Lifepo4 enclosure box

[Nomadicshow]

Hi, I built this box out of some sturdy pine wood I had left over. I built it around my new cells when they were low charge.

I noticed my cells want to puff up a bit when they're fully charged, but this box was designed to prevent that movement in the lifepo4 prismatic cells. I heard compressing the cells is important, but rather than squeeze them I figured i could make a snug home where any puffing wouldn't be possible, kind of a happy medium, like how they fit snug in electric vehicles.

Is this a good idea? I'm worried they'll be too pressurized if they can't expand at all at full charge. Or is this exactly what I want?

 

[Nomadicshow]

This is the box, didn't get a good pic before installing

 

[joanna_lannie]

The purpose of battery compression is to keep the battery from expanding.

 

[Skinny76]

I put my batteries in a compressed pack to keep stress off the bus bars and terminals. I keep my charge and discharge rates pretty low, so I'm not too concerned about expansion, but even a little expansion/compression over and over and over could stress them.