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Ripper price for a 200Ah, this will definitely out drum the bunny.
GENTRAX 12V 200Ah Lithium Battery LiFePO4 $349 Delivered @ HomeWork&Play Amazon AU
450
Pace210 on 05/04/2024 - 08:35 amazon.com.au (1744 clicks)
Last edited 05/04/2024 - 10:50 by 3 other users
Last edited 05/04/2024 - 10:50 by 3 other users
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man this is impressive. Where are the haters?
The only thing I hate is me and many others missed out.
I got in early with the 100A battery and thought these were good as my Gentrax petrol genie good too.
Yeah awesome! Nicely done. Based on the evidence so far I'm pretty convinced, so of course not going to return my battery. So in the next few days I will open it up and post some pics of the inside. I'll do it carefully so I can still put it back together and use it.
One thing - did you notice the battery terminals getting hot?
That was the one thing I noticed. I had decent quality ring terminals but the connection point was hotter than I'd have liked. I suspect mostly because the screw threads in my battery terminals are not that smooth, and they bind up a bit and don't clamp the ring terminals with enough force to maximize connection area. And I probably went a bit easy on how much force I used.
I plan to clean them up a little and see if that helps.
They got warm to the touch, but not unexpectedly warm. The wires from the battery to my inverter were much warmer though. So the terminals wouldve been being heated by those wires.
Maybe the terminal connection on the inside of yours isn't good? That's a good reason to open it up and check!!!
So with some more investigation, I have found that the top of the battery terminals is very slightly curved (like a bowl) and this was reducing the contact area between the ring terminals and the battery terminals. The negative terminal is down to the edges (upside-down bowl) and the positive terminal is curved up to the edges (like a right side up bowl).
I will put some more details and pics in another comment later today, but I am curious what your terminals are like?
In hindsight, the issue should have been more obvious, but was subtle enough I didn't spot it when doing my 1000W test, as it was during the evening, and out of an abundance of caution, outside away from anything flammable. And I had used different connectors during my 128W test.
The issue is probably not all batteries. And has a relatively easy fix (though important to do) - sand the top of the battery terminals flat.
The terminals appear to be plated (likely nickel) copper, so sanding will remove the coating so the terminals are then less corrosion resistant, and not good to be used with aluminum ring terminals. The coating is not super smooth, so sanding will help improve the amount of contact surface.
@stumo: That's good news.
I am guessing quality control on the terminals isn't quite up to scratch, but hopefully that is just on the terminal manufacturers end and doesn't reflect on assembly QC.
I caved and bought a second one for $497 using the eBay deal, which I see has expired today.
I'm currently testing it with the same process as my original one.
2824.25Wh (218.15Ah) at 150W, 14.6V charge down to 10.0V cut-off.
This compares to a similar test on my other pack:
2846.18Wh (219.27Ah) at 150W, 14.6V charge down to 10.0V cut off.
My Renogy smart shunt has developed a really weird fault. It causes the app to reset whenever I select it on the the shunt for connection on the app home screen. I've tried everything. SO that is being returned, but it means I can't measure this new pack under load. I can time it I guess.
Just did a full pull with the fan heater. I couldn't measure the capacity because of my faulty shunt, but I timed it at 2:15:10. Which seems about right for a 95A+ load.
And replicating my conservative voltage setup from an earlier test.
2757.37Wh (211.98Ah) at 150W, 14.2V charge down to 11.8V cut-off.
2768.39Wh (212.64Ah) at 150W, 14.2V charge down to 11.8V cut-off.
So the 2 packs are within 0.3% of each other. So it should be fine to put them in parallel.
@stumo: Thanks for sharing this stumo - very interesting.
0.3% of each other implies new cells and decent quality control@stumo: Good result!
I have been sidetracked with a new job, so have not done anything more with mine.
Annoying about the Renogy smart shunt though.
I wanted a cheap shunt after my old (very cheap) shunt started behaving oddly.
I bought an Atorch DT24PW bluetooth smart shunt from Aliexpress. 300A, $36. It has not arrived yet.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001247085537.html
I have some other Atorch gear and have been impressed with the accuracy and features for the price.
The DT24PW has up to 1000A versions. Price can be variable. The Hidance store is mostly cheapest, but for some variants the Atorch store has more variants or is cheaper. Like the 1000A model.
There is also a DT24TW model, but it's about 30% more expensive.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003951619884.html
I compared the spec and it seems to use the same DT24 panel. The T version has a 3M cable from the shunt to the screen, vs 20cm for the P model. The P model also has a connection for external power. I don't know for sure if this means you have to power it externally, or just that you can power it externally. I pretty sure it is just that you can power it externally, which allows measuring below 8V.
@ozhunter68: It's my shunt that crapped out. It has just started working again. So I'm re-doing the full load test.
The renogy shunt itself always seemed to be working just fine. It's just that the app was crashing out every time I tried to connect. The app (or expensive renogy one BT screen) are the only way to get the info out of the shunt.
So when the app stopped working, the shunt was basically a paperweight.
I noticed the app suddenly started popping up an advert for a renogy sale, and it's at that exact same point that the app started working with the shunt again. Coincidence, I don't think so.
So I am still going to return this renogy shunt. The app is crap anyway, and I'm not spending a further 200 bux on a screen for it. You just want a shunt that works. Not one that's at the mercy of a crappy app and google etc.
I have an AliExpress smart shunt in my sprinter camper that has been fine for over a decade. So I will just get one of those.
