For starters, this is one of the more wallet friendly LifePO4 upgrades you can do. I went with DC House because it came so highly recommended on most of the Facebook groups. Ill start with the pros and end with the cons.
Quality - I didnt open up the ABS case, so I cannot speak for the interior build quality, wiring, or quality of components used, however the case itself, terminals and power switch all have a quality feel to them.
Installation - Install was straight forward and a breeze. The ABS case fit right into my factory EZGO TXT battery tray, so the only modification needed was to cut the factory battery hold down mounting points. Install took about 30 minutes once I had the old batteries out.
Cost - I have been wanting to go to lithium for a while now, simply for the maintenance free aspect, but was scared of the price point that some of the higher end manufacturers were charging. I am a big proponent of "you get what you pay for" and this is no exception. I dont have the highest hopes for this battery to last 5000 charge cycles, BUT it came highly recommended by people that have installed multiple of them, so they at least have a decent name in the market that I can trust them over some off brand Amazon battery with little to no support.
Support - DC House is fairly quick and responsive when you need customer assistance. They legit seem to have a good customer service team and policy that I feel fairly confident in my ability to speak to someone in a time of need in regards to the battery.
Now, what I didnt like.
Options - I read numerous times to buy from their website direct because you get a longer warranty, HOWEVER, they ONLY offer the plastic version of the 36v battery on their website, and due to my own fault, I didnt even know they offered a metal case version because I didnt look elsewhere. I simply went to their website and purchased what was available that met my needs. That being said, I recently found out they have a metal case option that is only available on Amazon. This upsets me a bit because it is a catch 22. On one hand, I get a better quality battery, more suited for the elements a golf cart will be in with a sturdy metal case and better exterior build quality, but I am stuck with the default shorter warranty. Kinda odd if you ask me. If you sell it on Amazon, you should sell it on your own website direct! I most certainly would have went the metal case route had I seen that option available.
Charging - DC House sells their own charger. It is not outrageously priced or anything, but I question the quality of that charger. My sources state that it is not directly made by DC House, but it is a rebranded product made by someone else. Yes, it is made to be paired with their battery, but it costs a fraction of what my Lester Summit 2 charger costs and is only compatible with 1 battery. It is simple, but is it any good? Who knows, maybe time will tell. I purchased one to use due to the fear of warranty issues if I were not using their charger, but I would very much prefer to use my Lester Summit 2 charger that has had a VERY HIGH reputation in the golf cart community for years. The problem with that is that you have to use a generic LifePO4 profile. I wish that DC House would get with Lester Electrical and design a profile specific to their battery and cells so that we can comfortably use our Lester smart chargers that cost triple the DC House charger.
Amp Hour rating - this isnt so much a con than a wish. I am skeptical of the 100ah rating of this battery. Coming from 225ah lead acid batteries to a 100ah LifePO4, I lost roughly 22.5 ah, which is quite a bit in reality. I wish their ratings were slightly higher to give peace of mind that I am not going to run out of power mid day. We use our golf cart at campgrounds, some of them hilly, and just with a few trips to the rec center and back with some hills, we had our battery down to 60% by 3pm. I can only imagine what a day with a little higher use is going to do to it. That was after our first charge, so hopefully the cells are still balancing and settling and hopefully it gets even better, but I am slightly concerned if the battery is going to last all day on a heavier use day. Time will tell.
Shipping - Shipping on the battery was fast and uneventful, which is good. I had no issues with damage or anything like that. Shipping for the charger on the other hand took over a week to get here, which if I didnt have my Lester charger, I would have been dead in the water until I got that. Now, I did order them at separate times, but I dont think that would have mattered much because they do ship the batteries and chargers separately and even state that the charger will arrive a few days later. Another reason that DC House should work with other charger manufacturers to allow their batteries to charge with other chargers confidently.
All in all, I am happy with the upgrade/purchase...
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