Voiding warranty (probably).

[Short_Shot]

Tight on space. Manual says to mount these things with 10cm clearance and terminals facing down.

Well. Sorry Victron but space is limited.

Good thing is I'll almost never need to use the DC to DC charger.

Gooder news is the space this will go in is rather significantly ventilated. If I have issues with temps I can, and will, add a fan.

Before pic. The goodies all have to go to the right of the battery.


The abomination. I've got some plastic wire loom to put on once I sort out what's what with my fuse box. There will be a 150a class T feeding two 40a ANL fuses. One to the camper itself and one to the fuse box for the misc stuff I have up there.

Are there good quality exterior 12 volt sockets and plugs in the market that can be rained on? I want an external solar input and 12v output.



And just because I'm currently working on it, I just got my cells yesterday. That is the "bus cable" plan and orientation however I need to build a box to put them in yet. Of course they'll be nice and square then.


3.291, 3.331, 3.330, 3.330 out of the box and without damage, though based on other comments about this seller I'll be surprised to see the full 280ah.

This battery should never see more than 40a in either direction, but I'm using 2awg cable in place of bars.


Just need to go get some better terminal screws later today.

 

[wholybee]

Looks pretty good. The Victron orientation will be fine. The only thing I don't like are the molex connectors. Replace those with Anderson.

 

[Short_Shot]

Looks pretty good. The Victron orientation will be fine. The only thing I don't like are the molex connectors. Replace those with Anderson.

It's all very low current stuff.

I use them a lot for stuff under 5 amps.

 

[Short_Shot]

I have been bringing up the voltage slowly while I'm able to keep an eye on it, since I don't trust this power supply.

Am finally on the final leg to 3.65v and coming up quick. Was under 0.7a when I last checked.


I also got a few xt90 connectors installed to the abomination to connect to the camper and heater and I intend to put a couple of waterproof exterior power supply connectors to the outside of my tongue box. The typical 12 volt socket and plug setup is terrible.

1 for my fridge and the other for miscellaneous whatever.

And two of the same type of connector (opposite gender) for solar input and dc input from my truck.

 

[Short_Shot]

So after a couple days I believe I'm now at full charge and top vs balanced to the millivolt.

However I noticed there is virtually zero swelling.

Capacity test will be starting after I get some new bolts for these cells but does that seem odd to anyone?

 

[Steve_S]

Swelling is relative to the Ambient Temperature the cells are at AND the amount of Amps being pushed into them (which heats them up). I don't usually charge at High Amps BUT during the Thrash Testing I was pushing up to 200A to bank & individual packs through the cycle as well as heavy discharging up to 200A and they heat up when pushing/pulling that much and they do swell up a bit.

My LFP Bank consists of 3x 24V/280AH & 2x 24V/175AH. Thrash tests were done when the bank had 2x280 & 2x175 with bank as a whole and down to One Pack only. (the 175's are used EV-Grade LFP with higher C-Rate)

 

[Short_Shot]

Swelling is relative to the Ambient Temperature the cells are at AND the amount of Amps being pushed into them (which heats them up). I don't usually charge at High Amps BUT during the Thrash Testing I was pushing up to 200A to bank & individual packs through the cycle as well as heavy discharging up to 200A and they heat up when pushing/pulling that much and they do swell up a bit.

My LFP Bank consists of 3x 24V/280AH & 2x 24V/175AH. Thrash tests were done when the bank had 2x280 & 2x175 with bank as a whole and down to One Pack only. (the 175's are used EV-Grade LFP with higher C-Rate)

Good to know. I'm only charging at 15a max.

Building the case now. With any luck it'll be ready to drop in to the case, be charged up, and tossed into my camper before next weekend.

 

[Short_Shot]

Going to have 1/8" neoprene plus a layer of cutting mat between the cells and this case. Reinforcement of 1/4-20 rod.

Each end will have 1/4" of poron compressed just slightly past 25%.

Since I absolutely intend to use this in the winter on occasion, I'm hoping to be able to stick a 15w 12 volt heater pad on the bottom of each cell as well, with redundant snap disk over temperature cutouts at 40C. One on each end.

I also believe I will need to connect these outside the BMS so if necessary I can simply hook my truck to my dc to dc charger to provide power to warm the battery and get the system online. Depending how things go with the 7 pin connector current, that alone may suffice.

I'm thinking my temperature sensor for the bms should be in the middle of a side wall with the heater sensor located right in the center of the bottom of the pack.

 

[Short_Shot]

Well.

I measured properly it turns out.

But boy is it tight, as expected.

 

[Short_Shot]

Well.

At 225ah I'm now heading south rapidly so it looks like I got the same thing everyone else did. 80% capacity used cells.

Gonna let it finish up and then complain. I can still use this much capacity however. In fact I only "need" 200ah or so.

Though I'm really tempted to just order from that US warehouse in Texas and use these cells for my sump pump at this point just out of sheer annoyance.

 

[chrisski]

Are there good quality exterior 12 volt sockets and plugs in the market that can be rained on? I want an external solar input and 12v output.

I use Anderson Pole and MC4 to connect portable panels. On the RVs portable panels where it could get wet or be submerged, I use MC4s. For the Portable Generator that will not get wet, I use Anderson Powerpoles.

