13 minutes ago, Chris_S said:

Gobel where using eve and rept now giving a cheaper price with Batterotech cells. That are 280Ah cells that test at 270Ah

If you’ve watched Andy review which @Greglsh mentioned in his first post, there batteries come with a choice of grade A, grade B cells and DIY option. Obviously the price will be different. 

On 2023/11/10 at 11:06 AM, Greglsh said:

Received this so pricing is not so cheap, working on exchange rate of +_ R19 to dollar the Standard battery works out to R51K plus shipping.

 

 

@PowerUser this was always their offering. Even Andy's videos showed this. Now when they are told that their pricing doesn't suit the South African market they put in a very unknown cell that's obviously cheaper than EVE or REPT

On 2023/11/10 at 11:06 AM, Greglsh said:

Received this so pricing is not so cheap, working on exchange rate of +_ R19 to dollar the Standard battery works out to R51K plus shipping.

 

 

@PowerUser this was always their offering. Even Andy's videos showed this. Now when they are told that their pricing doesn't suit the South African market they put in a very unknown cell that's obviously cheaper than EVE or REPT

23 minutes ago, Chris_S said:

@PowerUser this was always their offering. Even Andy's videos showed this. Now when they are told that their pricing doesn't suit the South African market they put in a very unknown cell that's obviously cheaper than EVE or REPT

https://en.batterotech.com/AboutUs.html

https://www.altenergymag.com/news/2023/09/25/batterotech-debuts-advanced-314ah-and-53ah-battery-technologies-at-re2023-signaling-a-new-era-for-global-energy-storage/40255/

So a lower price for these BatteroTech cells which are more like 270ah cells.

 

I also had a chat to them, if there are 10 or more units ordered then the could apply an 8% discount (they called it a referral fee, but rather apply it as a discount I feel).

Shipping was around $2240 for the 10 batteries.

 

My question was what happens if someone needs some technical assistance or a cell needs to be replaced etc.

They said I would need to provide technical assistance and they would ship some additional parts for incase. What additional parts and how many, I do not know.

 

They also said they are looking for distributors in SA, my thing is I am not sure whether the current pricing makes sense. Although a distributor would likely have enough funds to place a large order and negotiate better pricing per unit and sea freight could end up bringing the final price per unit down further but then there will be markup added to the price as well.

 

Without the local distributor, if something goes wrong and you need to replace a cell or BMS you will be waiting a while and I am not sure how they handle such claims. I know some companies want the damaged / faulty part to be shipped back to them and this will be at your cost while others are happy to just ship a replacement part to you.

 

To summarize, approx R40 500 for a 270ah battery from Gobel Power which comes with a 4A active balancer.

Not a bad price. Although there may be custom charges in additional to the shipping charges - I did not confirm with Gobel Power if they cover the custom duties.

7 hours ago, PsyCLown said:

So a lower price for these BatteroTech cells which are more like 270ah cells.

 

I also had a chat to them, if there are 10 or more units ordered then the could apply an 8% discount (they called it a referral fee, but rather apply it as a discount I feel).

Shipping was around $2240 for the 10 batteries.

 

My question was what happens if someone needs some technical assistance or a cell needs to be replaced etc.

They said I would need to provide technical assistance and they would ship some additional parts for incase. What additional parts and how many, I do not know.

 

They also said they are looking for distributors in SA, my thing is I am not sure whether the current pricing makes sense. Although a distributor would likely have enough funds to place a large order and negotiate better pricing per unit and sea freight could end up bringing the final price per unit down further but then there will be markup added to the price as well.

 

Without the local distributor, if something goes wrong and you need to replace a cell or BMS you will be waiting a while and I am not sure how they handle such claims. I know some companies want the damaged / faulty part to be shipped back to them and this will be at your cost while others are happy to just ship a replacement part to you.

 

To summarize, approx R40 500 for a 270ah battery from Gobel Power which comes with a 4A active balancer.

Not a bad price. Although there may be custom charges in additional to the shipping charges - I did not confirm with Gobel Power if they cover the custom duties.

Imported batteries for renewable energy have no excise duties, all you pay is vat

On 2023/11/16 at 9:01 AM, PsyCLown said:

...which comes with a 4A active balancer.

Gives you an idea of the cell quality if they feel the need to ship a 4A active balancer with new, matched cells...

