Building 23.5kWh battery bank with LiFePo4 batteries. DIY.
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- Опубликовано: 5 июл 2024
- active balancer: • Testing 2A active bala...
chargery BMS: • Chargery BMS. Package ...
Parts:
LiFePo4 cells: www.currentconnected.com/prod...
Active balancer Amazon: amzn.to/3OMDzMo
Active balancer Aliexpress: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_A6wak9
Wires: amzn.to/3ktfOec
M6 25mm studs: amzn.to/3n7SbIl
DC switch: amzn.to/3kmKzlf
Crimper for lugs: amzn.to/3ilRc3C
Heat shrink tubing: amzn.to/36r4IAK
Crimper for balancing leads: amzn.to/2EUO29u
JK BMS with 2A active balancer: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_9gxR9b
metal cabinet:
www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-20...
timecodes:
00:00 - Intro
00:30 - cells unpacking/review
1:57 - busbars
2:08 - 48V configuration
2:49 - charging/balancing cells
4:22 - 48 cells assembled
4:50 - checking cells balance
5:43 - crimp busbars
6:43 - insulate busbars
7:18 - metal cabinet review
8:44 - cells layout
10:05 - packing cells to cabinet
10:30 - busbars review
12:28 - insulate tools!
12:57 - DC switch installation
14:18 - battery studs upgrade
16:36 - connecting balancing leads
17:48 - finishing balancing leads
18:16 - about ventilation
19:01 - connecting to distribution box
19:36 - final connection overview
20:56 - tips
25:33 - thanks for watching
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
As an Aliexpress Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Follow up after 3 years: ruclips.net/video/SJ1dytUrf-w/видео.html
This is a very nice video! As a BMS manufacturer, I'm impressed by your expertise and the skilled way of building such an LFP Battery bank, well done!~
A very well put together video, with content that I haven't seen documented in other videos I've watched. Thank you for taking the time to do a video of this quality.
thanks for the feedback, appreciate it.
@@SolarEngineering You're welcome.
Thanks for this video, concise and easy to follow. Now there are many "professionals" but with less didactic videos.
I don't understand English but as you don't use slang in your videos, with subtitles it is very easy to follow and understand. Thanks.
Great video...I like how you made all your connections nice and clean and how you explained how to manage cost without over sizing
thanks for the feedback
Excellent, clear, informative, perfectly organised and narrated video, learned a lot. Thank you.
Thanks for the feedback.
Nicely done. Enjoyed the video! The end result is impressive :)
thanks for the feedback!
Great video! I love the use of that craftsman toolbox as a battery box. Keeps it neat and out of the way.
One comment on your tips “don’t oversize,” and “don’t undersize.” At the end you stated that your cable ended up being too small after you decided to expand later on. This is why I purposely oversize the cables-in case of future expansion I don’t have to redo anything on the inside because the bussbars/interconnects are already appropriately sized or oversized. It’s always okay to go bigger than what you need when it comes to wire.
Great job!
Well done my friend! very informative and useful information. Thank you for that.
appreciate your feedback.
You can buy copper pipe , say 1/2" , smash it in a vice , cut ,drill. Voila!!!! Buss bar! DIY fun! Nice work!
You in the big leagues now. Awesome job. I have enjoyed watching your process from your first video
thank you for feedback!
I love the video. Just to help out some viewers with information that may help. If you don't want to pay for buss bars. Just order a piece of copper flat bar stock and cut and drill. Pretty simple. Also for ring connectors you can get thin wall capper 1/2 pipe and cut off a inch and half. Put in your 2 or 0 Guage wire and crimp on. Solder if you want but crimp should be good. Take other end and squeeze in a vice and flatten the pipe. Drill stud size hole and your all set. Save some cash. With actual better ring connector than from store. If your only doing 2 or something pay for a ring connector. But when you doing a bunch its expensive.
Great job and very useful information, I subscribed and looking forward to seeing more.
Thanks for feedback.
Very rarely do I comment on videos, but this was very well presented. Pure information with very little fluff.
thank you for feedback, appreciate it.
1. Please what is the voltage of your battery bank
2. The power value
3. The continue charge current
4. The discharge current
5. The maximum size
@@godfreyjohn-obaika8368 1. low voltage 48v, high - 56v
2. 23.5 kWh
3. could go upto 90A (0.2C rating)
4. I draw ~90A, could go up to 450A continuous (with proper wires)
5. didn't get the question.
@@SolarEngineering I think he wanted to know what the final physical size of the battery bank was, but I'm not absolutely certain.
Thank you for educating us!
thanks for watching!
