!- Read this if you have Battleborn Batteries -!

[Mr. Beefy]

Just a heads-up: some potential problems with BB batteries have been potentially uncovered by Will Prowse & others in the past month. I'm personally waiting on further information before worrying too much about this, but if you have Battleborn batteries, you'd likely be interested in at least following along to see what comes of the situation. Link to a page I found that provides a great summary of where things stand at present (not sure if it's being updated with the latest info, but following Will Prowse should keep you up to date if not):

Safety Alert: Viral Video Sparks Debate Over Older Battle Born Batteries

 

[desrtdog]

...Ahh... so maybe you really don't get what you pay much, much more for??

 

[nikitis]

This is why I build my own batteries. I trust myself, though I can't necessarily trust the cell manufacturer though. (China)

 

[desrtdog]

Battleborn cells are also from china…

 

[nikitis]

They all are. And mostly from the same chinese plant. But the arrangement, BMS used, wire gauge, Case design used, etc are what is different, and if Battleborn has an issue only and using the same cells as many others, then one can only assume it's their choice of configuration used.

 

[FawnaFox]

They all are. And mostly from the same chinese plant. But the arrangement, BMS used, wire gauge, Case design used, etc are what is different, and if Battleborn has an issue only and using the same cells as many others, then one can only assume it's their choice of configuration used.

Likely BMS failure or some kind of cooling problem..

 

[desrtdog]

Likely BMS failure or some kind of cooling problem..

You need to watch the YouTube link @Mr. Beefy posted above…seems more like a design flaw on battleborn’s part that they are very reluctant to admit…

 

[Mr. Beefy]

We bought BB vs building our own battery for a few reasons. For one, a consumer buying cells in small quantities (like... one battery's worth) is limited in their ability to receive consistent quality of components, assemble well-matched sets, and/or weed out bad cells without considerable frustration and expense. A large manufacturer, in contrast, enjoys a position where they can (assuming they choose to do so). It was also an American company doing business in America. and finally... the warranty. The warranty was really the main reason. I simply didn't feel comfortable dropping what would still be $$$$$$ on small-lots of cells from unknown sources - pretty much all of which have at least some people calling them garbage. Not saying my reasoning was reasonable, but that's the why of our choice.

I guess we'll see now whether what I consider to be their biggest asset - that warranty - is worth the premium price of their products.

I hope we don't collectively throw BB 'under the bus' (sensible chuckle) before all the facts are in. I, for one, wish them to remain successful. We need more American companies in this space, not fewer. I'm keeping an eye on my GC3, but I'd be doing that regardless of this news, and regardless of who made it.

 

[Mr. Beefy]

You need to watch the YouTube link @Mr. Beefy posted above…seems more like a design flaw on battleborn’s part that they are very reluctant to admit…

I gotta admit having plastic used between those conductors seems suspect as ****.

 

[fo4imtippin]

I watched Will take an oscillating tool to a budget battery and see whats inside. Then i ordered the exact same model in the same time period. I don't like a lot of his videos as most of his learning comes from people that actually know what they are doing in the comments, then he distributes that information. He has learned over time, but a lot of his early videos are comical. Luckily its been so successful that he gets over $10k per review, free gear and a ton of Youtube money to afford to break them all apart.

 

[desrtdog]

We bought BB vs building our own battery for a few reasons. For one, a consumer buying cells in small quantities (like... one battery's worth) is limited in their ability to receive consistent quality of components, assemble well-matched sets, and/or weed out bad cells without considerable frustration and expense. A large manufacturer, in contrast, enjoys a position where they can (assuming they choose to do so). It was also an American company doing business in America. and finally... the warranty. The warranty was really the main reason. I simply didn't feel comfortable dropping what would still be $$$$$$ on small-lots of cells from unknown sources - pretty much all of which have at least some people calling them garbage. Not saying my reasoning was reasonable, but that's the why of our choice.

