ebay LiFePO4 sellers to avoid: ep-battery, volgood

E

ebikes-sf

100 mW
Joined
Jan 3, 2009
Messages
44
Location
San Francisco
I've had very disappointing experience buying LiFePO4 battery packs labeled VPOWER from ebay sellers power_battery_a123 and volgood which actually seem to be the same guy. Here is list of sellers who sell same VPOWER product:

power_battery_a123
ep-battery
volgood
vpower.hk
CAMMY_CC

I purchased seven 48v 20Ah and one 48v 10Ah. 5 charges burned with in 15 minutes and remaining 3 within 2 charges.

I tested capacities using Cycle Analyst and all were below 50%. I measured cell group voltages and they rangedfrom 3.2 to 3.8 volts meaning packs were very unbalanced. Then I used single cell charger to even/balance cell group voltages to 3.6v - capacities went up to 75-80%. However, cells got unbalanced with each charge/discharge cycle eventually reducing capacities back to below 50%.

I've been communicating with sellers for over 1.5 months now and responces were from "I can't believe" and "it's impossible" to "what tools did you use to measure?" and "send me pictures" but I never got any help.

I chose surface shipping which took 2 months for delivery so I couldn't open PayPal claim since it must be opened within 45 days. Luckily I used credit card for PayPal funding source and was able to open dispute against sellers' paypal accounts and will likely get money back but it may take 2-3 months. My advise for anyone buying from China and choosing surface shipping - open PayPal claim right away and just close it when item is received.

I contacted few buyers who left positive feedback for those sellers and it seems most of them never measured actuall capacity, couple of guys measured it after we talked and got similar disappointing results.

IF YOU WENT THROUGH SAME EXPERINCE, PLEASE, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE IT UNNOTICED, AND FOLLOW STEPS BELOW!!! I talked to ebay security dpt and they said I should report the item even if it does no longer show in the queu of purchaced items. It helps them to track bad sellers. Here are the steps:

1. Since ebay transaction log lives only up to 60 days, go to you PayPal account history, locate the transaction, and extract ebay transaction ID from transaction details.
2. Login to ebay and click "Resolution Center" link at the bottom of home page.
3. Select "I received an item that does not match the seller's description" and continue.
4. Paste the item number in textbox but don't click "Find Item", just click "Continue". Done.
 
hi sir,

I got my vpower battery and chargers seem to work fine. See my http://www.flickr.com/photos/kentlim26 the range and speed tested. I had also measure time for charging seem to be accurate. eg. if I ride for 74km in range i will have take about 2hrs 45mins to charged these batteries. I got my batteries by air mail, i received it in 3days time. Another friend of my in singapore who bought his lifepo4 of 24v of 30amper had face serious problems of tripping. he choose By land shipping. I strongly believe electronic things don't really like to sit in the container for too long period. Some possible as mention by doctorDass he had said heat can cause some problems for the batteries life. inside a electronic item lifepo4 in A container maybe face HEAT inside the vessel shipping. Seriously the batteries itself has too many complains and complain their quality, please don't risk more on surface on shipping. so far i think this my battery from vpower seem okay, No trip, nothing. Just a good power supply to cyclone motor. Seriously, i do not recommend anyone to try their luck on them. Maybe at that moment i bought from vpower.. (may2737) i was so worried and cannot sleep. I tell them alot of instruction including how i wanted to do the packing. my charging is working fine, i had also worry about their quality... i add a extra cooling fan to blow while it charged.

Very likely the cause the battery or charger to fail, becasue these batteries cannot stay too long in a container need to reach your hands as soon as possible.

if anyone interested to buy a vpower battery, i will recommend them other types.

i am sure this ecitypower will do better then vpower. other single cell of 20hr 3.3v will definitely do better then those hundreds cells working as a single pack. i am using this lifepo4 48v 20hr, i hope it can live as long as possible.

http://www.ecitypower.com/index.php?page=79


kentlim26
 
My 48v 20AH volgood pack only gave me 15.5AH I opened it up found a few tabs loose and repaired them. That only got me to 16.5AH. And I fell in the same situation. I didnt really start discharging the pack fully until I got past my 45 day limit. Thats when I noticed I wasnt getting full capacity. Volgood tried to tell me that it is normal to only get 15 AH and that the BMS is protecting the pack. I tried to discharge without the bms and the voltage fell like a rock when i got past the 16.5AH mark. I eventually sold the pack for a loss at 250$ which was less than half of what i paid for it. It put out a solid 16.5AH but still I dont think anyone has got the advertised discharge capacity from a round cell pack.

