Anybody purchased cells from EEL Battery?

[solardanman]

I appreciate the replies. Starting to feel a little better. I have a reply from Howard and he mentioned

"Did you check the real QR code under the stickers?
because the CATL has not released this version to the market yet,
so we put the 280 stickers on it.

You can please test these cells and check the capacity.


Best Regards
Howard"

Here what it shows. Am I reading it correctly. My scanner does not scan this one using the lifepoqr battery reader.

LiFePO4 Cells QR Codes Decoder : GobelPower.com

GobelPower.com : LiFePO4 Cells QR Codes Decoder - China Lithium Battery Distributor and manufacturer, Offers LiFePO4 Battery, 18650 Battery, 12V/24V/48V/72V Rechargable Lithium Battery for Home Solar Energy Storage, Electric Bikes, Scooters, Forklifts, Sweepers, Mowers and Boats.

www.gobelpower.com

Code Check...
Code: 001-cb-7c000-000bc-an130-4823
Code seems right.
Code length is right.
Manufacturer:
CATL
Product Type:
Battery Cell
Battery Type:
LiFePO4
Nominal Capacity:
Don't Know Yet
Nominal Voltage:
3.2V
Production Date:
22/Oct/2022
Manufacturer Website:

宁德时代·CATL

宁德时代新能源科技股份有限公司是全球领先的新能源创新科技公司，致力于为全球新能源应用提供一流解决方案和服务。

www.catl.com

below is an example of the stickers over the original qr code. At lease they are not scratched off

here is the latest reply

"
The website or App does not have this CATL version data,
and the code defined has been changed as well.

It will be better for you to test these cells,
fully charge/discharge if you want to confirm the real capacity

Best Regards
Howard"

I am testing one now, see you in a week since I only have a 10 amp charger and 20 amp discharge tester.

 

[Quattrohead]

Wasting your time to claim against them and making you do all the work.....
Start the process to refund and return.
Outright lies.

 

[solardanman]

Wasting your time to claim against them and making you do all the work.....
Start the process to refund and return.
Outright lies.

I am such a newbie to all this but it does sound fishy. I am steering that way for sure with attempting to get a refund but I hear that is nearly impossible when it ships from China. What bugs me the most the the manufacture date. I have been watching Ray builds stuff and Andy at off-grid garage for most of my info. I did find the link on Andys site for the EEL batteries and started the process. Ray does not recommend them from what I just watched on his channel. He did mentioned Jenny Wu so got a quote from her and I am thinking this time going with Eve instead. What do you think of the manufacture date being so old or is that normal? I just got the batteries a few days ago.

 

[Quattrohead]

There were no 320ah cells in 2022 afaik. Some really good ones may test to 320ah for the first cycle or 2 if flogged from 3.6 to 2.5v.

 

[Kennyh327]

Ordered 16, Grade A 280ah cells from EEL. Boxes arrived in perfect condition. 2 of the cells had dents/damage that must have been there before packaging. Howard always responded very fast until I requested replacements.
His first response was he could give me a better price for my NEXT order.
Told him I wouldn't be ordering anything else and to please ship me 2 replacements.
Was then told they could not ship only 2 cells. I had to place another order for them to ship me 2 replacements.
After this he ignored ALL my emails. I filed a PayPal complaint and then EEL agreed to refund the cost of 2 cells.
Besides the 2 damaged cells, the rest were acceptable but certainly not Grade A cells.
From my experience, I can only recommend finding a different supplier.

 

[solardanman]

Ordered 16, Grade A 280ah cells from EEL. Boxes arrived in perfect condition. 2 of the cells had dents/damage that must have been there before packaging. Howard always responded very fast until I requested replacements.
His first response was he could give me a better price for my NEXT order.
Told him I wouldn't be ordering anything else and to please ship me 2 replacements.
Was then told they could not ship only 2 cells. I had to place another order for them to ship me 2 replacements.
After this he ignored ALL my emails. I filed a PayPal complaint and then EEL agreed to refund the cost of 2 cells.
Besides the 2 damaged cells, the rest were acceptable but certainly not Grade A cells.
From my experience, I can only recommend finding a different supplier.