I guess we'll see now whether what I consider to be their biggest asset - that warranty - is worth the premium price of their products.

I hope we don't collectively throw BB 'under the bus' (sensible chuckle) before all the facts are in. I, for one, wish them to remain successful. We need more American companies in this space, not fewer. I'm keeping an eye on my GC3, but I'd be doing that regardless of this news, and regardless of who made it.

BB were certainly very highly regarded, but the price…I ended up going with SOK after watching Will Prowse’s review of them, and because they (SOK) were half the price of BB. Their warranty is only 7 years though.

As far as having more American companies in this space, all for it, but there has to be a value proposition as well…I’m personally not gonna spend twice as much for something that is, for all practical purposes, equal in quality just to get the "Made in America" badge...

 

[Mr. Beefy]

@desrtdog, absolutely. Agreed. I believe anyone who pays the BB premium ass-umes the value is going to be in a safe design with a 10-year guarantee of performance. In other words, insurance.

@fo4imtippin, I hear ya. I was reluctant to even post this for fear of fanning the flames of what might be click-motivated drama. But it seemed like a legit complaint. The irony here is I still remembrer him raving about BB construction (praising it) during one of his earlier tear-downs. It was in fact one of the factors in our decision to give 'em a go.

 

[Rucker]

I spent almost a thousand bucks on my DIY 280 Amp-Hour battery and BMS back in 2021. It's still going strong.

Off the shelf batteries like BB have gotten significantly better (and cheaper in cost) in the last few years.

Not sure which way I'd go when I need to replace it. Cells are pretty cheap now.

 

[Mr. Beefy]

I spent almost a thousand bucks on my DIY 280 Amp-Hour battery and BMS back in 2021. It's still going strong.

Off the shelf batteries like BB have gotten significantly better (and cheaper in cost) in the last few years.

Not sure which way I'd go when I need to replace it. Cells are pretty cheap now.

Did you have any trepidation about the quality of cells you received? Any insights to share regarding sourcing cells?

 

[Bjorkinman]

So I ended up buying 4 LiTime batteries, for a total of around $2100 shipped. They're 280 AH 12v with the freeze protection - I have them wired 2s2p for a 24v system with a victron battery balancer in between. So far so good, they've been live for almost a year with no issue. Only issue is my system will display 100% on the batteries when they aren't on occasion - I changed a few of the parameters for state of charge and what not. The only upgrade I would like is to have the Can Bus connection so the BMS dictates the charging vs. Victron shunt using voltage to determine charge.

 

[Mr. Beefy]

So I ended up buying 4 LiTime batteries, for a total of around $2100 shipped. They're 280 AH 12v with the freeze protection - I have them wired 2s2p for a 24v system with a victron battery balancer in between. So far so good, they've been live for almost a year with no issue. Only issue is my system will display 100% on the batteries when they aren't on occasion - I changed a few of the parameters for state of charge and what not. The only upgrade I would like is to have the Can Bus connection so the BMS dictates the charging vs. Victron shunt using voltage to determine charge.

That's my biggest complaint as well with all the stand-alone batteries that don't incorporate such functionality.

 

[Rucker]

Did you have any trepidation about the quality of cells you received? Any insights to share regarding sourcing cells?

I went with one of the more active sellers with good reviews, and all the cells were fine when received. I did load testing and balance checking and again, all cells were just fine.

I do see cell to cell voltage differences at the bottom end of charge, if I run them down significantly. The difference not large and I'm willing to bet they're behaving no differently than your standard LiFePo battery off the shelf after some years of use.

[The impact of cell imbalance is your BMS cuts off discharge when any one cell's voltage reaches its minimum, leaving the charge in all the rest of the cells. That may be why they call their batteries 270 Amp instead of 280 Amp capacity, for all I know]

Oh, by the way, you can't monitor cell to cell differences in an off the shelf LiFePo battery.

 

[Mr. Beefy]

I'll probably be adding 'not building my own battery' to my evergrowing list of things I wish I had done differently