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  1. atatistcheff

    Victron Low Temp Cutoff

    I'm putting together my vehicle mounted system and want to make sure I buy the right accessories. I'm using a Victron 100/20 MPPT and a 500A bluetooth Smartshunt. Both are located with the batteries (LiFePO4 from Li Time). My question is, what is the best/cheapest/simplest way to add a low...
  2. atatistcheff

    Li Time parallel battery diagram

    I just bought a Li Time 24V 100Ah battery to power my car detailing setup. I will probably buy a second one next year to increase the total Wh of the system. In the Li Time manual they have an interesting recommendation for connecting the two batteries in parallel (attached). I don't think...
  3. atatistcheff

    Interpret the warning sticker

    I need some ideas on interpreting this warning sticker on a pressure washer. I get the top and bottom images but the middle image has me really stumped!
  4. atatistcheff

    24V or 48V Server Rack?

    Looking at a solar/LiFePO4 solution for my mobile detailing. Right now I'm leaning towards the Growatt 3kV system with a server rack or stand-alone battery storage. I could go with either 24 or 48V. I suppose the advantage of 48V is you can use a smaller gauge wire. That's about the only...
  5. atatistcheff

    Dual battery disconnect

    Looking for some thoughts on a battery disconnect arrangement for an RV mounted solar system. What I'm trying to address is the guidance that you should not connect your solar panels to your charge controller without the battery connected. I've done that accidentally once or twice and haven't...
  6. atatistcheff

    LiFePO4 Charge Profile

    I've built a couple of LiFePO4 batteries over the years but now it seems like the price of the cheap "drop in replacements" has dropped so it's hardly worth making your own anymore. Along that line I'm wondering what the ramifications are for using a Lead Acid charging profile on one of these...
  7. atatistcheff

    Headway battery advice

    I recently noticed that a 4s battery I built with 8 Headway cells was not performing near capacity. I disassembled and found that one cell was about a volt low after the pack had fully charged. I built it using a Daly 60A BMS from eBay. I suspect that the answer is replacing the bad cell but...
  8. atatistcheff

    Huge Sale at Battery Warehouse

    Act now and you can get 1/10 of 1% off!
  9. atatistcheff

    Flexible vs. Glass Panels on Trailer

    I'm thinking of putting 200-300W of panels on a 25 foot camp trailer. I've looked into doing this with aluminum framed glass panels in the past. This seems pretty straightforward but I'm wondering if flexible panels might be an option too. I'm looking for some thoughts, pros and cons of using...
  10. atatistcheff

    5s Lithium-ion Balancer

    I'm looking for recommendations for an active balancer I can use to balance some Ryobi 18V (5s) packs. I'm finding that the included BMS doesn't do a good job once these older packs get too far out of balance. Bringing them back in line can help quite a bit with their capacity. So, I would...
  11. atatistcheff

    Ryobi 18V pack repair

    I'm looking for some thoughts or experience on lithium power tool battery packs. I've been repairing some of the Ryobi 18V packs which are dead or just below the BMS charge voltage. It's pretty easy and normally just involves opening the pack and injecting some volts to get the pack up to a...
  12. atatistcheff

    Need a Battery Capacity Testing Meter

    I'm looking for a meter to do some testing on lower capacity lithium batteries. I have a DROK meter that uses a hall sensor but the resolution is too low for measuring sub-amp loads. I'm looking to test some Ryobi 18V batteries that are only a few Ah capacity. I bought this meter: It has...
  13. atatistcheff

    26650 LiFePO4 at Batteryhookup

    Saw these today on Batteryhookup.com. They are LiFePO4 Nanophosphate 2.5Ah, seems like they would be a good choice for a small 12V or 24V battery. They are guaranteeing no dead cells, if only I needed some... I suspect this will sell out fast...
  14. atatistcheff

    Harbor Freight Flashlight Upgrade - but why?

    Weekend project, "upgrade" my free Harbor Freight flashlight from 3x AAA to 1x 18650. Includes USB charger module. I'm not saying this was a good idea, just something to do. Still need to find some longer screws to put it all together. Parts are: - 18650 battery - some nickel strips -...
  15. atatistcheff

    CALB 100Ah Assembly

    I was building this (and making it up as I go along) at the same time as Will. This will be replacing the lead acid battery in our 25 ft camper trailer. Can't wait for camping season! This uses the Batteryhookup 100A BMS plus CALB cells from Aliexpress, both of which have been mentioned quite...
  16. atatistcheff

    Batteryhookup BMS Bluetooth Issues

    duplicated a post by accident - please ignore
  17. atatistcheff

    CALB cells have arrived!

    Just got my shipment of 100Ah CALB cells. As expected these babies are awesome. Packaging was top notch, cells are brand new, each one measures at 3.27V. I'm letting them warm up for a while before doing any testing/charging. They came from Aliexpress...
  18. atatistcheff

    LiFePO4 18650s on batteryhookup.com

    Just saw these. If you're thinking of a cylindrical LiFePO4 DIY battery they might be worth looking into. Look fast though because I suspect they'll be gone very soon...
  19. atatistcheff

    LTO cells on Batteryhookup.com

    These look really interesting - 20,000 cycles????? https://batteryhookup.com/collections/module-madness/products/24v-lto-toshiba-scib-20-000-cycles-10-cells
  20. atatistcheff

    Pronunciations - sigh-know-poly or see-know poly?

