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AOLithium (48V) Buyer Feedback

So I'm a bit of a goof and I managed to run my packs down to 0% SOC(LVD).

As a reminder I have 1xSOK 100Ah 48v and 2xAOLithium 100Ah 48v batteries in parallel.

I have a Victron shunt in line on the main negative where all current running in and out of all 3 batteries will pass through the shunt.

I noticed last night the voltage was around 50.4-50.6v, but the Victron shunt showed about 63% SOC or so.

One AOLithium said 93% SOC and the other one said 94% SOC. Obviously wrong, however the SOK showed 86%, so it was wrong as well.

So all of these shunts were way off with the actual SOC of the batteries with a constant but low power draw.

My system has a pretty constant ~35W power draw as it's main usage in the winter is just to run internet equipment and sort of act as a backup power system.

The solar setup stinks in the winter as it only produces ~1.2KWh at best, but would produce probably 10KWh+ in the summer.
Shading in the winter is the main issue as my back yard is on the north side of the house, and it's small. So the house shades it 90% of the time.

The BMS on the SOK and one of the AOLithiums has turned off.

The sun is coming up but I have to clean snow off the panels again soon.

Crossing my fingers that the AOLithiums will reactivate once some charge current starts flowing!

I ordered a cheapish 48v(8A) charger to have on hand so I don't do this by accident again but that won't be here until tomorrow.
It won't charge quickly but at least I can use it to keep things up if I don't pay enough attention to the pack voltages.
 
This seems to be a common problem where a very low load is below the threshold of the BMS/shunts or at the very least not capturing it accurately. With 15 kWh on tap can you put more load on the system to make it see that and charge appropriately?
 
Yeah I know there is some sort of threshold to try and ignore what it thinks could be nuisance readings or whatever.
I also have the power vent for my hot water heater plugged in, and was using the packs for laundry as I had finally gotten the battery packs up to 99% for a bit.

Doing the laundry I think is what mainly got the Victron to calculate the lower capacity remaining, although it does pick up the current fine when the power vent is running as well, and it does show power flow even with just ~35W going through it. The battery packs' SOC did drop down from 99% with those loads but came back up after that was done.

But after that, the packs were drawn down lower by the small loads, and I think still, the remaining SOC was not accurately detected by any shunts that I have in use.

I plan on using it more in the summer for more larger loads, it's just that the winter charging by solar is so bad due to where I have to put the panels, that I can't run much on it without it depleting to 0.

It seems generally ok to run my 35W all winter long as the charging from solar roughly(with a bit more left over) covers the draw.

I guess the lesson learned is don't rely on the shunts 100%, even an external Victron shunt, when the load is small.
 
Update: All BMSs have come back on line. All cells seem to be in the approximate voltage range of 2.874-2.884 or so. Didn't record every one but they are all around there give or take.
 
Yeah this seems common, My Ruixu stack went into LV state (48V for this BMS) when the SOC stated 93%.. They are in a backyard shed that I am working on slowly so only a few hundred watts of LED's and charging tool batteries each evening..

Have to keep a watch on them, especially in season of low PV potential.
 
Yeah it seems like I can't rely on the Victron shunt like I thought. I have the Current Threshold set to 0.1A, and at night it shows around 0.75-0.8A discharging with the constant load on so it does register it. But it still managed to miss out on counting some of the capacity some how.

But the good thing is, the AOLithium batteries didn't self destruct with the discharge to 0 like what happened to Will. Perhaps if it was left like that for a while, it may have, but just for the 4-5 hours or so, it wasn't an issue.
 
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Small update, my 4 units have been working flawlessly since Dec 20 and have gone through many generator (180A charge) and solar (80A charge) cycles. Communication with my Schneider system was very simple, using Canbus. All the data from the BMS (combined data for all units) makes it into the Schneider Insight controls and works with generator self-start and other triggers / workflows. When they are back in stock in Feb, I will probably order 4 more since I'm adding another 10-15kW to solar.

The SOC meters have started to equalize, but are still a few points off depending on how long it has been since a full charge was received. There have only been 2-3 full charges since December due to low solar.

They are installed inside an R12 insulated box with 20W seedling heating mats underneath them that activate based on temperature feedback. Outdoor temperature has gone down to -35C and the cabinet never got below 15C. I'm using long leads from each battery to a 500A busbar.
 
Saw a few people comparing cables and connectors between AOLithium and Ruixu. I have a few photos below of both.

Cables:
- Ruixu.................... 4AWG, 1000V and 125C rated............................. ~100A max continous
- AOLithium......... 3AWG (25 mm2), 1500V and 125C rated....... ~125A max continuous

Connectors:
- Ruixu --------------- CNNT ES08-P
- AOLithium---------- Futronics FSP800

The AOLithium cables and connectors feel more robust overall. The only thing I don't like is the indention's or 'positive stops' that make the cable want to sit at 45 degrees. You can see the key notches in the photos.

As long as you have a buss bar setup the AOLithium cables should handle the load just fine. If you have a small inverter the parallel setup will never max out the current limits but watch out for current sharing issues.


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What exactly are these connectors? Are they custom to AOLithium or are they available from other suppliers?
 
What exactly are these connectors? Are they custom to AOLithium or are they available from other suppliers?
I think AOL just get them from Futronics Connectors, a Chinese company that seems to make cable and connectors for EV and energy storage. Just Google tonics connectors.

The red one is Ruixu and not sure about that one. Will have to look up CNNT.
 
I didn't notice the part number was in the pictures.

For those who would like to make their own cables, a quick googling finds:

At that price there isn't any savings in making your own over getting them from AOLithium. But you might be able to go up a wire size.

Anyone seen them for significantly less?
 
I didn't notice the part number was in the pictures.

For those who would like to make their own cables, a quick googling finds:

At that price there isn't any savings in making your own over getting them from AOLithium. But you might be able to go up a wire size.

Anyone seen them for significantly less?
Nope, until your link I didn't know they were available.

I guess you could order some directly from Futronics for less but assume it would have to be an industrial bulk order.
 
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