I think i get with a quite good and cheap headway pack...

[Pablo_1985]

Hi, i found in alibaba a 48v 20ah with bms (80-200 amperes) and charger for just 530 usd... ihave been talking to her (Michelle michelle@xhnykj.cn ), and she told me they are... taratarataratarata...headway manufactures! the cells are headway 38120. About the shipping cost....(from there, i guess china, to Spain) About one pack of 48V20Ah, the cost by sea is only 50USD, but it will take about one month to arrive your country port. The cost by air is 173USD, only need two days to your place....i think it is incredible because i think the prices go lower and lower very fast, in december 2009 yesa give something like that for 1000usd! Now i´m happy with my lead acid battery pack (by the way i´m using 8 cells (12v 7ah), do i need a BMS for them because i´m not using anything...and why?), because they were for free but when they will stop working i now where to buy

Also they have another configurations, if you want something just ask for it. This forum help me a lot with all the information it has, so i feel i must tell you this!

Regards!
Edit: the charger i´m not sure if is 3A or 6A because they offer both of them... in fact i´m going to put the emails here!

Dear Mr Pablo Rodriguez,
Thanks for your inquiry to our 48V20Ah lithium battery,
For all your question below: i would like to know the price of this 48v 20ah battery pack. Has it got a BMS?.How much the charger? also how much are the shipping cost to Spain?What if i just buy the cells and the BMS and i make the battery pack,how much will i save? How much current can give the battery pack? and the max charging current?why does it have 3 terminals?, are 38120 headway cells? what about the warranty?
I will give the answer one by one: the price of the 48V20Ah is 530USD, and it including the BMS, 48V3A/6A charger. and the shipping cost depend on the quantity you need and by sea or by air? if you just buy the cells and BMS it will be OK, each cell is 13USD, and 48V20AH need 32 cells, total 416USD, the BMS is about 40USD. For the current give the battery pack depend on the BMS, one type of our BMS can give 200A for the max current. 38120 are the headway cells, and we are the manufacturer, the warranty is about one year.

Looking forward to your reply soon

OK, I know tthat load and charging current depends on the BMS, wich bms could i choose and how much is each one?i know about the shipping cost, but just tell me how much would it be by air and by sea.
Best Regards

Dear Mr Pablo Rodriguez,
I will give you the detail price and information about the BMS:
20A--35A, 26USD
30A--50A, 29USD
40A--60A, 32USD
60A-80A, 36USD
60A--180A, 36USD
80--200A, 38USD.
The shipping cost by air is higher than by sea, depend on the weight and volume.
About one pack of 48V20Ah, the cost by sea is only 50USD, but it will take about one month to arrive your country port. The cost by air is 173USD, only need two days to your place.
the cycles of the battery is about 2000-2500 times.

Michelle

 

[Ypedal]

Don't do it... run... :lol:

Seriously pablo, these alibaba deals are very hit and miss, you get some resellers who have no clue what the difference between a BMS that can sustain 20 amps or 80 amps, it won't work the way it should in real life.... been there.. done that.. and how old this pack may be is anyone's guess.. i'd stick to a known seller of fresh cells. pay a bit more and get alot more.

 

[cell_man]

Those BMS prices are really really cheap. 38USD for a 16S 80-200A BMS. Wish I could get them at that price. Maybe that's the price if you order MOQ of 100 packs or something, but can't see that price for 1 pack.

 

[richmpdx]

Just a concurring opinion adding to Ypedals caution about alibaba. I suspect that there are some OK vendors using alibaba, but it is also a haven for scammers. Buyer beware.

Rich

 

[snowranger]

I think you are communicating with Michelle, the distributor, who has provided packs to others around here. Why don't you contact her directly by Pm ing Headway?

 

[Ypedal]

headway lady was Victoria.. not michelle.

 

[Pablo_1985]

But she told she work for headway, in fact his email is from headway web!, one year waranty... i mean everything seems good!