    We know that Sino refers to Chinese or relating to China. Since Will is the only person who I've ever heard pronounce Sinopoly I assumed he was doing it right. But the pronunciation for Sino as in "Sino-American relations" is with a long i and long o sound. More like "sigh-know" not...
  21. atatistcheff

    Replacing 2004 RV converter with LiFePO4 model

    This is not strictly a solar question but I know there are folks here who have done some work on their RV electrical systems so I'm hoping someone can help me out. I just bought a 2004 Coachman trailer and am planning to retrofit the battery with LiFePO4. To do so I also plan to replace the DC...
  22. atatistcheff

    Building an 18650 pack!

    I'm looking for some advice for building a 12V battery with 18650 cells. I see that batteryhookup has some crazy cheap LG modem cells. So far I've built a battery using Sinopoly prismatic cells and Headway cells. However, 18650s just seem to be so hard to find for a good price and decent...
  23. atatistcheff

    RV LiFePO4 Install Video

    Just found this Youtube channel. This guy shows an installation of 4 Battle Born batteries in his Class C RV. Amazing workmanship this is really cool.
  24. atatistcheff

    16Ah Headway Battery

    I just finished building a LiFePO4 battery for a used APC UPS. I wanted a bit more runtime than the lead acid battery would provide but that's another story. I figured about 16Ah would do me fine and decided to go with Headway cells from batteryhookup.com. In reality, I've been bit by the...
  25. atatistcheff

    LiFePO4 Bottom Balancing Tricks

    While I was sitting staring at a volt meter today I was thinking of ways to make bottom balancing easier. Since this seems to be a critical step when dealing with DIY LiFePO4 packs it would be really nice to make it easier. I'm sure there are some tricks out there and my purpose here is to...
  26. atatistcheff

    Need Help with Headway DIY Pack

    I need some help from someone with experience building LiFePO4 packs from used cells. Here is my situation: I recently bought 8 Headway 8Ah LiFePO4 cells to build into a 4s2p battery for my UPS. I got these from batteryhookup.com. These are "engineering samples" and have a 2017 manufacture...
  27. atatistcheff

    BLS Black Friday Sale

    I assume I'm not the only one to get this email from BLS Battery. http://d.aliexpress.com/https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000224208689.html?tracelog=rowan&rowan_id2=ae_sellercrm_mail_template_1_en_US_2019-11-27&rowan_msg_id=8265SELLERCRM_61355$77cee78a919c461f99047b6a4747aa2c&ck=in_edm_other...
  28. atatistcheff

    BMS Recommendation for Headway

    I'm building a small (16Ah) 12V battery using 8x HEADWAY 38120 HP 3.2V 8AH cells. I'm looking for a BMS recommendation. I don't need a lot of power, maybe 50A max and this battery won't be anywhere cold where it might need a low temp cutoff. I could poke around eBay or AliExpress but just...
  29. atatistcheff

    Upgrading APC UPS Battery

    Just bought an APC Back-UPS ES 725 at the thrift store. Of course the 7Ah SLA battery was toast but in testing with a good 12V battery it seems to work fine. I would like a little more runtime so I'm considering upping the battery to a 15Ah SLA. Other than taking longer to charge I don't see...
  30. atatistcheff

    Vruzend 18650 battery kit

    I just saw this () on Youtube. Seems like a pretty cool way to build an 18650 pack without spot welding or soldering to each cell. Also looks like an adult erector set which is fun in its own way.
  31. atatistcheff

    Uninterruptible Power Supply - DIY?

    Couldn't find a great section to post this in so I'll try general, even though it has nothing to do with solar. I'm interested in making a couple of UPS systems for my computers. Now I know you can buy an APC or Tripp Lite for this purpose but most of them use low Ah lead acid batteries which...
  32. atatistcheff

    The Craftsman - 60Ah Sinopoly + 1500W Pure Sine Wave

    Been working on this for a few weeks and it's finally presentable. 60Ah LiFePO4 prismatic cells from RUiXU with BMS 1500W pure sine wave inverter Victron 75/15 MPPT Victron 65A smart battery protect QC 3.0 USB 12V power outlet AiLi power meter with 350A shunt I was going to try and mount the...
  33. atatistcheff

    XT-60 Female Panel Mount

    I'm looking but not having much luck finding a XT-60 female panel mount connector. I want to have a 12V out panel connector for my DIY solar generator. I can find males all over the place but the female variety seems elusive. I found a photo of one which I think is a 3D printed adapter to...
  34. atatistcheff

    Is my inverter broken?

    I'm building a solar generator and using the GoWISE pure sine wave 1500W inverter here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01COA0UTE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. Up to this point the inverter has performed flawlessly with resistive loads. I can run a 1500W heater pulling...
  35. atatistcheff

    Don't buy this breaker

    I know y'all are probably smarter than this but if you see an inline breaker like this on Amazon/eBay/etc. don't waste your money. I should have tested this while I was still in the return window - lesson learned. The "150A" breaker popped at 120A after about 5 seconds. Second attempt caused...
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