Shipping porn: this is how you pack cells!

[Daddy Tanuki]

I have few of those same looking cells but in blue containers made by Calb maybe? They are probably over 10 years old and still hold 30Ah out of 40.

yep I have the blue calb 200 a/h models, but out of 68 cells ordered from a middle man vendor about 20 were hot garbage and the other 48 i am now using in a 3p16s pack with about 90% of its capacity.

I really wanted to buy the EVE's but the sellers (Amy x 2) both waffled out when I asked them some basic questions and there price to japan anyway were not that competitive as they are in the states. I think if I had been able to order guaranteed automotive grade cells form either of them i would have been happy.... but i have learned not to trust people that waffle.

edit for clarity: I ordered the calb se cells in three separate orders, first two orders got me 32 good cells the last order form the same vendor was pretty much missing a 1/3 of their capacity.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

but i have learned not to trust people that waffle.

?

 

[AntronX]

but i have learned not to trust people that waffle.

I wonder if SFK would have sold you a box of 48 cells since they drop ship direct from China.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

?

your an EGGO STFU!

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

I wonder if SFK would have sold you a box of 48 cells since they drop ship direct from China.

not sure, as i recently have started hearing about them. even if...would they honor any warranty being overseas? I know that signature solar never answered back on a couple of emails... not saying i am not glad at this point for that bit of serendipity

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

OK verified two things with Winston as I wanted to be 100% sure of this: charging at -25c is OK at .25c, but charging at any c rate at 25c will increase cycle count and cell life.

secondly the cells are brand new off of the line and not over runs, rejects, or warehouse queens.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

next step folks.. a 1700 liter insulated tank into a water heater excess power dump....

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this is a milk tank which is double walled with 1" of blue foam insulation between the walls... with two elements (8 total, so I can swap elements without draining) so two elements 4000 watts for four hours each day in the summer... how much hot water can I get? is it enough to keep the underside of the house warm enough to not need heat tapes? can I divert some to radiators? how about preheat for the current on demand gas water heater?...

all of those questions you wanted answered but were afraid to try, and will does not cover these as they are not in his current wheelhouse... recycle, reuse and repurpose (except for condoms... that's bad M Kay?)

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

this will be this summers project. I have been muttering about a house heating system from solar since the time I entered this forum. now we are going into the procurement and initial test stages. I have a cheap Signeer 5kw inverter which will be on a DC voltage relay no power out to the heating elements until we are at 3.35 per cell... we have the new winston cells to beat on and another 1800 watts of panels going on the west facing side to lengthen out the solar day.

the question is, will we need the Waste oil burner to supplement in the winter?

 

[NIFE]

So just got my order from Winston finalized. 32 x 400 aamp hour cells. I was worried about packing after some of my prior experiences and reading about some of the issues from other vendors.... Shipping porn:




View attachment 187762

Nice to see nylon cased cells are still available. batteryhookup.com has CALB grey case cells. The eight I purchased all tested above spec and are working out well so far.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

Nice to see nylon cased cells are still available. batteryhookup.com has CALB grey case cells. The eight I purchased all tested above spec and are working out well so far.

just my thoughts, but there is something inherently wrong with the aluminum cased cells. at first (and I still halfway believe) that its an attempt to stuff to much storage into to small of a space. the largest cells I had seen until these winstons were the 200 calb SE's of which I have 68 of. these are all pull offs. batteries pulled from a prime mover that or warehouse queens. I think i have half and half. 3/4"s of them meet minimum spec for a CALB. the last 25% are flat out shit. the last date they were made is about 5 years ago, so pretty sure they are pull offs.

that being said, none of them have swelled, none of the have caused any issues other than lower capacity then what they should have been some of them read out at 120 aH when they should be 200. that's at a 40 amp draw, so .2c give or take. the good ones give 100% of what they should (200 aH at 40 aH draw) so that being said.

