy kind of guy, i been building batterys for my house for about 8 years. but really liking your channel.
Thanks! If you get anything out of my videos, I'm happy. Thanks for the comment.
So you empty the liquid and take the battery apart? How do you clean the stuff off That kills the cells?
Hello there Offgrid basement
Quick question, once you top off the lithium battery to 100 percent and begin to draw down the state of charge to around 95 percent , will a li compatible converter begin to recharge that battery back up to 100 percent as soon as you attach it to the shore power? Or does the battery’s BMS not allow it to begin charging itself until it reaches a lower state of charge??
TIA
The battery wouldn't care. It will charge back up after being disconnected for a few minutes. The lithium setting in the charger should have some sort of float charge setting. It will again charge the battery to full then let it lower back down to around 13.6v - 13.8v and hold it there.
Li Time seems to make nice products. My charger is a RoyPow 3A LiPo Smart Charger which cost about $20. At 3 amps it takes about 35 hours to fully charge a depleted 100 Ah battery, but I'm in no hurry. If I was cycling my batteries frequently, I would need a bigger charger, but as is it works great, and no fan, so it's silent. 😃
Sounds nice! Thanks for the comment.
I noticed on the ap there was a "cells" button. Does that perhaps reveal the individual cell voltages if you click on it?
Seems like a nice battery and charger.
No. It just states that everything is normal. Nothing worthwhile. Hope that helps. Thanks for the comment!
Thanks for another great video! Can you please do a video on chargers. I purchased the haisito 20A that you previously recommended - can you review / recommend a higher capacity charger (like 50A or 75A), for both 12v and 24v. The 20A works great day to day, but i'd like to be able to charge faster in an emergency.
Cheers!
I'll see what I can do! Thanks for the comment.
Just got this battery. If you tap on bms in the app, and it's just charged it to full, it will say something like shields up, bms is no longer accepting a charge. However, after it's been in standby for a while at 100%, it only says, bms is normal. I wonder if it would say anything about trying to charge it when it's too cold. Also, the balance button when flashing will indicate it's doing a balancing and tapping the balance button will say it is balancing.
I too read 12.9 v when the app says it's at 13.4. Don't know why.
Thanks for the info and the comment!
Have you figured it out about the lower voltage on the battery than the volt meter?
No, but the battery performance is not affected.
Thanks for the video! I’m new to batteries, and I have a very basic question. I didn’t understand your disappointment that the battery measured 13.02 volts when fully charged. It’s labelled as a 12.8 volt battery, so I thought being higher than that meant it delivered better than expected. What would you expect a fully charged battery to measure for voltage, and why? What is the downside that it only measured 13.02 volts fully charged? I’m missing something in my understanding. Thank you! Always appreciate how thorough you are and love your channel.
A fully charged lifepo4 battery is 14.6v then will quickly drop to 13.6 to 13.8v after being taken off the charger. A reading of 13v to 13.1v suggests the battery is not even half capacity if not under load. The app showed the battery is full and resting @13.5v which is fine. It was odd that the terminals measured one voltage, but the BMS app reads something different. Since I've cycled it a couple times now the measurements are the same. I hope that answers your question. Thanks for the comment.
my batterys never get over 134 to 136 according to the meter but will stay at 13.2 for hrs@@OffGridBasement
Any update on this? @@OffGridBasement
Also curious if you have update with actual voltage readings. you said that they are the same but at what voltage. Thanks much,
So can it charge a battery bank of 4 batteries wired in parallel or will one need to charge 1 battery at a time ?
You can charge all in parallel, but it's recommended to charge one at a time to make sure everything is top balanced.
Thank you for the review of an excellent battery.
Thanks for watching and the comment!
Thank you for your great video
I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Looks like it operated at the voltage shown on the side of the battery case. 12.8
Yes. Most of the time that will be the operating voltage under load.
Helpful. I have the same set up👍
Glad to hear it's working out for you!
What would happen to these batteries if you put say 15V across the terminals and left it. Would the bms stop letting charge into the battery when it reaches 100% charge?
It depends on if the BMS is correctly programmed to disconnect on that high of a voltage. I don't recommend charging at that high. It would start damaging the cells.
Do the specs for the charger says what the minimum cut-in voltage is for starting the charge cycle?
I believe it's 1v. The charger will wake up a fully discharged lifepo4 battery.
@@OffGridBasement Thank you!
So, how long did it take for a full charge on a 20 volt Li Time charger
It takes right around 5 hours to charge this 100ah battery with a 20A charger. Hope this helps. Thanks for the comment.
I have the same Li Time 14.6V 20A charger. When my battery is charged the charger will cycle on and off rapidly. Is this normal or does the charger have a defect?
I don't believe the charger I have does that. That could be a defect, but I'm not sure. Sorry I can't give you more information.
So how long did it take to recharge from dead? That would have been great to know
It took right around 5 hours to completely fill the battery. Hope that helps! Thanks for the comment.
I have the Li Time 200ah battery, something I don't understand is what is full voltage supposed to be? Is 13.50volt full? I thought it was supposed to be at 14.4 to be full. Or at least 14v. Am I misunderstanding this?
Also why was your volt meter showing a much lower voltage than the app?
When you charge up to full the voltage is 14.4 to 14.6. when the charger turns off, the voltage will drop down to around 13.6 to 13.8. the BMS in the battery was lowering to the voltage at the posts. I'm not exactly sure why that is. Probably something to do with having a consistent voltage when at rest and under load. Hope this helps.
Think its Gokw , they made a Sodium 12v 100ah woth small cylinder celld. , Hope they work with LiPo4 MPPT controllers.
I'm sure you could set an MPPT controller with manual setting options to work. I've heard Sodium doesn't like to be charge quickly so keep that in mind. Thanks for the comment.
