I’m wondering is it a good idea to use so-called “reclaimed” cells to build my 12s5p. I would like to order from NKON, trustworthy source of cells from EU, and they have offers like this, describing it as follows:
"These batteries come from battery packs in which welding errors have been found. The batteries have never been charged or discharged.
The cells we offer have:
Minimal damage to cell
Never charged during production (from the box) (each cell is tested)
Resistance is according to datasheet, never worse (every cell is tested)"
Should I expect any problems with them, e.g. welding problems?
The price difference is huge, it’s about 50% of the original price.
Im rocking reclaimed 12s8p 30q’s. Under 50% they start to differ 0.1v, but when charging they are 0.015. 1/4 price of new cells. Did maby 40-60 full charges and all’s good so far. No heat, no smoke, no puffs
I am thinking to buy some more reclaimed to extend existing pack. But thats me.
I’ve made some packs from reclaimed cells and they’ve preformed well… as long as all the cells have the same calendar/lifecycle age.
If you want to be extra safe, you could run all the cells through something like the Opus BT-C3100 to make sure they all have roughly the same capacity. It would only take one dead cell to ruin your whole pack, and sometimes those reclaimed packs have a dead cell or two.
A BMS that allows you to see individual cell voltage would also be a really good idea to monitor pack health.
I have reclaimed cells that were in use, and they’ve got over 1k miles on them
It’s been over two years now, and they are starting to show some amount of imbalance. If you choose to use reclaimed, build your battery as safe as possible and at least try to make sure they’re all about the same age
Hi All. Iam just bought reclaimed cells. Price was great, but now I see why. Have you some ideas how to fix damaged isolation and how to remove burrs from welded strips?
Yep-replace the wrap entirely, and personally I prefer using a Dremel with a sanding drum to take the nickel bits off
**Also, be reaaaaly gentle with the sanding drum. I’d err on the side of less sanding is more material sanded off, just to make sure you don’t accidentally shave off too much.
No, I mean cut off the original wraps entirely and replace it with new shrink wrap.
Kapton tape isn’t use for physical insulation like the wrap currently on your cells. It’s too thin for abrasion resistance. Kapton is better for preventing things like voltage arcs and other things I can’t remember right now (you should Google it though). It also has a high tolerance for heat.
