Xuba Electronics: DEAL - 280AH LiFePo4 cells. Purchase & Review

KauaiMolokai said:

Is there a reason you can't have your guys buy a few of these cells at the "local price" and have them shipped to you? Or even buy a lot of them?

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Just that work out here is literally 12 hours a day -- days a week -- and from where I sit its just easier to throw a little money away and have someone else do the purchase, boxeing, packaging, shipping, custom labels, and drop it at my door... NOW to be honest -- if I was some young guy like @Will Prowse I would get me a 40 foot shipping container full of them at hugely reduced mass volume Chinese prices - ship them to Arizona -- then sell them like Amy does .. A delivery fee from Arizona would be 1/10 of what it is from China ... and he could still sell it for the same price Amy does and make a fortune ...

Same thing with Chargery -- Will and @Steve_S should make a deal with Jason to buy heavily discounted Chargery systems and then sell them for the same price Jason does .. the upside would be that Steve probably knows more about the Chargery BMS then even Jason PLUS for a Canadian Steve still speaks pretty good english and writes well ...

Steve_S said:

Hmm an Oil Company using copper pipe instead of copper stock. Just another BODGE eh... like so many others, fortunately when the batteries go Poof the region isn't contaminated with toxic slugde.

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Going to say that I slept through all of my chemical classes so wouldn't know the difference between the two of them - so i may be using the wrong nomenclature for the right product ...

ghostwriter66 said:

Just that work out here is literally 12 hours a day -- days a week -- and from where I sit its just easier to throw a little money away and have someone else do the purchase, boxeing, packaging, shipping, custom labels, and drop it at my door... NOW to be honest -- if I was some young guy like @Will Prowse I would get me a 40 foot shipping container full of them at hugely reduced mass volume Chinese prices - ship them to Arizona -- then sell them like Amy does .. A delivery fee from Arizona would be 1/10 of what it is from China ... and he could still sell it for the same price Amy does and make a fortune ...

Same thing with Chargery -- Will and @Steve_S should make a deal with Jason to buy heavily discounted Chargery systems and then sell them for the same price Jason does .. the upside would be that Steve probably knows more about the Chargery BMS then even Jason PLUS for a Canadian Steve still speaks pretty good english and writes well ...

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Thanks. Its always a matter of prioritizing one's finite time ;-)
I've thought of doing this - shipping a container load of Chinese items. I suspect it takes a bit more than one container to make a fortune, and running businesses in the US is a high overhead endeavor (taxes, rent, employees, logistics, retail returns, being stuff with obsolete stock, etc). But there certainly is money to be made, everywhere, everyday.

I have a PM question for you also regarding oil.

ghostwriter66 said:

Just that work out here is literally 12 hours a day -- days a week -- and from where I sit its just easier to throw a little money away and have someone else do the purchase, boxeing, packaging, shipping, custom labels, and drop it at my door... NOW to be honest -- if I was some young guy like @Will Prowse I would get me a 40 foot shipping container full of them at hugely reduced mass volume Chinese prices - ship them to Arizona -- then sell them like Amy does .. A delivery fee from Arizona would be 1/10 of what it is from China ... and he could still sell it for the same price Amy does and make a fortune ...

Same thing with Chargery -- Will and @Steve_S should make a deal with Jason to buy heavily discounted Chargery systems and then sell them for the same price Jason does .. the upside would be that Steve probably knows more about the Chargery BMS then even Jason PLUS for a Canadian Steve still speaks pretty good english and writes well ...

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I'm not sure of the actual weight per cubic yard for LFP battery cells, but I don't think a 40' Conex of them could legally be transported on US roads.
40+ years ago, the Trucking Company I worked for was hauling a whole bunch of 20' shipping containers from the Oakland Docks to Central California.

The containers were so heavy, we had to load each of them on a 40' flatbed trailer, to be legally transported on the roads.
We got behind on the deliveries and the deadline to get them delivered. We ended loading each container on a 27' flatbed trailer and hauled them as a set of double trailers. We had to plan our route carefully to bypass the weight stations and hope some Cop wouldn't take us to a scale to check our weights. The fines if we had got caught would have been huge.

I like idea of flattening copper pipe stock, it is not a new one, however I do not have a vice and agree the hammered effect will look bad, plus you will work harden the metal. Copper is a good gasket material and helps make good cell terminal contact.

Now the suggestion of running the pipe over by Ghostwrite got me thinking. I have 2 left over disc rotors from a break upgrade on my truck.

If I place the pipe between the discs and sit the front wheels of the truck on it for a bit, the pipe will become naturally flattened. Now I have a fun job for the weekend.