Oh man, I really need to tell Andy at Off-grid garage to pull this company from his website. I just now emailed Howard for a refund mostly since the pack can't reach full charge. One of the cells runaway to 3.65v while others still at 3.342. Active balancer 2amp can't keep up. changed charge rate to 5 amp hoping it will balance out. The battery that is running away came bloated and the top covering was damaged on the corner. The 2022 dates is another reason. Thanks for you reply. The fight is on!

 

[solardanman]

I have started the dispute with the help of Paypal and here is the response. Another forum member did find the information that the qr codes is one type of battery and the sticker over it is another. One under it is a 306ah that is one their website.

I have been testing the battery bank and there is one cell that either over charges and under charges compared to the other 7 and that shuts down the bms and never reaches full charge. I have let them know this too. I am using a JK BMS 8s 16s model.

"Shenzhen EEL Battery Co.,Ltd
April 1, 2024 at 3:07:23 AM PDT
Dear buyer, there is no evidence showing that the cells are not brand new, and these batteries are not defective, the bloat is in an acceptable range(<5mm). Please test the cells and check if they have 310-320Ah capacity, then we will define if the cells are defective. Thanks for your understanding."

My reply, hope it is clear enough.

As for the bloating this is not normal for a new battery but instead a sign of being overcharged or older than a new battery! Your reply “ there is no evidence showing that the cells are not brand new” as it pertains to a battery date codes is a lie. It is industry standard to laser etch a QR code on every battery showing the following manufacturers, product_types, cell_types, model_codes, capacity_ah, energy_wh, production_date, production_city, factory_product_line, "factory_task_order, number_of_cell_produced_that_day, original_qr_content"manufactured date, place of origin, type of battery, capacity, and serial number. See attached. I agreed on brand new batteries and as you can see from all the QR codes from the 8 batteries show the following production dates: 27/9/2022 28/9/2022 4/10/2022 5/10/2022 6/10/2022 7/10/2022 9/10/2022 22/10/2022 I have a response from another battery company that reviewed the batteries you sold me and mentioned this. See attached letter. “I think they didn't provide qualified battery cells to you. the battery cells which were produced in 2022 was too old. we provide only brand new cells which are fresher produced.” Even your website states Brand new” here https://eelbattery.myshopify.com/products/3-2v-320ah-grade-a-lifepo4-battery-cells-china-shipping Batteries are defective, see screenshots attached cell number 8 reached over charge and shutdown the charging. This cell reached over the product specification allowed limit seen in the following data sheet attached of the value 3.65 volts thus making the battery defective compared to the other 7 cells. The JK bms can not keep up with the active balancing during the charge and discharge at 2 amps to help prevent over and under charging so instead it shutdown the charge and discharging as a precaution. I am not accepting your response as a resolution

 

[DJSmiley]

In my experience, I would rephrase the text so any 8-year can understand it. Many people in CN speak/read limited to no English, or use translation apps.

In my experience, keeping text simple and basic is more likely they can understand it.

I've had examples in the past when dealing with chinese sellers

"Please send me a quote for a package of 8 pieces and include shipping to xx, and if possible send prices for both air and sea freight. Can you also include 2 additional busbars for spare'
- Limited response.

'What is price for 8 pieces cell and 10 pices busbar with shipping by air or rail'
Much better response, altough the first one is considered to be more polite... it doesn't get the required response simply due to translation/lack of English.

 

[solardanman]

In my experience, I would rephrase the text so any 8-year can understand it. Many people in CN speak/read limited to no English, or use translation apps.

In my experience, keeping text simple and basic is more likely they can understand it.

I've had examples in the past when dealing with chinese sellers

"Please send me a quote for a package of 8 pieces and include shipping to xx, and if possible send prices for both air and sea freight. Can you also include 2 additional busbars for spare'
- Limited response.

'What is price for 8 pieces cell and 10 pices busbar with shipping by air or rail'
Much better response, altough the first one is considered to be more polite... it doesn't get the required response simply due to translation/lack of English.

