Hi

Was looking on the net for batteries and found this which looks like a good price, anybody use these batteries? Are they good quality batteries and how is their support?

 

https://www.lithiumbatteriessa.co.za/shop/smart100ah51-wm-v2-51-2v-104ah-5-3kwh-lifepo4-lithium-iron-phosphate-wall-mount-solar-ups-battery-962#attr=

I have been using 2 of these batteries (previous version design is more square) and have been very happy with them since install. Just over 820 ccyles on both of them.

However, they do not give detailed battery information in Solar Assistant but rather only the standard battery information. But apart from this "nice to have" they have been absoluetely rock solid. And their price I see now is good too.

Support has been great too (email and remote). When I had an issue with the second battery being added, the cycle count was not correct. They did a remote connect to the batteries and upgraded firmware on the first one to match the second newer one. Since then, no issues.

MdF

Edited November 11, 20232 yr by MdF

1 hour ago, Greglsh said:

Hi

Was looking on the net for batteries and found this which looks like a good price, anybody use these batteries? Are they good quality batteries and how is their support?

 

https://www.lithiumbatteriessa.co.za/shop/smart100ah51-wm-v2-51-2v-104ah-5-3kwh-lifepo4-lithium-iron-phosphate-wall-mount-solar-ups-battery-962#attr=

@GreglshI have the old type one running now for just over two years.

In the beginning I was very critical of this battery however, I have to admit I changed my mind. I'm very much happy with its performance. still reaches 99% SOC as it's done from day 1

In my battery there is one of the 16 cells that does not reach full charge. I contacted LBSA and they promptly told me to bring the battery over to the workshop to do the necessary repair. never done it decided to live with it, see attached dashboard.

So far it has givem me almost 2 MW of power.

There is one thing and if you look at LBSA the warranty is the BMS stupid cycle count. it counts one cycle every time SOC drops bellow 80 %

4500 cycles (9000 Cycles on BMS display) Warranty

For the price I personally think that is possibly one of the best in SA.

Edited November 11, 20232 yr by Antonio de Sa

22 hours ago, Antonio de Sa said:

So far it has givem me almost 2 MW of power.

???

2000 kW of power?? Are you perhaps talking energy - 2MWh, =2000kWh?

4 minutes ago, Beat said:

???

2000 kW of power?? Are you perhaps talking energy - 2MWh, =2000kWh?

@Beat, If you look close at the graph is KW/h over 27 months that is about 3.5 KW/h per day out of a 5 KW/h battery. not bad return. 

5 hours ago, Antonio de Sa said:

@Beat, If you look close at the graph is KW/h over 27 months that is about 3.5 KW/h per day out of a 5 KW/h battery. not bad return. 

This is excellent. Even more so while you are using battery power mostly only during LS and some grid on a daily basis. A good CV for your Growatt too. 

20 hours ago, Antonio de Sa said:

If you look close at the graph is KW/h over 27 months that is about 3.5 KW/h per day out of a 5 KW/h battery. not bad return. 

Indeed, but kWh, not "KW/h". The International Standard of Units does not allow to write units and prefixes to the the writers mood.

Edited November 13, 20232 yr by Beat

On 2023/11/11 at 2:10 PM, MdF said:

They did a remote connect to the batteries and upgraded firmware on the first one to match the second newer one. Since then, no issues.

Curious as to how that works? So these batteries have their own router internally or something, or how does that work? Thank you

and more importantly can this "feature" be disabled if desired?

Edited November 13, 20232 yr by VicB7

4 minutes ago, VicB7 said:

Curious as to how that works? So these batteries have their own router internally or something, or how does that work? Thank you

and more importantly can this "feature" be disabled if desired?

I'm more concerned about the warranty in cycle count. (4500 cycles (9000 Cycles on BMS display) how and where does one see the 4500 Cycles, the only way to see the cycle count is in the BMS, unless they divide the BMS cycle count by 2. This sounds very devious.

 

3 minutes ago, Antonio de Sa said:

I'm more concerned about the warranty in cycle count. (4500 cycles (9000 Cycles on BMS display) how and where does one see the 4500 Cycles, the only way to see the cycle count is in the BMS, unless they divide the BMS cycle count by 2. This sounds very devious.

I might be wrong on this but I think I read somewhere on this forum that even if the SOC drops from 100% -> 80% or something like that, and is then recharged, that counts as a cycle, and is stored as a cycle count on the BMS. So perhaps they are factoring that into their warranty terms?

Edited November 13, 20232 yr by VicB7

2 hours ago, Beat said:

Indeed, but kWh, not "KW/h". The International Standard of Units does not allow to write units and prefixes to the the writers mood.

Then in the same breath set the example by using the ISO standard by leaving a space between the value and unit measured like 200 Ah and not 200Ah. 😀😀

9 minutes ago, VicB7 said:

I might be wrong on this but I think I read somewhere on this forum that even if the SOC drops from 100% -> 80% or something like that, and is then recharged, that counts as a cycle, and is stored as a cycle count on the BMS. So perhaps they are factoring that into their warranty terms?

You are 100% correct, that is what I see in my battery, just check this dashboard in the last seven days only once has my battery SOC gone down below 25% yet it counted 1 Cycle every day. What I've been told is that there is a default setting on the Seplos BMS 0f 80% SOC, LBSA could change that but they don't. The reason why? only they know.

Edited November 13, 20232 yr by Antonio de Sa

5 minutes ago, Antonio de Sa said:

You are 100% correct, that is what I see in my battery, just check this dashboard in the last seven days only once has my battery SOC gone down below 25% yet it counted 1 Cycle every day. What I've been told is that there is a default setting on the Seplos BMS 0f 80% SOC, LBSA could change that but they don't. The reason why? only they know.