Subscribed! Always learn more when I watch your videos! Thanks, J
glad to hear that video helps.
Really nice build and you have done a really nice job on it.
thanks for the feedback.
twinty tree point half - love it.
Thanks for a great video. Just a couple of things:
Those cells are loose inside an enclosure with a very top heavy center of gravity, and imagine for a minute that your cabinet falls over onto the front side because one of those casters fail (or a hundred other possible reasons). All you need is for one of those cells to have it's terminals short via the enclosure doors and you have a major issue. I hope you are going to bolt it to a wall and also strap the cells for safety and it is also better for them to be under compression.
Personally I would make two or three smaller batteries as this is safer to manage, easier to move, and you can isolate a defective cell by removing just the pack it belongs to without brining the whole system down.
The other thing to consider is adding a DC arc extinguishing breaker in place of the disconnect switch. If you break the circuit underload you can end up with DC arcing across the disconnect, which will very rapidly escalate into a crisis.
Good job and please keep on sharing...
yes very good tips, The amount of energy in this enclosure is insane especially without proper safeguards, definitely not worth taking shortcuts. I hope he doesn't learn the hard way.
good video. nice to see some people putting together batteries correctly and not 12 volt or 24 volt or 48 volt batteries connected together that will destroy your battery because you can not balance them. you have to put your sizes together first in parallel like this guy is doing to reach how many AH you want and then put those units together to create how many volts you want. most people put volts together first and then put those together to make how many AH you want. they do it backwards and it is impossible to balance a battery that way. putting them together this way is the only way that you will be able to balance your batteries no mater how many cells you have to build your AH as long as they are all together in parallel it will balance and then put those together in series to build the voltage size you are good to go. nice box idea makes it portable. good ideas. This is the correct way to put batteries together. follow this and make sure you do not reverse the polarity our you will destroy your battery and it is not under warranty if you do that. it will fry and your are out of a battery with no warranty. that is the biggest thing to be careful of, to not short out the battery that is why insulating his wrench was a really smart idea. he protected his batteries to make sure there would be no shorting or you lose that money, boohoo. also when you put paper between the batteries that was a very very good idea. so many people do not realize that if you touch the metal of the boxes together you will short them out. the plastic wrap is all that keeps the batteries from shorting out with each other. if that plastic gets ripped etc and they touch you will have a dead battery and no warranty. make sure you do just like he did. put something like paper between each battery to make sure there is isolation of each battery to make sure they do not touch metal to metal. you never know when you get ware and that is the biggest thing that kills batteries and costs you the price of replacing them. isolate the batteries from each other or be very very very sorry because you will not have a warranty if you do. big big big awesome job and showing people that one, I can not tell you enough to isolate batteries from each other. people trust the wrap but it is only a think wrap. why do you think they put each battery in its own box. so they do not touch each other. although Lifepo4 batteries are safe and don't blow up like the other ones do you don't want to have a dead battery that you have to replace. they are expensive by the way. think about what you are doing, check it over and over again before you connect wires or bars and make sure you are connecting them correctly and you will be fine. do not rush, lay everything out label it clearly with read for negative and black for positive so you see it easily and won't short out a battery. thanks for the great video man. nice to see one that was done correctly and in depth. just wrote some stuff to stress the obvious.
This is one of the best videos I've seen anywhere on the LFP battery setup. As an electrical engineer, I was very impressed no only with the links you provided and the clean video but with excellent content too! Nice work
thank you for the feedback, appreciate it.
@@SolarEngineering amazing! Possible to cooperate with you? We can bring more help
Dear friend,are u interested in Seplos storage battery/battery bms?free to contact me ~
Awesome work! Very tidy. One small tip: Clamping the cells together will extend their life (by between 10 - 15%); this should be stated in the spec sheet. As it's quite an outlay to build up a pack like this, it's highly recommended. I find clamping with threaded rod (either M6 or M8, for this 3P setup) works very well.
thank you for the advice.
I thought thermal expansion was a reason not to clamp battery cells. Hold them securely against movement yes.
Beautiful work!! Love it:)
thanks!
I Like Copper Cable & Connecters or Bus Bars but That’s A Nice Job you Done I Need To Build one I’ve been Completely Off The Grid 26 years now With My Solar System
thanks.
Nice work and great Video!
Thank you!
Thank you....very helpful. This video will help save money and time by not having to do over again because of mistakes. Again, THANKS!!
You are welcome! Good luck in building your powerwall it's a really fun project.
Appreciate the upload & very informative video -- nice work! Personally, I would never use parallel connections for my battery bank, I'd use series connections only.
could you explain why?