@stumo: Yep, agree with crappy bletooth app would be annoying. I went for the regular Renogy 500Amp shunt battery monitor with the screen as I prefer to just look at a screen instead of turning blutooth on phone, opening app and then checking. In saying that, I do have 3 x 100Ah batteries that have bluetooth that I check as they are still not yet (nearly finished) wired up in my van build also with the same Renogy 500Amp shunt battery monitor. When that is all tested and working propery, then can see stats at a glance again without needing to go through the phone which I prefer. The new shunt you ordered looks good, that should work well for you I hope. There is a new Gentrax test review for this battery on Youtube by nice guy Dino I follow, you may want to check it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXAoD4G-Yb4&ab_channel=EFFIC…@ozhunter68: Measured full load test done now.
1200W load after 14.2V charge until inverter cutout. It took 2:10:52 supplying 209Ah.Basically the same as my other pack…
So it supplied 208Ah and didn't skip a beat during the 2 hours or so.
Gah thanks to @King Tightarse I've caved and bought a 3rd 200Ah today. I will be testing it and posting the results here when it arrives, to keep all the results in one place.
I figure I'm already this deep into these Gentrax packs, I may as well go all the way in.
I want to be able to get off-gas in my Unimog camper. So I reckon 3x 1200W packs will be enough to run a decent induction cooktop. 2x packs would be a tad limited on full output, but 3x will be fine. That means I can easily supply 3600W continuously for 2 hours, confirmed and tested and with very conservative charge and discharge voltages.
That way I can get rid of the 2x heavy AF SLA batteries, AND get rid of the 2x 9kg gas bottles and pipework etc, and just run full lightweight LFP goodness. Not to mention freeing up a lot of very useful space thats being taken up by gas bottles.
Good stuff! I really appreciate you posting these results - has been extremely useful
Pretty sure you won't look back and miss those heavy gas bottles and batteries. I set up my little camper just with 100Ah lithium to run mainly a 40 lt fridge, lights and phone/Chromebook and some other small gear. As I travel more like overlanding style (non 4 x 4 unfortunately lol) moving every day-3 days max, I mostly have 70% to full battery unless really cloudy weeks and hot at the same time. Setting up a Hiace Commuter now with a large 75 Lt dual zone fridge freezer, so am running 3 X 100 Ah (possibly only 80-90Ah each real capacity as they are really compact), but as I am happy making coffee and occasional cooking outside I am happy being alone using a hiking single burner butane set up. Am looking at possibly getting bigger set up with induction for next van though with bigger budget in future if finances allow lol. Make sure to get an induction with really sensitive low watt control as the cheaper once tend to go on and off at higher watts a bit irratic and hard to control I read. Good luck with your set up, these Gentrax rock so far.
My 3rd battery result on the 150W load with conservative voltages
2746.72Wh (211.20Ah) at 150W, 14.2V charge down to 11.8V cut-off.Compared to the other two batteries I have ..
2757.37Wh (211.98Ah) at 150W, 14.2V charge down to 11.8V cut-off.
2768.39Wh (212.64Ah) at 150W, 14.2V charge down to 11.8V cut-off.
3rd battery testing continued.
Measured full load test done now.
1200W load after 14.2V charge until inverter cutout.It took 2:07:38 supplying 207Ah.
So of my 3 packs, that's 207, 208, and 209Ah at full load.Very consistent! Thanks for sharing and testing.
I just read the measurement of the GENTRAX 200Ah, looks to small for 200Ah : 345x190x245mm
However, on amazon somebody already posted larger dimensions : >390 x 260x 210 (still too small I would say)
You might want to change the specs on the web site. The battery is a lot longer than 345mm.
With the carry handles its at least 390mm.
Also with the screws in the battery terminals it's also higher than 245mm - probably more like 260mm.
Also with the carry handles the width is more like 210cm than 190cm….The Kings from 4wdsupacentre 12v 200Ah is (like almost any other LiFePO4 of that capacity) : 507 x 202 x 215 mm and 23 kg … anyhting less I would find suspicious.
You can get that one often for $699 and it is claimed to have a 200A BMS.Anybody has exact dimension and has tested it for 100A charge/discharge ?
I just read the measurement of the GENTRAX 200Ah, looks to small for 200Ah : 345x190x245mm
However, on amazon somebody already posted larger dimensions : >390 x 260x 210 (still too small I would say)
You might want to change the specs on the web site. The battery is a lot longer than 345mm.
With the carry handles its at least 390mm.
Also with the screws in the battery terminals it's also higher than 245mm - probably more like 260mm.
Also with the carry handles the width is more like 210cm than 190cm….The Kings from 4wdsupacentre 12v 200Ah is (like almost any other LiFePO4 of that capacity) : 507 x 202 x 215 mm and 23 kg … anyhting less I would find suspicious.
You can get that one often for $699 and it is claimed to have a 200A BMS.Anybody has exact dimension and has tested it for 100A charge/discharge ?
Already/also posted here : https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/839717?page=2#comment-1525…
Anybody has exact dimension and has tested it for 100A charge/discharge ?
The post literally above yours. I have 3 of these 207, 208, and 209Ah at continuous 1200W. Others have tested and posted here as well.
380x265x195mm including handles and screws.
What battery box are you guys using for this? Even the Kings maxi box barely fits it! It's tight and bulging at the sides…
I'm in the same boat. I think most ppl who have 200ah batteries arent putting them in boxes, if so, they are maybe custom made, or these batteries are installed permanently in vehicles or homes where a portable battery box isnt really required. I was looking at some at the wheeled Tactix toolboxes at bunnings for some ideas, coz I'd like to keep it portable. Would love a few pointers if anyone has any!
It is a heavy beast so I get it!
Yep was around 95..97A for most of the test, and ramped up to 110A+ towards the end when voltage dropped.