Most reacted threads

I've loved solar power, and have been playing with it since I was a kid. Now, I have my own place, and a few extra dollars, so I put together a little system, it backs up my essentials, but it's more just to play with. My power really never goes out, I live about 2 minutes from the electrical...

I get frequent brownouts, but blackouts for over a minute here aren't super common. However, yesterday, my 5 year old woke me up to tell me that the power was off and had been so for a little while. I could hear the neighbors Generac chugging away, and the rest of the street was dark. Boom...

I wanted to build a high output, portable, lithium battery for work and car-camping. I already had eight 100ah CALB Cells, and a plastic Plano box that they fit almost perfectly into. The project was more about condensing and putting my system into a portable box, I already had most of the...

I'm in the process of converting a small tow behind trailer into a camper. It had an unpainted aluminum roof that would get up to 160°f on the surface, and heat the internal temperature of the trailer to well over 120°f. I have fans inside, but no AC; so in the sun it's completely miserable. I...

These cells will EASILY push over 20c during a short circuit. This was a single 3.2v cell, imagine a 12v-48v pack with paralleled cells. When the ROMEX got too hot, it melted the insulation inside of the sheathing, and caused an additional, "internal" short. All it takes is a few seconds to...

I dropped a key ring while I was leaning over to check the status of my batteries, The keys fell out of my pocket and landed just millimeters away from bridging my main two battery terminals. Lesson learned about giving the two terminals a little more space from each other. It's a 12 volt...

Title says it all. Seriously, I love this forum, and the mods keep it running smoothly. I appreciate that you ASK me to change a post that is perceived to be insulting, rather than changing my words, or removing them. I appreciate that you let conversations take their natural course, even if it...

I found Blu-ray player on eBay for about $10. It didn't include a power cord or remote. The off-brand remote was $6 more. I figured I'd just use one of my many 12 volt, 2.1mm wall warts to power it, but NOOO, Sony just had to make the barrel plug proprietary, and a new adapter cost about as much...

I just received my order of sixteen 90ah cells from ThriveEnergy on DHGate! They took 2 and a half months to receive. I paid less than $850 for them with 32 buss bars to parallel and balance, and they were matched based on internal resistance at the factory (I know that it doesn't mean they are...

Found this bad boy in the wild. It's below sea flood level, mounted to a tree, and is county property, so someone must have thought this was code. ?

I'm going trailer camping in a few days, and I wanted a shore power connection for my trailer (180 ah, 12 volt, LiFePO4) without spending much, because I won't use it very much. I already had a 40 amp Renogy DC-DC charger, so I figured I would use that as a starting point. I found a pair of 750...

My Mother-in-law's dryer stopped working. Pulled off the back power panel, and found this. A combination of, what I assume is, corrosion from the moist environment, and a loose strain relief caused a hot wire to somewhat slip out of the crimp terminal, spark and melt under load, until it finally...

Found this cool article about compressed air storage. It sounds a bit similar in concept to pumped water storage, but wouldn't require a height differential. The tanks may be large (much smaller if many smaller ones are used, I guess), but that could be offset during construction of a home...

Hope it helps someone! Edit: I learned the hard way to make sure that the room you are testing cells in stays a constant temperature. I had mine running in the garage, and it stayed open in hot weather for a few hours. All of the cells during that time tested a few percent lower.

I didn't want to spend more money on panel mounts, so I used some old wood! Completely free, and it's stood up to 65+ mph winds.

It works! I have a better Victron charge controller on the way, but other than that, it works great! Eight 3.6v (edit 3.2v) CALB batteries (4s2p), XiaoXiang 150 amp BMS, 500 watt inverter (soon to be upgraded), 600 watts of currently connected panels, Amazon shut, and a fire extinguisher...

I placed an order a few weeks ago, and got a refund notification from my bank a few days ago. It would appear that they attempted to do a tracking scam, but were caught by AliExpress. They initiated the refund, I didn't even notice an issue.

Most baby toys take multiple C or D cells in series. They run about $1 a piece, and "can't" be recharged. I was able to recharge then about 3-5x using a bench PSU and a VERY low charge current (75ma), but it takes forever, and you loose about 30% of the remaining capacity each charge. One of my...

I have placed 3 separate orders with Daniel from ThriveEnergy. Every single one has been a good experience. I received my first order (end of 2019, 8 CALB cells) in less than 50 days, the second order (end of 2020, 16 EVE cells) in about 2 months, and some BMS's (mid-2020) and bus bars came in...

https://news.energysage.com/floating-solar-what-you-need-to-know/

We have a ton of big storms with lots of lightning, and live on the highest point in the area. I also play with things that plug into the grid, so a local surge is always possible as well, and in fact might be more probable than a lightning strike. I've been looking at the Siemens and Eaton...

Crazy.

I got a permanent Reddit IP ban a while back for expressing my unpopular opinions, and lost my social media outlet. Does anyone know of any other cool forums about electronics, batteries, EV, solar stuff, off grid, camping, or prepping? I'm staying with my in-laws while my family and I look for...

Look at those exposed bus bars, I hope he's got a real good grip on that wrench (suction bulb). Apparently this is from a WWII sub. Capacity is about 2.6 MWh. 126s, 2v per cell, 5320ah, X 2 sperate banks. Also found a cool photo of an oldschool "BMS" used onboard subs.

I had eight 100ah CALB cells, configured for a 12 volt battery (2p4s, 2400 wh), inside a Plano box. It was HEAVY, and bulky, to move around. I got a deal on some 90ah aluminum EVE cells, and swapped them out. I lost 240 watts, but also lost about half the weight, and gained half my box back...

Stumbled onto Green Rhino Energy's site earlier today, and saw some interesting claims in the FAQ. ------ -Can a Crystal Battery™ be discharged a 100% Depth of Discharge? Yes, Crystal Batteries™ can be discharged in full frequently, even to 0 Volt. This makes Crystal Batteries™ extremely...

I had absolutely no idea. Enjoy!

I finally got the OK from TopBand to mount these cells on their side. They fit perfectly with packing foam wrap. Cost about $100 total. -25 Ah LiFePO4, 4s (~$60) -60 Amp Daly clone BMS ($30) -10 Awg silicone wire -Fuse ($2) -Crushed copper pipe, bent 90°, to keep the box watertight while adding...

I redid my original CALB 200ah (2p4s, 100ah nylon cases cells) box with 90ah (2p4s) aluminum cased cells. They are much smaller and much lighter, so they allowed me to add quite a few things that I didn't have room for before. - Plano trunk - JBD 150 amp BMS - Hall sensor with display - Fused...

I found an old lightning arrester outside in a pile of old junk wire from the previous building that was here. It looked just like this, I wish I took a picture before I smashed it with a hammer. I think it may have been this exact one, or at least the same brand. Here's what's inside, my...