Search results

I needed the battery for a trip, so was forced to do things quickly which was great for bypassing perfectionism. Shifted the battery to the right Added a slot-in wooden spacer to hold the cells in place Added protective sleeving to the BMS balance wires Added squishy rubber strips between the...

I’M BACK! The hardest part about projects is picking them up again after a long break. The second hardest part is cutting holes in new equipment. Due to vehicle changes I no longer have to fit the Renogy unit inside the box. Everything will run off a single Anderson 120 plug built into the...

My take on the 400w Solaria panel install, on a 144” wheelbase van. Thanks again @blutow for sharing! I’m using a cheap knockoff version of the diyvan brackets, which were about ~$100 for three sets.

@blutow How is your panel holding up? And what did you use for the center support block? Thanks for sharing your work. I just picked one up, and going to install “soonish”

Chiming in on alternator charging: I saw a video where a user added the smart alternator wires with a standard alternator, because it would then cut out solar charging and allow full 50 amp charging from the alternator. As far as solar input voltage, what’s the best way to reduce incoming...

Spec I found online is 1.96 kg, or 4.32 lbs.

Awesome! I like the way you did your bus bars, lots of flexibility. I’m in the middle of moving so my project is on hold for a while :(

Everyone: LiFePO4 batteries have a very flat voltage curve Me: Yep, sounds good. My batteries are pretty close to full so I'll just top balance with this dinky charger instead of wasting time reassembling the pack. 6 days later.... finally starting to get near 3.5 volts. Adding an open...

They make battery disconnect switches that are pretty compact and enclosed. If you use it a lot that might be a more durable option. Search for "mini battery cutoff switch"

You're welcome -- it's also to keep me motivated between project time (day jobs are such a drag :)) The batteries are gorgeous but they aren't as easy to work with as prismatics, where the leads are on the same side. I'll have more details of my box in a few weeks as I start the fitment...

@Baserati How did it end up working? I have a similar situation where I want to feed a 12v cigarette port through a constant current voltage booster to an MPPT controller. I'm building a battery that has alternator and solar charging. In my vehicle I have alternator charging set up. When I...

Fun fact: my charger's time and mAh readings top out at 65535 (2^16 including 0) Time gets stuck at 92:15 which is 1000 minutes (rollover) + 92 minutes + 15 seconds = 65535 seconds

Top balancing cells with my little hobby charger. I can't get it to push more than 3 amps so this is going to take a while (I forgot to fully charge it while assembled). Since it's an actual charger and not a power supply, I do feel comfortable letting it run all night unattended... famous...

Good luck with that. Hopefully it’s just their BMS setup and not the cells themselves, since they specifically mention not discharging them low.

FYI: https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/home.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2021/aug/0820-bolt.html All Bolts are up for recall.

Yep, got it on a whim, while my other breaker is the recommended "T Tocas". New one is on order!

I will add a note. The particular brand I got kept tripping at <50 amps, and would randomly disconnect while the switch was still engaged. On inspection I noticed some play in the connection barrels as well. Caused me a lot of grief while troubleshooting in a hot garage. Thanks for the info...

Tangent. Here's where my scrap aluminum came from. Around 8 years ago I made a computer case based on a micro ATX form factor. It was completely impractical and the cooling sucked, but it worked and I was proud of it. I figured I'd share since only a few people have ever seen it. Some day...

Lesson of the day: do NOT buy this kind of breaker! During charge testing, this mf-er caused such a headache. EDIT: your mileage may vary but my experience was not good. Sketchy connection and breaks way under rated amps. I'm replacing it with a standard breaker from a recommended seller...

Test fitting bus bars ...we have 12 volts! Need to make a bunch of tweaks, though I wish it were feasable to remake them. Main fix is they are too high by a few millimeters because I failed to notice the lid has a part that's much lower than the rest. Also quickly coming to a design...

BMS finally arrived! Took one week to arrive after clearing US customs. It seemed well-wrapped and packaged, though the box is a bit mashed on one side. BMS comes with: 2x temperature probes (glued in, they really don't want you to remove them!) Balance leads, about 23" long - with ring...

3D print gallery time! - SB120 panel adapter custom fit for the box - aluminum plate templates for tracing cut lines (half height since my printer is small) - cell end cap cover while cleaning the terminals. Some of them are grimy and could use a brushing. Also discovered that most of my plate...

Changed the box. Instead of the rolling toolbox, I'm going to use the DeWalt Toughsystem 2.0 Large Tool Box. The huge rolling box was awesome but it was just too big with too much wasted space. And the more stuff I crammed into it, the more structural support issues I was encountering. I...

It was truly sad times when the box I chose did not fit all 8 in a row. After reviewing many options, I've decided to keep the box for now. Other suitable options were either too expensive or not strong enough to carry the batteries. If I can find a good used pelican case I may change it...

It probably would work, but you might be better off with a PWM charge controller if you can adjust the voltage. The better solution is to use a DC-DC charger meant for charging from an alternator. The newer ones have built-in isolators that will automatically stop charging, so you never have...

Oops... there's a time limit on post editing. More info here: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/edit-post-time-limits.112/ I got half of my cells so far. The other half is taking a scenic tour across America, apparently. Speaking of FedEx, the Renogy warehouse is about 10 miles from where I...

Finally ready to build a battery! Will document my progress here over the next couple months. Please let me know if this is not an appropriate place to do so. Major Parts list: Modular toolchest (DeWalt at top of list, rated for heavier weights) SAB 3.2v 55ah 176wh 60280 cells in 4p4s (2816...

Thanks for the clarification!

Will does the shorting out here: So it can work. You just have to remember to do it every time you move stuff around. I'm assuming AC surges are handled by the inverter itself? So if your 2000w inverter has a 4000w rated surge load you still should be ok even though it's above the 220 amps...

Can you recommend a brand and model to start research? I found the Victron Energy Blue Smart IP67 (as a name brand starting point) but there’s not a lot of details about charge settings. Appreciate your help!

Here's a diagram because pictures.

I'm looking to build a grid-charged LiFePO4 pack because in the summer my peak energy cost is 6x the cost of super off-peak (9 cents vs 56 cents per kWh, yay San Diego) Basically, this system: https://www.mobile-solarpower.com/the-classic-400-watt-rvs-vans-buses.html ...but instead of solar, a...

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32921950553.html States 200 amps, so probably half...?

I saw this as well. My output will be up to 1500 watts, wondering if I should get the 200 amp bms or still use a smaller one with a relay.