@@SolarEngineering charge balancing.
Awesome project!
thanks!
awesome mounting!
Thanks for charing your experience.
thanks
Hi, thx to share your video. I'm learning a lot and it's fun. Thx!
Glad to hear that!
Beautiful job
thank you!
Nice work mate.
thanks!
wow, amazing. You are a hero to the trade.
thanks!
Nice video. Very informative. Thank you
thanks for your feedback.
Suggestion: If you have enough left over cable use it to make jumper cables.You could even sell them especially for larger diesel trucks or tractors. Most jumper cables sold now are copper coated aluminum not high quality welding type cable.
BTW I think you got this idea from DMI s channel but still excellent execution of the project.
For future there are some BMS s with much higher balancing current than others. Also I hope you used all the slide amp cells in separate 16S battery banks then attached them in parallel to the inverter I just couldn't tell when they are in the box. I did something similar and also sprayed inside of metal cabinet with rubber undercoating but used a larger cabinet.
fantastic job.
Great huge power awesome video
Très bon travail et propre
I would also eventually swap out those short cable bus bars. If there is a metal shop in town they should be able to provide some C110 stockbar and even press some holes for you (this is what I did for my array of AGM batteries....). I used C110 0.125" thick which should be able to handle as much as a 2/0 cable (they have roughly the same cross section).
interesting didn't know till this moment about C110, might use it for another project. thanks.
Very informative video, thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Super awesome man! You did a great job on it. I don’t think it’s possible to use wires that are too big as long as you can afford them. It lets you pull more load in the future if you need it.
thanks for feedback!
Cool man good job
Like how you work ... Keep it up 👍✔
A good tip I saw for the bus bars, was to flatten copper plumbing pipe, and drill holes where needed. You can calculate the area of copper conductor you need, and then look up the area of copper on each pipe, and use what is appropriate.
You have to go about 10% more here, because copper pipe is not pure copper.
@@timothyblazer1749 Google says otherwise.
I have learned that copper pipes (the non flexible ones) have a lot lower conductivity due to the alloy
@Danang Alta lmao don't be a simpleton.
Мужик ты просто огонь! так держать! доступно, понятно, английский приятно слушать и все четко!
Good Job to battery recondition
Good battery consistency
thank You , good job
Great stuff! Good content
thank you for feedback
Muito bom amigo, PARABÉNS 👏👏👏👏👏
Awesome video.
Thanks!
Since you are using bus bars, you need to clamp the cells together so that the expansion of each cell does not cause stress on the terminals. The only way around it is to use flexible bus bars (silicon wire with nuts/bolts).
Thank you for such a thorough video. With basic electrical understanding, I now feel like I could do this over a weekend. Two questions I had - 1) what was your total cost (USD) on this? 2) Now that higher capacity batteries are out there, is there anything you'd change if you were to build this today? Which current battery and supplier would you recommend?
Hi there. The total cost was about $7k (note that I started buying cells 2+ years back).
At that time 280Ah cells were too much more expensive, today I'd definitely use larger cells.
I've got my cells from BLS and it was real grade A cells, it's almost twice more expensive than cells from aliexpress (here is the example that you can get: ruclips.net/video/4AQp3WqKtsc/видео.html)
and just in case my affiliate link for BLS website: blslifepo4battery.com/?ref=di7np5afqdbh
Thank you.
Now THAT is one BEAUTIFUL Craftsman Toolbox !
TWO Thumbs up for the Junoir Helper ! Get them started early and comfortable with it ! That one will be a Renewable Energy Engineer making a better future for tomorrow ! Good Parenting IMO !
Noticed that you did not clamp/bind the cells into blocks of three (being that you have them 3P). Are you not concerned about the Expansion & Contraction during charge & discharge ? That could have a deleterious effect on the lifecycles of the cells if "worked hard".
Th dilling of holes once the cells were in the cabinet gave me chills, I would have drilled those holes prior to putting the cells in place. Metal shavings & bits = not good for electrical things.
A good option to consider may have been to use a fixed Anderson connector on the box, which would allow you to physically disconnect the battery bank as an entity from your distribution system, fo service, maintenance etc.
>>TWO Thumbs up for the Junoir Helper
half of work done by him :D
>> Noticed that you did not clamp/bind the cells into blocks of three
I'm not planning to push this cells hard, and didn't think about clamping/binding cells together, might revisit this..
>> Th dilling of holes once the cells were in the cabinet gave me chills
100% agree, parts didn't arrive timely, so have to change order. I've added piece of wood and some plastic bags to capture all shavings.
