Eclipsebikes Reviews 

Reply from Eclipsebikes

Sep 25, 2018

The customer in this instance was trying to assemble a fairly complicated high capacity 12 volt battery for use in their canal narrow boat. From our email communications it was fairly clear that the customer had limited electrical knowledge and for safety purposes we only recommend attempting such a project if customers have the relevant electrical skills. They failed to mention they would be using an electrician to help with assembly whilst discussing the different battery cell options available.

The customer stated that they required the cells as soon as possible however we advised that our new shipment of battery cells wouldn't be with us until later in the year. We also recommended another battery cell which could be suitable for their solar project, though didn't at any time advise that it was in stock and it was not listed on our website. The customer incorrectly presumed that the battery cell we mentioned were is stock. Had they wanted the specific battery cells in question they would have been added to our order for delivery in the coming months. This fairly simple misunderstanding was a turning point and the customers emails became unprofessional and frankly rude, with the customer randomly asking in their final email 'Do you treat men this horrifically or just women???' which left us slightly baffled.

If you check the posters previous reviews, which are mainly negative, you will get a general idea of their poor attitude. Shame on you!!



Update to reviewers edited text:

When dealing with battery cells, which store a large amount of energy and can potentially be very dangerous, we want to be certain that customers have suitable knowledge to use safely. It's not a matter of whether you are a man or a woman (as the reviewer is naively trying to imply), but whether you have suitable electrical knowledge to handle safely. We would prefer to lose a sale than supply to someone who doesn't have sufficient electrical knowledge and could potentially injure themselves our cause damage to possessions / property.

We have included all our responses to the customers email inquiries and you can make your own judgement on whether our emails would be classed as rude and sexist. I'm sure there will be some data protection law which prevents us from including the customers email responses, so they may not make much sense on their own, but hopefully will show the general content of the emails.



14th Sept



Hi Lisa,

Thanks for your email.

To be honest we don't have much knowledge in relation to solar power banks
and suitable LifePO4 solar charge controllers etc.

It's certainly possible to construct a large capacity 12V battery pack
using the Headway LifePO4 cells, though as the highest capacity Headway
cell is 15Ah, this would require a lot of cells to be run in parallel to
achieve the desired capacity.


Another option may be to use LifePO4 prismatic cells such as Calb,
Winston, Sinopoly etc which offer high capacity cells, which would greatly
reduce the number of cells required.



Many thanks

Eclipsebikes




19th Sept



Hi Lisa,

If you were wanting to assemble a 12V battery (charge voltage 14.4V) with
48 cells in total you would be looking at 4 x cells in series though you
would have 12 cells in parallel.

If for example you were using 48 x 15Ah Headway LifePO4 cells this would
make a 12V 180Ah battery pack and if our calculations are correct this
would equal 2.16KWH, which is well below the 7KWH bank you mentioned.

We have recently sold out of the 15Ah Headway cells until our new shipment
arrives with us before the end of the year.

Headway also supply 17Ah cells for energy storage usage which are the same
dimensions as the 15Ah cells though with higher capacity / lower discharge
rates.


Many thanks

Eclipsebikes




25th Sept



Hi Lisa,

In relation to your previous email, you would be looking for 4 cells
series (series = voltage) and either 33 / 38 cells parallel (parallel =
capacity).

As mentioned in our previous emails our new Headway shipment won't be with
us until closer to the end of the year, so if you are needing the cells
straight away we won't unfortunately be able to supply.

We can offer some discount if purchasing larger quantities of cells,
though the discount would depend on whether you were paying through bank
transfer or debit/credit card (discount would be reduced due to card
fees).

The warranty on the cells is quite limited as they are fairly easy to
damage if used incorrectly and we would only recommend you attempt to
construct your own battery pack if you have suitable experience,
especially when constructing a fairly large battery bank.

The cells would need to be used within a specific voltage range and for
LifePO4 cells you would generally be looking at 2.5V - 3.6V. The BMS would
need to ensure that the charge and discharge voltage stays within the
voltage range, otherwise the cycle life could be reduced or the cells
themselves damaged.


Many thanks

Eclipsebikes




25 Sept



Hi Lisa,

Sadly there would be no way to meet your delivery date by the end of
October as our new order hasn't yet left Headway in China.

In relation to warranty, would ideally recommend you buy from a supplier
in the UK / EU. Should you need to return cells for warranty purposes (if
they request return) then battery cells would be very difficult to return
to a supplier outside the EU.


Many thanks

Eclipsebikes




25th Sept



Lisa, if you check our email replies you will see that we mentioned the
following;


'We have recently sold out of the 15Ah Headway cells until our new shipment
arrives with us before the end of the year.

Headway also supply 17Ah cells for energy storage usage which are the same
dimensions as the 15Ah cells though with higher capacity / lower discharge
rates'

We didn't at any point mention that we currently stocked the 17Ah cells
and you can see that they are not listed on our website. This was more so
you knew that they were an option and we could source them should you
require.

We only recently found out from Headway that the 40152S 15Ah size cells
also come in 17Ah capacity, with the downside being lower discharge rates.


Your email have been quite confusing having incorrectly quoted
calculations from your fridge backup power project. Confusing series and
parallel setup also tells us you have very limited experience with battery
assembly, which is also a concern to us when considering assembling a
fairly large battery bank. We don't want to be contacted by your insurance
company at a later date informing us that there has been a fire and damage
to your property and a claim for damages, which has happened to us before!

Headway cells are extremely reliable when used correctly, however can
easily fail through incorrect use, which is not covered under the
warranty.

One or two cells failing when you have purchased a large quantity wouldn't
be an issue however if large numbers are failing this is not normal and
would point to the cells not being used correctly.

We supply at prices similar to China direct prices or cheaper and you
won't be hit with a large import bill for VAT/duty/admin charges when your
parcel arrives.



Many thanks

Eclipsebikes