I bought a 300Ahr Chinese lithium battery on Amazon

[jlodolce]

I am within the next week installing two Victron 200 ah batteries (replacing 3 200 ah AGM's). Victron is located in the Netherlands with manufacturing plants in various countries including the US. So they are not Chinese, but may be using or Korean Chinese cell, I am not sure.

I am upgrading my alternator, installing a Victron smart BMS, a 30 amp dc to dc Victron relay to the engine alternator, a Victron smart shunt, an emaax x with current, voltage and temperature sensing wifi and full NMEA 2000, and new dockside charger compatible with LFP. I am installing a new AGM starter battery.

Took a lot of time to research this and put it together with the help of two marine engineers. Looking forward to it.

We do a lot of extended anchoring, and this will provide enough power for about 5-6 days while anchored. Hopefully this will be worth the investment.

[Hartleyg]

jlodolce,

I just bought a Victron 330ah 12V LiFePO4 battery, and it is marked "Made in China". I have other Victron products aboard (all of which are working very well!) that were made in India and Indonesia. It did, however take 4 months to be delivered after I ordered it
The Chinese are capable of making very good equipment - as long as they are being inspected and the price point isn't "cheap". For example, Apple cellphones are made in China - regardless of what you think of Apple, they have an excellent rep for reliability.

Hartley
S/V Atsa

[Rumrace]

Same here dlodolce. I replaced the standard 80 amp alt with a Bosche fluid cooled Alt. I changed all the pulleys to anodized aluminum. Dropped in 4 house batteries peaking at 200 amp but actually 100Amp. In the bow are two more.
We have a tax nicknamed the enablers tax. It’s an European Canadian attempt to stop the flow of products pretending to be US made. Stuffing Chinese cell in a box and calling it US made. The list is long in these pretenders.
Soon from two sources we will have access to new Canadian produced lithium cells. The factory in Windsor is under construction.
We have an 8k Onan which barely gets used. My bow thruster still works despite the anchor or fuller.
One mistake was putting solar panels on the original Bimini. It needs replacing. Again I stick to a product close to home so my panels are from Michigan.
I printed a panel holder for the Dinghy battery. It’s a cute Chinese lipo 20amp. The solar panel was 19$.so the poor Dinghy has junk on it.
LEEDS in architecture measures a buildings materials by distance of source. One it reduced climate impact to source locally and it maintains regional economies. It’s so important it will effect taxes.
It’s that ethic which started the stock markets not transferring cash flow off shore. Illustrated by Walmart’s American flags everywhere. Hudson’s bay proudly made in Canada out the window for a facade of products not up to date.

[jlodolce]

Hartley,

It is very difficult to have all "Chinese free" possessions. While the cells may be made in China, I was under the impression that the Victron products themselves are made in various other countries. I find it difficult to find a straight answer on the internet.

Jim

[Rumrace]

You can’t escape China and frankly it’s not the Chinese producing junk.
Apples one product not made from imported plastics or metals the power cord. What fails in every single apple product?
The power cord.
Traditional porcelain from China is still the best. Likely cause there are no fickle investors worried about margin growth.
I don’t blame China a bit. They are not engineering fraudulent UL approved products only to avoid the massive cost of maintaining an UL file.
Do we remember exploding apple lithium batteries.
A group tested portable heaters to UL specs. Of 27 heaters tested only Phillips Met UL. Phillips discontinued portable heaters made in China because their ethic would not allow them to compete.
Corvette use to use Champion spark plugs, moog steering rack, Wagner brakes. The wouldn’t touch the junk now. Have to import the parts from Europe where they have a 25% tariff against US made boats and cars.
Lufkin was the number one tape measure in the world. Some dumb ass accountant figured out how much more margin could be made by getting rid of the two factories in North America. Go find a Lufkin in a contractors box. It’s not a new one they won’t buy them.
It’s turned some of the greatest brands into a temporary stock gain for a few but a disaster over all.
Canada Japan European Free Trade Union is all about ending enablers and supporting maintaining perceived values in genuine products.

[goboatingnow]

I don’t know what the fuss is about. I just received My 500th order from AliExpress !!

[Rumrace]

Victron has a great focus. I got mine at West marine had a tech install it.
In the days of coil chargers they had a saying a battery salesmans best ally is marine battery chargers.
I love the way lithium batteries get coddled. My Tesla is darn near 5 years old. One of the first 100 cells. That’s the kind of quality marine seems struggling to achieve. The car has been flawless even boring.
I have a raspberry pi on board and not for navigation. I had made a dissolved oxygen sensor. It’s was cool. It recycled low on test water Drew 2 amps off my house batteries and cooked real good. Now I have a 3.7v 1200mA on a shield charging off the house batteries so nothing sees 2 amps again.
I have 120V 12, 24, 5, 3.5 all running from the 4 house batteries.
The tiny 1200mA you can watch charge on a screen I added. Very much like the tesla up to 80 then pause and creep up to 100.
Ontario is loaded with dead silver mines. All around them is discarded ore. It’s lithium! Fancy that

[goboatingnow]

The Chinese literally “ own “ LFP tech. If you read the research papers from the past decade there are almost all Chinese authors (often working in foreign universities. )

Hence it’s not surprising where the cells come from.