I was thinking the same but with my experience I try to be really clear so there is no confusion. Hope paypal will pick up on the fact they have not provided the documents necessary to prove the batteries are new.

Great website by the way and very easy to understand!

Here is my reply today so on next one I'll take your suggestion and let you know.
paypal app made it look like this
I am still waiting for you to respond with proof the batteries are in fact “brand new” based on the QR codes I have supplied. Do you not have this information? If not then let us end this dispute with a full refund including the return post label. The QR code under the sticker does not state CATL306 but instead states 01CB7C that the beginning string is associated with CATL306. See data sheet attached file name “CATL 280.pdf” although the sticker on top with CB310 is another model of battery all together. See attached file named “qr from EEL battery.jpg” I have checked under one of the battery stickers with the QR code CB31000000BCAN1304823 "CATL","Cell","LiFePO4","280","280.0","896.0","22/10/2022","Zhuhai","00","00","1304823","001CB31000000BCAN1304823" And the laser etched QR code shows the following date 22/10/2022. "CATL","Cell","LiFePO4","UNKNOWN","0.0","0.0","22/10/2022","Zhuhai","00","00","1304823","001CB7C000000BCAN1304823" To address the other part of your response “You said you have tested one of the cells and got 322AH capacity! If these are you said 280ah cells, they will not have so much capacity! hope you can understand!” Although this is irrelevant to my filing this dispute with you and EEL corporation. Yes this battery with QR code CB31000000BCAN1304823 did test to 322ah. And this same battery came unusually bloated at 3.291v. This is the cell that has a major defect. See attached files of screenshots from my JK BMS battery management system showing it either has a runaway charge or under charges compared to the other 7 cells you sold me. Thus this is not a matched set as stated on your website. ““Sold in sets of Four. These are matched cells.” You can also compare your 2022 pictures of the stacked side by side battery to mine showing the extreme bloating of the batteries I have received.

I actually posted this:

I am still waiting for you to respond with proof the batteries are in fact “brand new” based on the QR codes I have supplied. Do you not have this information? If not then let us end this dispute with a full refund including the return post label.

The QR code under the sticker does not state CATL306 but instead states 01CB7C that the beginning string is associated with CATL306. See data sheet attached file name “CATL 280.pdf” although the sticker on top with CB310 is another model of battery all together.

See attached file named “qr from EEL battery.jpg”

I have checked under one of the battery stickers with the QR code CB31000000BCAN1304823 "CATL","Cell","LiFePO4","280","280.0","896.0","22/10/2022","Zhuhai","00","00","1304823","001CB31000000BCAN1304823"

And the laser etched QR code shows the following date 22/10/2022.

"CATL","Cell","LiFePO4","UNKNOWN","0.0","0.0","22/10/2022","Zhuhai","00","00","1304823","001CB7C000000BCAN1304823"

To address the other part of your response

“You said you have tested one of the cells and got 322AH capacity! If these are you said 280ah cells, they will not have so much capacity! hope you can understand!”

Although this is irrelevant to my filing this dispute with you and EEL corporation.

Yes this battery with QR code CB31000000BCAN1304823 did test to 322ah.

And this same battery came unusually bloated at 3.291v. This is the cell that has a major defect.

See attached files of screenshots from my JK BMS battery management system showing it either has a runaway charge or under charges compared to the other 7 cells you sold me. Thus this is not a matched set as stated on your website. ““Sold in sets of Four. These are matched cells.”

 

[Quattrohead]

Wall of text will not work, KISS as others say.

 

[solardanman]

Wall of text will not work, KISS as others say.

funny, it was all spaced out properly with spaces between paragraphs but paypal dispute app fudged it all up. I just thought of another reason for my word vomit even though had to cut 800 letters out of due to limits is Paypal will have to review this if there is no resolution between the buyer and me thus having them read our entire interaction and come up with a winner. So that is my reasoning for being more wordy! Unless paypal is now based out of China then it is a moot point.

 

[solardanman]

Wall of text will not work, KISS as others say.

I tried and failed!