Regards

 

[swbluto]

But the light is so bright and pretty, I must get closer! And closer! And...
X-|

Btw, the headway distributor on alibaba that members have had success with was http://headway-cn.en.alibaba.com/product/51871098-50269244/Headway_lithium_ion_iron_phosphate_battery_packs.html . It might be possible there are other headway vendors on alibaba, but the chance of a scammer is pretty high. Note: the above alibaba link links to "Victoria" and not "Michelle".

Most people have been getting headways through the US distributor evcomponents.com and that's about the best ES has seen from a reliable source for headways. They get their cells in bulk from Victoria(Or straight from the manufacturer? It's one of the two.).

 

[snowranger]

headway lady was Victoria.. not michelle.

You're right. I forgot.

 

[Pablo_1985]

guys, i´m sorry i did not understand correctly and today i have wake up with this email:

Dear Mr Pablo Rodriguez,
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=16516&p=241997&hilit=headway#p241997 I think this is not a good way .
We are the headway cells manufacturer, the company name is Zhejiang Xinghai Energy Technology Co,.ltd. headway is the brand of the cells. you can search our alibaba web: www.zjxhny.en.alibaba.com, we just sell our battery. And other web, you will find not just battery but other products.
EV Components buy the products from us directly not from others.
the price i give them to you before are all the lowest, because we are the manufacturer.

Sincerely
Michelle

I just thougt it could be a favour for you and them, but indeed it isn´t. Furthermore i thing i f i can fix what i´ve done, i must say that they said from the beginnig they where the manufacturer, not the brand, i just say it wrong, furthermore, i don´t think there isn´t any reason to not trust in them (i mean, i think we could trust.)

Best regards

 

[cell_man]

But those prices are only possible on big orders. I don't think they would give you a sample pack at that price unless you were already a big customer of theirs. I know you need to buy a lot of cells from Headway before they start offering those prices and from my research they are amongst the cheaper options for fairly high C rated lifepo4 cells. I haven't seen other companies offering comparable rated cells any cheaper. Like I said those BMS prices are also very cheap. I can't get them anywhere near as cheap as that and I bought about 50pcs recently of various sizes and I'm a fairly big customer of my supplier.

It just concerns me a little that people look at those figures and then start thinking that everyone is ripping them off. The way I see it, ES has enabled people to become knowledgeable about the real costs of batteries etc and has brought to peoples attention the best value products (not necessarily cheapest) but at the end of the day good batteries are not yet cheap and I don't think they're not gonna become cheap overnight.

 

[Jay64]

Last I heard from victoria it was about $12/cell in a built pack. And that was quite a few months ago, so it might have come down even more since then.

 

[cell_man]

Last I heard from victoria it was about $12/cell in a built pack. And that was quite a few months ago, so it might have come down even more since then.

As far as I know you need to be talking very serious quantity (several thousand pcs) before you can get cells for that price but I haven't bought cells from Headway myself. I was under the impression the price is about 13USD FOB for quantities over 1000pcs of the 10Ah cells. 1.3USD/Ah is a bloody good price for pretty high discharge rate LiFePO4 I can assure you. If a company then has to ship them to wherever, pay tax, duties etc and make a little profit, it soon adds up. Chargers, BMS, cases etc are not so expensive but when you add it all together it still adds up to quite a bit of $$s. I find it very hard to believe that headway would sell a single built pack with BMS, charger etc for those kind of price and TBH I think it's kind of bad to their bigger customers if they are happy to do that.

 

[scriewy]

LOL pablo did michelle just caught you with your pents down sneaking behind her back sniffing around the forum LMAO looking for "informers" about her biz, maaaaan ha ha ha what a case.

but wow thats a great price 12$.

 

[Pablo_1985]

LOL i learn a lot of vocabulary with you haha...be carefull we are not alone...

 

[jag]

Headway cells can be bought from:
Travis/Ev-components (who frequent this forum and many have bought from) with low risk.
Or less well known sources like Michelle with higher risk but lower price.

Isn't this just what to expect from free markets where buyers and sellers act rationally?

 

[oatnet]

In 2008/2009 I placed several orders with Headway, for qty 100+ of the 10ah cells. I paid 11.50/cell and $4/cell air shipping (3 days), $15.50 each, delivered via air.

