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Advantages of Investing in High Quality Lithium cells
There are a variety of options available for obtaining the lithium cells that you’ll need for your DIY battery project. Due to the high cost of lithium cells, the cost and availability will most likely be the most important considerations in your choice. While purchasing fresh cells is usually the most effective (and safest) choice, there are a variety of other alternatives available as well. In this post, we’ll go through a variety of various choices.
Purchase of brand – new Lithium cells is an option.
Buy new batteries from well-established suppliers. This is the first approach, and it is the one that I usually suggest. The cost of lithium cells is not cheap, but by purchasing new cells, you can be certain that you are purchasing high-quality, safe batteries that will last for the amount of time you want them to endure. Depending on the kind of cells, this may take a few hundred or several thousand cycles, but at the very least you won’t be surprised by anything.
Depending on where you reside, you may or may not be able to find a reliable local supplier for lithium cells. Don’t be concerned, since there are many internet sites for purchasing lithium cells. For many years, lithium batteries were virtually entirely manufactured in Asia, making the most convenient way to purchase cells online and then wait a month for them to come in the mail. There are a growing number of resellers in nations all over the globe, making it simpler to conduct business with a vendor that is at the very least situated in the same country as you, even if they are not located in your immediate vicinity.
I continue to get the majority of my battery cells directly from China, where the prices are consistently the most competitive. If you’re looking to purchase tiny cells, such as RC lipo packs or 18650 batteries, purchasing them online from halfway across the globe may be a good choice. Lithium cells of this kind are typically tiny and may be transported simply and at a low cost.
However, due to the continuously changing shipping rules for lithium cells, it is possible that this may not be the case indefinitely. In most cases, I purchase boxes of 18650 batteries by the hundred, which results in a price savings of around 10-30 percent as compared to purchasing individual 18650 cells.
Where to Buy Lithium Cells
A few of the most frequent sites I use for purchasing smaller lithium cells are Alibaba and their retail branch AliExpress. Alibaba and its retail division AliExpress are two of the most popular sources for me. China’s Alibaba is an excellent source for bulk orders of 100 or more cells, but certain sellers on Alibaba will not sell amounts of fewer than 1,000 cells, which is a problem for some customers. Cells are available for purchase on AliExpress in quantities ranging from a single unit to several thousands.
Whenever possible, choose a dealer who has been in business for at least a few years and has a large number of positive feedback ratings. It is true that positive feedback may be purchased or counterfeit, but in most cases, these sellers are selling in such large quantities that any negative feedback will still make it through the system. Good sources are typically vendors that have completed hundreds of transactions and have received overwhelmingly favourable feedback from customers.
The manufacture of counterfeit lithium cells, which are often off-brand cells that have been rebadged so that they seem to be brand name cells, is a very significant business in itself. When purchasing straight from Asia, it may be difficult to tell whether the seller is delivering authentic or fraudulent cells due to the language barrier. Only purchasing from trustworthy sellers that have received positive reviews over a long period of time helps to improve your chances of success, but it’s still difficult to be certain.
Online forums for individuals working on similar projects to yours (such as electric bicycle or DIY powerwall forums) mostly have huge communities of users who may assist you in locating the most reputable vendors in their respective industries.
If you’re concerned about receiving substandard or counterfeit cells, buy a small number of cells to evaluate the vendor’s reliability. You won’t have to commit to a big order from a new vendor just to discover later that the cells aren’t up to par. A local seller that guarantees the legitimacy of the cells they offer is an alternative option that you may want to explore as well. Even while it will be more costly, you will be certain that you are receiving the correct cells, and you will most likely have recourse if you do not get what you paid for.
If you’re purchasing big cells, such as those used in many electric car conversions, your options will be more restricted because of the limited supply. The majority of lithium batteries on the market are available in tiny form factors. Although large cells are available, there are fewer manufacturers and suppliers. If you search for a seller in your nation who can import big lithium batteries directly for you, you will most likely be more successful.
The use of numerous tiny cells is always an option (Tesla electric cars include hundreds of small cells), but huge cells may save you a lot of time during the assembly phase of major projects such as electric vehicle conversions or very large residential energy storage batteries.
Finally, if you are going to invest the money to get new batteries, you should only purchase name brand cells manufactured by well-known firms like as Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, LG, and so on. There are quite a number of off-brand lithium cells manufacturers who offer lower-cost lithium batteries, but their products are not of the same quality as the major companies.
It is impossible for me to recall ever having received a defective cell among the hundreds of Panasonic and Samsung cells that I have bought over the years. Name-brand businesses are all known for having outstanding quality control. Before shipping, they test the product and remove any faulty cells found at the plant. Other businesses have weaker quality control requirements, and it is not unusual to get a defective cell or two in a shipment of a few hundred cells from another company.
Points to Remember When Purchasing a New Lithium Ion Battery Cells
This may seem little, but if you’re constructing a big battery, it may have a catastrophic impact on your overall performance. The failure of a single weak cell may result in the failure of an entire parallel group linked to it, resulting in the destruction of many more cells.
There are also many brands of cells that just purchase rejected cells from the major firms and repackage them with outrageously exaggerated specs in order to increase their market share. If you come across cells that are less expensive than name brand yet claim to have greater capabilities, you can be sure that they are not genuine cells to purchase. If something seems to be too good to be true, it almost certainly is.
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