skiffmaster
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2022
- Messages
- 6
Hello all, I am brand new here and to Lifepo4. The thing that got me into this emerging technology is that my son is an avid Bow fisherman. This sport requires many LED lights that shine into the water at night illuminating the bottom and the fish. Also utilized is a 24 v trolling motor that runs constantly. Both lights and electric motor use a lot of power and run for 4 to 6 hours per outing. Lead acid just wasnt cutting it, so I recently purchased (16) 3.2 v 100 AH CALB Lifepo4 cells. I used 8 of the cells to make 2 - 4s 12v 100 ah batteries each with a Daly 100ah (nonbluetooth) BMS, These two batteries I sent to the same feed to give me 200 ah of 12v. With the other 8 cells I put together an 8s 24v 100 ah battery for the trolling motor. For this battery I purchased a really nice bluetooth 100ah BMS from Overkill Solar. All 3 BMS came pre programmed for the voltages and applications and I have made no changes to them. I have an onboard charger wired in for each battery so that on plug in gets them going. I have read enough about this technology to confidently say that I am a bonified NOVICE and I'm still trying to get my head around some things. I tried to use best practices building these but due to some time constraints I did not top or bottom balance the cells. I read in a few places that if the cells you purchase were quality same batch cells that tested close at the factory (which is what I have) that the BMS would balance the cells for you over time. With the time constraints I decided to let this part go and went ahead with the build. That was a week ago and my son has used the batteries 3 times with great success. So much so that I havent been able to charge them up fully until today. The Dalys are (non bluetooth) so I have no idea whats going on in those cells. The Overkill however gives me more information in more ways than I understand or know how to interpret (That will come later for me i hope). My question to the community refers to the screenshot here showing each of the 24v batterys cells individual charge. What is this screenshot telling me? Should I go back and top balance or bottom balance the cells or both? Will the BMS balance these cells? As far as the (nonbluetooth) Dalys go I guess we are just supposed to trust that they are doing their job? How can I know what they are doing without a monitoring system? Are there any good SOC meters for Lifepo4 that I can dash mount? Any good advice is very much appreciated.