Lithium Batteries Observation and Review

[Woody b]

The cells aren't balanced. After a year of short cycles on my cranking battery it had one cell that was lower than the rest. Jeff and Lithium Hub told me to run it down under 10% a few times and it would balance itself out. After three times the cells are all balanced. I wouldn't have known I had a problem without the bluetooth app, but suspect I would have had a "real" problem in the future hand I not corrected it.

With unbalanced batteries in a series connection I'd say to temporarily connect them parallel, run them down/recharge a few times. It's my belief that each BMS will "know" it's paired with another battery and balance the cells accordingly.

[CJ1]

The ones where you don’t know when they’ll die on you and have no way to tell how their lifecycle is doing? You can have them!

Your getting that backwards, lithiums have more of a chance of just quitting on you that a LA battery. It happens in both but the LA usually get weak first giving you a warning. Cj

[Bjxds]

After talking with tech support several times I have been told the SOC ( State Of Charge) percentage is not as accurate as the voltage readings. Based on their recommendation I have drained the batteries and charged them hoping that the SOC display would sync and accurately display, but no go. They reviewed all other parameters on the app and everything but the SOC seems to be accurate.

I am disappointed with the app in reference to the accuracy of the SOC, so it looks like for the foreseeable future I will need to use the voltage reading to determine the SOC.

Hopefully they can update the app sooner than later. It’s a shame such high end batteries don’t have an app that integrates correctly and accurately displays the data as intended.

I wonder how many other Powerhouse users have this same issue?

[yam911]

I believe that SOC is based on the sum of the individual cell voltages. If so, seems that it might be a programming error when the voltage is calculated and then converted to SOC.

Practicality wise, is it that big of an issue? Most are reporting not having to be very concerned as to the SOC at the beginning of any given day.

[majatk]

I have 2 -12v ionic 50 ah`s in parallel for my electronics , after about a year one of them was showing a lower soc than the other and sometimes 0% soc and while charged would show like 5% up to 10% then jump to 80% to 100% . I would use it and in no time it would drop to low soc.
When checked with a volt meter would show the same voltage as the other one ( dis-connected from parallel )
The cells were ok , the batterie functioned ok but the bluetooth function that interpreted the soc was bad
Ionic replaced it

[Bjxds]

I believe that SOC is based on the sum of the individual cell voltages. If so, seems that it might be a programming error when the voltage is calculated and then converted to SOC.

Practicality wise, is it that big of an issue? Most are reporting not having to be very concerned as to the SOC at the beginning of any given day.

Its definitely something to due with programming/App interpretation.
Practically speaking it’s workable. There is a lot to learn about lithiums, and an inaccurate reading displayed on the app didn’t help. I think for as much as lithiums cost the App should be accurate.

[Phoenix919]

K@Kustomz is to notch, Kevin helped get a order to me in Canada when no one else could or would. I highly recommend them

[MWO]

K@Kustomz is to notch, Kevin helped get a order to me in Canada when no one else could or would. I highly recommend them

I'll get in contact with Kevin and see what he might be able to do for me as I am also in Canada

[Bjxds]

UPDATE: This has been driving me crazy

Same intermittent issues with the SOC reporting on the app. So when fishing and 1 battery shows 70% and the other shows 20%, it does not give me a warm, fuzzy feeling!

I did receive confirmation from PowerHouse Tech Support:
There is a problem doing series batteries. The engineers are on vacation for 2 weeks and they will notify via email when to update the app.

Hopefully this resolves this issue soon!

[bloodman]

UPDATE: This has been driving me crazy

Same intermittent issues with the SOC reporting on the app. So when fishing and 1 battery shows 70% and the other shows 20%, it does not give me a warm, fuzzy feeling!

I did receive confirmation from PowerHouse Tech Support:
There is a problem doing series batteries. The engineers are on vacation for 2 weeks and they will notify via email when to update the app.

Hopefully this resolves this issue soon!

Wow.....I'd ask for my money back and move on

[Bjxds]

Update:
I uninstalled the app and installed the latest app, then tech support recommended changing some settings.
The app seemed to be properly reporting the SOC after I used the batteries a couple of times of usage and charge. ie after fishing the app reported the same SOC on both batteries.

THEN: One battery reported 79% and the other 29%. The overall voltage as well as each of the individual cell voltages shown in the app indicated both batteries were at the same level 79%. Bothe batteries showed the same voltage level on a digital volt meter. I contacted Tech Support AGAIN. We reviewed all parameters reported in the app, and they stated all parameters reported by the app indicated both batteries were at 79%, and the one battery that showed 29% was simply the app incorrectly reporting the SOC .

We installed a different app, and it showed one battery at 79% and the other at 29%. They provided a SOC chart to be used to monitor each individual cell, because somehow the overall SOC is not being correctly shown by either app. ie 3400 mv for a cell id 100% 3200mv is 10%. IT is a Pain in the Ass to use, but at least I can see if the one battery showing the lower voltage as reported by the app is the same as the one that is reporting the higher voltage. All 5 cells in each battery reported approx 3328, indicating both are at 79%.

Tech support stated both batteries are GOOD, and they will forward this info to the engineers. There is a know issue with series batteries and proper reporting. It is odd that I have not been able to find any other reports of others with this same issue.

The only good thing at this point is that the batteries have only died once when I was instructed to run them down in hopes of getting them to balance and sync to properly report SOC, and tech support has been very responsive in working with me.