AndreL said:

I like idea of flattening copper pipe stock, it is not a new one, however I do not have a vice and agree the hammered effect will look bad, plus you will work harden the metal. Copper is a good gasket material and helps make good cell terminal contact.

Now the suggestion of running the pipe over by Ghostwrite got me thinking. I have 2 left over disc rotors from a break upgrade on my truck.

If I place the pipe between the discs and sit the front wheels of the truck on it for a bit, the pipe will become naturally flattened. Now I have a fun job for the weekend.

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If you have a bottle jack and a trailer hitch on the truck, then you can use that as a improvised hydraulic press. Might need some 2x4 or 4x4 pieces of wood to get the spacing just right. BTDT. I've used an old steel rim as a riser, too.

Sgt Raven said:

If you have a bottle jack and a trailer hitch on the truck, then you can use that as a improvised hydraulic press. Might need some 2x4 or 4x4 pieces of wood to get the spacing just right. BTDT. I've used an old steel rim as a riser, too.

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And I just use a 2 pound short handle sledge.

Do it when something is bothering you and you will be done before you know it! ?

@Steve_S as your neighbour in the north, I wanted to thank you for starting this thread. It's been a very informative read. I will be definitely leveraging a lot of the information gather here. Cheer!

JoeHam said:

And I just use a 2 pound short handle sledge.

Do it when something is bothering you and you will be done before you know it! ?

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If you put the pipe between a couple of steel sheets and beat on them. The new bus bars would look nicer, compared to beating on them directly. A couple of 4"x6" 1/4" steel plates should work and you could make two bus bars at a time. If I was going to do that I'd used a 20 lb sledge, myself.

Sgt Raven said:

If you put the pipe between a couple of steel sheets and beat on them. The new bus bars would look nicer, compared to beating on them directly. A couple of 4"x6" 1/4" steel plates should work and you could make two bus bars at a time. If I was going to do that I'd used a 20 lb sledge, myself.

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Those all sound like good ideas -- Still though I just usually take a 8 foot piece of pipe - lay it on the ground - throw a 8 x 1 x 6 over the top -- get a loaded 3500HD - and roll it back and forth - and that comes out pretty smashed and ok looking ... Fortunately for me everything out here is dirty, greasy, and if it doesn't leak oil - ppl don't trust it - so cutting a pipe with a grinder and hammering it a few more times with a 5 lb sledge is just all part of the game ....

ghostwriter66 said:

Those all sound like good ideas -- Still though I just usually take a 8 foot piece of pipe - lay it on the ground - throw a 8 x 1 x 6 over the top -- get a loaded 3500HD - and roll it back and forth - and that comes out pretty smashed and ok looking ... Fortunately for me everything out here is dirty, greasy, and if it doesn't leak oil - ppl don't trust it - so cutting a pipe with a grinder and hammering it a few more times with a 5 lb sledge is just all part of the game ....

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I'm just thinking if I want them to look pretty, too. I have an idea how to press the little hump in them, too. It would take 2 steps to do it.

Believe me I've done my share of Mickey Mouse repairs so I could get home. One time a piece of wire from the positive post of the battery to the ignition coil, and a screw driver to jump the starter solenoid to get my Mach 1 home when I lost all electrical power. Lost all electrics on a Peterbilt. A wire to the fuel solenoid, let it get fuel and a remote starter switch started the motor. Turning the key on back fed the electrical system, too. When I got home and tore into it. The master circuit breaker had corrosion and fell completely apart. The wire to the solenoid ended up feeding the rest of the circuits from the other side of the circuit breaker so my brake lights and all worked. I've driven 150 miles with broken clutch linkage. At every stop, I turned the engine off, put it in gear and cranked the engine to get rolling again. I didn't need the clutch to shift gears and all.

Amy has been very helpful trying to get my order shipped
logistics wanted another US$38 because they say i am rural
my postal code is K0A - the '0' means rural, but i am not rural in any sense of the word
finally used my daughters address - hoping this will solve the problem

mkaye said:

Amy has been very helpful trying to get my order shipped
logistics wanted another US$38 because they say i am rural
my postal code is K0A - the '0' means rural, but i am not rural in any sense of the word
finally used my daughters address - hoping this will solve the problem

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Hi- did you have any issues with credit card not being accepted? I started the appeal process and provided ID, I’m hoping that gets resolved within the next few days.

yes, had to do the appeal process - took less than a day

Well, I did another capacity test. A middle capacity attempt. Meaning, not fully charged to 100% or bottoming out to 0%. Somewhere in the middle.

This attempt was to try to correlate with the graph from the EVE PDF file at the drop-off points (my guestimation).

