I'm about to find out the answer to the big question - is it too good to be true? I can answer some of the smaller questions already.
First of all the cost on Alibaba/AliExpress can be negotiated. As an example I am looking at a Lifepo4 280AH 3.2v prismatic cell that shows $87 on Alibaba, pretty much no matter what supplier you choose. We ordered 16 shipped to St Croix (well, to Miami, we had to do some other stuff to get it the rest of the way) in the US Virgin Islands and got a price of $75, with all shipping and taxes coming to less than $500. That also included the shipper doing ALL of the paperwork - they handled customs and even logistics for the local delivery.
I was mostly concerned that if any of the 16 were no good, we would be stuck for some time, because it did take about 45 calendar days to arrive, and I all I hear about Alibaba returns is... there is no such thing.
But they were all good. Not in balance at all, and we had to work on that for a few days, but now the pack is chugging along happily for a week, running a solar outfit. The question is... were we just lucky?
I just ordered 50 more. One 16-cell pack out of the 50 will become (finally!) the traction pack for my electric conversion (Hunter 37, replacing Yanmar 30 with Electric Yacht 20KW). About 14KWh, 150lbs, not too much bigger than the 8D "boat anchor" coming out.
The rest will start our inventory. I feel there is a niche here in the US for these cells, both for DIY like all of us on this list and for companies that want to build products from them. Though you see amazon sellers that suspiciously look like Chinese companies pretending to have local US stock, I haven't found one that actually does. We will offer the same cells, but will be providing as a service 1) eliminating the long lead time to delivery for US customers, 2) qualifying the cells as they arrive and balancing them in 4, 8, and 16 cell series, and 3) providing a real return service if there are issues, versus the utter lack of such dealing with Alibaba (becomes our problem with the factory).
Didn't really mean this to be a pitch, and I promise I won't send unsolicited "ads" to the list, but it seems relevant in the thread. Site is almost ready - if anyone is interested in pre-ordering we are starting a list, and will do a big order sometime in March. Contact me off list or fill in the "sign up for updates" at the bottom of the home page.
Checkout www.aquasparc.com!
Cheers,
Jeff LaCoursiere
s/v Angels Quest
St Thomas, USVI
On 2/25/21 12:02 PM, Dan Pfeiffer wrote:
I sent this reply to this thread on Sunday but I never saw it post to the list so here it is again. Sorry if it's a repeat...
I am certainly willing to believe many (or most) ad's are in the too-good-to-be-true category. Are you saying there is more to the cost of these deals on sites like Aliexpress than what they say in the ads? This one for example says you get (4) of the 280AH 3.2V cells for US $455 including shipping to the USA.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001935502441.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.2b087783z3GXDl&algo_pvid=3176c47e-b21f-4206-873d-aad1d01be060&algo_expid=3176c47e-b21f-4206-873d-aad1d01be060-4&btsid=0b0a555d16139597086837099ed79a&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_
There are ads that claim to be from US warehouses too. Any knowledge about that out there?There are many examples on Youtube of people getting these batteries and testing them. Will Prowse has one here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U4ZfQ_IToI
He did not mention importation difficulties.
There are several others - search for 280AH 3.2v
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=280AH+3.2v+
I am ready for my reality check....
Thanks, Dan Pfeiffer
On 2021-02-21 2:00 pm, Ryan Sweet wrote:
But to more precisely answer the question, it's about 50% cheaper, and much more so depending on which domestic option you choose.For example:Here is a relatively new offering on Amazon, which is really not a domestic option but another one of the CN companies establishing a storefront here, so they take on all the hassle - it's the cheapest I can find that will deliver to your door:48v 100Ah LiFePO4 Battery Deep Cycle Lithium iron phosphate Rechargeable Battery Built-in BMS Protect Charging and Discharging High Performance for Golf Cart EV RV Solar Energy Storage Battery https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08G7YMWND/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_AZCEDCA40SF3FMRQT42E$1929.For a 600ah bank, that would be $12k. Pricing a similar size from Alibaba and including customs and shipping, renting a truck, and driving around the warehouse district, it was 45% of that.Not exactly apples to apples, but hopefully illustrative. Now compare to battleborn, and it's 1/4th the cost. On the other side of that battleborn have a fantastic reputation, years of proven performance, and rock solid guarantees. There's a reason the price points are where they are.An interesting domestic option maybe the Dakota Lithium batteries, mined and manufactured in the US, and seem to be reasonably priced ($899 for 12v100ah - 600ah would be almost $22k). Still more than 4x the price of my 600ah bank, but if you want a domestic source and the confidence to be able to return it, that looks like a good option. They have a 48v charger that I'll be looking at for future applications - my noco genius charger is great but was expensive and produces an unpleasant whine when charging.
On Feb 21, 2021, at 09:50, Ryan Sweet via groups.io <ryan=ryansweet.org@groups.io> wrote:
Good points!Yes, as per my original post, it's a risk and especially if there is some kind of problem. I relied on colleagues in China to do some research for me but nothing exhaustive. In the end I decided that saving 50% (and this having 50% more range for my budget) was worth it in my particular case.
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 | Jeff LaCoursiere STRATUSTALK, INC. / CTO
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