Been doing solar for 10yrs and this is the best video I have seen to explain how batteries charge and discharge, sending everyone that ask to your video Great JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!
I bought four 300 AH batteries. Their manual recommended the connection you showed in the second setup. I contacted them and suggested they used the setup you had in the third setup. They changed their manual to reflect the change. I suspected the busbar would also induce a difference between each battery. Thank you for demonstrating the current draw from each battery. It helps get the point across.
In my opinion setup 2 and 3 are equally. But his test wasn't optimal. He already started with unevenly charged batteries and he should have changed them to 100% after each test. Of course you have small balancing currents and slightly uneven discharge currents in setup 2 right after the test in setup 1.
@@SpatteL19 Nigel Calder explains it in the youtube video. Search for - The BEST way to Parallel Batteries on a Boat | Ask The Expert with NIGEL CALDER
I have never tested it. Although at my bus bar I have all connections on one stud together. I have always figured this “in my mind” to make a better path 🤔. Nice video, I’ve never seen anyone that even has came close to this idea. Thanks for not making me feel stupid or waist full.
This Bus Bar strategy has been the standard for at least, the past 20 years. What are talking about ... Nobody even came close to this idea? Have been living under a rock for the past 2 decades?
@@MrSummitville your aggressive reply is uncalled for. YOU misunderstood what he is saying and in your arrogance got bent out of shape. Scooter said that he put ALL of his terminals on ONE stud and is glad that you verified his suspicions by SHOWING that the busbar DOES in fact alter things by placing the positive in the central position. He was saying that he had not seen anyone place ALL on one terminal with a busbar which is counterintuitive to be sure. True Scooter poorly worded his comment but he is in need of an apology. He well may have been living under a rock, but at least he had power !
@@MrSummitville you simply are so myopic that you have no idea what this guy said and that he was in fact agreeing with you and thanking you for confirming his own "in my mind" which he had not found validation for anywhere else. I won't even mention your bad choice in title of your video which is, as others have mentioned very misleading. You may or may not have valid knowledge but you most certainly DO NOT have the capacity to pass any knowledge on is a reasonable manner. There are more than a few detrimental comments here. Jumping down someone's throat for saying "ground" instead of negative is also over the top. You must be a real fun guy at a perty
@@MrSummitvillewhat an arrogant know it all you are. You should really learn how to talk to people with respect. I bet the people that deal with you on a daily basis can't stand your crappy attitude and obnoxious way of talking. You need Jesus in your life 🙏
I like how you showed good, better, and best setups. This video is also a good demonstration of why it makes sense to go with higher voltage configurations, whenever possible. There will be less total drift across the cells, if they are all managed by a single BMS. If your video showed 4 batteries in parallel, and then showed those same 4 batteries in series, for 48 volts, you could demonstrate how that configuration results in even less drift than the bus bar connection you used.
Thanks. Yes a lot of us from the rv world are not initially knowledgeable. I love the 2 I bought from you for my rv. As noted...one of my batteries charges and discharges a bit faster...likely a byproduct of thor not running exactly the same lengths or it could be the busbar setup. It has not been a problem as they will equalize in normal use. Another thing you can let the rv folks know about is that lots of the stock battery setups were really undersized for the load. A 3000 watt inverter that can surge needs batteries that can support heavy load. My thor setup was a good example. The 100 batteries from the factory really didn't match up with my load ( ac running...other loads) and thus constantly put the batteries uner stress...sometimes in hot weather to the point of their bms shutting down. Your batteries support the load with ease....and you were very helpful with advice in the bms settings.
Been in the electronics field for some 50 years now, amateur solar for 15-20 years and i learned something new today. Thanks for this video and greetings from Jamaica.
I have a 6 position busbar rated for 300 amps. The center 2 positions are occupied by the inverter and solar charge controller, the 4 outer (2 on either side) have 4 batteries with equal length cables and it seems pretty balanced in operation. I use Anderson connectors on them and have MRBF fuses on each battery.
We are working on a bus bar it is shaped like a hexagon, rated for 500 amps, the center point will be for the load and 6 outer points for the feed, should be out sometime next year.
You should have charged the batteries to 100% before each test. Of course you have small balancing currents between the batteries and slightly uneven loads in setup 2 and 3 after the test of setup 1.
Glad to see the use of busbars, yes! But those busbars look teensy, might be why you're still seeing differences between the batteries. Maybe they're heftier than they look ... or maybe not. (The ones I use are probably three times that size.)
