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Hooking a Battleborn to another brand battery

evilroy

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Jan 27, 2021
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Have been looking at increasing battery capacity and hoping I might be able to get a Chins or the like to run with my Battleborn, unfortunately if you wire them together (series or parallel) BB said first problem would be a BMS mismatch and second you would void your warranty.
I want 300 ah and was hoping to use the BB as part of it but I do get it at the same time, very gun shy about buying blind because I have been burned before with Chinese batteries, warranty looked good but support wasn't shi- and without that they have your money and you have zip.
Am looking for a good US distributor that will stand behind such a battery.
 
Part of the argument - Placing 12V Packs in Series to increase Voltage is generally not the best option and there are potential issues with BMS's IF one in the series strings cuts off for any reason the other has to handle the voltage change. BB can handle other BB's in series but limitedly.

In Parallel this is not a problem. Parallel only increases Amp Hours NOT Voltage so it's just capacity.
BUT they do HAVE TO BE LFP / LiFePO4 because the charging profiles need to be for the same chemistry.

Will has done reviews / tear downs of several prebuilts like SOK, Ampertime and more that are all Good Buy's ! He's also outted junk too. That is something to look at and consider... Supply Constraints are a major Issue as noone can pull their thumbs out and fix the Port Backlog disaster.

BTW the Bad News IS: Even if Covid etc ended today and all staff returned to previous levels, it's now so bad, it would take 12-18 Months with 25% Extra Staff on Hand AND a huge Space Allocation for Swing Space for distribution to clear it... As such even using Military personnel has been considered due to the severity.

 
What are you powering? What’s the highest loads the bank needs to handle?
 
I mix and matched LifePo4 batteries of different brands, but I placed each particular brand on a separate on/off switch, so that I could operate each pair of off brand batteries separately. Each bank has its own battery display monitors. For instance, I operate bank #1, until it runs out of juice, then I switch to bank #2. Unfortunately, you have to charge, and use each bank separately, so you have to be on your toes, and develop correct switching procedures. You cannot place different brand of batteries in series, or parallel, because different BMS's will fight one another, thus voiding all warranty's.
 
You cannot place different brand of batteries in series, or parallel, because different BMS's will fight one another, thus voiding all warranty's.
True & False.
TRUE: Different brands of BMS in Series is a terrible idea and often will result in erroneous issues.
FALSE: Battery Packs in Parallel have NO ISSUES provided the different battery packs don't have too much difference. IE 300AH Pack in parallel with 100AH pack. 100AH Capacity difference is about the Maximum Deviation between packs that works BUT this is also affected by the Number of Packs within a Bank.

Warranties - really only apply to commercially assembled battery packs. Warranty for DIY is dodgy at best and the most you can hope for is "component" replacement and that is not as easy as one thinks it ought to be.
 
How do you monitor the second parallel battery that has internal BMS low voltage disconnect. Can you use a Victron 712? I have read the instructions, but the second battery in their example is the starter battery on a vehicle. The batteries that I am using, do not have bluetooth monitoring. And, I don't want to waist my time and money to see if the Victron unit will monitor voltage on a second Parallel battery. I know it works on a Series configuration, but it is unclear on a parallel configuration.
 
I have been thinking of doing this with 2 battleborn and 2 Ampere time, all 100 Ah. The 2 banks will have their own set of panels and charge controller. At the positive side of each bank there will be a diode to keep current from feeding back into each bank. So in essence the will charge independent but discharge together in parallel. Any thoughts?
 
How do you monitor the second parallel battery that has internal BMS low voltage disconnect. Can you use a Victron 712? I have read the instructions, but the second battery in their example is the starter battery on a vehicle. The batteries that I am using, do not have bluetooth monitoring. And, I don't want to waist my time and money to see if the Victron unit will monitor voltage on a second Parallel battery. I know it works on a Series configuration, but it is unclear on a parallel configuration.
The Victron 712 will monitor whatever you run through it. But, it's not a second battery. It's part of a single battery bank. (Parallel)
 
I have been thinking of doing this with 2 battleborn and 2 Ampere time, all 100 Ah. The 2 banks will have their own set of panels and charge controller. At the positive side of each bank there will be a diode to keep current from feeding back into each bank. So in essence the will charge independent but discharge together in parallel. Any thoughts?
No diodes
The batteries need to stay balanced. When in parallel, they are one battery bank.
 
I have two Amperetime 12v 200ah+ batteries in series and they've been trouble free though I do use a Victron battery balancer. It's generally considered good practice not to mix brands but there are always exceptions. As long as you're set up and able to monitor what you need to monitor you should be fine as long as everything is reasonably compatible.
 
As long as the charging profiles are the same. I wouldn't have any issues with paralleling different batteries together. I would be more concerned with putting BMS's in series. But, a victron battery balancer is a big help. As long as it can keep up.
 
No diodes
The batteries need to stay balanced. When in parallel, they are one battery bank.
So it is OK to have batteries from 2 different makes as long as they are same capacity and voltage in parallel? I hear different from battery manufacturers.
 
So it is OK to have batteries from 2 different makes as long as they are same capacity and voltage in parallel? I hear different from battery manufacturers.
Only need to have the same charging profiles.
Capacity doesn't matter. They will charge and discharge evenly, for the most part.
 
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