Build your own lithium 12V lithium battery?

[jkordzi]

Anyone seen this guy's video on building a 12V lithium battery and have any opinions they'd care to share?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsvBlQJr7b0

[Effie]

I was thinking about it at the time, this video is about a year old and there are even more options now. I ended up buying four Renogy Smart lithium 100/12 batteries on eBay recently, (link below) the batteries are brand new in a sealed Renogy box. I bought the Renogy BT-2 Bluetooth for monitoring, run some tests and I'm very
pleased, actually thinking of getting two more, looks like the seller have a huge supply. One thing to keep in mind, you can't connect these in series, so if you want/need a 24v system you need to look elsewhere.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/33419453261...QAAOSwyVBgwpC7

[alanmalk]

Originally Posted by Effie

I was thinking about it at the time, this video is about a year old and there are even more options now. I ended up buying four Renogy Smart lithium 100/12 batteries on eBay recently, (link below) the batteries are brand new in a sealed Renogy box.

...

I also bought two of these for my trailer - installed but not tested. The price is quite attractive. But do pay attention to some details:

They do not appear to have any cold temperature protections - like charging cutoff or discharging cutoff. You will have to disconnect and/or switch manually as needed.

They have a non-standard footprint. You will have to construct a box or hold-down system.

They have some unusual electronics - a detachable On-Off switch (supplied) and some inter-battery communications that require a cheap Ethernet type cable (not supplied). (That's the "Smart" in the name.)

If these are not an issue then you can save some serious $$$ over BattleBorn or Dakota.

[DanK]

What's the warranty on these batteries? The price is certainly attractive

[Brian B-P]

The approach makes sense. A reasonably handy person can potentially assemble the cells and BMS as well as Battle Born and others do - they're all buying the same components. An advantage (aside from cost savings) of doing you own is that you can choose the capacity and physical arrangement, not being limited to available cases or forced to parallel multiple units to get the desired capacity (although the Bestgo units make it possible to avoid parallel units without building your own).

[rotorbudd]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

The approach makes sense. A reasonably handy person can potentially assemble the cells and BMS as well as Battle Born and others do - they're all buying the same components. An advantage (aside from cost savings) of doing you own is that you can choose the capacity and physical arrangement, not being limited to available cases or forced to parallel multiple units to get the desired capacity (although the Bestgo units make it possible to avoid parallel units without building your own).

This young man has an excellent youtube channel about solar power including all kinds of batteries.
DIY Solar Power with Will Prowse

[Effie]

Originally Posted by alanmalk

I also bought two of these for my trailer - installed but not tested. The price is quite attractive. But do pay attention to some details:

They do not appear to have any cold temperature protections - like charging cutoff or discharging cutoff. You will have to disconnect and/or switch manually as needed.

They have a non-standard footprint. You will have to construct a box or hold-down system.

They have some unusual electronics - a detachable On-Off switch (supplied) and some inter-battery communications that require a cheap Ethernet type cable (not supplied). (That's the "Smart" in the name.)

If these are not an issue then you can save some serious $$$ over BattleBorn or Dakota.

From the manual: Low battery warning (charging) 41 degrees, triggering protection 32 degrees

There are also all the other desired protection settings for high/low temp discharging, over current, over voltage and cell high/low voltage.

I think the smart in the name is for the included BMS (and some marketing hype )
Connecting the batteries with the RJ-45 enable monitoring all the battery bank down to individual cell level with one Bluetooth accessory ($33 on Amazon).
Personally I like the small size, these will go to a van conversion so space is always limited (as it is in may E19)

Edit: the detachable switch is intended to limit discharge during long storage, the battery can be "turned on" without using it by applying a charge.

Full discloser: I'm not affiliated with the seller in any way, bought two, liked it and bought two more .