Thank you sir and you are correct with example 3. In addition you can make the make the battery cable closest to the inverter cable on the buss bar a little longer then you will have equal power distribution. By the way I really love your battery kits I just wish that I could afford them. I am disabled and unable to work anymore so I live on a very fixed income but if I ever come into a lot of money then I will buy 4 of them for my 1967 GM TDH-4519 city transit bus that I live in full-time in the high desert of New Mexico unless there is any way you can help me or we can help each other
if you make a round busbar you can make t even better but you need a super beautiful terminal kind to go in center of the round busbars!!!! would love to se terminals for equal distribution !! kEEP the good work even half plannet away i love get educated and entertained from your videos!!! greetings from greece
1 terminal won't be enough, they should make one with like 3 grouped together so you can feed power from solar charger, inverter, and alternator. a Circle with 3 botls in middle and 5-6 bolts around it.
@@FoxfriedI agree with you completely. Separate bus bars going into the main bus bars ? See my comments for some more thoughts on the matter. We'll figure something out here... 😃
AMAZING how clear this showed various setups and their respective effect on the batteries. I've got 3 lithium batteries and was looking for best practices on wiring them. Thanks, and well done!
This is really a very nice video which proved that the bus bar solution is the best. what I don’t understand is: when using the bus bar solution why the second battery still has the lowest load although the second one is closer to the inverter than the third one.
Try a single post for each (positive & Negative) distributed battery connection. Place the load leads between battery leads. You should see an event better balance on charge / discharge. Busbar will have some distribution issues.
The one flaw in your setup is you should have fusing to each battery either at the battery or the busbar connection. Fuse rating at 150% of anticipated load. This prevents failure due to one of the batteries internally shorting and the other batteries delivering 10XC (C = battery capacity) current!! In your setup 60 to 80 amp fuses would be suggested.....
Thanks for your reply, this was meant to be a demonstration real world installs will use breakers and or fuses as needed. SFK batteries have internal shunts and can monitor amps which means they can be set to disable output at a definable output by the user in the app as well.
I love your video, this is extremely helpful for me as I’m setting up a 8S4P right now. The question is instead of a bus bar if you want them equally distant why don’t you just have one post where they’re all connected together? A single post and stack up all the connections that way they’re all equidistant?
I really want to buy US made. I like ur batteries, but need a nice % off inspiration. All your competitors are doing it. Help us shop US confidently! Thanks!!
A custom made circular bus bar ? A big flat washer with battery lug holes on the outside and a big hole in the middle for the input/output ? But with just a standard bus bar mount the two anode/cathode wires of the four on top of each other with the charger/load wires in the middle ?...🌩 ⚡️
BTW this shows some of the inside big batteries cells and why when full loaded the cells voltage drifts away and needs balancing!!! never forget cells are independent batteries in series and some of them are in center and others act as poles!!! !!!! made my run and install the active balancer to my pack
@@dominus6695 Maybe you do not understand English? I said and I will repeat ... *Nothing* in this video showed that individual cells need balancing". So, which video are you talking about? Give me the @time in this video where "... logic explains by extension ...". Oh wait, it did *not* happen ...
@@MrSummitville it shows how resistance causes a voltage drop and differences in charge/discharge. So it does not show it directly, but it shows the effect of different cable lenghts and resistances. Therefore his comment. hahaha
Doing the same thing with four batteries,I think putting 00 gauge cable and fully prepped lugs would change the outcome in a more even way in the diagonal type layout,resistance is the main cause of in balance,what are you thoughts,and thankyou for the vid.
The point he is trying to make is the bys bar is pulling both positive and negative off batt 1 isntead of how it was connected in example 2 with the neg on battery 3 if he did that setup on the bus bar he would get even closer numbers.@@MrSummitville
That first battery taking the load more than the others . I hook up the power to one of my battery's and the ground on the other to keep the current and load the same . I do the same with Power Inverter too
Thanks for a very educational video. I am trying to learn the effects and value of parallel versus series connections and this video did the job for parallel. Do you have a series connection study?
Make triangular shaped bass bars where all connection points from all batteries will have approximately the same distance to the two connections for the solar charger and for the inverter on the opposite corner.
I really liked your video. Would you gain much if you connected the black (negative) cable to the stud going to the 3rd battery on the bus bar arrangement?
This would not make any difference as the third battery is wired the same way you could say in this setup that the order of the batteries are 3,2,1. Thanks
@@sfkenergy Have you ever heard current sharing and also internal resistance from the battery itself this would make significantly affects the performance. The 3rd battery would probably the first be charged up and also the first one to take the discharge.
Ive only seen a few of setups these in person in an RV, that said the way it was setup they had the battery charger on the same post in the bus-bar that was going to the inverter, this was years ago and the batteries were not lithium, but agm's, the system was not solar but more of a backup system. Curious if that setup was correct.