[Rumrace]

Writing papers and getting a doctrine is cultural.
In actual practice it doesn’t hold a candle to Tesla Honda Ford Toyota Audi VW are up to in durability. Even if they were or could someone will swap out a step or material to increase margin. None of them will scrutinize materials or QC zip, pay for the UL or CE file.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Rumrace

Writing papers and getting a doctrine is cultural.
In actual practice it doesn’t hold a candle to Tesla Honda Ford Toyota Audi VW are up to in durability. Even if they were or could someone will swap out a step or material to increase margin. None of them will scrutinize materials or QC zip, pay for the UL or CE file.

Tesla’s battery tech is mostly from Panasonic

[Rumrace]

Tesla’s batteries are made by Tesla.
Panasonic has been the silent partner with Phillips a few times. Great company. Tesla brings brakes from Italy cause quality.
My Danish TV has a glass lens screen made for Bang and Olufsen by Samsung. Some folks consider them competitors but they are not close. B&O processor and chassis materials has no competition. The first 2 iPhones were actually made by B&O. They designed the wheel on apples ipod. They had the wheel on their two mobile phones.

Working with other quality companies even perceived competitors is just smart business. Cheap copies are not in the same conversation.
Every single marine automotive and aviation manufacturer in japan are working together in production hydrogen vehicles. Toyota Yamaha and Yanmar are making amazing hydrogen engines together

[CaptainRivet]

Originally Posted by jlodolce

I am within the next week installing two Victron 200 ah batteries (replacing 3 200 ah AGM's). Victron is located in the Netherlands with manufacturing plants in various countries including the US. So they are not Chinese, but may be using or Korean Chinese cell, I am not sure.

I am upgrading my alternator, installing a Victron smart BMS, a 30 amp dc to dc Victron relay to the engine alternator, a Victron smart shunt, an emaax x with current, voltage and temperature sensing wifi and full NMEA 2000, and new dockside charger compatible with LFP. I am installing a new AGM starter battery.

Took a lot of time to research this and put it together with the help of two marine engineers. Looking forward to it.

We do a lot of extended anchoring, and this will provide enough power for about 5-6 days while anchored. Hopefully this will be worth the investment.

Victron uses top notch Winston cells for their batteries, yes made in China like 95% off all but the best of the best
Instead Victron Smart BMS I suggest to use TAO or REC BMS, much better then the realtiv dumb Victron BMS, both can communicate with victron CAN bus directly

starter battery i suggest a brand FLA hybrid/starter which you can refill, cheaper and more chargetolerant then AGM. would take a bit a bigger one so you have more capacity and can use it as emergency backup for the lithium.
AGMs can easly get thermal runaway, had 2 of them getting a runoff...

[Rumrace]

“Hello! Gammanone I also looking into to replacing old LA bank. Few days ago I found quite interesting article "Battery capacity drop during operation" written by S. Papezova and V. Papez.
According this article winston cells dont last that long as mentioned in specification, but still they are living 4000 cycles 50% DoD.
I want to run 48 winston LiFeYPO4 400 Ah cells 16s3p with Victron Multi. The question there is how to find good BMS which can communicate with Victron CCGX. Dear karrak could you give recommendations”

Article after article of Winston cells being the weak link in the claim. 50% at half life is not impressive at all.
Seems more like a poor copy of the BMW i3 cell I’ve read several threads from residential RV and marine in this forum struggling to balance 6V pairs.
Did I miss an update or is the list of cons not equal the pros on them? No mater the brand packaging their batteries I think Renology will take any bad press in stride. It’s about $1,000.00 less per 100 amp.
BMW didn’t blame the charger for shelving the i3 battery. It just plain sucked but it’s over 14 years old in an industry which changed while we are babbling about it.
Pretty exciting times.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Rumrace

Tesla’s batteries are made by Tesla.
Panasonic has been the silent partner with Phillips a few times. Great company. Tesla brings brakes from Italy cause quality.
My Danish TV has a glass lens screen made for Bang and Olufsen by Samsung. Some folks consider them competitors but they are not close. B&O processor and chassis materials has no competition. The first 2 iPhones were actually made by B&O. They designed the wheel on apples ipod. They had the wheel on their two mobile phones.

Working with other quality companies even perceived competitors is just smart business. Cheap copies are not in the same conversation.
Every single marine automotive and aviation manufacturer in japan are working together in production hydrogen vehicles. Toyota Yamaha and Yanmar are making amazing hydrogen engines together

Tesla batteries in the gigafactory are made using Panasonic equipment and processes.

Hydrogen is the Betamax of car power

[Whatta Life]

Originally Posted by Rumrace

Tesla’s batteries are made by Tesla.
Panasonic has been the silent partner with Phillips a few times. Great company. Tesla brings brakes from Italy cause quality.
My Danish TV has a glass lens screen made for Bang and Olufsen by Samsung. Some folks consider them competitors but they are not close. B&O processor and chassis materials has no competition. The first 2 iPhones were actually made by B&O. They designed the wheel on apples ipod. They had the wheel on their two mobile phones.

Working with other quality companies even perceived competitors is just smart business. Cheap copies are not in the same conversation.
Every single marine automotive and aviation manufacturer in japan are working together in production hydrogen vehicles. Toyota Yamaha and Yanmar are making amazing hydrogen engines together

You might want to update your education on Tesla. Q1 almost half of all Tesla's made came with LFP batteries. Those batteries are made in China by CATL.