the new cells I only tested one. it put 460 aH even though it was rated at 400. this is at the same 40 aH draw. but physically it is more than 2x the size of the calb 200 aH cells. it is close to x 2.25 or in other words a shit ton larger than the Eve 304's and Eve 280's.

call it what you want but the eve/docan sized cells all have issues that the DIY crowd is trying to deal with. research and buy with caution.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

Nice to see nylon cased cells are still available. batteryhookup.com has CALB grey case cells. The eight I purchased all tested above spec and are working out well so far.

the gray ones are still in production to the best of my knowledge. CALB's are no shyte full on badass. even the older ones that i got are bulletproof. lacking on capacity due to age or abuse... but no swelling or other issues. they even tend to run close enough together that a passive balancer works on them.

 

[NIFE]

the gray ones are still in production to the best of my knowledge. CALB's are no shyte full on badass. even the older ones that i got are bulletproof. lacking on capacity due to age or abuse... but no swelling or other issues. they even tend to run close enough together that a passive balancer works on them.

I ended up assembling a 12 volt, 360 AH set using a JBD 100A BMS with passive balancing. These are so well matched they consistently balance within 10 millivolts or less in a very short period of time. I am somewhat new to these cells but I think that's close enough. Keep us up to date with your Winston install.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

wired up with a BMS to charge them up to overvolt protection. then put them in series for a nice top balance.

 

[Brucey]

wired up with a BMS to charge them up to overvolt protection. then put them in series for a nice top balance.View attachment 199481

What are these? I'd think compression rods but they seem to go "thru" the battery.

 

[OzSolar]

What are these? I'd think compression rods but they seem to go "thru" the battery.
View attachment 199487

They don't. I thought the same but looked again and realized the angle of the photo was tricking me.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

What are these? I'd think compression rods but they seem to go "thru" the battery.
View attachment 199487

compression rods, the angle of the dangle is cheesy. the Winston's use a strap system to lock the pack together with and I opted to go with my own system. the springs are calculated to put 12PSI on the face of the cells at 75% charge, so as they discharge and charge it keeps roughly the same pressure on the cells. it also serves to hold the aluminum plates against the batteries for the heating pads to properly heat the cells, (most important thing) even though the winstons do not need to be kept at the same temp as most of the other offerings it increases cycle and cell life to keep them around 25°C they can charge and discharge down to -45°c but optimum cycle life is attained at 25°c. so I stack the pads in series to hold roughly a 25°c temp but in actuality it swings form a low of 10 to a high of 25. still within my parameters. no controller, no relays, no raspberry pi's or adurino's needed.

 

[NorthTown2022]

no controller, no relays, no raspberry pi's or adurino's needed.

Solar panel and snap disc thermostat?

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

Solar panel and snap disc thermostat?

nope simply wired enough pads in series that the power output dropped to where i needed it. basically 16 pads in series, no controllers, at all. turn it on in november, shut it off in april. this is the same system I have used for the last winter and this winter. so 18 months give or take.

originally i tried various relays and controllers. but chinese electronics are iffy at best. after burning up one buck converter and three relays i gave up an wired the heating pads in series until i got the desired results.

 

[Sabre36]

So just got my order from Winston finalized. 32 x 400 aamp hour cells. I was worried about packing after some of my prior experiences and reading about some of the issues from other vendors.... Shipping porn:




View attachment 187762

I ordered my Winston 400Ah cells in 2009 they shipped identically. Far more robust than cardboard...

 

[NorthTown2022]

nope simply wired enough pads in series that the power output dropped to where i needed it. basically 16 pads in series, no controllers, at all. turn it on in november, shut it off in april. this is the same system I have used for the last winter and this winter. so 18 months give or take.

originally i tried various relays and controllers. but chinese electronics are iffy at best. after burning up one buck converter and three relays i gave up an wired the heating pads in series until i got the desired results.

That's a brilliantly simple setup. I'd strongly consider it myself if i had more capacity and my install wasn't remote. Your cells are in an unheated shipping container? How cold do ambient temps drop?