LiFePO4 DIY Batteries

Do you need to buy a new charger for lithium in an older camper/motorhome?

This is a contentious subject, and to be fair tons of conflicting advice on the web.

Simple answer: to get the most out of your battery it should be charged correctly.

Review of Capacity and Terminal Temperature of EVE LiFePO4 battery cells from Shenzhen Luyuan

Review of Capacity and Terminal Temperature of EVE LiFePO4 battery cells from Shenzhen Luyuan

We recently received a set of 280AH LiFePO4 cells that we purchased from Shenzhen Luyuan (Amy Wan).

We wanted to know three things:

  1. What are the individual cell capacities and how evenly matched are they?

  2. What is the capacity for a reasonably high-C (in our case this would be around 160A so around 0.6C)?

  3. What temperature do the terminals get to at the “high-C” test? These are the new welded-stud terminals with worryingly small surface contact areas, so we’d like some peace of mind that they don’t heat up too much.

How to justify the cost of Lithium when Lead Acid is so much cheaper?

How to justify the cost of Lithium when Lead Acid is so much cheaper?

One of the most common topics that we see on Facebook groups & forums is the question:

How can you justify the cost of LiFePO4 versus Lead Acid?

So in this article, we’re going to be covering this topic to shed some light on the numbers and to prove how good value for money LiFePO4 is!

Firstly, we’ll say that the chemistry of the battery system that you choose should be driven by two main things:

  1. What are your current needs?

  2. Do you think your needs will change in the future?

By needs, we mean what do you need to draw from your battery or run on it? Do you just need to run lights in your van, charge your phone and maybe charge a laptop? Do you need to run a large inverter that can run an induction cooktop, Nespresso machine and TV & PS4?

Things to think about when building a DIY LiFePO4 battery

Things to think about when building a DIY LiFePO4 battery

If you’ve started planning & costing out your van conversion, you can understand the increase in DIY offgrid power implementations because not everyone has the extra cash to pay a professional to install your van electrical system, plus you might actually want to build everything yourself!

Review of LiFePO4 battery cells from Dongguan Huanhuan Energy Technology Co., Ltd.

Review of LiFePO4 battery cells from Dongguan Huanhuan Energy Technology Co., Ltd.

This is a review of the 300ah LiFePO4 battery cells from Dongguan Huanhuan Energy Technology Co., Ltd. These cells were purchased in December 2020. This is not a paid review nor do we have any affiliation to Dongguan Huanhuan Energy Technology Co., Ltd.

Beware of junk lithium batteries!

Beware of junk lithium batteries!

There are a gazillion options when it comes to purchasing LifePO4 (or any other Lithium-based) batteries. Some (maybe even MANY) of the options are so well priced that they are too good to be true. There are certainly good deals to be had, but if a deal is too good to be true it probably is.

Why is this?

Put simply there are great differences in the quality and build of batteries. There are different grades of cells that make up the batteries and of equal importance, there are so many options of battery management systems (BMS) that are of varying quality and functionality. So in a nutshell: Cells and BMS!

How to fix a stripped terminal on a LiFePO4 battery cell

How to fix a stripped terminal on a LiFePO4 battery cell

f you've ever worked with cheaper LiFePO4 battery cells, you'll know the concern of stripping the threads in the battery terminal. Well, I sadly had this very experience recently and after much research and thought about it, figured I could fix it and document the process to be able to help you, in case you ever find yourself in the same boat.