diy solar

diy solar

Finally have some cells....

TAS CPA

New Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2021
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95
Have a trip upcoming where having some larger battery capacity would be really helpful, so jumped on some 280 Ah CATL's from SolarSupplyHouse.com My order was disjointed because I decided to order more than just the cells. Always appreciate it when a small business owner calls to make sure I'm getting exactly what I want.

Cells and other items ordered arrived within a week. They are beautiful :cool:. Yes, the cells were expensive compared to the group buy. But, they are HERE NOW. Will document the process of top balancing, capacity testing, and installation. Should be "fun"!

Still looking forward to the 100 million AH of cells I've got coming, but those will be too late for 2021's RV season.
 
Have a trip upcoming where having some larger battery capacity would be really helpful, so jumped on some 280 Ah CATL's from SolarSupplyHouse.com My order was disjointed because I decided to order more than just the cells. Always appreciate it when a small business owner calls to make sure I'm getting exactly what I want.

Cells and other items ordered arrived within a week. They are beautiful :cool:. Yes, the cells were expensive compared to the group buy. But, they are HERE NOW. Will document the process of top balancing, capacity testing, and installation. Should be "fun"!

Still looking forward to the 100 million AH of cells I've got coming, but those will be too late for 2021's RV season.
I bought those same cells and they are great. They got here in a week well worth the extra 30 or so per cell. In fact I am running my house as we speak on them. Just finished the battery two days ago it took almost 2 days at 40 amps to get them charged up to the point I could put them in parallel to top balance them.
 
I bought those same cells and they are great. They got here in a week well worth the extra 30 or so per cell. In fact I am running my house as we speak on them. Just finished the battery two days ago it took almost 2 days at 40 amps to get them charged up to the point I could put them in parallel to top balance them.
I'm being tortured! They're sitting there and I need to get the screws in them and let the loctite set.
 
Cleaned up all the threads, then Loctite 263 to hopefully never have to deal with them again. Now giving it 24 hours to cure.
Posts In CATL Cells 2021 0801.jpg
 
These have now been hooked up for a couple days (pic is from early on). Can definitely see why people reach for that voltage knob!

Top Balance 1.jpg
 
These have now been hooked up for a couple days (pic is from early on). Can definitely see why people reach for that voltage knob!
I usually throw on a bms and charge them to almost full then top balance it goes quicker
 
I usually throw on a bms and charge them to almost full then top balance it goes quicker
May try that with the next set. I do have two chargers, but not enough bus bars to do all 8 cells at once. With the BMS on, what do you use to provide the charging power? Still the same DC benchtop charger?
 
Yes but the voltage is higher so put them in 4s the voltage would be 14.6. That way you can charge at a higher current. I have a charger that can give me an 80 amp charge so it goes much quicker
 
Yes but the voltage is higher so put them in 4s the voltage would be 14.6. That way you can charge at a higher current. I have a charger that can give me an 80 amp charge so it goes much quicker
Hmmm. One of my chargers does either 50 or 60 (can't remember) amps. Will see if I can get the drill press fired up this weekend and make some real bus bars.
 
Finally starting to taper off.... Just want to get an initial step charge on all of them while I'm still deciding whether to do individual 4S batteries with the Overkill BMS's vs 2P4S with the REC A BMS.
Top Balance 4.jpg
 
Finally pulling the plug on the first "battery". Will let it sit in parallel for at least a day while continuing to work on real bus bars and compression rig.
Top Balance 7.jpg
 
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