Range
8 Xuba EVE 280Ah cells (24V nominal)
Upper limit: 26.4V (3.30V per cell)
Lower limit: 25.2V (3.15V per cell)

I had the battery already mostly fully charged at 28.8V (3.60V per cell), so I used it for a bit bringing it down to 26.4V before I started noting measurements. It took a lot longer than I thought as I was expecting the voltage to drop down to 26.4V fairly quickly when I was averaging around 800Wh. I used like 2,500Wh before I finally got it to around 26.4V.

Then it took some doing to get it to rest at 26.4V. Several passes - running fans and such to drop the voltage down to 26.2V or so, let it sit, then it'd creep back up. Finally got it to settle at 26.4V (after several hours rest).

1st Pic - Begin test, inverter off, rested 26.4V, zero'd DROK meter
2nd Pic - Inverter on, voltage starts to slowly drop under load
3rd Pic - General reference, just over half way through test
4th Pic - Reached lower limit, just under 25.2V under load
5th Pic - Intentionally went lower, expected voltage to rise after no load
6th Pic - Inverter off, resting voltage after a couple hours, just under 25.2V

Result
Used 3,847Wh (150Ah) or about 54% of rated capacity. I was expecting something closer to 80%. So, the graph doesn't seem to correlate well with how I did this test.

I actually had a pretty detailed write-up, but lost most of it somehow when I attempted to Preview this post before posting it. Already spent a couple hours on this, then Poofff! Gone! So, I'm posting what I have now before I goof it up again, ha ha.

I'm thinking about doing another test expanding the range a bit, maybe to something like 27V to 24.4V (3.375V to 3.05V cell) and see what the percent capacity would be in comparison.

Delta-V said:

I actually had a pretty detailed write-up, but lost most of it somehow when I attempted to Preview this post before posting it. Already spent a couple hours on this, then Poofff! Gone! So, I'm posting what I have now before I goof it up again, ha ha.

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That would sure be great if you would write it up again! How to do a Capacity Test? what equipment you need? How to set it Up? How to record the Results? What do the Results mean? Why do it in the First Place? ………and anything else you believe is relevant. As you have done, pictures & Data are great to see

TommyD said:

That would sure be great if you would write it up again! How to do a Capacity Test? what equipment you need? How to set it Up? How to record the Results? What do the Results mean? Why do it in the First Place? ………and anything else you believe is relevant. As you have done, pictures & Data are great to see

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I'm figuring it out as I go. What I'm doing is far from scientific or accurate using less than ideal equipment. But, it can give some idea at least.

Delta-V said:

Well, I did another capacity test. A middle capacity attempt. Meaning, not fully charged to 100% or bottoming out to 0%. Somewhere in the middle.
...snip...

I actually had a pretty detailed write-up, but lost most of it somehow when I attempted to Preview this post before posting it. Already spent a couple hours on this, then Poofff! Gone! So, I'm posting what I have now before I goof it up again, ha ha.

...snip...

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If you're doing a long post and worried this might happen, as it already has in this case....
Write your post in Word or another like program. Then cut/paste it in the post box.
The other option is copy your post to your "clipboard" every so often.

Just as you should "save" your work every so often, in case your computer crashes and you lose a days work over it.

TommyD said:

That would sure be great if you would write it up again! How to do a Capacity Test? what equipment you need? How to set it Up? How to record the Results? What do the Results mean? Why do it in the First Place? ………and anything else you believe is relevant. As you have done, pictures & Data are great to see

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When I did my week long, how long could I run my fridge test. What surprised me, was my "Smart BMS" changed the capacity of my battery from 280AH I set it at to 308AH. I'd didn't know it could do that. During the last 24 hours of the test, the Dashboard readout of the BMS said I was at 0% left when the battery was at 13.1V....

I have the BMS set to cut off at 11.5V and 14.0V... It will be interesting the next time I run the battery down a bunch.

Charging it back up with my 40A LA battery charger took 12+ hours at between 35A and 20A. I was checking the battery every 10 minutes of the charge cycle and it went from 87% to 100% super fast at the end. I had planed on switching to my 5A bench power supply when it hit 90%. But it finished so fast I didn't catch it. It was at 88% and in the next 10 minute time period it jumped to 100%. I have a screen shot of the dashboard at 10 minute intervals, too.

Delta-V said:

I'm figuring it out as I go. What I'm doing is far from scientific or accurate using less than ideal equipment. But, it can give some idea at least.

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IF you look at the Function bar at the top when your editing, the 2nd from the right looks like a 3.5" FDD, it saves drafts while being written and can be recalled IF you lose them, even if you get disconnected, worst case you might lose 2 minutes worth of typing if that. You original post that was LONG is likely still stuffed into the backup. BTW: You can have several for many threads al at once but they are only active in the specific thread.