Voltax lifepo4 lithium battery

[hippyhunter]

Thats weird, but good. Makes me wonder how many hours i will be able to get off the 100ah that i have.
How much did your one cost? Whats the weight and dimensions of your battery? Got a pic you can put up? Sounds like a 50ah would be spot on to cover a whole day then.

 

[grubstake]

I am starting to wonder grubstake if the quoted ah of lifepo4 batteries is the "usable" amount and regulated from over discharge by the bms.... for example woth that thaeory a 100ah lifepo4 battery actually has 120ah of batteries internally and the bms cuts off your usage after 100ah is used. So hence they rate it as 100ah because that is the amount u can use. Not certain about it but am starting to think that is whats going on. So for ferals example an 18-20 ah battery should be enough for his two hours as the bms will regulate usage to not go undercharge

You may be right - the onboard Battery Management System software could be a game-changer if that's the case, with no more worries about either over-charging or over-drawing.

 

[hippyhunter]

Only having 5kg dedicated to battery weight makes electric bilge pumps a bit more viable for highbanking or sluicing with low flow. Especially if the battery is durable and well regulated by the bms to get value for spend $$

 

[Feral]

Thats weird, but good. Makes me wonder how many hours i will be able to get off the 100ah that i have.
How much did your one cost? Whats the weight and dimensions of your battery? Got a pic you can put up? Sounds like a 50ah would be spot on to cover a whole day then.

It wasn't cheap. $250 for the 12AH weight of 2kg and $330 I think it was for the 20AH weight I think was 2.16 kg?

 

[hippyhunter]

Thats pretty cool. Take note under the caution label. As it states to use a lithium specific charger. Using a normal charger may damage the battery. I ordered a victron charger from ebay. You might want to check at the battery store about a charger if you havent already. 2kg weight is awesome. Another cool little accessory for these batteries are those 12v clamps to a cig lighter plug. Then can plug a usb adapter in to charge phones or run usb powered appliances from it too

 

[hippyhunter]

My victron lithium charger arrived this morning. Can give the battery a proper charge and test now. A cool trick the charger does is can be a 12v power supply. Can run a bilge up to 15amps from the charger plugged into the wall. Dont know how handy that will be but i think will use that feature at some stage

 

[Feral]

Got the charger from them to so all cool there. I know there are cheaper and higher AH on fleabay that are cheaper. Didn't feel comfortable on this purchase but might get one later on. Couldn't find a Voltax this small.

Truth be told, having to much trouble walking the parks and beaches at the moment so that leaves swimming. Should help with recovery after surgery too and might get lucky and find some cool stuff. Hopefully a full run on the water this weekend if the weather is kind enough

 

[hippyhunter]

100ah is the smallest voltax size i have seen. I think renogy had a 50ah battery but it was super expensive. If you end up liking the brand you have maybee consider a higher ah battery thru them. At least you have an informed opinion about that brand by then

 

[hippyhunter]

So i ended up getting 11 hours from the 8.4amp pump with the voltax 100ah battery before the bms shut it down. Thats about what i was expecting initially so pretty fair i guess.

 

[crumpy]

Hi mate hows this battery going? i see Voltax make a 50AH one aswell after lifting even a little 18ah AGM then an 18AH lithium in JAYCAR i don't think I could buy the AGM the 18AH is $180 whereas voltax's 50AH is $300 better value in my opinion also looking at powertechs though as I can get them from JAYCAR and if I have any issues I can goto them

 

[hippyhunter]

Hi crumpy. The battery is holding up ok. Havent had a lot of chance to use it as intended. Have been keeping a good eye on it while sitting and its holding charge. Even though i havent used it a bunch yet i am still feeling fine with spending the extra $$ over and above an agm battery. Although i definately would have preffered 2 50ah rather than 1 100ah. I reckon it would be worth a chance on the jaycar one, with the easy instore product backup. I dont think you would have any regrets going with that.

 

[hippyhunter]

One feature i like about the 100ah is the built in voltage and power level display.
I noticed the 50ah voltax doesnt have that feature. Is pretty handy to have when sluicing/highbanker, to guage how much longer till the battery runs out of power. Just one less thing to have to think about

 

[crumpy]

I bit the bullet and just got a jaycar 25ah lithium one figured if i have any issues atleast i can take it back i paid full rrp of 300 however they can be for 250 charging now for maiden voyage in a few days. Its light as a feather

 

[hippyhunter]

Noice one. How many kg's is that one?
You got the same battery charger as i have. Did you read you can power up to 8amp 12v devices straight from the charger? Is a cool little extra feature i quite like.

 

[lovleah]

How is your Voltax battery going, would you recommend it. I am looking at getting a 200-300ah lithium battery and these are cheaper than other brands, so am interested how you find this battery after some usage.

