Yes there is one big reason; they are being suppressed and have for decades. The corrupt politicians are trying their best to make them illegal. It is difficult to make money out of technology that do not have to be replaced every so often.
Case in point: I do not know how old the two batteries I am experimenting with now are, but they have a label on them saying the next service should be in 1991. So they are at least 34 years old. Hard to make money when products last so long.
Products that last forever carry a bigger price tag, always have. Aviation batteries were a lot more expensive but cost per start was lower.
In a consumer market no one wants 20 year old gear or anything that needs maintenance.
The reality now is lithium is consumer mainstream pricing with decent performance and little skill required.
5 years ago the price point was enormous.
In the last 2 years costs have halved.
I get your point. You’re passionate about the tech, but the reality is you have a rather niche perspective and no innovative company is going to invest time and money into legacy technology when there is an endless innovation todo list.
Short status update.
After doing a full commissioning charge, one of the batteries is measuring very good but one battery still have two cells that are measuring low, pulling up a couple of other cells. That battery could need new electrolyte. Since I have more batteries, I will see if I can replace it because I do not want to mess with electrolyte at the moment.
Regarding the settings. I am still experimenting with it, but setting all settings to 1.55V/cell works very well. When the batteries are fully charged, the resistance limits the charging power to about 10W which these batteries take without being damaged, and they do not seem to consume water. I am currently testing lower float settings. Results to be determined.
I would note that these batteries takes overcharging extremely well. So even though two cells in one of the batteries measure low causing a couple of other cells to measure high, they will not be damaged, and the performance of that battery is more than I need. But I will experiment further.
My first EVE LF304A b grade was 120 euro.
My second was 90 A-grade
My last one was 70 A-grade
They are now 45 euro per cell I think in the dutch/european store I that can recommend.
I started in 2023… And I started because LFP prices dropped and Victron prices dropped.
I had/have a lot of misery with NiCd and now with NiMh eneloops. As such I would not ever considered it a viable storage solution, but I am always open for new experiments.
If my house is finished and my off-grid installation has been moved into the house, I will certainly take a new look. At all chemistries.
My house unfortunately needs AC and that dictates using an MP2 in one way or another and that has a “limited” voltage range. But in my experiments it really doesn’t matter.
Yes we need more control over user profile or a NIFE profile, I have 2000watts hooked up to a 150/60 mppt and it barley hits 900watts, it hit 900watts when I had 4 panels hooked up, I thought I`d double up to 8 panels, 4 groups of 2 in parallel and then those 4 groups in series, so I doubled the amps but it does what it did with 4 panels. I don’t understand why this didn’t work. Usually those panels are on a grid tie inverter and the pump out 1800 to 2000 watts, when on the Victron mppt I get only 900watts. I may have to buy another cheap welder to charge the batteries, but they die every 5 years or so from the continuous use, $100 for a cheap welder that can put 2000watts continuous 8 hours a day for 5 years vs $450 for a Victron 150/60 mppt that only puts out 900watts.
What battery voltage do you have?
Can you share some screenshots of the overview, history and settings in VictronConnect?
20 1.2v 1000amp NIFE batteries makes a 24v battery bank, float is 29v or 30v from memory and charging min 33v.
What kind of more control do you expect there to be? I mean you can freely set charging voltages, what else would you need?
The standard way would be creating series strings first, so in your case i guess four panels in series, then put those in parallel. Dont forget the inline fuses when paralleling three or more strings
Can you tell us the panels’ type and manufacturer?
Why is saying “VE.Direct Smart” on top and not the name of the MPPT?
LE:
Nevermind… Probably you have bluesolar mppt and you connected a vedirect to bluetooth dongle for using victronconnect…
either either isnt it, same same, it makes no difference.
250w TN Solar 24v vmp 30.4v imp 8.24amps , yes Victron blue solar mppt with dongle.
Try to connect them this way.
Eventually try to see if each 4 series panels string it’s working and then put the 2 strings in parallel.
Hi all,
Interesting discussion. I have had some experiences over the years with all sorts of “uncommon” battery chemistries, including nickel.
The practical reality is they are not a set and forget product, in off grid and ESS markets which is something that modern lithium batteries have been able to achieve.
I know of one specific installation where the customer did extensive research, and made a huge investment to buy nickel, and then in the end “replaced” them with a lithium bank because to them a reliable power supply they didn’t need to think about was more important for their business.
I believe there is a place in the market for the various nickel chemistries, but almost exclusively where they can be installed, and maintained by a dedicated engineer who is able to understand their nuanced and non-obvious behaviour and needs.
As mentioned above they are not well suited to variable charge sources.
There are often practical limitations to how much solar PV can be installed, and then supported by some on-demand generator in off grid.
Efficiency and consistency both have impact on larger balance of system costs and ease of use.
For all the fundamental faults, weaknesses and risks of lithium, it’s been refined now through decades of consumer power electronics into something that everyone and their grandparents can buy from a 100 different suppliers around the world, and have work more or less as expected for a decade.
However for the engineers that enjoy work in maintenance, even with limited support/specific features as it is, Victron remains one of the most flexible and compatible power electronics you can get.
On this I can say with confidence there is no government conspiracy to not provide more support and features for unconventional battery chemistries (we have also been the most compatible with zinc bromide flow cells, salt water, and many more), just the commercial reality that these are niche products in a hyper competitive market where consumer ease of use is a huge factor in purchasing decisions.
Appreciate you raising the topic, as demand is the signal needed if things are to get more specific features.
I think I will, its about the only thing I havent tried. I aslo have 4 465watt 24v panels I might use instead and put the 8 250w back on the gridtie.
Its not worth it for me to change to lifeo4, I do have them in the camper, good battery, my NiFe are fine, if I get another 150/60 mppt and combined they can put 100amps an hour I’ll be good. I was using a cheap Chinese welder 400amp, I’d have it on about 70 to 100 amps at 32.6v for 6 hours, ran for 5 years blew a cap, I am repairing it to keep as a back up.
1338watts, how this made a diffetence I dont know, but thanks for bringing it up again, I will buy another Victron 150/60 for my other panels and I should be set.
Glad that it worked. 
It’s a little bit tricky when you serialize and/or parallelize “power sources”, especially PV panels.
It’s not so simple as with resistors and/or capacitors, because they have (or not) multiple sections, bypass diodes, etc.
