Adding Chins batteries to LifePower4 bank?

[stranger]

Hi. I'm currently running a 48V system using two 48V 100AH EG4 LifePower4 batteries in a server rack from SS. I have the opportunity to get two 12V 100AH Chins batteries (for free) from a buddy whos moving to an urban location and is parting out his small DIY off-grid system.

Would it be a bad idea to get these (almost 1 year old) Chins, buy two more new from Amazon for about $300 each, wire them up in series to get 48V 100AH, and add them to the server rack via the busbars? Whats a better/safer way to do this? Or would you rather just spend $1500 plus freight for a new LifePower4 battery?

I haven't been keeping up with the latests on Chins. Are they still considered a decent alternative? Thanks in advance.

 

[PunchySunshine]

Hi. I'm currently running a 48V system using two 48V 100AH EG4 LifePower4 batteries in a server rack from SS. I have the opportunity to get two 12V 100AH Chins batteries (for free) from a buddy whos moving to an urban location and is parting out his small DIY off-grid system.

Would it be a bad idea to get these (almost 1 year old) Chins, buy two more new from Amazon for about $300 each, wire them up in parallel to get 48V 100AH, and add them to the server rack via the busbars? Whats a better/safer way to do this? Or would you rather just spend $1500 plus freight for a new LifePower4 battery?

I haven't been keeping up with the latests on Chins. Are they still considered a decent alternative? Thanks in advance.

I don't think this is a good idea, especially for a long term install. For a test....maybe, commissioned, nope.

 

[littleharbor2]

Would it be a bad idea to get these (almost 1 year old) Chins, buy two more new from Amazon for about $300 each, wire them up in parallel to get 48V 100AH,

4 in parallel would give you 400 ah. @ 12 volts. If you're not competent, don't try adding differing large power sources to other large power sources. Dangerous situation. Get the EG4.

 

[stranger]

I don't think this is a good idea, especially for a long term install. For a test....maybe, commissioned, nope.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm still learning. What makes it a bad idea though? The fact that they would be different brands on the same busbars? If the age of the batteries plays a role, how do people go about adding more batteries to their system? Is it typical to just swap out an entire bank of batteries for a bigger one to avoid dealing with batteries of different ages in the same bank?

Would it make a difference if I made a separate bank of Chins batteries? But it would have to match the AH of the EG4 bank right? I wouldn't do this though because more money than I would like to spend on Chins.

 

[rodrick]

4 12 volt batteries in parallel is only 12 volts you would have to set them up in series for 48 volt

the biggest problem would be that the 4 batteries would not stay in balance and you would have to keep a eye on them and balance them every so often making sure that they are at the same levels

it can be done with the correct wiring and fusing but may need some additional baby sitting so depending on your knowledge level of how your system works and being able to correctly maintain and monitor it is the main factor

dealing with high voltage dc can be very dangerous, when you go over a 12 volt system things can get more complicated and require a higher knowledge level to build a safe system you become the designer and engineer if it’s not a plug and play system

 

[Tomthumb62]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm still learning. What makes it a bad idea though? The fact that they would be different brands on the same busbars? If the age of the batteries plays a role, how do people go about adding more batteries to their system? Is it typical to just swap out an entire bank of batteries for a bigger one to avoid dealing with batteries of different ages in the same bank?

Would it make a difference if I made a separate bank of Chins batteries? But it would have to match the AH of the EG4 bank right? I wouldn't do this though because more money than I would like to spend on Chins.

Personally, I would not try adding them to your current bank. @rodrick already spoke to the challenge of keeping them balanced. There are ways to do so, but if you're just learning, best not to mess something up if you can't afford for your system to go down.

I'd take those two free chins and use them elsewhere. Maybe a 12v system or even 24v. Put them on their own panels, charge controller and inverter. Get creative as to what you can do with them. Or set them up as 12v emergency backup set. Have them charged to say 75%, ready to go and on their own inverter that you could switch critical loads to should your 48v have issues.

Do you have grid power available? If so, perhaps every 6 months or so, charge up the chins using an AC charger. Or get a 48v to 12v DC-DC charger, but those are expensive.