Talk with Sean Nichols, Co-founder, Battle Born Batteries

[VanTalk00]

I'm in the process of designing/building my van, and the other day, I talked with Sean Nichols, Co-founder of Battle Born Batteries for about an hour.  I recorded the conversation at:  Talking with Sean Nichols, Co-founder, Battle Born Batteries

Please note I have no affiliation whatsoever with Battle Born, nor do I make a penny from the less than 20 youtube subscribers I have, so please don't think I'm a promoter. My goal is to get some advice in the comments about my build.  My goal is not to get clicks.

I'm especially interested in getting questions and comments from folks like John61CT and jimindenver and people like them to pass on to Sean. I'm no expert, so I'm not confident I posed all the right questions.  I am grateful to anyone willing to share their experience and knowledge.

[font=Roboto, Arial, sans-serif]We started off talking about the unique characteristics of Battle Born's LiFePO4 batteries, then moved into the functionality of the components of the bundles they sell to  feed their batteries and keep them healthy. We did discuss a few pretty detailed questions, such as the need to protect the vehicle alternator, the effect of charging at a lower bulk voltage (e.g. 13.8 vs 14.4), the use of a programmable battery isolator in lieu of a B2B battery conversion device.  Sean also provided pointers to some of their customers who have very actively been teaching about van and rv builds. [/font]

 

[John61CT]

I'd be interested in communicating in writing or on the phone, but I doubt I'll be listening / watching something for an hour, even if professionally scripted and produced.

Past threads on their batts
https://www.google.com/search?q=site:www.cheaprvliving.com+battle-born

and the drop-in concept
https://www.google.com/search?q=site:www.cheaprvliving.com+drop-in

the same searches on site:cruisersforum.com will yield much more detailed technical discussions, I'm a relative noob over there.

 

[VanTalk00]

I'd be interested in communicating in writing or on the phone, but I doubt I'll be listening / watching something for an hour, even if professionally scripted and produced.

Would you be interested in participating and recommending some others to participate in a webinar with Sean?  Assuming I could arrange it ...
I think it would be really informative.
Jim

 

[Tbaldwin]

Top notch and EXTREMELY informative interview. My takeaway: Battery isolator with FLA batteries = no damage to alternator. Lithium batteries, possible but unlikely. Battle Born has spoken!

Well done and thank you Jim!

 

[WanderingCanuck]

Your admitted ignorance on the subject certainly shows, but I found that Sean was able to respectfully answer somewhat naive questions and steer the conversation in a useful direction.

 

[Minivanmotoman]

Thx for posting and sharing, some will find it interesting and educational am sure.

 

[VanTalk00]

Your admitted ignorance on the subject certainly shows, but I found that Sean was able to respectfully answer somewhat naive questions and steer the conversation in a useful direction.

:blush:

 

[John61CT]

Would you be interested in participating and recommending some others to participate in a webinar with Sean?  Assuming I could arrange it ...
I think it would be really informative.
Jim

I doubt he would want to participate in a public session with me. I am very critical of the whole drop-in concept, BB's implementation and skeptical of their quality, longevity long-term compared to using prismatic cells.

But happy to give him feedback in private if he wants.

 

[Weight]

I favor John's outlook about drop-in concept. I will let him give the feed back, and agree with it.

 

[VanTalk00]

I doubt he would want to participate in a public session with me. I am very critical of the whole drop-in concept, BB's implementation and skeptical of their quality, longevity long-term compared to using prismatic cells.

Can you elaborate a little here?  I'd like to know.  They do offer a 10 year warranty, which tells me they want these batteries to last a long time.  Perhaps the drop-in concept is meant to trade some longevity for easier implementation by non-experts?  I don't know.  I'm asking.

 

[Rabbit]

I enjoyed the interview. Thank you!

 

[VanTalk00]

Can you elaborate a little here?  I'd like to know.  They do offer a 10 year warranty, which tells me they want these batteries to last a long time.  Perhaps the drop-in concept is meant to trade some longevity for easier implementation by non-experts?  I don't know.  I'm asking.

