Freedom won eTowers cell balancing

What are the chances to get a pro-rata refund, and start over?

I have suggested it but recieved no feedback yet.

I would not do that… They are swollen for a reason.

That’s exactly what I told them. If they want me to do so I insist they take full responsibility for any damages caused by this battery should it worsen. But I would prefer not to even accept delivery for the battery. I’ve still got Herholdt’s loan battery so if Herholdt’s want their battery back they must sort it out with FW. i will not let them close a ticket on a battery with swollen cells after all the hassles I had with these batteries in the last 10 months.

Geez, I quickly googled: why do lifepo4 cells swell

Ag nee man, FW can go and jump.

Not good to hear this. A bad batch is a bad batch. Do the right thing and replace.

I hope my batch is good. Been having them for around 2 years now and all bought within a 12 month period. So far so good with no issues.

Sooooo. I’ve got the battery back with a RMA report from Freedom Won stating that they’ve replaced the cells, balanced and tested the battery and are happy to return it to me. First thing I noticed when the courier guy dropped it off (yes the courier costs to send and return the batteries in this whole series of events already costs me close to R4k) was the packaging. I sent the battery in the new box that the new, replacement battery came in, the box it retruned in was this old beaten up box that was held together only by packaging tape. But hey! at least I’ve got my battery back.

I immediately went home, installed it, changed all nescessary setting from 200Ah to 300Ah and set the system to “keep batteries charged” to balance the 3 eTowers. The one that came was on 100%SOC and the other 2 on 94% so not that much of a difference. It took about an half an hour before none of the batteries accepted any more charge current so I set it back to Optimized (With batterylife)
The repaired battery’s firmware was still on V1.10 while the newer ones are on V5.07 but hey, if FW’s technicians says it should work, it should work, right?
Next morning… repaired battery 68% SOC and the other two 47% & 49%. Delta voltage on the 2 newer batteries also back to above 30mV where it was 2-3mV without the older firmware battery connected.

I am so fedup with this batteries you won’t believe it. I’m going to report it AGAIN and then just leave it be, not returning the loan battery until issues are sorted 100%. Worst mistake of my life trusting a South African brand name with my investment only to find China made products that’s been rebranded. And yes! the sticker on these batteries clearly states “Made in China”

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