4 hours ago, JustinSchoeman said:

Gives you an idea of the cell quality if they feel the need to ship a 4A active balancer with new, matched cells...

To be honest, I think most cells one buys for DIY batteries are never matched enough to not need a balancer and for cost saving purposes, the same would apply to pre-built batteries.

 

I'd also rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

 

EDIT: So Svolt said they are not planning on bringing in the 280ah batteries to SA as the demand is not there for the larger batteries.

If someone wants the 280ah batteries, you would need to order a container full of them. lol so that won't be happening.

 

So when I am ready to add more battery capacity, I think it comes down to Gobel Power or Apexium. Not sure which one would be cheaper overall, I do prefer the Gobel Power standing vertical and having castors and the active balancer included is a big plus.

These cells though, I do not know much about them or how they perform and the fact that they do not achieve their rated capacity is a bit of a put off.

Edited November 17, 20232 yr by PsyCLown

Just my 2c DIY is great and cheaper when I started of cells were alot cheaper but not readily available my first batch i almost lost my R16K on Alibaba. Them tried Shenzhen Basen with provided me with 48 x Leshen 272amp. Also have 32 EVE280 which is running quite well no active balancer and my latest experiment 16 x 184amp svolt blades which seem pretty good aswell. ALL cell using a JBD bms's coupled with a SunSynk 8kw.

12 hours ago, Raj35 said:

ALL cell using a JBD bms's coupled with a SunSynk 8kw

@Raj35 Not to derail this thread but a side question to learn from your experience:
1. Which model JBD BMSs do you use?
2 Which voltage settings for float, absorption and equalization (and equalization time) do you set on the inverter and BMS ?

 

On 2023/11/19 at 11:34 PM, Raj35 said:

Just my 2c DIY is great and cheaper when I started of cells were alot cheaper but not readily available my first batch i almost lost my R16K on Alibaba. Them tried Shenzhen Basen with provided me with 48 x Leshen 272amp. Also have 32 EVE280 which is running quite well no active balancer and my latest experiment 16 x 184amp svolt blades which seem pretty good aswell. ALL cell using a JBD bms's coupled with a SunSynk 8kw.

Hi @Raj35 did you build your own battery box? What did you do for compression and what BMS did you use on the batteries (I see JBD which models) and are you happy with the BMS, would you choose any other BMS if you did it agian. I am also looking at building my own 16 x 280 Ah cells but not sure if I should buy the Apexium DIY kit, which comes with the Apexium BMS (supposed to be a Seplos V2 BMS), and the battery cabinet, looking at about +_ R47K for 14KW

On 2023/11/20 at 11:48 AM, DeonBez said:

@Raj35 Not to derail this thread but a side question to learn from your experience:
1. Which model JBD BMSs do you use?
2 Which voltage settings for float, absorption and equalization (and equalization time) do you set on the inverter and BMS ?

 

@DeonBez it's the JBD 20S 500amp. On the BMS 3.5 full cell voltage 56v pack voltage. 2.8V cut off voltage and 44.8 pack cut off. Inverter 54.5v on all but i think 54v is the sweet spot.

15 hours ago, Greglsh said:

Hi @Raj35 did you build your own battery box? What did you do for compression and what BMS did you use on the batteries (I see JBD which models) and are you happy with the BMS, would you choose any other BMS if you did it agian. I am also looking at building my own 16 x 280 Ah cells but not sure if I should buy the Apexium DIY kit, which comes with the Apexium BMS (supposed to be a Seplos V2 BMS), and the battery cabinet, looking at about +_ R47K for 14KW

@Greglsh I did build my own with 19mm marine plywood. For compression i made a snug box and screwed the last panel on so its a tight fit with 8 x80 screws. As for the BMS i used the JBD 20s 500amp as they built solid I like the contactor. I would stick to the JBD bms they don't  have active balancing I did however for another pack add a 10amp active balancer but later removed as they pack stayed at a 9mv deviation. 

@Raj35, thank you for the feedback. 

11 hours ago, Raj35 said:

As for the BMS i used the JBD 20s 500amp as they built solid I like the contactor.

Please be so kind and share a link to this BMS you used. 

11 hours ago, DeonBez said:

@Raj35, thank you for the feedback. 

Please be so kind and share a link to this BMS you used. 

https://x.alibaba.com/Av9reZ