Renogy DC-DC 50A (Version 1) Major Scary Failure

[Jim Rey]

The majority of the cells are made in China yes, but that's not always where the battery (several cells, BMS, case etc) is assembled.

For instance I believe (but haven't confirmed) that Fogstar do the assembly in the UK.

Dry joints, duff BMS cable connection perhaps.The cells and the BMS are the things that fail irrespective of who puts them together for the final product. When I look at some youtube videos I see cell malfunctions and BMS imbalances are the main cause of any issues. The batteries Renogy (Chinese company in USA) supply are built in China or perhaps at their facility in Ontario, California. Either way they supply the complete product

 

[Dellmassive]

Redarc chargers are nice,

Australian, I have a. Couple.

 

[Dellmassive]

CTEK is Europe, Sweden or somewhere like that

 

[Jim Rey]

CTEK is Europe, Sweden or somewhere like that

My CTEK250SA was brilliant. Yes they are Swedish. The only reason I changed out CTEK (and sold it at bargain price on eBay) out was because 250SA didn't have a Lithium charging profile in it . You probably know they brought out the CTEK 250SE for that purpose. I'm not at all happy with renogy customer support.

 

[Dellmassive]

Yep. I have a d250se.

Wasn't happy with the charge profile myself. Plus it's only 25A, and no monitoring.

But if you like the company it's a easy swap out.

 

[Jim Rey]

The DC-DC 30 Renogy charger is not my problem though. It still works. The problem is Renogy battery but most of all the really bad customer support (or lack off)

 

[Farnorthsurfer]

IIRC CTEK are more limited in Solar input voltage, or they were when I bought the Renogy DC-DC.

Still happy with the performance of the Renogy, not of course that the old one failed dramatically but they have clearly done a considerable amount of development on the v4 DC-DC. The new one is running well within reasonable temperatures and it fits well in my underseat system.
It's driving a Chinese TN-Power 100ah battery which (touchwood) works fine.

Quick note on battery returns, my mate has cause to return his Lithium battery but is having a huge problem finding a courier that will actually ship it!!
We are in the Highlands so that doesn't help but its a right PITA not being able to ship it out.

 

[Jim Rey]

IIRC CTEK are more limited in Solar input voltage, or they were when I bought the Renogy DC-DC.

Still happy with the performance of the Renogy, not of course that the old one failed dramatically but they have clearly done a considerable amount of development on the v4 DC-DC. The new one is running well within reasonable temperatures and it fits well in my underseat system.
It's driving a Chinese TN-Power 100ah battery which (touchwood) works fine.

Quick note on battery returns, my mate has cause to return his Lithium battery but is having a huge problem finding a courier that will actually ship it!!
We are in the Highlands so that doesn't help but its a right PITA not being able to ship it out.

I watched a youtube video when a guy had a 100aH Renogy battery fail in a similar fashion to mine. That's probably why they didn't ask him to send it back. On trains now, they have banned e-scooters with Lithium batteries not fully understanding that LiFeP04 batteries are much safer that other Lithium battery types. Couriers are perhaps enforcing a similarly cautious strategy.

 

[roadtripper]

LiFePo are still Lithium for the purpose of shipping and transport. Certainly they can be safer but that doesn't mean they are inherently safe.

Diesel is a lot safer to transport than petrol, but both are counted as inflammable liquids and prohibited on passenger trains.

 

[Jim Rey]

LiFePo are still Lithium for the purpose of shipping and transport. Certainly they can be safer but that doesn't mean they are inherently safe.

Diesel is a lot safer to transport than petrol, but both are counted as inflammable liquids and prohibited on passenger trains.

Yes I know that

 

[roadtripper]

My point is the rail industry is fully aware of the differences, lithium powered trains are being designed and trialled, they still see them as a risk and the statistics (currently) back them up.

It's not reasonable to expect on the ground rail staff to determine the difference and allow one type of battery on or not. It is reasonable to expect them to tell the difference between a mobility scooter and and e-scooter so that's where the line is drawn.

Is that fair on well built and maintained e-scooters? No it's not. But there isn't really another practical way of keeping the dangerous ones off the trains.

 

[Jim Rey]

My point is the rail industry is fully aware of the differences, lithium powered trains are being designed and trialled, they still see them as a risk and the statistics (currently) back them up.

It's not reasonable to expect on the ground rail staff to determine the difference and allow one type of battery on or not. It is reasonable to expect them to tell the difference between a mobility scooter and and e-scooter so that's where the line is drawn.

Is that fair on well built and maintained e-scooters? No it's not. But there isn't really another practical way of keeping the dangerous ones off the trains.

great stuff. Maybe they need to ban people going on trains with their mobiles phones which all contain Lithium batteries or maybe just certain manufacturers from a country (or countries) that put profit before build quality and stringent safety measures. The EV's I have seen on videos showing EV cars catching fire seem to be happening in a particular country....unless of course someone here knows of other nearer-to-home similar events. And the scooters bursting into flames, you know the ones that are driven illegally all over cities in U.K....I wonder where they come from?