Actually, I found the link that John61CT left in another thread to Marine How To.  Good article. It's long so search for "Drop-In Pit Falls:" on the page.  I'd be interested to know if Battle Born has addressed these issues. Apparently, some of the cheap Chinese drop-ins have not.

 

[John61CT]

Can you elaborate a little here?  I'd like to know.  They do offer a 10 year warranty, which tells me they want these batteries to last a long time.  Perhaps the drop-in concept is meant to trade some longevity for easier implementation by non-experts?  I don't know.  I'm asking.

I gave you links above

 

[John61CT]

The high-end drop-in space is definitely heating up.

But all the newer entrants allow for communications between the inner BMS and higher-level control systems.

Example http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2759616

But to me this is no longer drop-in, getting similar to the packaged system approach like Victron, Mastervolt and Lithionics offer.

Maybe call these in between "sealed system pack"? Leaving the Drop-In label for those completely sealed up.

Suggestions for BB:

Allowing high-current charging and discharge can be VERY important, a 1C rate would IMO be a critical improvement.

Basing the product on known-good quality cells like Winston/Thundersky/Voltronix, CALB, GBS, A123 & Sinopoly would help a lot wrt reputation for longevity.

Being able to get direct access to those cells, isolating them from the BMS for long-term storage is IMO required.

Ideally adjustable protection setpoints.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Bought one for my comm trailer out here at Quartzfest.

Pricey!

 

[[email protected]]

I'm in the process of designing/building my van, and the other day, I talked with Sean Nichols, Co-founder of Battle Born Batteries for about an hour.  I recorded the conversation at:  Talking with Sean Nichols, Co-founder, Battle Born Batteries

Please note I have no affiliation whatsoever with Battle Born, nor do I make a penny from the less than 20 youtube subscribers I have, so please don't think I'm a promoter. My goal is to get some advice in the comments about my build.  My goal is not to get clicks.

I'm especially interested in getting questions and comments from folks like John61CT and jimindenver and people like them to pass on to Sean. I'm no expert, so I'm not confident I posed all the right questions.  I am grateful to anyone willing to share their experience and knowledge.

10 year life? Wow what ever happened to good old American planned obsolescence? Seriously, I doubt I’ll be on the road that long. I’m 68 now. Figure 5 years on the road, give or take, seems like I’d be better off with 2 100 ah quality agm batteries? What do you think?

 

[LoveCareThinkDo]

Allowing high-current charging and discharge can be VERY important, a 1C rate would IMO be a critical improvement.

In my conversations with one of the owners of BattleBorn (I think the other one), he told me that the 100 Amp-hour battery can be charged at 100 amps, and that you can draw 100 Amps from it continuously. My only problem is that my Victron (SmartSolar MPPT 100/50) charge controller doesn't want to pump that much into it. But the battery can apparently take it.

Yes, I have the standard model. I love it.

 

[LoveCareThinkDo]

So, I tried listening to the interview. I'm a very techie guy, but I gotta tell you, these BattleBorn owners don't know how to talk so that regular people can understand them. They rattle off battery size numbers as if everyone in the world has memorized all the code numbers for all the auto and marine batteries made. Or even recognize that those numbers are battery size numbers. They rattle off specs and other things without explaining what they are. Well, even though I know lots and lots about electronics and physics and chemistry and science and stuff... that doesn't mean I am familiar with all those specs. So, in the end, I'm just left there listening to a bunch of numbers being rattled off with little or no context to hang them onto. 

So, I'm sorry, I didn't watch all of the video. 

With that said, I'm a big fan of the batteries, and am happy I bought one.

 

[robertcs68]

Interesting video, thanks! Going to look into Carbon Foam batteries as well.

 

[IGBT]

You might also consider the new line of Trojan Lithium batteries, the Trojan Trillium.

Waterproof, tons of failsafe, supposed to last for 4000 to 8000 cycles.