Tesla Battery charged to 28 volts, popping and shorted out

[MikeinElease]

I have had my Tesla battery running in my solar system for months. The charge controller was in the default setting and the voltage was running 21.4 to 24.4 volts. I was reading the booklet on the charge controller and It has a preprogramed setting for lithium batteries (setting 7). So I switched the setting a couple of days ago. Just now I heard popping sounds coming from my Tesla battery and the battery protector had a code of E1 (Short circuit). The battery is hot in the upper left corner and has made a few loud popping sounds. Did I ruin a $1200 battery by changing the settings on my charger controller and over charging the battery? Anyone have any advice?

 

[gnubie]

Step 1. Put the battery outside. Seriously. Do it now.

 

[John Frum]

Please link to the "battery protector"
You imply that you made changes.
Exactly what did you change and what were the before and after values?

 

[John Frum]

Step 1. Put the battery outside. Seriously. Do it now.

This ^

 

[John Frum]

My speculation is that you have over charged your batteries because your charge controller thinks lithium actually means lifepo4.

 

[snoobler]

Assuming you've relocated the bank outside, or you've successfully put out the fire and are checking back, what smoothJoey said, but 28V isn't outlandish for 7S LiPo. I would suspect poor cell balancing has popped a few. Hopefully, the errant cells blew their fuses and don't present a fire risk.

What kind of BMS? Balancing?

 

[MikeinElease]

Please link to the "battery protector"
You imply that you made changes.
Exactly what did you change and what were the before and after values?

Hi Joey, I have a victron energy ppt 150/85 charge controller. I bought the entire setup from a guy who had it in his RV. The controller was on the default setting. But as I was reading the booklet, I saw that there was a lithium ion battery setting (setting 7). So 3 days ago I changed the setting and have been watching it each day. The voltage yesterday went up to 25 volts. But today, there was not a lot of load on the battery so the charge controller took the battery up to 28 volts. Thats when the popping started. I shut everything down, disconnected the solar panels. The battery was reading only 5 volts and the battery protector had an E1 short circuit code. I took the battery out of the room and put it outside like you suggested. It has been cooling down and I just checked the voltage and its up to 21 volts. It’s not popping any more. Did I ruin it or was the popping sound some type of protection Shutting off rows of cells?

 

[John Frum]

Assuming you've relocated the bank outside, or you've successfully put out the fire and are checking back, what smoothJoey said, but 28V isn't outlandish for 7S LiPo. I would suspect poor cell balancing has popped a few. Hopefully, the errant cells blew their fuses and don't present a fire risk.

What kind of BMS? Balancing?

8 * 3.65 = 29.2
29.2 / 7 = 4.171428571
Should be fine actually.

 

[John Frum]

Hi Joey, I have a victron energy ppt 150/85 charge controller. I bought the entire setup from a guy who had it in his RV. The controller was on the default setting. But as I was reading the booklet, I saw that there was a lithium ion battery setting (setting 7). So 3 days ago I changed the setting and have been watching it each day. The voltage yesterday went up to 25 volts. But today, there was not a lot of load on the battery so the charge controller took the battery up to 28 volts. Thats when the popping started. I shut everything down, disconnected the solar panels. The battery was reading only 5 volts and the battery protector had an E1 short circuit code. I took the battery out of the room and put it outside like you suggested. It has been cooling down and I just checked the voltage and its up to 21 volts. It’s not popping any more. Did I ruin it or was the popping sound some type of protection Shutting off rows of cells?

I am very concerned that some of your cells "vented".
Can you smell a weird smell like silicone shoe protector?

 

[MikeinElease]

Assuming you've relocated the bank outside, or you've successfully put out the fire and are checking back, what smoothJoey said, but 28V isn't outlandish for 7S LiPo. I would suspect poor cell balancing has popped a few. Hopefully, the errant cells blew their fuses and don't present a fire risk.

What kind of BMS? Balancing?

Assuming you've relocated the bank outside, or you've successfully put out the fire and are checking back, what smoothJoey said, but 28V isn't outlandish for 7S LiPo. I would suspect poor cell balancing has popped a few. Hopefully, the errant cells blew their fuses and don't present a fire risk.

