'Eco-Worthy' lithium batteries

RichardA

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Has anyone come across this company (https://uk.eco-worthy.com/) They are marketing solar and lithium products for campervans. They appear to be significantly cheaper than anything else I've come across (280Ah - £549.99). I'd be grateful for any insights you might have out there.

Thanks.

Richard
 
RichardA said:
Has anyone come across this company (https://uk.eco-worthy.com/) They are marketing solar and lithium products for campervans. They appear to be significantly cheaper than anything else I've come across (280Ah - £549.99). I'd be grateful for any insights you might have out there.

Thanks.

Richard
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The reviews look a little like some of the names the scammers use on Facebook.
Think I will stick to someone that has a very good reputation like fogstar .

Take a look at trust pilot. https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.eco-worthy.com?stars=1

This just about says it all . More bad reviews than good And the good ones could be suspect
 
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Sonar said:
The reviews look a little like some of the names the scammers use on Facebook.
Think I will stick to someone that has a very good reputation like fogstar .

Take a look at trust pilot. https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.eco-worthy.com?stars=1

This just about says it all . More bad reviews than good And the good ones could be suspect
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I have no experience on the EcoWorthy batteries, but actually as a brand, EcoWorthy are far more established than a company like Fogstar in the Energy Business. (Fogstar are pretty new, diversifying into Lithium Batteries after being in the business of selling Vapes!)

EcoWorthy are probably an upper-budget range. The EcoWorthy products I have used have been limited to Solar Panels and I have had zero issues with them and I would actually select them over a brand I have not see before if the products are comparable in price and specification.
I would not see EcoWorthy as any different to a brand such as Renogy. What EcoWorthy don't appear to do compared to other 'popular' brands like Renogy, EcoFlow, Fogstar and the like is flood Youtube Vanlifers with free 'review' products.
 
nabsim said:
The eco worthy battery are just basic battery, no bluetooth and no heaters built in. Just the type I would probably go for as my current battery don't have those things either. Just add a Victron shunt to monitor them, much more reliable I think than the built in bluetooth if all the problem posts are anything to go by.
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A lot of the earlier batteries with Bluetooth gave very unreliable results in terms of State of Charge info (the primary reason for having the feature) and using something like a Victron Smartshunt or the like was the best way to get correct reliable info - and if you have multiple batteries, usually the only way to get an overall bank SoC info rather than checking all the batteries data and doing your own calculations.

I have only had Lithium Batteries with Bluetooth Monitoring as it happens and to be frank, while I occasionally look at the app for the battery, I actually rely on the Victron BMV to tell me what's what. BMV .... Daily (multiple times); Battery App (once a month - possibly?).
(the battery App data is in fact reliable as well - it is just so much more convenient to use the BMV).
 
Eco worthy have been about for ages, good budget brand albeit with some quirky mppt controllers and the solar kits aren’t particularly good value.

But with Lithium cheap isn’t always perfect, their batteries do not have low temp disconnect afaik and in a van that’s an essential feature imho.

Agree about the built in Renogy BT it’s more of a toy than anything else SOC readings on mine are dreadfully inaccurate
 
CriftinsCampers said:
Eco worthy have been about for ages, good budget brand albeit with some quirky mppt controllers and the solar kits aren’t particularly good value.

But with Lithium cheap isn’t always perfect, their batteries do not have low temp disconnect afaik and in a van that’s an essential feature imho.

Agree about the built in Renogy BT it’s more of a toy than anything else SOC readings on mine are dreadfully inaccurate
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If someone doesn't want to manage their battery then I could go along with your view on temperature to an extent. If you have charging devices that accept temperature sensors they will cut charge if necessary. There is nothing stopping you charging Lifepo4 at zero degrees (at least mine are ok) so long as its a reduced charge.

Battery location also plays a part, mine are inside the van and so am I, if its cold I put the heater on, never had battery so low I couldn't charge yet (UK only). Have waited an hour before setting off to get them to 5 degrees so B2B is good though.

If someone is worried though it is probably worth getting something with all the extras for peace of mind, that's worth a lot :)

For me it would be simply capacity and price (to an extent), if I was buying now I would have no problem with Eco-worthy. I think I have seen even cheaper on the net but no name so I probably wouldn't buy them.
 
@nabsim
I may have mentioned this before mines ok when out and about but when parked on the drive for a few weeks during winter it often goes below freezing in the van so charging is disconnected it’s not a problem as I have a bog standard seed tray heater if required

What is annoying in my particular case is the crappy Renogy BMS starts panicking around 8c and disconnects at 5c, worse the temp sensors permanently read about 3c low out compared to the ambient temp….

I would rather have low temp disconnect than not but in my case it is darned annoying as it far too conservative
 
TBH, I don't think there is enough price difference between recognised vendors and the unknown/lesser known sellers to bother taking a chance.

And if you are in a situation where you may be getting into the "no charging because too cold" area, than a battery with a built-in heater and a PROPER BMS setup for dealing with this is worth the extra money required for the extra convenience (a battery with a heater and a suitable BMS that is designed to work with it is a worl away from just getting heating pads for a battery to sit on).

Lithiums are gone down in price massively over the last few years - those Relion 100Ah Batteries when they were first released were £1,000. I've paid under £800 in the last month for 300Ah Lithiums with Built-in heaters and bluetooth Monitors from a long-established battery specialist.
 