>> fixed Anderson connector on the box
great idea, I was thinking about this part, since I cannot easily detach pack from dc box now..
thanks for feedback!
@@SolarEngineering The whole Cell Binding issue has been well worn on the Solar Forum. It is pretty important to making the cels last as long as possible.
Locking them in-place is also a smart idea, for one reason... an accident bump, jarring or if the toolbox falls over and those exposed terminal points make contact with something.... you could have a REALLY BAD DAY and FAST !
I Very Strongly believe in NOT TEMPTING Murphy & his Laws to come and apply themselves to my projects. An important lesson learned from my military experience; Crisis Management begins with Prevention and all obvious potentials must be dealt with in advance. Such Potentials increase exponentially if there are kids around ! says the Father of 5 ! No Kidding, it IS exponential.
It looks awesome, but there's a ton of weight on the bottom cells. It might need some brackets every few blocks.
excellent video Thank You!!!
thanks for the feedback
Might put that shunt on top of a piece of fiberglass sometimes they can get quite warm.
Lol when you said 'windy nation' wires, the fans came on.
I would isolate the shunt also from the cabinet and put plastic or foam on the inside of doors incase cells come forward. Automatic circuit breaker would be good too.
yeah, top part of cabinet needs some improvements.. thanks
excellent vid
Brilliant !
thanks!
Very good! Cheers 🍻 I built one too same as yours. 🇦🇺
nice!
Great job and nice and clean. I'm interested to hear long term Balance and how the Chargery5 BMS settled.
I ran into big issues with subpar BMS's on my 10kwh setup and looking at the chargery you purchased, the "relays" as you called them are contactors, will cut the flow of power. Super important for cold weather or charging voltage cutoff so they don't expand :)... I run a couple Kilovac's myself. I went with Batrium. SUPER happy with my purchase and i'm ready to expand :)
Lifepo4 is safe as hell, I would hate to have to run Li-Ion.. One mistake and there goes your house.
I did a full system overview in my last video.
Not so happy with chargery bms, here is why have an active balancer connected to the pack.
Maybe check for other BMS..
@@SolarEngineering look into batrium.
Get rec BMS prechargers for the contactors. My channel has info as well. You'll be much happier
Good Job!!!
thanks
Super informative video but you should only install the prismatic LiFePo4 cells in an upright position, otherwise part of the cell receives little or no electrolyte and slowly dries out over years.
Where did you read or hear about that? First I've heard it.
@@surfreadjumpsleep The seller told me that. Apparently this only affects the cells in the aluminum housing. They have a slightly different structure than cells in plastic housings. You can also use it lying down, but standing is better. Furthermore, the cells must be compressed in order to obtain the maximum number of cycles.
Nice setup
thanks
Русский акцент ни с чем не перепутаешь ))))) Так держать!
приветствую!
Да да, это мощьно)))
Great, Neat Job
thanks
Sind gute Lifepo4 Zellen 👍😊
Love this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thank you!
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for watching!
Very nice build!
The only thing I would have added is some Gorilla Tape around the inside left and right sides as a bit of extra insulation. Over building safety helps prevent any future issues.
What is the amperage of the fuse you used on this power wall?
Installed 200A fuse.
Nice good job 👍
thanks!
For anyone wanting to do this in lead...you have to go larger AH because lead should only be discharged 50%.
So if you want the same capacity in lead, multiply the LiFePo4 total AH by 1.6.
Lead is so dumb... not only is the depth of discharge absolutely garbage...so is the cycle life. Lifepo4 will literally last 5-10x longer.
I really enjoyed this video. Learned a ton! All in all how much would you say this cost? Looking forward to more videos!
Total cost about $7k. might be cheaper now to build the same, because cells getting less expensive.
Thanks for the feedback.
@@SolarEngineering Awesome! Time to save a little
@@colinrogers9927 check 280Ah cells, on Aliexpress they are $1.7k for 16 cells
@@SolarEngineering Ok will do! Thanks
@@SolarEngineering there are many stores are selling the similar ones, can you give a link? thanks.
you are very good
Very interesting video respect ✊ to you
thank you!
You’re welcome ☺️
Thanks
Спасибо за видео!
🤝
@@SolarEngineering I'm thinking about diy dollar for my house, it seems to be the only way to have a decent system without paying over 400%+
Бодрого времени суток.
Проект супер,.
Сам думаю над реализацией некоторых моментов.
если будут вопросы или интересные идеи - пишите.
