Renogy

[Peppadog]

I’ve seen this name a number of times on here, so have been looking at one of their batteries to replace the under seat Varta agm in my new pvc.
They show a 170ah model that, on paper, looks like it will fit, and is lower priced than any others seen so far at £699. It is shown on their web site on its side In most images of it. It does however have one odd feature. Oversize posts! A surmountable problem for sure.

So. The site invites you to ask them questions. I did and a guy introducing himself as Sunny answered at 5am the next morning. I asked if the had post adapters, but he didn’t answer that, but he told me the battery should not be laid on its side as it risks overheating and reducing cell life.

Having done business, and visited China many times for work, I assume Renogy sell direct only and that their tech support is there too. Not a problem of course. 85 or 90 percent of consumer goods are made in China. I’ve been importing stuff from there for 20 plus years.

Do you agree it should be upright? And have they been a good company to buy from and sort any problems,

Many thanks in hope of experience here.

 

[Oldrat]

Apologies, not what you asked, but may be of interest to others…

I’ve recently fitted a specially designed underseat lithium battery from Roamer.

Customer service heads above anything I’ve come across, plus 10 yr warranty.

LINK

 

[Carpmart]

There is no liquid in Lithium batteries so you can orient them any way you choose. The posts are not oversized for the Amps they can deliver, it’s the other way around, in-so-much as your current connectors are correctly sized for the draw you can make, so you need to increase the size for the new current you could draw. Quite logical really… I do accept your point of it not being drop in.

Most Lion packs will be made and assembled in China. They do differ. Some use 18650 or 21650 cylindrical cells, some don’t. General consensus on here is that the cylindrical cells are better.

 

[Peppadog]

Apologies, not what you asked, but may be of interest to others…

I’ve recently fitted a specially designed underseat lithium battery from Roamer.

Customer service heads above anything I’ve come across, plus 10 yr warranty.

LINK

That one looks good and only £25 above the KS Energy unit but with 30ah more. Both much more expensive than the Renogy though. But the Renogy does look like a direct from China sale to me, which cuts costs of course.

I now get that about the post size Carpmart.

So the question of buying from, and solving any problems with Renogy seems to be the question. Having dealt with many factories there over the years (power tools, garden power and light construction tools), I well know buying direct does risk inferior products unless someone in the destination country understands the needs accurately.

Its the 5% they don’t know, not the 95% they do know that makes the difference. A local buyer often provides that 5%. Its no good telling a design engineer you want him to build a lawnmower if the person has never seen a lawn etc.

 

[Carpmart]

That one looks good and only £25 above the KS Energy unit but with 30ah more. Both much more expensive than the Renogy though. But the Renogy does look like a direct from China sale to me, which cuts costs of course.

I now get that about the post size Carpmart.

So the question of buying from, and solving any problems with Renogy seems to be the question. Having dealt with many factories there over the years (power tools, garden power and light construction tools), I well know buying direct does risk inferior products unless someone in the destination country understands the needs accurately.

Its the 5% they don’t know, not the 95% they do know that makes the difference. A local buyer often provides that 5%. Its no good telling a design engineer you want him to build a lawnmower if the person has never seen a lawn etc.

I’m running two x 204Ah KS batteries which were way more expensive 18 months back when I bought… pretty good packs, not perfectly matched (or their BMS’s may not be) but plenty of storage and battery ‘grunt’ when needed.

Check the Li battery contains cylindrical cells so you’re comparing apples and apples. Also, one of the key thing for longevity of the battery will be how good the BMS is at governing the battery pack. Almost worth having easy access to a UK entity so that one can access support if needed. I did have to have my BMS’s reset and new firmware added at KS when they started showing very strange data, would not have been so easy dealing with Alibaba or equivalent…

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[suavecarve]

Take a look at Fogstar, they are cheapest on the normal market.

I purchased 200ah for 650 from Amazon and it arrived in 3 days. Not a hugely named company but it works and is 200 ah

 

[Peppadog]

Take a look at Fogstar, they are cheapest on the normal market.

I purchased 200ah for 650 from Amazon and it arrived in 3 days. Not a hugely named company but it works and is 200 ah

Will do thanks. I did look at them but no stock until mid March.

 

[Jev88]

Fogstar assembly in UK.
Renogy - no presence in UK that I am aware of.
That decided it for me.

