Low Priced LiFePO4 Batteries - Tear Downs

[BobC]

There are a plethora of lower priced LiFePO4 batteries on the market and, personally, I wouldn't buy one unless Will Prowse or another respected reviewer had done a tear down and has given the battery a good review. Here's a recent video of his that demonstrates why a teardown is important:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BJ5tbtdlfE

In the comments he also provides a link to batteries he does recommend.

Note that Will has done numerous teardowns, some with good findings others with issues. He's even done one on a Battle Born battery (good as expected). Check out his Youtube channel for more.

[AJMike]

There are now a number of well advertised Lithium batteries including Discover Blue, Lithionics, Renogy, Dakota, ReLion, Lion and others and I would like to see a tear down of some of those.

For a while I kept an eye on the Will Browse videos and saw some tear downs of batteries like SOK and some other cheap brands, but then he suddenly seemed to go silent and I saw nothing new. I will take a look at this one.

As far as I know all of the actual cells are made in China and it is only the matter of how they are hooked together that differs from one brand to another. That is important but I wonder if we will see any new and more efficient cells anytime soon. Personally I have 2 BattleBorn batteries that I bought about 2 years ago and have been happy with those, although I am thinking about adding at least one more if I can find the space to put them.

[powercat_ras]

Actually there are differences besides how they are hooked together that differs, that is a risk if you buy batteries that have not been torn down and reviewed by someone like Will ... Differences:

- If they have proper low temperature protection, very important if your batteries could attempt to be charged when the batteries are below 32F.

- Will found some batteries with low temperature protection that was inproperly engineered (temp sensor mounted improperly) so that the battery cells could be much colder than the temp sensor)

- Will has found some batteries that are made with cells that do not all meet the manufacturer's specs AKA not all cells in a particular battery are "grade A".