You could have done even (pun intended) better had you wired the busbars [1|2|3|inverter] and [3|2|1|inverter]. This gives bats 3 and 1 the same resistance and bat 2 should be pretty close, if not the same (depends on whether the busbar studs are equally spaced). In this wiring config, all the busbar distances (and resistances) should be the same.
@@dustydawson8977 the only time I have seen any real difference is under really heavy loads or charging. It’s all probably in the margin of error in the clamp meter. My four batts in parallel stay balanced well, though and it was 5 mins to put the wires in the better (theoretical) order.
Nice video, well done. However I have a question, in the busbar configuration could I further reduce the current differences by adjusting the cable lengths for two of the batteries, say battery 1 and 2, to take into account the current path length through the busbar?
I have 3 SOK batteries and the app will only show 1 battery at a time, that's pretty useful the way that your app shows all 3 batteries at the same time
I'm completely stumped as to why no one is commenting on wire Guage. I'm seeing all kinds of wire used across the internet and no one seems to care but people say it's important... but leave it out of every tutorial. I have 3 12v 200ah batteries to be run in parallel. I was just going run a bolt and nut through the 3 red to the red trunk, and the 3 black to the black trunk. Wouldn't this be better than a bar? I'm stuck on wire size... I'm also stuck on, do i need a fuse and what size to my 3000w inverter. I have a bunch of 8awg and some 4/0. Was going to 8awg the bank and 4/0 the trunk, with a 100a fuse, although i might up it to 200a. Thoughts? In case anyone cares: 2 x 60v 7ish amp solar panels, 300w? To controller run in parallel. So 60v 15a for 600 watts. To meet 100/50 mppt. 3 x 12v 200ah sla bats run in parallel(haven't done this yet, but planning to) on 8 awg wire to stud/ trunk. Trunk would be a fused 4/0 to inverter. All lines would be as close to same length respective to their run. Although I feel like a fuse would mess up one leg on the trunk... something else i don't see anyone addressing. Any help appreciated
Question: I have four lithium batteries (12v/100ah). I have a bus bar like yours (four poles). Do I occupy all four poles with the four batteries, then add the inverter to one of the used poles? (So, the inverter would share a bus bar pole with one of the batteries.) Would that be bad practice? Thanks
I eliminate the buss bar alltogther, and place all in to one line, and using a copper switch to conected to a fuse, then conneteced to a main. it is all in a box this is what I did with even my agms, and I do the exact same set up with my solar array.. becasue the intersting thing, is the soilar arrays, are the exact same thing like ones batteries. .I jsut make sure that I am not over drawing what my lines can handle, I also tap my lines directly in to the charge controller from breaker to the battery bank. My charge controler has fuses in it aswell, they seem to be more touchy than the breakers. My newer system has a build in breaker and just needs a connect disconnet switch. they are starting to make these units idiot proof. I just make sure everything is tight.
Ok so will AGM lead be okay like the first set up? For two batteries? My boat has 2 battery system. Factory wired it parallel but battery (1 ) & (2) are 5 ft away from each other. The load is plugged into battery 1 like your first set up. Battery (2) is 5 ft away located in the back of the boat with just the Pos & Neg cable ran to it from battery 1 😅. Neg to neg pos to pos. Long cable. Should i just add a bus bar to it at this point so it pulls from each end? Draining & charging it equally as 1?
AGM will charge each other much better in parallel because they have a more sloped charge curve. But if possible use option 2. 1 should only be used if you are drawing low amps (under 10).
He connected it (via clamps) to the terminals sticking off the front of the inverter. The charger is the little black box on the right, the inverter is the larger blue one underneath the charger.
This is why you don't use 3 batteries. You don't need bus bars, and you get perfect balance, if the number of batteries are determined by geometric sequence. (1,2,4,8,16, etc.)
I'm a retired electrician did some DC work it's all about balance of these batteries,I'm going with 48 volt hybrid used cheaper then buying these solar types batterys that's the big thing is storage of the power from your panals .I like your system.
So would it be fair to assume that for a 2 battery setup, probly best to go with a piggy back setup with positive and negative going off different batteries?
I think batteries can be connected in series but not with this inverter. I was saying what will happen if you connect them in series , each of the batteries will have different voltage
That would be mostly correct. The "mostly" qualification is because electricity always tries to take the shortest path to complete the circuit. Because the load wires (going to the inverter) are on one end of the bus bar the battery connected closest to that end is going to have a slightly heavier load due to its location. In another post here the guy who made the video says he's looking at making a circular bus "bar" (bus wheel?) so you can have a centrally located load / charge cable with the ones going to the battery terminals equidistant.