 

[headlight]

I had a problem with an item bought from Renogy's "UK" eBay store last year.
Customer service was in China (actually Hong Kong I think).
They wanted pictures and videos then wanted to send me a new part for me to fit to their brand new item (Solar controller)
Went on for about 2 weeks before I got eBay involved who refunded me.
Personally I wouldn't deal with them again.

 

[paddymcc]

I have read on another forum that people have had problems with Renogy when things go wrong. Certainly not good customer support.
I bought Roamer and they have been excellent when I have had queries.

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[headlight]

I have read on another forum that people have had problems with Renogy when things go wrong. Certainly not good customer support.
I bought Roamer and they have been excellent when I have had queries.

Yes their customer support is shocking.
Their Trust Pilot reviews don't make good reading.
Just a Chinese company rebranding items and drop shipping.

 

[Peppadog]

Thanks all. I thought so. I see they Renogy now sell on Amazon. Thats gets you 30 returns, but we sometimes need tech support and its clear they might know how to copy / make LiFePo4 batteries, but not enough to be completely credible. They do probably use all the same bits as everyone else though. There will only be limited number of quality / price variants of components. Especially regarding the cells.
You pays your money.....!!

 

[NRM]

There is no liquid in Lithium batteries so you can orient them any way you choose. The posts are not oversized for the Amps they can deliver, it’s the other way around, in-so-much as your current connectors are correctly sized for the draw you can make, so you need to increase the size for the new current you could draw. Quite logical really… I do accept your point of it not being drop in.

Most Lion packs will be made and assembled in China. They do differ. Some use 18650 or 21650 cylindrical cells, some don’t. General consensus on here is that the cylindrical cells are better.

Why are cylindrical cells considered better please?

 

[Marie-Claire]

Renogy is an American company with a warehouse in Manchester, I recently bought a 200ah lithium and needed to swap for 2 x 100ah to fit under the bench, customer services is in the us hence the 5am reply, replaced and refunded the original with out a great fuss.

 

[headlight]

This screenshot clearly shows that Renogy UK are a China based company.
They just drop ship to various locations around the world.

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[Just smiffy]

I’ve recently bought a Renogy 1000w inverter, I bought it after several YouTube tests and reviews with good ratings… I haven’t fitted it yet but it looks good quality, ordering and delivery was good….

 

[Peppadog]

Don’t get me wrong here. I have no problems with China based companies. I’ve been dealing with them for over twenty years. They can make any quality you pay for. Just explaining the possible problems when not knowing the destination market well enough. I’ve no reason to criticise Renogy products as I’ve never bought one.

If the email was at 5pm, its unlikely to be from the US As NY is 5 hours behind us, so I doubt he sent it at midnight. China is 8 hours ahead. I also recognised his writing style as Chinglish.

 

[headlight]

I'm just stating my personal experience of having a problem with Renogy and what their customer service was like in my case.
I ordered a portable solar panel with controller, an extension cable and some MC4 connectors.
The panel and extension cable came but not the MC4 connectors.
Renogy wanted photographs and video of the missing parts.
I explained to them several times that it was not possible as I didn't have the items to be able to photograph/video them.
The controller had 1 wire not connected, not the end of the world as it was obvious where it went so I connected it myself. The other wires were loose in their connectors so I tightened the screws.
When I connected the panel to a battery I got an error message saying the battery was below 3v so the controller wouldn't charge.
I checked the battery and it was 12.7v.
I contacted Renogy who said it was definitely a battery problem and to use another one.
I tried another 2 known good batteries with the same result.
I contacted Renogy again who asked for photos/video evidence.
After providing the requested evidence they said they would send another controller for me to fit to the panel.
I had already requested a refund several times so raised a case with eBay.
Just my experience of dealing with their customer service after they had "reached out to me"

 

[Peppadog]

I just spoke to a guy at Roamer. Knows his stuff so, as suggested here, you would be in good hands with them. Sadly, the 230ah underseat unit has just gone out of stock with no more expected until the end of March. They are assembled and supplied from China. Hence the delay.

So most Fogstar variants, and at least the under seat Roamer version clearly won’t ship out of China until after their new Year holidays, which last 2-3 weeks as its their main annual holiday. Factories close and workers go home for holidays.