Sorry that it took 2 years to provide feedback to @Dellmassive on this, but I thought I'd provide some feedback on my two 110Ah TN Power Lifepo4 batteries which I installed in my caravan-AKA"Mobile Solar Shed (MSS)"im desperatly waiting for some real world testing for the TN Power Lifepo4
they seem to be flooded the market in the UK for budget Lithium.
cheap . . . . . but are they safe? and any good?
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I installed these after my old abused AGM batteries finally died after 7 years of use and the weight saving is massive!
I had the TN Power batteries knocking about my stores at work after they were left over from a job (We are Marine Engineers) and the batteries had been sat (new and boxed) in the stores for over two years. They were somewhat forgotten and had not been touched since they were received in 2020. Despite testing all ok, i couldn't really sell them as they had been hanging about unmaintained and no warranty could be provided on them, so i installed them on the "MSS".
To feedback on the performance of these batteries some background on my install is required. The MSS has full Victron kit installed:
I have 350W of solar on the roof and an additional 200W from a mobile panel, when set up on a site.
Our MSS is massively well used. Over the years we have always done a big annual trip to France for the last 7 years, plus normal use in the UK. During our epic French trips, we have always try to split the stays between nice off-grid sites (where we demonstrate the childrens inability to go without Wi-Fi) and terrible (and quite expensive) sites which have EHU. (Due to requirements for Wi-FI, water park type facilities, etc.)
When "Off-Grid" My wife and kids are terrible for using the inverter. They even use toaster and an nespresso machine too which seems to get more use than it should for people trying to enjoy the wilderness! This is what eventually killed my 7 year old Rolls AGM Batteries during an offgrid (UK) trip in the summer of 2021.
I needed batteries in a rush and fitted the two aforementioned TN Power batteries in place of the old Rolls AGM batteries. (Obviously I had to change charging profiles to suite the LifePo4 batteries, but these essentially just got chucked in.)
During a dull and dreary France free trip to Norfolk (Damn you Covid!), I can confirm that the kids and wife thoroughly attempted to spank the living crap out of these batteries. An extra mobile solar suitcase surfaced but alas the Norfolk sun remained incapable of running a hairdryer, toaster, coffee machine, etc! (I am not an idiot and exaggerate the punishment of the batteries a little and I was careful to ensure that I didn't test the BMS of my cheapo TN Power batteries by letting the batteries fully deplete.)
The batteries always charged from my solar setup and even with the poor solar yield the batteries were quick to accept charge.
In October/November 2021, we lived in our caravan whilst we undertook building work at home. The nearest place which is convenient for school, work etc is a pals field and this has no power. We managed 5 weeks with a family of 5 living in the MSS albeit with some inefficient charging via EHU from Ecoflow devices to breath some life into the batteries as I was concerned that the voltage fell below 12.8 volts due to lack of sun at one point.)
The MSS was put away in November with fairly depleted batteries and by Christmas the battery levels fell mega low and the internal BMS cut in disconnecting the loads. (I have no auto low voltage disconnect)
The batteries continued to accept charge from the December daylight (roof solar) and did wake up the batteries pretty much daily, but as soon as the sun went down the unavoidable 5W load on the batteries (and drop in temperature) saw the BMS cut in pretty much every night in December.
Then an unavoidable problem occurred.... it got cold.
The Victron Smart Sense prevents the batteries from charging in 4 degrees or less and guess what?.......It is always cold overnight with clear sky in winter and takes ages to get the battery box above 4 degrees in winter sun.....Hadn't thought of that.
When I rocked up I ran a test - I took the Smart Sense out of the system so that there was no temperature monitoring going on (other that the MPPT internal sensor) and plugged in the EHU. The batteries initially refused to charge presumably due to internal low temp reported by the BMS, but the EHU did allow me to turn on the heating which eventually allowed the batteries to rapidly charge to 14.6V (at 30A) until full and then float at 13.5V.
I've now reinstated my temp sensors as a backup as it's not good relying solely on a battery's BMS.
It is important to note that the disconnecting of loads and inability to charge at low temp is a feature rather than a problem as the internal BMS of these cheap batteries seems to be performing as it should. If it didn't cut the load due to low voltage or accepted charge at low temperatures, then the consequences would be dire!
So I summary I am delighted with them. They seem to do exactly what they should and are cheap.