diy solar

diy solar

Custom aluminum battery compression enclosure

I’d add that we were seeing issues down the road a while, months, we were at very high voltages and currents though, maybe there’s a connection there (lol), initially there were 0 issues, everything was scanned and measured at install and signed off on.. I know our guys talked to their guys or a distributor at the time. I closed the company during Covid after 34 years and lost contact with our engineer or I’d ask him more details. It’s clear you know what your doing and if you see any issue it will be quickly corrected. I wouldn’t worry too much. I noticed that it seemed pretty thick on the post and thought I’d just throw out what our experience was. We liked it, but we just needed to learn how to best use it in our application.
 
ha, yeah definitely could be related to the higher voltages/currents. But still, I'm going to bring the application layer down a notch just to be safe and will apply it a little more thin on the second battery. and even though I'm monitoring everything, it will now be in the back of my head every day if I don't hahaha.
Also sorry to hear you had to close the company, that's unfortunate!
 
I hear you on that getting things stuck in your head, I’m the same way. Yea, having to close up shop was like losing a best friend (and my electronics playground) all in one shot. I still have all my test equipment though! And I am setting up my new basement with it as soon as I can. I actually started the company the day I graduated high school. I was already a television repair tech for 3 years at that time and worked in my uncles electronics company since I was 12. I did double duty in school for years after, worked the first gps roll out in military stuff we were contractors, and the list goes on, there was always the next new thing in tech coming out, first vcr, first cd, dvr, pc, flat panel radars etc. I really love the stuff. Started with tubes, ended with component level repair of multi layer surface mount boards and did manufacturing of custom along th3 way. What a run! ?

Thanks for the comment. I’ll be watching this thread, great content. -JJ
 
I believe it, at least you still have the test equipment, but still :( sounds like you had some good times and that’s what counts!


Minor updates tonight.
Smoothed/thinned out the carbon layer and put the Busbars back on. Wired up each cell monitor, they just daisy chain so you can add as many as you want (4, 16, 100!), and finally torqued everything down.
My additional heatshrink should arrive tomorrow or Friday so then I’ll be able to repeat all this for the second battery this weekend.
0D2370BF-4E8A-4952-BB42-594F8E9C317A.jpeg719646A0-35CC-4F83-BEC2-343741B2A1D6.jpeg3164398E-0DFB-4C94-B61A-DD09FD6F8044.jpeg
 
Might be a bit too late, but do you have spacers between cells? If you manage to short-circuit a cell aluminum enclosure you may end up with dead cells.

I know these are kind of protected because of the blue film around the cell aluminum body. Your enclosure will kind of protect the blue film. But you are building some very high-end enclosure and it makes sense to consider additional separation between cells.

In the battery that I'm building I'm considering two options - either 3D printer spacers (which will provide channels on the compressed side for cooling) or silicon isolation pads. Both of these will provide sufficient protection in case the blue film gets damaged.
 
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brum said:
Might be a bit too late, but do you have spacers between cells? If you manage to short-circuit a cell aluminum enclosure you may end up with dead cells.

I know these are kind of protected because of the blue film around the cell aluminum body. Your enclosure will kind of protect the blue film. But you are building some very high-end enclosure and it makes sense to consider additional separation between cells.

In the battery that I'm building I'm considering two options - either 3D printer spacers (which will provide channels on the compressed side for cooling) or silicon isolation pads. Both of these will provide sufficient protection in case the blue film gets damaged.
Click to expand...

I've used this for other applications. worked well.

It comes in very thin but durable sizes.

Silicone - Commercial Grade Red/Orange - 60A

Commercial grade silicone rubber sheets are used in applications where extreme temperature resistance is necessary. Its physical properties are not as important as its working temperature range.
www.rubbercal.com www.rubbercal.com
 
That's an option, but if I go with the silicon rubber it would b a lot easier for me (and cheaper) to get cooking pads silicon sheets.
 
brum said:
Might be a bit too late, but do you have spacers between cells? If you manage to short-circuit a cell aluminum enclosure you may end up with dead cells.

I know these are kind of protected because of the blue film around the cell aluminum body. Your enclosure will kind of protect the blue film. But you are building some very high-end enclosure and it makes sense to consider additional separation between cells.

In the battery that I'm building I'm considering two options - either 3D printer spacers (which will provide channels on the compressed side for cooling) or silicon isolation pads. Both of these will provide sufficient protection in case the blue film gets damaged.
Click to expand...
Great thought, and I did think of that but opted not to, for now. When I looked into it it seemed as some did it some didn’t. The thought was that with the cells being compressed it’s be pretty difficult for them to rub and damage the blue film, creating contact and potentially a short.

Extra safety measure for sure but I opted not to. If I change my mind I’ll have to redrill my Busbars to allow for the extra width (which would be minimal).
Also if I do change my mind, my enclosure is designed to allow for the extra space and still slow the front plate to compress so that would all still be ok.
One user is using this in his rv going over pretty rough roads without the extra cell spacers for over a year so that made me feel good about my decision as well.

But good/fair question! And definitely something to consider for anyone doing this.
 
Firstascent said:
Great thought, and I did think of that but opted not to, for now. When I looked into it it seemed as some did it some didn’t. The thought was that with the cells being compressed it’s be pretty difficult for them to rub and damage the blue film, creating contact and potentially a short.
Click to expand...
I would absolutely not risk it. Put in some insulation.
 
brb58 said:
I would absolutely not risk it. Put in some insulation.
Click to expand...
I'll consider it. Do note that there IS insulation between the cells and the aluminum enclosure. But currently not insulation between the individual cells themselves.
 
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Firstascent said:
I'll consider it. Do note that there IS insulation between the cells and the aluminum enclosure. But currently not insulation between the individual cells themselves.
Click to expand...

I just put gallon Ziplock baggies with the top (zip mechanism) cut off in between the cells. This places 2 thin sheets of plastic in-between each cell for added insulation.
 
brb58 said:
I would absolutely not risk it. Put in some insulation.
Click to expand...
I'm on the fence here. I don't have my cells yet, so I don't know how thick the blue layer is on them. You get two layers between cells, so how much is good enough? If it is just blue paint, I get it. If it is shrink wrap, it should do.

Firstascent said:
I'll consider it. Do note that there IS insulation between the cells and the aluminum enclosure. But currently not insulation between the individual cells themselves.
Click to expand...
The box I am planning will be very similar to yours (except bolted instead of welded). I am currently looking at 1/16" Poron between each cell, but that will be about $200 more for all that foam. I like the baggie idea, so I will probably switch to that and just 1/4" Poron at the ends of the batteries. Very nice work!
 
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