Batteries and chargers

[SteamyTea]

I have practically gone as far as I can reducing my energy consumption (down from ~12 MWh.year^-1 to ~3 MWh.year^-1), so now looking at load time shifting to save some cash.

As I am all electric, the easy way to do this is with some battery storage.

Initially this will be for relatively small loads i.e. laptop, lighting, radio etc. 

Now I have seen a cheap battery and charger combo that would fit my initial needs.

I usually buy the cheapest, until I can justify the best for my needs, and I have never been a believer that paying a higher price automatically buys quality.

So has anyone had any experience in buying something similar, baring in mind that this is just an experiment for fun.

The battery will be stored outside of the house for safety.

The safety factor is my biggest concern, not worth burning my house down for a couple of hundred quid.

This also got me thinking about buying batteries and chargers separately.

Having read about eBike fires being caused by third party, replacement chargers, what are the key things to know about chargers, and how can one properly check?

Edited September 28 by SteamyTea

[MikeGrahamT21]

Compatibility for the battery BMS, but as long as you follow the battery specs you can always setup your inverter in a custom config to match it.

 

LiFePO4 are not the kind of batteries you find in e-scooters, they are currently the safest ones you can buy, but that’s not to say they are perfect.

 

if you are storing it externally, you need to also consider environmental factors, heat moisture etc, far better for the battery to be in a constant environment.

 

I’ve had my pylontech batteries in the boiler cupboard for 4 years now

Edited September 28 by MikeGrahamT21

[JohnMo]

I quite like these the Pro version

 

https://uk.ecoflow.com/products/stream-ultra-pro?variant=50839891280211

 

Not the same from a price perspective, but plug and play, charge in a cheap tariff period. 1.92kWh and 1200W output.  But just under £1000

[SteamyTea]

36 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

Not the same from a price perspective

No, over ten times the price.

I wonder how many they have actually sold.

[dpmiller]

umm, that's probably more like 3.5Ah. I've just bought a motorcycle battery about the same size and weight..

[SteamyTea]

7 hours ago, dpmiller said:

umm, that's probably more like 3.5Ah. I've just bought a motorcycle battery about the same size and weight..

That is something that did not occur to me, mislabelling.

 

So maybe Plan B.

So battery and separate charger/BMS.

[JohnMo]

2 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

That is something that did not occur to me, mislabelling

You would pay nearly that for a bog standard car battery. Similar offering from other companies many times more expensive.

 

The battery is tiny compared to similar offering on eBay (150Ah version)