My charger was fine. Even when I sold it. The guy I sold it to dropped it and it went poof and started smoking. But it worked fine for the 3-4 months that I had it. Actually the battery had a full charge on it when I got it. All it did on my first charge was top it off for like 15 min. My pack took a long time to balance to. like 3-4 days before the cells became 0.02v from the others. It was shipped by DHL I think it was 5 days shipping.
 
Im running a 48v 10ah vpower lifepo4 as well. Yes the shipping did take 2 months. And yes the cells are still to this day unbalanced. the only time ive ever seen a green light on the charger(meaning its completed charge) is the first time i topped it off after taking it out of the box it shipped in. The BMS does tend to shut the pack down early, I do not have a CA to tell how many AH's im burning but overall for the price i paid and for how perfectly the battery fit into my triangle of my frame, Im happy with the purchase. Although im quite shure its shutting down with atleast 1.5 - 2 Ah's left in the pack. I charge and discharge the pack with the BMS in place because i dare not ruin my cells this early in the game, especially without a CA.
 
also i forgot to add my 2 cents about the chargers. Its pretty funny that they have another company logo under their Vpower sticker. If you peel the Vpower sticker off carefully you will see the chargers instructions, also if you flip the charger over it has a few sentences in english on the back. They are hillarious because none of the sentences make sense. If i was at home i would list them off. LOL. The charger i recieved with my pack claims to be a 3AH charger. But i find it hard to belive since my pack is only 10AH, ill go out for a 5AH ride and the charger will charge the bike for over 4 hours o_O and then it will just start blinking red . . . . when its finished not turn green ( :( )
 
Getting a lifepo4 is a very important fuel for the motor to spin for our endless enjoyment. seriously i don't understand we all can pay big amount for a lifepo4 battery but not the shipping by air. I encourage everyone to go by air. The price might be higher, but you can get a useable battery+ early reached your home you feel safer and happy And - drop off the worries for the lifepo4 inside a container. The earlier you receive and you can use it sooner. I don't like to wait and get worry about the shipping by surface. Spend alittle more by air or any means fastest air mail, sure the battery pack is much taken care off. Putting a box (lifepo4 in a container) i cannot imgine how many items will be squeeze with the battery pack?? i work as a crane man handling containers with the mother vessel everyday, so clearly i know the choice which is best to choose for sending your parcel? by sending the battery, certainly helps. My 5amper charger time is quite accurate for some range. now I think i will charge my battery when my distance hits 55~ 60km range. I understand it can go 70km range, but i play safe. i take down the timing so i know when it is time to off the power.

30km - 1.8hrs to charge then Led light turn green,1000watts kit
43km - 2.5hrs to charge then led light turn green, 1000watts kit
26km - 1.5hrs to charge then led light turn green, 1000watts kit.
74km - 2hrs 45mins then led light turn green (900watts kit)

maybe i am getting a lucky pack of lifepo4. I still encourage people should go for other types of cells eg 3.3v 20hr x 16. Cyclone has also came out his new battery pack, they claim to discharged 100 amper. Hi- power battery pack price is good with a 8hr charger. i may consider those.

Our battery pack is the life opening of a enjoyment, freedom. please don't save that bills. Once you got a wonderful pack of battery. You will be smiling all the way.

kentlim
 
HI ALL: YOU CAN ADD CAMMY CC TO THE LIST OF PEOPLE THAT SELL VPOWER BATTRIES. My 48volt 20amp battery that came straight from vpower is 5 amp hr. short in capacity and the 3 amp charger quit within about 8 charges. We had the vpower guy here on the sphere trying to sell battries and when people started to ask questions about their problems all he could say was the bms is protecting the battery and he never offered once to help resolve the issues and he finally quit posting.' THE LITTLE CROOK THAT HE IS' :( :? :x :?: :?:
 
hi friends,

even today i am using their batteries for vpower. i always get worry.. the issue and problems will be always there. So what is now good for me, i will save $$ everymonth to purchase a really long life batteries. maybe my next purchase is the http://www.haiba.net.cn/english/index.asp . I am very sure this shangdong lifepo4 is certainly a upper hand quality he quote me good price USD 642 with shipping ems, 8hr charger. it is a single cell 20hr for each cell. I read ypedal's experience is very helpful so i think it is Good guildline to follow. it maybe a little bit expensive for single cells compare to vpower lifepo4, the quality and problems is worth paying.

being a single cell 20hr = it can be use for single charge and it is guarantee to be Quality charged every time. it is a everytime a happy charging and worries free of charging each time.

kentlim
 
No suprises here. See the Jimmywu thread in the archives, battery section.
 
Guys, thanks for your replies!

