Renogy very small (WOW) compact 100 AH Lithium Battery information. SCOFF UP or RUN?

[saflyer]

Just got an email from Renogy about this new battery. Lot of capacity for such a small package. Good features, too.
https://www.renogy.com/core-mini-12-...k_key=ntbqFLwA
 

[Rocketman3]

For lithium batteries there are 2 needed features and I believe that battery is missing one- plus it is a bit high priced- At $279.  There are several 100ah batteries at $229 to $200 that have the needed features but may be in a slightly larger format.

The two needed features are:

1. Low temperature charging protection- (it has this feature). Verify it is set to 32F or 0C. 

2. The BMS needs Bluetooth (or other way to read the individual cell voltages). This feature is important. I chat with many people over at DIY SOLAR FORUM, and someone will have some strange charging issues- like all of sudden they are getting high voltage in their solar charging (16v) when their batteries are only 75% full. Or the batteries don’t seem to hold as much power as they used to. The issue is the cells have gotten out of balance. (So they are hitting the high voltage production on a single cell in charge or the low voltage production on a single cell in discharge). If they had Bluetooth and an app to see the out of balance - they would probably see the problem developing.
 

The solution to fix it is to slowly charge the battery and let the bms balancer work. If you have Bluetooth you can figure out the voltage to charge to, if not then guess - usually 13.8, - for several hours(low amps), drain 10%, then 14.0, repeat, then 14.2, repeats, then 14.4, repeat.  Without Bluetooth you are kinda guessing when/if you have the battery back in balance- with it you can know.

Lithiums are NOT the same as Lead-Acid- you need at least one charger (that is often used) that will charge lithiums exactly how they want to be charged - so your balancer can work and has time to work. The small passive BMS balancers take a long time to work. 

[Tom Cherry]

Appears to me....a learning NOVICE, that their "Shunt" system is not made for our MH's.  We have, OEM, 450 AH....some models with Dual Banks have 900 AH capacity.

Interesting though... 

Reliability and reputation?  Have NO IDEA....comments from folks that have used them and such would be great.  How long have they been in business.  Are they like the "Latest DOT.COM (er DOT.BOMB) companies that were a massive failure in the late 90?  That, to me would be important...

 

[Rocketman3]

Renogy is a marketing company. They slap their label on a product that another company makes. They do have a USA support, but from what I hear it has gone downhill over the last few years. 

Because, they use other companies for engineering, their products are inconsistent- some are OK and others not so much so.

Over at DIYSOLARFORUM there is a saying that friends don’t let friends buy Renogy. (But over there many tend to be snobs for high-end tier1 products).

i have three of their 100w solar panels (the specs happened to hit exactly what I needed).  
With electronics I don’t think I would use or recommend a Renogy label product. With a battery, I might - if it had Bluetooth and low temperature protection.

It says it has Bluetooth monitoring through the Renogy shunt??? If that does not let you see individual cell voltages it does not count.

[saflyer]

Mainly wanted to point out the future of lithium batteries. Greater energy density at ever improving price point. I’m sure other manufacturers will follow.

6 hours ago, Rocketman3 said:

For lithium batteries there are 2 needed features and I believe that battery is missing one- plus it is a bit high priced- At $279.  There are several 100ah batteries at $229 to $200 that have the needed features but may be in a slightly larger format.

The two needed features are:

1. Low temperature charging protection- (it has this feature). Verify it is set to 32F or 0C. 

2. The BMS needs Bluetooth (or other way to read the individual cell voltages). This feature is important. I chat with many people over at DIY SOLAR FORUM, and someone will have some strange charging issues- like all of sudden they are getting high voltage in their solar charging (16v) when their batteries are only 75% full. Or the batteries don’t seem to hold as much power as they used to. The issue is the cells have gotten out of balance. (So they are hitting the high voltage production on a single cell in charge or the low voltage production on a single cell in discharge). If they had Bluetooth and an app to see the out of balance - they would probably see the problem developing.
 

The solution to fix it is to slowly charge the battery and let the bms balancer work. If you have Bluetooth you can figure out the voltage to charge to, if not then guess - usually 13.8, - for several hours(low amps), drain 10%, then 14.0, repeat, then 14.2, repeats, then 14.4, repeat.  Without Bluetooth you are kinda guessing when/if you have the battery back in balance- with it you can know.

Lithiums are NOT the same as Lead-Acid- you need at least one charger (that is often used) that will charge lithiums exactly how they want to be charged - so your balancer can work and has time to work. The small passive BMS balancers take a long time to work. 

“There are several 100ah batteries at $229 to $200 that have the needed features but may be in a slightly larger format.”

But are they this small?

Edited Monday at 08:32 PM by saflyer