@@OffGridBasement I saw your Gokw video on alibaba , hope they send you the sodium, interested in charge and discharge graphs.
I don’t think I’d want a smart battery for like a grid down situation, what good would a app do for you if something major happens
There is no need for a smart battery if you have a shunt. Thanks for the comment.
How is it putting 20 Amps into the battery from a 15 Amp wall receptacle? What am I missing?
The 15A wall socket is AC running 120v. The 20A charger is DC running 12v. Hope this helps!
@@OffGridBasement Ahh, right. Duh for me. Wow I’m tired…
Is the group 24 without the bluetooth Lithium Iron Phosphate?
Here is an Amazon link: amzn.to/3SVxUrc
What do think or know about Lipuls lifepo4 batteries?
Unfortunately I don't know anything about them.
Is there any Different between the Group 31 and 24 Li time 100AH Batteries?
The only difference is the size of the battery case. They both should be 100a BMS and prismatic cells. Hope that helps. Thanks for the comment.
@@OffGridBasement I thought they were the same inside I thought they would have the same everything except the outer case THANKS
Good video, thanks. Can the charger charge 2, 100Ah batteries in parallel? Or is it only designed for one battery at a time?
It can charge two batteries in parallel with no problem. Just make sure to wire the batteries in parallel for 24 hours beforehand to make sure they are balanced.
@@OffGridBasement thanks, but a question. It was my understanding that in order for a battery to balance its cells, it has to be fully charged. But would that mean batteries would have to be individually balanced (ie charged individually) before connecting in parallel? Then after that they could be charged in parallel using charger? Thanks again.
Great video...Question for you, will a 12/24V solar charger work at charging a 36v LiPo battery?
Afraid not. You need a solar charger that supports 36v. They do make ones that support 12v, 24v, 36v and 48v.
Charger cost and charger volt & amper
There is a link in the description. The charger is a 14.6v 20A charger. It currently sells for $84 on the website.
I just received one of these batteries today and, when I attempted to connect the Bluetooth, the "device was not found". I tried charging it with a HTRC P20 set to LiFePo4 and 20A and it would not charge. I measured the voltage and it is showing 3.2 Volts. I think that the Volts are the problem and I'm wondering what you'd suggest to make this battery usable. In your video you expect something like 13.1 or 13.2 Volts with a new battery. Thoughts?? Thanks,
Your BMS in the battery looks to be asleep. You need to wake it up with another 12v source. Watch this video: th-cam.com/video/j2JjOpq50MI/w-d-xo.html
This should help.
@@OffGridBasement Good Morning. Thanks very much for the help. I replace UPS batteries periodically and happened to have a 12V9Ah one in my workshop. I connected jumpers to that battery and touched the other ends of the jumpers to my new LiFePo4 battery and, when I tested the voltage of the new battery, it was 13.2. Voila!! I connected my Smart Charger and it's humming away (well, a little louder than humming) charging the battery.
I do have some car battery chargers in the garage and I wonder if I could have used one of those to do the same thing?? I didn't know if there might be problems because those chargers are for lead/acid batteries and the new one is a LiFePo4. Again, I appreciate your help in getting me going with this project.
I have a portable refrigerator that runs on either 12V or 110V. When travelling, I can plug it into a 12V outlet in the car but, when we get to a hotel, I lug it into our room so that it doesn't run down the car battery. I'm hoping to use this new battery to keep the fridge going in the car at night rather than having to lug it to a 110V outlet.
Great review! Question.... If you are not using your lithium battery for a long period of time what percentage do you like to store them at?
I only have a few that aren't currently in use and I keep them right at 50% SOC. Between 13.1v and 13.2v. Hope that helps! Thanks for the question and the comment.
@@OffGridBasement helps a lot! Thanks!
Great video
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the comment.
Great
Li stands for Lithium - see periodic table.
Thanks for the comment and info.
I have that Li Time 20A charger, and I'm surprised to see that you are recommending it. I would recommend people avoid the Li Time chargers. Most LifePO4 chargers have some concept of "float" phase, where after the initial charge, the charger will pull back to a slightly lower charge, then maintain that voltage to keep the battery at 100%. What I have described is widely considered the best way to charge and maintain LifePO4 batteries. The Li Time chargers do not do this. Instead, when the battery reaches 100%... the charger just turns off. You can hear the relay click, you see the Red light turn to Green. When the battery discharges enough, the charger will turn back on and the process repeats itself.
I've seen this with 10a, 20, and their 40a chargers.
So why is this bad? If you leave your battery plugged in while fully charged, the charger will repeatedly cycle, by allowing slight discharge and then recharging. Each cycle, the charger will raise the voltage to 14.6V. If you have any kind of parasitic load on your battery, like a SOC-measuring Shunt, then the cycle happens frequently LifePO4 batteries are not intended to have 14.6 voltage on frequent cycles. This behavior is consistent with what is described in the manual, it is by design.
Good LifePO4 batteries will have a 'float' phase where 100% SOC is maintained with a lower voltage. (13.0) Instead these chargers will cycle and raise the battery voltage to 14.6V many times each day. That's not a good thing, and why I would not be recommending these batteries.
Thank you for the information and the comment. I'll do further testing with the charger to see if I can replicate your findings.
Please, which charger are you using that below $100 ?. I don't want to buy a battery charger and later regret it
I'm still using the Li Time one, I just don't recommend them.
Victron is expensive but a better product more details in the app?
Li is pronounced Lee by the manufacturer
Here is what they stated in an email they sent me.
*** Special note: LiTime is pronounced/' lɪtaɪm/，Li as in Lih( lithium/ little).
cool thanks for sharing
Thanks for watching!