IF YOU WENT THROUGH SAME EXPERINCE, PLEASE, PLEASE, DON'T LEAVE IT UNNOTICED, AND FOLLOW STEPS BELOW!!! I talked to ebay security dpt and they said I should report the item even if it does no longer show in the queu of purchaced items. It helps them to track bad sellers. Here are the steps:

1. Since ebay transaction log lives only up to 60 days, go to you PayPal account history, locate the transaction, and extract ebay transaction ID from transaction details.
2. Login to ebay and click "Resolution Center" link at the bottom of home page.
3. Select "I received an item that does not match the seller's description" and continue.
4. Paste the item number in textbox but do NOT click "Find Item", just click "Continue". Done.
 
hi,guys.
we are sorry to hear these problems about the battery.

From your experience,we learn more knowlege about the battery.

We think the shipping time may be the problem,it will lost the capacity of the battery.
some buyer feel battery good after they got it,but some buyer have problems by surface,because it take long time,about two months.

So we suggest the buyer to use the air mail.but it cost more shipping charge.

We also hope we can help the buyer to resolve the problems :D
Thanks
 
2 months shipping would kill a lifepo4 if a crappy bms uses a trickle of power just sitting there. It's happend to a few that stored batteries over the coldest months of winter.

Mabye they should have the bms disconnected if they are coming by slow boat?
 
NOT A VERY GOOD ANSWER FROM CXAMMY CC. The last battery that was bought through CAMMY cc came from vpower and it only took about 12 days so it came by air mail. It sure is funny that up until now thay have never offered to fix the problem all thay say is the bms is protecting the battery or the problem is the long trip by boat. what a good business person would do is say all you guys that have a problem e-mail me and WE WILL FIX IT AT OUR COST i don't belive thay will do this.
 
i have to say that the shipping did take a really long time...............on my vpower pack. So long that i bought another pack from a diffrent vendor while waiting its arrival. 53 days later i got the pack. But i have to say it does perform very well overall. Ive only had the BMS cut the pack out once and it was on a 97 degree day in st petersburg FL after riding 16 miles WOT and then stopping at a red light and flooring the throttle to WOT again. :(

heres a video of me testing the com cycles lipo pack i bought VS the Vpower LIfepo4 pack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y-eUVw1l1M
 
i also had let my bike sit for 3 weeks that i have the 48v 10ah vpower lifepo4 installed in, with the BMS attached. And i lost about half of the packs capacity. altho when i recieved it from the 2month shipping ordeal it only took 5 min to charge to full. So im not really sure what that tells ya.
 
skeetab5780 said:
i also had let my bike sit for 3 weeks that i have the 48v 10ah vpower lifepo4 installed in, with the BMS attached. And i lost about half of the packs capacity. altho when i recieved it from the 2month shipping ordeal it only took 5 min to charge to full. So im not really sure what that tells ya.
Click to expand...
It tells ya' you shoulda' bought from da Ping!
 
skeetab5780 said:
i also had let my bike sit for 3 weeks that i have the 48v 10ah vpower lifepo4 installed in, with the BMS attached. And i lost about half of the packs capacity. altho when i recieved it from the 2month shipping ordeal it only took 5 min to charge to full. So im not really sure what that tells ya.
Click to expand...


Hi,guy,
Why you said you lost half of the packs capacity?
Which tool you use?
 
my friend from singapore got his 3rd bms from vpower. 3rd BMS no tripping again - it works!! i congrats him.
the shipping was free and there is no extra charged from vpower. his battery from Vpower 24v 30hr (date as today email me 21/09/2009)

later 2days later he mail me again, he told me he got the BMS was actually the 1st bms he received. he had a trip when going on a slop up date22/09/2009

sincerely.
kentlim26
 
kentlim26 said:
my friend from singapore got his 3rd bms from vpower. 3rd BMS no tripping again - it works!! i congrats him.
the shipping was free and there is no extra charged from vpower. his battery from Vpower 24v 30hr (date as today email me 21/09/2009)

later 2days later he mail me again, he told me he got the BMS was actually the 1st bms he received. he had a trip when going on a slop up date22/09/2009

sincerely.
kentlim26
Click to expand...

Hi,kentlim26,
Yes,BMS always the problem that cause the battery couldn't work well :(
 
Got the same problem with a 48V 20AH I got from Cammy_cc .
After fixing some loose wires myself, the battery is giving 12AH :-( even that cells are well balanced.
I paid about 300$ taxes to import this battery (israel) so it doesn't pay off for me to return it and I am using it as is and very unhappy with it - I would strongly advise to people to avoid both seller and product.
 
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