Ebay Kastar 12v 12AH SLA-cased LiFePO4 - AVOID

This is just a notice to communicate my results of having purchased a group of kastar ebay lifepo4 batteries. I had purchased them as a potential replacement for an electric lawnmower SLA battery. They have a similar form factor, and are much lighter, and supposedly have a BMS inbuilt. I thought "hey, these might work, and they won't set my wallet on fire "

WRONG.

I tested two out of the group of four I purchased, and charged and drained them on the LiPros set at 2 amps. They came back with approximately 50% of the advertised capacity.

From their description on ebay:

Kastar 12.8V 12Ah 153.6Wh LifePO4 Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery Specifications:
Nominal Capacity @ C/5 (Ah): 12Ah
Average Operating Voltage@ C/5 (V): 12.8V
Internal Impedance@1kHz,AC(mΩ): <5.0

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The battery in question:


Charge results:


Discharge results:


Their claimed capacity at C/5, or 2.4 amps, is 12AH nominal. I got 5.3-5.4 AH. :|

AVOID if you're searching out cheap ebike batteries... these aren't the way to go. Thankfully I was able to return them without issue.

see my signature...

I was going to respond with something addressing your point, but after reading a few of your posts I've determined that would be a waste of time. Enjoy your righteousness.

flippy said:

see my signature...

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Open one up and show us the inside if you can.

Miady from amazon is good value

Alternate, you can reuse the case and put in a pack inside it.

Sorry for being taken for a ride.

I'm afraid I cannot, as I already returned them. I'll look into Miady. And don't worry I was able to receive a full refund with the seller paying shipping.

gobi said:

Open one up and show us the inside if you can. Miady from amazon is good value
Alternate, you can reuse the case and put in a pack inside it.
Sorry for being taken for a ride.

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dequinox said:

I was going to respond with something addressing your point, but after reading a few of your posts I've determined that would be a waste of time. Enjoy your righteousness.

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trust me, i made mistakes like this in the past, very expensive mistakes. i am here on this foum to help people avoid making the mistakes i did. its litteraly the opposite of righteousness. a deal on a asian/fake US ebay shop that seems too good to be true is usually exactly that: too good to be true.

that they took them back without any complaints indicates that they know they are selling bullshit items and dont want to lose their store with too many complaints from people that actually verify their claims.

trust me, id rather be proven wrong and discover a hidden good deal then seeing someone getting shafted.

ps: if you need 24V you can just get a 7S lithium pack from 18650 cells and drop that in. you only need to change the charger, a 7S lipo pack is an exact voltage match for 24V SLA. if you made the pack yourself and really cram in the cells you can easely 5x the usable capacity compared to SLA...