The reason, as always,is money

2 minutes ago, madness_za said:

The reason, as always,is money

When I got my battery, I was concerned about the STUPID cycle count, I contacted LBSA, spoke to the owner, He did confirm that was the case, anytime it drops below 80% SOC and starts to charge again it counts one cycle, by the way he is a member of this forum, I'm not going to mention names.

Yet, I have to admit it is a good battery, I have not heard any complains. unlike the telescope battery. If i had the resources, I would purchase another one.

I stand to correction; I think it's a rebranded SEPLOS battery. 

6 minutes ago, Antonio de Sa said:

When I got my battery, I was concerned about the STUPID cycle count, I contacted LBSA, spoke to the owner, He did confirm that was the case, anytime it drops below 80% SOC and starts to charge again it counts one cycle, by the way he is a member of this forum, I'm not going to mention names.

Yet, I have to admit it is a good battery, I have not heard any complains. unlike the telescope battery. If i had the resources, I would purchase another one.

I stand to correction; I think it's a rebranded SEPLOS battery. 

Here are the parameter for the SEPLOS battery, note the 80% DOD.

Cycle life

4800 cycles @25℃ 50A charge and discharge current 70% standard capacity 80% DOD

Deleted due to bad quoting/editing on my part

Edited November 13, 20232 yr by VicB7
bad edit

49 minutes ago, VicB7 said:

Curious as to how that works? So these batteries have their own router internally or something, or how does that work? Thank you

and more importantly can this "feature" be disabled if desired?

Just to add. As a prospective LBSA battery buyer, this would be good to know. I am personally allergic to any "remote" functionality that I cannot turn off.

I understand that these features can be very useful in certain support use cases though.

1 minute ago, VicB7 said:

Just to add. As a prospective LBSA battery buyer, this would be good to know. I am personally allergic to any "remote" functionality that I cannot turn off.

I understand that these features can be very useful in certain support use cases though.

If I was you, I would contact then to find out about the remote functionality. I'm also one that does not like it however, if it is done with your permission and helps in resolving issues, I would not have a problem with it. I presume if i get another one with a different BMS firmware, that would be needed as in the case of @MdF

4 minutes ago, Antonio de Sa said:

if it is done with your permission and helps in resolving issues, I would not have a problem with it

Absolutely, and if this feature can be turned off, so that it cannot be remotely turned on, that works for me. Then if I need support or update, I switch it on, they do their thing, then switch it off.

This internet of everything, remote control everything while you're sleeping these days, doesn't work for me 🤣

6 minutes ago, Antonio de Sa said:

If I was you, I would contact then to find out about the remote functionality.

I think I will if there is no additional feedback here, the pricing at the moment, and their current in/out capabilities do seem appealing.

3 minutes ago, VicB7 said:

Absolutely, and if this feature can be turned off, so that it cannot be remotely turned on, that works for me. Then if I need support or update, I switch it on, they do their thing, then switch it off.

This internet of everything, remote control everything while you're sleeping these days, doesn't work for me 🤣

I think I will if there is no additional feedback here, the pricing at the moment, and their current in/out capabilities do seem appealing.

That is exactly my way of thinking regarding remote access. Thats why I don't use the Growatt monitoring package, don't trust it, and on top of that is Chinese. 

58 minutes ago, Antonio de Sa said:

You are 100% correct, that is what I see in my battery, just check this dashboard in the last seven days only once has my battery SOC gone down below 25% yet it counted 1 Cycle every day. What I've been told is that there is a default setting on the Seplos BMS 0f 80% SOC, LBSA could change that but they don't. The reason why? only they know.

Hi @Antonio de Sa - what software are you using for this graph? I've been using ICM for my Mecer/LBSA combo. This detail looks great.

7 minutes ago, Chad said:

Hi @Antonio de Sa - what software are you using for this graph? I've been using ICM for my Mecer/LBSA combo. This detail looks great.

To be honest with you I am BC,  before computers. this custom-made program was developed by my son. All I know is that he used Modbus protocol to interrogate both the battery and the inverters and Narada for visual graphs. We use a Raspberry PI to interface with both inverters and battery.

@MdF since you went through the process of having your LBSA battery/batteries remotely updated. Would it be possible for you to shed more light on the procedure?

Did you have to connect the battery to an internet connected router first?

Or does the battery itself have remote-connecting capability?

Thank you!

Edited November 13, 20232 yr by VicB7

1 hour ago, VicB7 said:

@MdF since you went through the process of having your LBSA battery/batteries remotely updated. Would it be possible for you to shed more light on the procedure?

Did you have to connect the battery to an internet connected router first?

Or does the battery itself have remote-connecting capability?

Thank you!

Hi Vic,

So, I ordered the correct USB cable from LBSA which was needed to connect to the battery itself.

Then using my internet connected laptop connected to the battery via the USB cable, LBSA used Teamviewer to connect to my laptop, installed a software programme and then did their fancy electricity magic that way.

Yes, it is defo a bit of a mission to do this as you need to setup a time with LBSA for when both of you can bet at the system. But I had no issues whatsoever with working this way as I could actually follow onscreen with what LBSA were doing to the battery. I learnt quite a bit during that process as well.

If you have more than one battery, LBSA will ask you in the chat to connect between each battery so that is why you need time to be online and at your system.

Hope this helps.

MdF

PS, the battery monitoring software they used is still on my laptop and I am quite good at using it now. Just only for information about each cell, battery performamnce etc. There is a wealth of info available but you have to be physically "tied" to the battery with your laptop and cable.

Edited November 13, 20232 yr by MdF

I also have the same battery, the older type, i'm happy with the battery, no issues in the past 2 years. I asked about cycle count and this is their response:

I trust you are doing well!

 

There is no need to stress about the cycles as the warranty is not governed by the number of cycles.

Kindest Regards,