@@svaro3679 12 панелей по 315W, тут полный обзор системы: ruclips.net/video/XpPdbo1LXEg/видео.html
на данный момент панели в солнечный день вырабатывают около 23квтч
@@svaro3679 оставьте свой номер
@@SolarEngineering сообщение с номером удалили вы?
I also asked the seller of this tipe of batteries (mine are 280A lifepo4) and they told me you can not use the batteries set on their wide side. Because the electrolite can not reach part of the plates inside. You can use them strait up or set on the thin side.I hope you don't ruin this nice batteries. Some even say you can use yhem only in a strait up position.
Addressed it here:
ruclips.net/video/35V8ni3RhNQ/видео.html
I checked with manufacturer, and got confirmation that these cells could be layed horizontally in static position.
Nice job man. Really. Just wondering if the lower botttom cells might get the total weight of the upper ones… think of making a skeleton by packs of 3 maybe? Cheeers!!!
Nice Job!!! Where did you get the batteries??? Thanks for the great video!
I've added links in description.
nice job
thanks!
Subscribed! Thank you for sharing! We have similar projects here in Idaho on our new Lucky Dog Farms channel.
good luck with projects! feel free to ask questions.
Yes Akb LiFePo4 👍🔋
good job
thanks
In the old days people thought you could deploy these LiFePo4 in any orientation, but more recently manufacturers are recommending you orient vertically only.
Recommendations are not requirements.
Greate video :-)
Thanks!
How do you know how to hook up every cell in combination? The amount of cables and plates is astounding!
It just looks like to many wires. Here is smaller pack build: ruclips.net/video/X_ucHHnh4Ik/видео.html
Great video, enjoyed. Can you give more details on the three stage charging voltages and shut down voltage? if I want to charge between 20% and 80% of capacity, what are the voltages look like? Thanks a lot.
I'm cycling cells between 3V - 3.45V. For wintertime when solar panels giving only about 10kWhs a day, I'm changing the voltage range to 3.15 - 3.45, so battery staying charged ~30%+.
@@SolarEngineering thanks for quick reply :). I meant the 48v setup.
@@wangfred ah, just multiply by 16. 48V-55.2V, winter: 50.4V-55.2V
Nice
прикольный акцент !))) особенно цифорки 3!)))))))
"Main battery positive" baby's first words
haha, I guess so
I read over a few of your 500+ comments to see if you addressed these two things:
1. You made your own bus bars for the parallel connected cells, why didn't you also make them for your series connections?
2. What is your view on the controversy of putting clamping pressure on cells to prevent swelling? The cells at the bottom of your enclosure are probably effectively sufficiently pressurized due to the sheer weight above them, but the upper ones certainly don't have the same pressure.
1. Soft connections is to remove stress between vertical columns (since the pack is not fixed altogether) which can move by a few mm (1/8").
2. I don't have a strong opinion about pressurizing/fixing cells. In my opinion, it needs to be done if the pack will be used in a dynamic environment (aka car, boat, RV) or if the pack is going to be used with a high C rating (for example constant 1C). Fixing cells will remove stress from terminals that are connected by busbars.
In my case max C rating is 0.2 and cells are in a static position, here is why I didn't fix cells in any way. If I'm going to build the same pack today, I'd fix my cells to a cabinet (so cells don't have any play in a cabinet at all). This will add extra protection for situations like earthquake (I know chances are small, but I live in area where we can expect it)
Nice RunGlish
very good video. it was about time we had a lifepo4 battery tutorial. I have a project to build a 2p / 16s battery with 310Ah cells, but I don't know which BMS to put. The inverter charger is Axpert Max 8000W with 180A DC input and 120A DC output. Which one would you recommend? What power charge / discharge should it have? It must have a connection with the bms input of my inverter, and a wifi / bluetooth connection with my pc for configuration etc ... Thank you very much and congratulations for your video.
so which bms did you use?
Awesome setup. My only concern is .. is it alright to position or mount the battery like that instead upright? Please advise coz I’m mounting my battery like that coz I have limited space on my cabinet. Thanks heaps. 😉
I confirmed with the manufacture that this position is ok (when batteries are installed in a static place, not in a vehicle for example).
If you check big manufactured battery packs, cells are positioned there horizontally as well.
and thank you for the feedback 😀
Next time to make big long bus bars get a copper pipe hammer it flat and then drill holes
sounds like a really good idea.
Love your setup! but isnt recommended that battery should be Set Up? and not on the side for a longer life?
I confirmed with the manufacture that this position is ok (when batteries are installed in a static place, not in a vehicle for example).
If you check big manufactured battery packs, cells are positioned there horizontally as well.