Cheers, Leah

Was into turning my river sluice into a portable recirculating setup during the current lockdown. As i wanted the option to run it indoors i went with 12v bilge pump setup. The hard decision was power. Options where agm deep cycle @30kg (f that. Too much weight for any sort of hike from the car and usable battery and maintenece is a hassle. Saw lifepo4 4 batteries and though they sounded perfect. Preferred known brand where $1500 for the size i wanted. That was too expensive for my budget.. Found this voltax brand with not a great deal of forum information about them. the one i got was their premium model (voltax plus) in the purple and black box. The things i liked about it was it had a battery meter which is only found on some of the more expensive ones. Also it is ip65 rated. I could not find any others at all that had an actual water resistance rating. I felt that was pretty important for my use as other brands have told me warranty is voided if it gets wet at all. This battery has 2 year warranty. Uses prismatic cells & Weighs in at 9.5 kg which is awesome. Have used it with a rule 2000gph (8amp?) pump for 3 hours so far and the battery meter reads 80% so it seems to be of good capacity. Will know for sure after a full test i guess. Hopefully it gets past the 2 year mark also of course. Overall so far it seems like a pretty decent option for anyone using a 12v pump with a highbanker or mini trommel. They had a cheaper one for $450 also but that didnt have a battery meter built in and used cylinder cells. I really really wanted a built in battery meter tho so went their premium model

 

[hippyhunter]

I have really only used it once so far leah. Its been sitting for months now as havent had much spare time. Its still holding 99% on the guage though. I cant fault the votax bateries ao far, but havent really used it as per normal as of yet to really test it out. If you go voltax i would advise to get the premium model of the size you want (purple is premium, green is standard).
The few mentioned above are maybee worth considering from jaycar or battery world if you prefer to buy from a brick and mortar local store.
Im sure you would be happy with the voltax if you like its features like weatherproofing and power guage

 

[crumpy]

Noice one. How many kg's is that one?
You got the same battery charger as i have. Did you read you can power up to 8amp 12v devices straight from the charger? Is a cool little extra feature i quite like.

Its 3 kg very light and also small fits into backpack nicely. Jaycar have been great with it too it came pretty flat swapped it out with another that was also pretty flat all of them in store were flat though (like around 12.4v) victron was great had it fully charged in about 7 hours at 4amps an hour was on absorb stage for a while though. love the charger using phone and seeing all the info and charts is great

 

[hippyhunter]

Noice one. How many kg's is that one?
You got the same battery charger as i have. Did you read you can power up to 8amp 12v devices straight from the charger? Is a cool little extra feature i quite like.

Its 3 kg very light and also small fits into backpack nicely. Jaycar have been great with it too it came pretty flat swapped it out with another that was also pretty flat all of them in store were flat though (like around 12.4v) victron was great had it fully charged in about 7 hours at 4amps an hour was on absorb stage for a while though. love the charger using phone and seeing all the info and charts is great

3kg is good. Would be able to carry with a heap of other gear easily. Teminds me i need to get a backpack for mine. The backpack would need to be pretty wrll padded for my battery tho at 10kg (so it doesnt poke into my back). I know i will feel wierd about carrying it in its side (in the backpack) for the first few times. Am so used to 12v batteries being only one way up

 

[crumpy]

Noice one. How many kg's is that one?
You got the same battery charger as i have. Did you read you can power up to 8amp 12v devices straight from the charger? Is a cool little extra feature i quite like.

Its 3 kg very light and also small fits into backpack nicely. Jaycar have been great with it too it came pretty flat swapped it out with another that was also pretty flat all of them in store were flat though (like around 12.4v) victron was great had it fully charged in about 7 hours at 4amps an hour was on absorb stage for a while though. love the charger using phone and seeing all the info and charts is great

3kg is good. Would be able to carry with a heap of other gear easily. Teminds me i need to get a backpack for mine. The backpack would need to be pretty wrll padded for my battery tho at 10kg (so it doesnt poke into my back). I know i will feel wierd about carrying it in its side (in the backpack) for the first few times. Am so used to 12v batteries being only one way up

i highly recommend the caribee pulse 65l I put all my food down the bottom compartment battery, pump and thermos in the middle top compartment has first aid kit, sucker bottles wallet phone (easy to access stuff) then its got the webbing for pans also, mini shovel fits in water bottle pockets down side. Also has a pocket for hydration bladder. Can carry a lot of weight with this bag that's what it was designed for.

 

[hippyhunter]

Noice one. How many kg's is that one?
You got the same battery charger as i have. Did you read you can power up to 8amp 12v devices straight from the charger? Is a cool little extra feature i quite like.

Its 3 kg very light and also small fits into backpack nicely. Jaycar have been great with it too it came pretty flat swapped it out with another that was also pretty flat all of them in store were flat though (like around 12.4v) victron was great had it fully charged in about 7 hours at 4amps an hour was on absorb stage for a while though. love the charger using phone and seeing all the info and charts is great

3kg is good. Would be able to carry with a heap of other gear easily. Teminds me i need to get a backpack for mine. The backpack would need to be pretty wrll padded for my battery tho at 10kg (so it doesnt poke into my back). I know i will feel wierd about carrying it in its side (in the backpack) for the first few times. Am so used to 12v batteries being only one way up

i highly recommend the caribee pulse 65l I put all my food down the bottom compartment battery, pump and thermos in the middle top compartment has first aid kit, sucker bottles wallet phone (easy to access stuff) then its got the webbing for pans also, mini shovel fits in water bottle pockets down side. Also has a pocket for hydration bladder. Can carry a lot of weight with this bag that's what it was designed for.

I will probably only need a 45l or maybee even smaller pack. Just big enough for the battery would be fine. Will check out careibee ones though as they sound durable enough :Y: