Thanks for the video. I subscribed and a Thumbs up. My wife asked me this morning is it wise to mix batteries. We bought 8 Eco Worthy 100w panels. 4 standard & 4 Bi facial. A few days ago around noon at 38 degrees on a bright day I got a reading of 885 watts twice. The panels go to a Li Time 60 amp MPPT charger, 3 Li Time 12v 100ah batteries, Li Time 3000w inverter to a six circuit transfer box. I would like to add another battery hence my wife's question.
How funny. I am going to be doing a review on some Eco Worthy solar panels in a few days so now I am interested to see if they preform as well as yours do. Are you going to be adding another LiTime battery to your setup? I would guess that it would be fine.
Wiring is an issue from what I could see. All conductors should be equal length. The 2 packs that you have with the 12v bats in series have very short ending leads, those will probably drain first and since they are comprised of 4 12v packs that will most likely not have identical cells in them, they might deviate from each other. The single 24v pack is fine imo, because the whole pack has identical cells, or at least should, but since it has long ending leads, it will likely drain first.. My guess is you will see a lot of current sharing when nearing low capacity and under load. Touch the wires of all the packs when you are at low % or better yet, meassure for current sharing. All of this might not happen or might differ depending on a lot of factors, like if you top or bottom balanced, what C rating you will cycle them, etc. Great video and I love when people aren't afraid of using their batteries and try to get the max out of them instead of babying them so much.
Not too concerned about the wires not being equal. Did top balance everything and the C rate will be low so we will see. It is a fun experience and the batteries were free so why not. LOL
I imagine if you set the low voltage cutoff (LVC) of your EP Ever to be higher than the lowest LVC of the BMSs in your battery bank, then you never have to worry about one or more of the batteries cutting out and transferring the load to the remaining ones. As for charging, LiFEPO4 tend to be very forgiving at the top end, where anything from 13.4V to 13.6V is considered 100% SoC. In the lead acid days, mismatching was more of a problem.
I’m planning on having two 24v 230ah batteries in parallel to bus bars then GIANDEL 4000w 24V inverter. I also wanted to put terminal fuses on battery post with a breaker disconnect down line. I got confused with the proper size fuses. 4000w / 24v = 166.66 x 1.25 safety = 208 amps. Batteries have built in 200 amp BMS which prevent over current. ( guessing 200 amps ). Which fuse should I have on battery terminal and what breaker disconnect would I use? Another monkey wrench is I’ll have an Ecoflow 800w dc to dc charger off the bus bars so that got me thinking wouldn’t I use 4800w in the above calculations since inverter & dc to dc might both be adding to the battery amp draw. I doubt I’ll ever pull max amps on inverter properly only two or three thousand watts if I run two kitchen appliances at the same time. Appreciate any input you or your audience can give me. I’ll be using 1/0 battery cables to the bus bars and probably 2 AWG to the inverter since I’ve got them already.
I’m new to this and want to build my own solar charger. Can you explain to me how the DC to DC charger comes in play. Where is the input DC coming from to power the charger? Thanks, Dave
The only "issue" i see is that a battery/bms in one string( in a low charge scenario) will shut off and you loose that string. In normal use we have our batteries more or less between 40-90%. So you will probably never have any issues . 😊
Stop using batteries. Open them all up, test the cells for ah, make 8 stacks of reasonable close capacity. Buy a few extra cells if needed to even out the ah. Put them on a jk bms with a build in real 1 or 2amp balancer. Done.
I noticed the fuse on every battery going to the buss bar, If I wasnt using a buss bar and only had two batterys in parallel, would I still need a fuse on both batterys?
This is a great starter setup . Maybe later in the future you can update the system without those long bus bars using cabling and spruce up the charge controller . That inverter will always be a beast . May the solar be with you .😉👌
the 24v unit will be ok, the others will need regular checking after a nights use while resting before recharged, looking at the recommended charging rates for each battery and selecting settings that will be a medium between them will be the challenge, I have 2 separate 24v lithium sets, one set states 28.8 bulk, which is weird as that's lead acid bulk and the other 29.2 ... they can be separated via an isolation switch, they supply different sections of my off-grid house... have a second solar array which once charged the original lead acids from when I first moved onto the property ... I may bring them into parallel when solar collection is poor, 5yrs experience with lithium, I can safely say they are a lot more robust than people think.
What you are saying is what I am thinking as well and I will adjust as needed. Always wanted to do a test like this so I am interested to see how they perform
Can you or your experienced followers recommend an inverter for someone who’s building their first battery backup / solar generator for the purpose of keeping our refrigerator going for a few hours during a power outage? I’m on disability from 4 spine surgeries so I’m looking for something hopefully in the $200 range. For a modern refrigerator is pure sine wave a necessity? I don’t want to kill our refrigerator with dirty power. I plan on used or maybe new panels from Marketplace in the 3-400W range. I’ll try to come up with money for 24v system instead of 12. Thank You, Dave in PA
I would highly recommend a pure sine wave to run a refrigerator. I really like Giandel inverters and have used this one for several years: amzn.to/3ZRpCmL Another one I have heard a lot of good feedback from is this - amzn.to/4gwhvmQ - but I have never personally used them.
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Thanks for the video. I subscribed and a Thumbs up. My wife asked me this morning is it wise to mix batteries. We bought 8 Eco Worthy 100w panels. 4 standard & 4 Bi facial. A few days ago around noon at 38 degrees on a bright day I got a reading of 885 watts twice. The panels go to a Li Time 60 amp MPPT charger, 3 Li Time 12v 100ah batteries, Li Time 3000w inverter to a six circuit transfer box. I would like to add another battery hence my wife's question.
