diy solar

diy solar

Do these cells look too swollen?

... and you want to keep these inside for temperature control?

How big is the shelf you show? What about moving the boots and black box below?
The height isn't the issue, it's the width (31.1/4"), depth (8 7/8"), available materials for structural building in the space, and resources to tie everything together (bus bars, wire, etc). I am trying my best to be optimistic and positive everyday about our situation but to keep things short we were on a great path investing my pension on building a house, had a well drilled, bought almost everything for solar and taking time to learn the best I could with this forum and Wills videos, then we lost everything. It is what it is, won't let challenges in life destroy our spirit or being good people ?. Just trying to make work what we have and appreciate it. Everyone's help is much appreciated and I'm aware I always have room to learn more and be shown something new so please correct me where I'm wrong, I'm always excited to get better at this....it's fun!
 
You are doing great. Get it built and put in service. Should serve you well into the future.
 
You are doing great. Get it built and put in service. Should serve you well into the future.
Thank you, we are trying to get completely off propane, and generator and the cells are just staring us in the face. We have 4 100/20 smart cc, 1 150/35 smart cc, 1 SmartShunt, and 1 48v 3000w (90% efficiency) pure sine inverter, and 18 325w panels. With the 2 banks and equipment we have we should be able to go 100% electric with heat and everything here for a 180 sqft trailer without issue. Can't imagine even at 80% utilization of the banks, using (((304ah*2)*.8)*48)*.9) = 20,995wh that we can't make it work long term. But def don't want to waste my investment by shaving years off our cells due to ignorance or overlooking something I could have done better.
 
Lol there is tubing on the threaded rod already so validating the choice is much appreciated ? and I thought about accounting for rubber between cells as also an insulator but just can't afford it at the moment. The space in the rack designed was as big as I could go with materials I already had and also allows for quick removal of packs from the rack in case of hazard. In case of fire ? in my rpod my priority is humans, cats, battery packs, and solar board (CC's, SmartShunt, Inverters, Busbars, Breakers).
this is what I have been using
 
Ok, have BMS connected, able to connect via Bluetooth and all cells are reporting back to the BMS, have first CC connected to BMS but not powered yet by battery bank. I believe it's because it needs to be activated by incoming power. It seems kinda counter productive to the directions for the victron though. They say to connect to battery first so the CC can detect the right voltage before panels are connected. Anyways I'll dig more to see if I can activate the BMS another way first. Meanwhile if anyone knows where I can findevthe appropriate parameters for the BMS it would be great, otherwise the search is on ?Screenshot_20221123-124029_SMART BMS.jpgScreenshot_20221123-124059_SMART BMS.jpgScreenshot_20221123-124116_SMART BMS.jpgScreenshot_20221123-124132_SMART BMS.jpgScreenshot_20221123-124145_SMART BMS.jpgScreenshot_20221123-124153_SMART BMS.jpgScreenshot_20221123-124211_SMART BMS.jpg
 
Ok, have BMS connected, able to connect via Bluetooth and all cells are reporting back to the BMS, have first CC connected to BMS but not powered yet by battery bank. I believe it's because it needs to be activated by incoming power. It seems kinda counter productive to the directions for the victron though. They say to connect to battery first so the CC can detect the right voltage before panels are connected. Anyways I'll dig more to see if I can activate the BMS another way first. Meanwhile if anyone knows where I can findevthe appropriate parameters for the BMS it would be great, otherwise the search is on ?View attachment 121559View attachment 121560View attachment 121561View attachment 121562View attachment 121563View attachment 121564View attachment 121565
Update: was able to connect my desktop power supply to the CC battery side so it registered a 48v battery bank and let me set the parameters on it. Still no active BMS but come Friday will get panels attached.
 
The allowed battery orientation is sometimes documented in the data sheet that the manufacturer publishes. If the data sheet makes no mention of orientation then you must assume a vertical-only orientation.

At one point, EVE allowed for the cell to be placed on it's long side. I haven't looked at the more recent data sheet to see if they have changed that for the newer version.
 
As far as swelling, from what I can see, they look fine. For ultimate longevity, you always want to treat all cells of the battery the same. Age, use history, temperature, orientation and compression/ or lack of it. The cells at the bottom would have more weight on them and many times that from acceleration in a vertical direction from even a gentle bump in a vehicle application. I highly recommend that you don’t do stack horizontally like that. Also using only four rods with that narrow./thin of end plates will bulge up in mid span causing the cells to deform when they expand in use. If you do add two more rods between remember they carry a shared load so if you compress with springs you will need to compensate. I like to use boxes/fixtures that carry only 8 cells each because it’s much easier to move only 100 lbs. I also like to fixture the cell before the first use at a low state of charge before top balance, service and never take them apart again so the cells only have to form/take shape once to limit the internal layer rubbing. Remember to add an insulation layer between cells and/or metal walls. This is crucial for mobile applications.
 
I've finally been able to pull the cells out I bought last year out of storage and build my battery banks. My concern is that there is a difference between cells. None have been hooked up and the only exposure they have had has been seasonal temp changes. Each cell is 305ah and all showing 3.30v.

Please correct me if my process below is wrong:

The only steps I have left are:
1) Compress the cells in place
2) Mount BMS
3) Connect BMS to cells & connect cells in series
4) Review configuration/configure BMS
5) Connect BMS to + & - bus bars
associated with CC's.
6) Review configuration/configure CC's
7) Connect CC's to panel arrays
8) Let CC's charge cells until BMS stops charging (I don't have an alternative to charging the cells and the bench charger is to slow to my understanding for this part).
9) Disconnect the BMS from the CC's, Cells, and disconnect the cells from each other.
10) Connect 4 cells at a time in parallel and use the bench power supply to top balance the cells to 3.65 (when the power supply shows no current is being drawn the cells are fully charged)
11) Repeat step 9 until all 16 cells have been top balanced then make sure all cells are no longer connected to one another
12) Repeat steps 3-8

* If all is good then repeat for send bank and connect in parallel

View attachment 120796
I originally planned and mounted my batteries in this orientation like yours. However, after seeing the attached below, I changed my orientation. No matter what the supplier says, I’d rather be safe than find out the hard way it’s not and have issues!
1676823139819.png
1676823186058.png
 
I originally planned and mounted my batteries in this orientation like yours. However, after seeing the attached below, I changed my orientation. No matter what the supplier says, I’d rather be safe than find out the hard way it’s not and have issues!
View attachment 135647
View attachment 135648
I’d don’t think it’s a good idea to stack more on top of a short side (center example).
 
If this is a mobile application you will want separation/insulation of some sort between the cells, the plastic wrap will wear off and the cells will be in contact. There are some events in the “up in smoke” section that were believed to be started by this.
 
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