CriftinsCampers said:
@nabsim
I may have mentioned this before mines ok when out and about but when parked on the drive for a few weeks during winter it often goes below freezing in the van so charging is disconnected it’s not a problem as I have a bog standard seed tray heater if required

What is annoying in my particular case is the crappy Renogy BMS starts panicking around 8c and disconnects at 5c, worse the temp sensors permanently read about 3c low out compared to the ambient temp….

I would rather have low temp disconnect than not but in my case it is darned annoying as it far too conservative
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I don't think my battery have low temperature disconnect, I just use a wireless temperature sensor on one of the battery to let me know what's going on. When I got mine there were hardly any (if they were actually out at all) that came with heaters, don't remember if Relion had one out or if that arrived not long after. Relion were three times the cost of what I got so wasn't an option anyway lol

I can charge up to -5 so long as charge rate is reduced so it hasn't been a problem for me. Was very cold on the Cairngorms in January but my battery inside didn't get to zero even when my heater cut out. Luckily I had fitted a backup heater for emergency use and just had to wait an hour or so before driving off. I could have disconnected my B2B but I wasn't in a rush.

When I first got them and heard about the heaters I was a little concerned I may have made a mistake, few years down the line and I am happy to stay with completely dumb battery if I do ever upgrade. Only reason I would change is to increase capacity, you can only have 2 in parallel on my make and ideally I could do with a little more. Thats down to how I use the van though
 
nabsim said:
I don't think my battery have low temperature disconnect, I just use a wireless temperature sensor on one of the battery to let me know what's going on. When I got mine there were hardly any (if they were actually out at all) that came with heaters, don't remember if Relion had one out or if that arrived not long after. Relion were three times the cost of what I got so wasn't an option anyway lol

I can charge up to -5 so long as charge rate is reduced so it hasn't been a problem for me. Was very cold on the Cairngorms in January but my battery inside didn't get to zero even when my heater cut out. Luckily I had fitted a backup heater for emergency use and just had to wait an hour or so before driving off. I could have disconnected my B2B but I wasn't in a rush.

When I first got them and heard about the heaters I was a little concerned I may have made a mistake, few years down the line and I am happy to stay with completely dumb battery if I do ever upgrade. Only reason I would change is to increase capacity, you can only have 2 in parallel on my make and ideally I could do with a little more. Thats down to how I use the van though
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I think if your batteries are inside, you are very unlikely to get to the "too low to charge" situation as would be uncomfortable to be in the van anyway (it would for me anyway!), so as a near-Full Timer, would have no problem.
My batteries are inside and the room temp DOES get into the area where a battery could run into trouble if it didn't have the right protections in place and a mains charger was plugged in (very unlikely solar would have enough oomph to cause an issue at that time of year?).

With the way prices have gone for Lithium, I tend to only go for heated batteries now to be honest as the extra benefit and precuation is worth the extra cost (IMO).
 
wildebus said:
I think if your batteries are inside, you are very unlikely to get to the "too low to charge" situation as would be uncomfortable to be in the van anyway (it would for me anyway!), so as a near-Full Timer, would have no problem.
My batteries are inside and the room temp DOES get into the area where a battery could run into trouble if it didn't have the right protections in place and a mains charger was plugged in (very unlikely solar would have enough oomph to cause an issue at that time of year?).

With the way prices have gone for Lithium, I tend to only go for heated batteries now to be honest as the extra benefit and precuation is worth the extra cost (IMO).
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I managed to get the UTC [under temperature charging] on the Roamer about 48 hours after you finished the installation in February, David, even though the battery is inside. Roamer confirmed that the Alarm would clear as soon as the battery compartment temperature exceeded 5 degrees, and it did! The fresh water tank didn't dump the tank contents that night, so 1 out of 2 is OK ...

Steve
 
marchie said:
I managed to get the UTC [under temperature charging] on the Roamer about 48 hours after you finished the installation in February, David, even though the battery is inside. Roamer confirmed that the Alarm would clear as soon as the battery compartment temperature exceeded 5 degrees, and it did! The fresh water tank didn't dump the tank contents that night, so 1 out of 2 is OK ...

Steve
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It is good that you got the alarm. peace of mind that it has the protection there.
 
Be aware that the battery with heaters built in use the battery power to run them. For me that is a big down side, winter in the UK is bad enough trying to keep enough power without the battery using some as well :)
 
nabsim said:
Be aware that the battery with heaters built in use the battery power to run them. For me that is a big down side, winter in the UK is bad enough trying to keep enough power without the battery using some as well :)
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nope, they don't, Neil. The heaters are only activated when there is charging power (plus battery is below a certain temp) and are run by the current from the charger. So a battery WITH heater will use no more power than a battery without.
What's more, if you would otherwise disable chargers if the temp dropped below 5C (the usual default), the charger would still be active and that power can be used which could otherwise be wasted. So overall, a battery with heater provides a more efficient setup.
 
I've posted this flowchart in the past but might be of interest on this thread. It also shows the benefit of having a Battery with built-in Heating and a BMS that is aware of that and uses any available potential charging power in an efficient manner compared to a non-heated battery - or someone adding external heating pads (plus the fact that having heating inside the battery pack enclosure is going to have a much more immediate impact so will 'get the job done' faster and more efficiently than external heating).

Also note that the battery manufacturer for this battery has determined that the battery is safe to charge BELOW 0C as long as it is below a certain rate (0.1C in this case - 10A on a 100Ah Battery).
PTC-Flowchart.png
 
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