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Small Portable Battery - Show & Tell.

Rocketman

Solar Wizard
Joined
Sep 27, 2020
Messages
1,902
Well I finished my 12v 50Ah LiFePo4 small portable battery. I will be using the battery in my Jeep and for camping.

It has eight 25Ah Fortune cells from electriccarparts.com and an Overkill BMS.

I started to play with the batteries with my Batrium BMS in this thread:
BMS https://diysolarforum.com/threads/batrium-watchmon-install.17539/

They are very nice battery cells.

IMG_2414.jpg


IMG_2413.jpg
The Details:
The case is a Harbor Freight Apache 2800.
It has a very bright LED light on top (RV light from Amazon) The light uses about .7amps.

For ports
IMG_2410.jpg

There are two Anderson PowerPole Ports, A "Cigarette" port and a voltage readout that also has USB ports.

I will charge it through the PowerPole Ports - current just using the 30V 10A power supply, but I will get a regular lithium charger.

That and a On/Off switch on the front.

Between the wood and the foam, I figure the batteries will NOT move, even if it goes upside down.

There is a 30Amp surface mounted breaker - which ties into the 10ga wire for the powerpole connections and then a 10A fuse for the cigarette port and USB's.

Hope to have LOTS of fun with it!
 
I figured I would give a four month review. This has been awesome!

We are now full time RVing, I find I use the battery a fair amount.
Extra light is always nice.
The cells are staying very balanced. Right now they are all within .0003v of each other.

I found I really like the power pole connections.

My only complaint is it is a bit heavy (and off balanced). When I designed it I wanted it to run a Cpap machine for a sister-in-law. Instead they decided to do our upcoming trip in RV parks. So I should have made it as a 25ah 12v battery instead of a 50ah 12v battery. Oh well.
 
A nine month update…

Still works very well. A couple of months ago the battery decided it wanted to fall out of the Jeep when I opened the door. It fell out and landed “upside” down on the handle. Broke the handle (%##^* cheap harbor freight case). No damage other than the broke handle. Glad I put so much wood and foam in it.
Finally got another case put the same holes in it and now it’s fixed again.

To charge the batteries I got a small 7a lithium charger from Victron and I charge it through the power pole connectors.
 
Yes - I put a LED light I ordered from Amazon on it - on the lid of the case. The light is actually brighter than I would prefer, but it is really nice when I need a bunch of light.

Often times I will turn the light on and set the battery/light about twenty feet away - it throws out a lot of light.
 
A nine month update…

Still works very well. A couple of months ago the battery decided it wanted to fall out of the Jeep when I opened the door. It fell out and landed “upside” down on the handle. Broke the handle (%##^* cheap harbor freight case). No damage other than the broke handle. Glad I put so much wood and foam in it.
Finally got another case put the same holes in it and now it’s fixed again.

To charge the batteries I got a small 7a lithium charger from Victron and I charge it through the power pole connectors.
Pelican sells replacement handles that work on Apachee cases if you ever need another one..
 
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