Anderson Plugs suggested and that seems to be a standard for quick disconnect DC devices. I use these with my portable panels its what they come with. I don't know how it would do sitting in a puddle.

For that type of waterproof, I'd like an MC4 connector. If not MC4, something with an IP rating. Basically means it can be submerged in a few inches of water without leaking. Not sure Powerpoles meet that criteria.

For the Powerpoles, Covers are available for those https://czh-labs.com/products/rubbe...s-pp15-30-45-anderson-powerpole-connector-379. Those are the only ones I found. I've purchased from there twice. If you've seen others, I wouldn't mind a link.

There are a couple different Powerpole mounting brackets, but I haven't tried either. I'm embarrassed to say but right now I have gorilla glue holding my power poles on one of my combiner boxes. I just could not get myself to spend $25 for a pre-made drill in mount. Not for that low budget build. There's some metal mounting clamps on E-Bay for a little cheaper, something like $3 per 2 pieces for one connector set.

I recently started using the 50 amp Powerpole Battery Quick Disconnects, but those are a bit bigger.

​

 

[Short_Shot]

I use Anderson Pole and MC4 to connect portable panels. On the RVs portable panels where it could get wet or be submerged, I use MC4s. For the Portable Generator that will not get wet, I use Anderson Powerpoles.

Anderson Plugs suggested and that seems to be a standard for quick disconnect DC devices. I use these with my portable panels its what they come with. I don't know how it would do sitting in a puddle.

For that type of waterproof, I'd like an MC4 connector. If not MC4, something with an IP rating. Basically means it can be submerged in a few inches of water without leaking. Not sure Powerpoles meet that criteria.

For the Powerpoles, Covers are available for those https://czh-labs.com/products/rubbe...s-pp15-30-45-anderson-powerpole-connector-379. Those are the only ones I found. I've purchased from there twice. If you've seen others, I wouldn't mind a link.

There are a couple different Powerpole mounting brackets, but I haven't tried either. I'm embarrassed to say but right now I have gorilla glue holding my power poles on one of my combiner boxes. I just could not get myself to spend $25 for a pre-made drill in mount. Not for that low budget build. There's some metal mounting clamps on E-Bay for a little cheaper, something like $3 per 2 pieces for one connector set.

I recently started using the 50 amp Powerpole Battery Quick Disconnects, but those are a bit bigger.

​

So regarding this. Ip67, 30a rating.

Comes in both flavors with either the male or female on the panel side, which is good because I need two inputs and at least one output and would like to keep them apart.

So I ordered these instead.

I have an Anderson connector on my dc to dc cable from the truck and it's just fine but not as weather resistant as I'd prefer. For where that connector will sit, under the hood, it's suitable there.

 

[Short_Shot]

Amazon.com

 

[Short_Shot]

It's official. 241ah.

Fairly sure I didn't mess this process up.

 

[chrisski]

So I ordered these instead.

Thanks.

Those look secure against light bumps, but can be taken out easy. I’ve had my Anderson plugs come out a couple of times. I do use MC4 plugs to get the portable array from outside, but they are tough to take apart.

 

[Short_Shot]

Sneak peak?

 

[Short_Shot]

The abomination is ready.



Victron DC to DC 12/12-18 charger.
Victron 75/15 MPPT solar charge controller.
2x 12v outputs.
1x DC to DC input.
1x external solar panel input.
1x cheap DC breaker for PV cutoff.
1x class T fuse holder.
1x ANL distribution block with 2x 60A fuses. One to the camper and one to the fuse panel.
1x 12 position with "ground" fuse panel.

The big 2awg cable is simply because I've got a bunch leftover and plenty of crimp lugs so overkill can't hurt.

The maximum total load I'll ever see on this system is ~40a and that will be extremely rare. 90% of the time I only pull about 5-6 amps, with the rare 15 if I'm using my little vacuum cleaner with the stereo cranked, iceco cooler, two phones charging, and the heat running full blast.


The fuse panel is solely for all the misc stuff in/ related to the tongue box and serves as a convenient place to get another fuse in place for the two inputs.

The two crappy 6 pin molex connectors will only be used for stuff under 5 amps, like the light in my tongue box. At the moment that's all it'll have hooked up.

The two MC4 connectors go to the 3 small panels on the lid of the tongue box.

Also stuffed my four input/output connectors in.


These are supposedly ip67 and 30 amp rated.

Now I just need to figure out some weatherproof labels for them....

 

[Bob142]

Great job overall making that fit in the space you had available!

These are supposedly ip67 and 30 amp rated.

I'm very interested in an update down the road on how these work out for you.

 

[Short_Shot]

Friend of mine just bought a laser cutter so guess who has two thumbs and is getting a laser cut battery case lid?

This guy.

In theory. Just sent him the svg.

 

[cinergi]

It is not fair to say that all cells swell or that those which do only do so in relation to temperature. This is simply not true with the EVE 280 cells. They expand and contract by change in SoC only. Not temperature. Not C of charge or discharge. SoC.
My 272 Lishens don't swell under any circumstances.

As for the DC-DC - stress it out as much as you can for 20 minutes and check its temperature. My 48-12 gets to 130-135F in the hottest spots and will start reducing output amperage. Keep in mind the worst situation that compartment will be in -- e.g. ambient/outdoor/whatever temperatures. A little active cooling can go a long way.