What kind of BMS? Balancing?

Assuming you've relocated the bank outside, or you've successfully put out the fire and are checking back, what smoothJoey said, but 28V isn't outlandish for 7S LiPo. I would suspect poor cell balancing has popped a few. Hopefully, the errant cells blew their fuses and don't present a fire risk.

What kind of BMS? Balancing?

The system only had the charge controller, and the Victron Battery Protector. I have an infrared thermometer and the hottest cell is 120 degrees F. It’s not helping that its 96 degrees outside right now.

 

[MikeinElease]

I am very concerned that some of your cells "vented".
Can you smell a weird smell like silicone shoe protector?

No, it is an enclosed room and i have not noticed any unusual smells. I thought about that. I have a very sensitive nose.

 

[snoobler]

I have the 150/100 version. Per:

https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Manual-SmartSolar-charge-controller-MPPT-150-70-to-150-100--250-70-to-250-100-VE.Can-EN-NL-FR-DE-ES-SE-IT.pdf

Page 10: Program 7 is for LiFePO4.

 

[MikeinElease]

Please link to the "battery protector"
You imply that you made changes.
Exactly what did you change and what were the before and after values?

The settings had the battery cycle from 21.4 v to 24.4 volts when I first bought the entire setup from the rv owner. I only changed the charge controller setting to lithium ion Setting. I have had no problems with it before I made the setting change. Did I just throw away $1200?

 

[snoobler]

You really need to layout the entire system for us.

What's providing the signal to the battery protector?

I'm back to my original suspicion... battery was badly out of balance due to the lack of a balancing BMS, and you had some cells go over 4.2V. It was also operating in an incredibly narrow range of low SoC that would also complicate things. 3.06 to 3.49V on a 3.7V nominal cell is just silly and very unhealthy for the chemistry.

 

[MikeinElease]

I have the 150/100 version. Per:

https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Manual-SmartSolar-charge-controller-MPPT-150-70-to-150-100--250-70-to-250-100-VE.Can-EN-NL-FR-DE-ES-SE-IT.pdf

Page 10: Program 7 is for LiFePO4.

So I’m guessing the Tesla battery is not a lifePo4 then? I returned the charge controller setting to the original setting. The battery voltage was 5.3 volts at the height of the disaster. But as it has been cooling off out doors, the voltage has come back up to 21 volts. So not my question is, if it cools off overnight and I have no more issues, could I hook it back up and see what happens? Did i ruin the battery?

 

[John Frum]

Tesla uses one of the "explody" lithium ion chemistries not lifepo4.

 

[snoobler]

No. Tesla batteries are typically a crapton of 18650 or 2170 cylindrical LiPo cells.

You say battery voltage was 28? Then battery voltage was 5.3V? Then battery is 21V?

WTF?

You have an incredible shit storm you need to deal with. I would disconnect that battery completely from everything and measure all the parallel cell groups and record their voltages (7 voltages). Visually inspect it for signs of blown fuses (the tiny little wires on each cell) if they're visible.

Take some pictures and post.

 

[John Frum]

I would disconnect that battery completely from everything and measure all the parallel cell groups and record their voltages (7 voltages).

Are you sure its 7s?

 

[MikeinElease]

Ok, here is the entire system:
1600 watts of solar panels.
Feeding into a Victron energy smartsolar charge controller ppt 150/85 TR
The positive from the battery goes through a cutoff switch and then to
a victron Battery protect BP12/24 220
That feeds into the reliable electric pure sine wave inverter 3000 watt 24 volt.
That is all there is on the system.

 

[John Frum]

Ok, here is the entire system:
1600 watts of solar panels.
Feeding into a Victron energy smartsolar charge controller ppt 150/85 TR
The positive from the battery goes through a cutoff switch and then to
a victron Battery protect BP12/24 220
That feeds into the reliable electric pure sine wave inverter 3000 watt 24 volt.
That is all there is on the system.

The in-rush to prime the inverter's capacitors beats the snot out of the battery protect.
It should not be used in the high current path.
Does your inverter support remote switching per chance?