Battery vs. battery

[Ham_Bone]

Relion RB300 is a 300 AH battery for $2350.00. Then there is the Ingeosolly IN-12v300AH which claims to be a 300AH battery for $568.89. Why such a huge disparity in prices? Is this a extreme example of "you get what you pay for"?

 

[Boomerweps]

At that price, the words “magic beans” comes to mind.
I bought 400AH of 100AH batteries for about $1050 over a year & now could do it for under $800 at current pricing.

 

[Aussieguy]

I bought the under $200 battery (100ah)....... just for the heck of it
but ... not using them to power a inverter at this time... light duty only


They actually work... and have survived about 3,000 miles of traveling..
if they fail ... they could be repaired especially if it is a failed BMS
would take about an hour to perform a BMS swap... soldering skills may be required.

I'm happy and at a price you just can't resist


if I want more power would get 2 x 200ah or a single 400ah
but you need to watch the discharge rate..
especially if you want to run real heavy loads.. you will need a better BMS

 

[PhilFromMaine]

Relion RB300 is a 300 AH battery for $2350.00. Then there is the Ingeosolly IN-12v300AH which claims to be a 300AH battery for $568.89. Why such a huge disparity in prices? Is this a extreme example of "you get what you pay for"?

Lifepo4 is lifepo4 no matter who the manufacturer is (assuming it is not a fake). There can be differences in construction quality and in the BMS.

Differences come in customer service and in the quality of the warranty (I don't know of either company's product. Relion has been around in the US for a long time. I have never heard if Ingeosolly.


If I was buying new batteries, I would want one that could be easily opened up and serviced. If you do end up sending it in for service and you have to pay for shipping the cost could be quite high. For an RV I would also consider a wall mounted battery and even a server rack battery. The last time I studied the market Epoch batteries looked like a very good choice with a lot of bang for the buck.

 

[jlankford]

Relion RB300 is a 300 AH battery for $2350.00. Then there is the Ingeosolly IN-12v300AH which claims to be a 300AH battery for $568.89. Why such a huge disparity in prices? Is this a extreme example of "you get what you pay for"?

The specs on the Relion battery are not good. With a maximum discharge rate of 100 amps, this battery will not power a 2000 watt inverter. And as boomerweps said, that price is ridiculous. Typical prices for quality LiFePO4 batteries is currently around $300 per 100Ah, or less.

 

[Aussieguy]

and get one with inbuilt bluetooth monitoring
the extra 20.00 is money well spent
you can read the individual cells voltage and in most cases you can modify settings

 

[tomkatb]

Cruise Amazon. Lots of choices.

When there are new technologies there always companies making money hand over fist taking advantage of the uninformed.

In a lithium battery there are three parts. Four cells, a bms and the box!

Cells come in qualities. Good luck getting information. Bms’s are the size of a cell phone. I would want Bluetooth, cold and hot protection, and heaters. Heaters are for those likely to see cold weather. Not everyone.

I like SOK. Their 280 ah battery is around $1000. Well made. Easy to work on. All the options. Easy to open.

As noted. Shipping on these is awful! DIY is a good idea. I replaced defective bms’s. Took 30 minutes.

 

[Flybob]

You may also want to check the warranty procedure. If warranty replacement requires shipping a defective lithium battery to the far east, you may have to sell the RV to cover the shipping.

 

[Tony Ramirez]

I went with Epoch, I probably paid a little more than I would have if I went with another brand, but I liked the features, warranty and USA based. Also, easy to talk to customer service & tech support, even when I was asking questions before I made the purchase.

So far, I haven't regretted the choice.

 

[DJ252]

I don't know either company but it looks like Relion is way out of whack with current pricing.

When Will Prowse and others, repeatedly tested and endorsed Epoch batteries, thats the way I went.

So far, so good. Not the cheapest but definitely competitive pricing and chocked full of features. Built in high and low temp protection, heaters and bluetooth. They just recently upgraded their app. Just started messing with it so can say much about it It is prettier, now shows whether is series or parallel and looks like you can name the individual batts but not sure it adds much else re function. You could always see the cell status and temps.

I chose 2, 300ah Essentials. The right size for the space I had to deal with, at an attractive price. If one goes down, I can take it out and not be dead. An obvious advantage, to using a multi batt system, rather than a single large one. I also chose a plastic case, rather than metal. They have some in plastic that can be opened up but mine is sealed. A potential inconvenience there, since if one ever requires service, I'll have to send it back.

They do have US based distribution but I wouldn't rank their customer service very high. Its not bad but the batts, while packaged very well, came with zero documentation and its pretty hard to talk to a person in real time. I think they might be having growing pains so, this could improve.