I worked with Victoria who was always effecient and backed her product, I highly recommend her. She is a busy woman though, I think folks looking for sales support and haggling didn't have as much luck. I told her I was ready to do a wire transfer, how many cells I wanted, what I was willing to pay, and backed it with industry data. I didn't waste her time or jack her around, so the deal was done 1/2 hour aftery proposal.

Make sure the 48v pack is 16s, not 15s. Also make sure that the cells are screw-top not tabbed.

JD

 

[The Mighty Volt]

In 2008/2009 I placed several orders with Headway, for qty 100+ of the 10ah cells. I paid 11.50/cell and $4/cell air shipping (3 days), $15.50 each, delivered via air.

I worked with Victoria who was always effecient and backed her product, I highly recommend her. She is a busy woman though, I think folks looking for sales support and haggling didn't have as much luck. I told her I was ready to do a wire transfer, how many cells I wanted, what I was willing to pay, and backed it with industry data. I didn't waste her time or jack her around, so the deal was done 1/2 hour aftery proposal.

Make sure the 48v pack is 16s, not 15s. Also make sure that the cells are screw-top not tabbed.

JD

How do I contact Victoria? Thanks.

 

[frodus]

Victoria sucks with support.... I asked for some missing wire harnesses for the BMS as well as replacement cells for a few duds, and she stopped responding to me. In my opinion, all sales are FINAL, meaning, she won't even back her product.

Since we started selling headway though, we back our product and send customers replacement cells if there are DOA's. For the US, you have a very clear 1 year warranty with us, good customer support, quick response time and a fun time bullshitting with people like me and Dave.

 

[Lock]

guys, i´m sorry i did not understand correctly and today i have wake up with this email:

Dear Mr Pablo Rodriguez,
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=16516&p=241997&hilit=headway#p241997 I think this is not a good way .
We are the headway cells manufacturer, the company name is Zhejiang Xinghai Energy Technology Co,.ltd. headway is the brand of the cells. SNIP
Sincerely
Michelle

Well, nice to put a face to a name... Xinghai as mfgr.of Headways... clears up confusion on my part. (Yah, I am confused a lot of the time...)

More confusion, from Xinghai's own site:
http://www.xhnykj.com/en/productsh.asp?id=187

Under "Technology Specifications" for their 38120 10Ah cells "Maximum Discharge Current (continuable) 150A"

HEY! I thought these cells were rated only 5C continuous??? Not 15C???
Lock

 

[cell_man]

I wanted to buy headway cells and tried to arrange meetings, sent many email and called but I gave up in the end. I also don't like the fact that there seems to be several different prices floating around for the same product. From what I have seen they are a good quality cell and offer more than enough performance for most and come in at a good price. I'd definitely look at buying a quantity in the future if someone would bother to reply to an email.

 

[The Mighty Volt]

I wanted to buy headway cells and tried to arrange meetings, sent many email and called but I gave up in the end. I also don't like the fact that there seems to be several different prices floating around for the same product. From what I have seen they are a good quality cell and offer more than enough performance for most and come in at a good price. I'd definitely look at buying a quantity in the future if someone would bother to reply to an email.

Yeah...there seems to be a lot of flim-flam right now.

 

[Pablo_1985]

I bought it, 400usd with pretty good looking 5A charger, 200A/80A BMS and shipping to Spain, i will update with some pictures, very good quality, and woks perfect... the diference betwen this and my SLA batteries are massive!!

EDIT: 48V 10AH Pack, 16X38120 headway cells

 

[pgt400]

Most people have been getting headways through the US distributor evcomponents.com and that's about the best ES has seen from a reliable source for headways. They get their cells in bulk from Victoria(Or straight from the manufacturer? It's one of the two.).

Just don't buy from EVC now...he (James Morrison) had customers prepay for thousands of batteries wholesale, when they arrived he disolved the company. Now he is trying to re-sell the same batteries retail to anyone who will buy including EV parts dealers.

 

[Lock]

Dave Kois is offering Headway cells at $19 each:
http://currentevtech.com/Lithium-Batteries/Headway-c17/
tks
loCk