How funny. I am going to be doing a review on some Eco Worthy solar panels in a few days so now I am interested to see if they preform as well as yours do.
Are you going to be adding another LiTime battery to your setup? I would guess that it would be fine.
Wiring is an issue from what I could see. All conductors should be equal length. The 2 packs that you have with the 12v bats in series have very short ending leads, those will probably drain first and since they are comprised of 4 12v packs that will most likely not have identical cells in them, they might deviate from each other. The single 24v pack is fine imo, because the whole pack has identical cells, or at least should, but since it has long ending leads, it will likely drain first.. My guess is you will see a lot of current sharing when nearing low capacity and under load. Touch the wires of all the packs when you are at low % or better yet, meassure for current sharing.
All of this might not happen or might differ depending on a lot of factors, like if you top or bottom balanced, what C rating you will cycle them, etc.
Great video and I love when people aren't afraid of using their batteries and try to get the max out of them instead of babying them so much.
Not too concerned about the wires not being equal. Did top balance everything and the C rate will be low so we will see. It is a fun experience and the batteries were free so why not. LOL
@@OurBlackCatCottage Agreed. I wouldn't worry about wire length here.
I imagine if you set the low voltage cutoff (LVC) of your EP Ever to be higher than the lowest LVC of the BMSs in your battery bank, then you never have to worry about one or more of the batteries cutting out and transferring the load to the remaining ones. As for charging, LiFEPO4 tend to be very forgiving at the top end, where anything from 13.4V to 13.6V is considered 100% SoC. In the lead acid days, mismatching was more of a problem.
I am optimistic that I won't have any issue but if I do, I'll get get a balancer.
I’m planning on having two 24v 230ah batteries in parallel to bus bars then GIANDEL 4000w 24V inverter. I also wanted to put terminal fuses on battery post with a breaker disconnect down line. I got confused with the proper size fuses. 4000w / 24v = 166.66 x 1.25 safety = 208 amps. Batteries have built in 200 amp BMS which prevent over current. ( guessing 200 amps ). Which fuse should I have on battery terminal and what breaker disconnect would I use?
Another monkey wrench is I’ll have an Ecoflow 800w dc to dc charger off the bus bars so that got me thinking wouldn’t I use 4800w in the above calculations since inverter & dc to dc might both be adding to the battery amp draw. I doubt I’ll ever pull max amps on inverter properly only two or three thousand watts if I run two kitchen appliances at the same time.
Appreciate any input you or your audience can give me. I’ll be using 1/0 battery cables to the bus bars and probably 2 AWG to the inverter since I’ve got them already.
That is a complex one. I am going to pin this and hopefully someone with more experience can help you you.
I’m new to this and want to build my own solar charger. Can you explain to me how the DC to DC charger comes in play. Where is the input DC coming from to power the charger? Thanks, Dave
The only "issue" i see is that a battery/bms in one string( in a low charge scenario) will shut off and you loose that string. In normal use we have our batteries more or less between 40-90%. So you will probably never have any issues . 😊
I hope I don't but I can always get a balancer if I need too.
Stop using batteries. Open them all up, test the cells for ah, make 8 stacks of reasonable close capacity. Buy a few extra cells if needed to even out the ah. Put them on a jk bms with a build in real 1 or 2amp balancer. Done.
I thought about doing that. I really just want to see what happens. LOL
Between the two 12v batteries, use a Victron Energy Battery Balancer (BBA000100100) to keep them even
I may have to try that Victron Balancer if I notice any issues.
I noticed the fuse on every battery going to the buss bar, If I wasnt using a buss bar and only had two batterys in parallel, would I still need a fuse on both batterys?
I would. Because a fault in one could cause a large surge into the other batteries if each one is not protected with its own fuse.
This is a great starter setup . Maybe later in the future you can update the system without those long bus bars using cabling and spruce up the charge controller . That inverter will always be a beast . May the solar be with you .😉👌
Yes to protect the batteries from one another if one got angry.
the 24v unit will be ok, the others will need regular checking after a nights use while resting before recharged, looking at the recommended charging rates for each battery and selecting settings that will be a medium between them will be the challenge, I have 2 separate 24v lithium sets, one set states 28.8 bulk, which is weird as that's lead acid bulk and the other 29.2 ... they can be separated via an isolation switch, they supply different sections of my off-grid house... have a second solar array which once charged the original lead acids from when I first moved onto the property ... I may bring them into parallel when solar collection is poor, 5yrs experience with lithium, I can safely say they are a lot more robust than people think.
What you are saying is what I am thinking as well and I will adjust as needed. Always wanted to do a test like this so I am interested to see how they perform
Can you or your experienced followers recommend an inverter for someone who’s building their first battery backup / solar generator for the purpose of keeping our refrigerator going for a few hours during a power outage? I’m on disability from 4 spine surgeries so I’m looking for something hopefully in the $200 range. For a modern refrigerator is pure sine wave a necessity? I don’t want to kill our refrigerator with dirty power. I plan on used or maybe new panels from Marketplace in the 3-400W range. I’ll try to come up with money for 24v system instead of 12. Thank You, Dave in PA
I would highly recommend a pure sine wave to run a refrigerator. I really like Giandel inverters and have used this one for several years: amzn.to/3ZRpCmL
Another one I have heard a lot of good feedback from is this - amzn.to/4gwhvmQ - but I have never personally used them.