 

[MGD1961]

Relion RB300 is a 300 AH battery for $2350.00. Then there is the Ingeosolly IN-12v300AH which claims to be a 300AH battery for $568.89. Why such a huge disparity in prices? Is this a extreme example of "you get what you pay for"?

This is a matter of Relion is a well know brand with US based support though I don’t know where their batteries are made

The other is the cheapest bargain basement thing you can buy. Good luck with any customer support. I don’t know the brand specifically but I bet there will be no one on the other end of the phone when you need help. And yes. You get what you pay for.

I said many times buy the best you can afford and you will never be disappointed

 

[jlankford]

This is a matter of Relion is a well know brand with US based support though I don’t know where their batteries are made

The other is the cheapest bargain basement thing you can buy. Good luck with any customer support. I don’t know the brand specifically but I bet there will be no one on the other end of the phone when you need help. And yes. You get what you pay for.

I said many times buy the best you can afford and you will never be disappointed

But this Relion battery does not appear to be "the best you can afford." It's simply way overpriced in today's market. High price doesn't necessarily equal quality.

 

[Ham_Bone]

Thanks for the replies, folks. I believe I'll pass on the Relion. I'm now looking at a batteries from Epoch or Li Time. Looking at models with good BMS and perhaps blue tooth.

 

[PhilFromMaine]

Thanks for the replies, folks. I believe I'll pass on the Relion. I'm now looking at a batteries from Epoch or Li Time. Looking at models with good BMS and perhaps blue tooth.

Also make sure you get low temp charging protection which means if the temp goes below freezing or a heated battery's charging threshold is crossed, the BMS won't allow the battery to charge and damage the battery.

 

[Ham_Bone]

Also make sure you get low temp charging protection which means if the temp goes below freezing or a heated battery's charging threshold is crossed, the BMS won't allow the battery to charge and damage the battery.

I'm close to pulling the trigger on this battery. It advertises that it has "HEATED - Internal heating allows for charging in sub-zero conditions".

 

[jlankford]

I'm close to pulling the trigger on this battery. It advertises that it has "HEATED - Internal heating allows for charging in sub-zero conditions".

IMO, the heated feature is a waste of money and you only need low-temperature charging protection. But if the battery will be in an outside box and you camp in freezing conditions, then heated would make sense.

 

[Ham_Bone]

Does a system utilizing a single Lifepo4 still need to have that battery equalized? If so, how is this done considering that it cannot be done the same way as a lead acid battery?

 

[Aussieguy]

NO and Yes
depending on what you call equalize

a) Two batteries that are going to be joined together should be of equal charge
best way to equal-ize them is to fully charge each seperately
Then they can be joined
Serial or Parallel you want them at the same voltage if possible...

b) Single battery .... equalize the cells within the battery
Usually called Balancing ... a good BMS should ensure the 4 cells in a 12v battery are at the same voltage.
Balancing usually only happens when the battery is 95% or more charged... Top balancing

To give my cells the most time to balance, I have set my battery to balance the cells whenever they are 3.4 (or higher) ... Balancing will continue when charging current drops Off and the battery is being discharged


PS.. addition
Balancing need only happen once in a while... so charging the batteries to 100% at least every 2 WEEKS or so is good for them
More often is better ...

 

[Ham_Bone]

NO and Yes
depending on what you call equalize

a) Two batteries that are going to be joined together should be of equal charge
best way to equal-ize them is to fully charge each seperately
Then they can be joined
Serial or Parallel you want them at the same voltage if possible...

b) Single battery .... equalize the cells within the battery
Usually called Balancing ... a good BMS should ensure the 4 cells in a 12v battery are at the same voltage.
Balancing usually only happens when the battery is 95% or more charged... Top balancing

To give my cells the most time to balance, I have set my battery to balance the cells whenever they are 3.4 (or higher) ... Balancing will continue when charging current drops Off and the battery is being discharged


PS.. addition
Balancing need only happen once in a while... so charging the batteries to 100% at least every 2 WEEKS or so is good for them
More often is better ...

I ordered a Epoch 460AH battery called "LiFePO4 Battery Essentials". Not much info on whether it has the ability to balance the 4 cells in the battery. It could have with all the bells and whistles it has. Perhaps in the phone app for the blue tooth.

 

[Tony Ramirez]

Epoch is in the middle off a new APP rollout, from the Facebook page, there are some issues . I haven't updated mine yet. The old one was "ok", gave some good info but not a lot.I also use the Overkill Solar app, it seems to have more info.

From the FB page, it seems the Epoch 460 Marine has more issues w charging than the Essentials. I got 2 of the 460 Essentials, set Absorb to 14.2 for 45 mins, float to 13.6. All my cells are usually within .001 to .007 volts. Right before it gets to the absorb voltage, they might be in the .05 range, then gets back to the lower #s. Don't know what # are supposed to be, but I'm guessing thousandths of a volt are OK.