Could you have the cable for the inverter in the middle of the three cables on the busbar coming from the batteries? In other words could you connect the inverter to the middle lug on the busbar? Pause at 10:50 on the video
Yes that would make it a bit better but I think as long as the amp difference is under 10 amps it should balance out easily when you fully charge. The main goal is to avoid the large amp differences of 30+ and as long as you do this you should be good to go.
@@sfkenergy Its just something i noticed in the video. I seen other videos where there was more than four batteries and the cables from the batteries were taken from the middle of the bank to the inverter. Unfortunately comments were disabled in the videos I saw. I wonder why?
I believe that you should connect the inverter to the Plus of the first battery and the minus to the last battery. The configuration you have will draw a higher current out of the battery closest to the inverter and will draw the least amount of current from the battery farthest away from the inverter.All wires should be of equal lengths.
I have the same setup with everything on bus bars but with two batteries. I want to connect a shunt but I don't know exactly where to wire it because the bus bars are throwing me off. If someone would enlighten me I'd appreciate it.
Question. i got hold of 57 free batteries of 6volt 4,5Ah NiMH type of batterys .. Thats a lot of batteries.. i wish to make a giant powerbank in parallel connection .. Is there something i have to remeber? ... do i need thicker cables then the ones that already are on the batteries? how is it when i charge that many batteries in parallell ? do i need a super charger? or just use a normal charger that will just take much longer time? I also got a hold on 43 of 4 cells NiCd batteries with a voltage of 4,8 and they have 4,5Ah -- planned to make a 2nd powerpack with those. All batteries are only 3 years old and they are fully functional.. they had to be replaced because of strict rules on batteries that feed emergency light on ship .. they get replaced every 3 years even the law say 5 years.. guess shipping company just want to make sure their ok .. they have been maintain charged trough the years they been active.. and they only sometimes get used on test of the emergency light onboard.
Hi Andrew, My three 100ah LiFePo4 batteries are now stacked on one external terminal. Been like this for a year now. I'm adding two more batteries soon and those will be added to the stack. However i will be ordering and using buss bars instead shortly. Eventually i will be upgrading to 48v so i may or may not need the buss bars anymore.
Using bus bars only seem to make them more uneven as battery number one is much lower than 2 and 3. The best way to hook up batteries is the positive from the first battery and negative from the last battery... Demonstration two is the correct way
When batteries are wired in parallel.... You should connect the Positive to one, Like in this video, the 3rd battery..... But then the negative should be connected to the first battery (on the far left)....... Inverted connected directly to one battery like this, Forces that 1 battery to take the power draw, and then for the other 2 batteries to keep up with the demand... Connecting negative to first battery, and positive to the 3rd battery.. Will share the load equally between the 3 batteries, when the inverted demands a load..... (i install home, and off-grid solar systems for a living.. This has been thoroughly tested and proven to be more effective, stopping 1 battery from premature cell wear due to load draws)
I think you just described his second (better) setup. It shared the load much better between the batteries on either end but the middle one was not directly loaded.
Been doing solar for 10yrs and this is the best video I have seen to explain how batteries charge and discharge, sending everyone that ask to your video Great JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!
I bought four 300 AH batteries. Their manual recommended the connection you showed in the second setup. I contacted them and suggested they used the setup you had in the third setup. They changed their manual to reflect the change. I suspected the busbar would also induce a difference between each battery.
Thank you for demonstrating the current draw from each battery. It helps get the point across.
In my opinion setup 2 and 3 are equally.
But his test wasn't optimal. He already started with unevenly charged batteries and he should have changed them to 100% after each test.
Of course you have small balancing currents and slightly uneven discharge currents in setup 2 right after the test in setup 1.
@@SpatteL19 Nigel Calder explains it in the youtube video. Search for - The BEST way to Parallel Batteries on a Boat | Ask The Expert with NIGEL CALDER
bus bar should be a circle, equal distance to all battery connectors
I have never tested it. Although at my bus bar I have all connections on one stud together. I have always figured this “in my mind” to make a better path 🤔. Nice video, I’ve never seen anyone that even has came close to this idea. Thanks for not making me feel stupid or waist full.
This Bus Bar strategy has been the standard for at least, the past 20 years. What are talking about ... Nobody even came close to this idea? Have been living under a rock for the past 2 decades?
@@MrSummitville your aggressive reply is uncalled for. YOU misunderstood what he is saying and in your arrogance got bent out of shape. Scooter said that he put ALL of his terminals on ONE stud and is glad that you verified his suspicions by SHOWING that the busbar DOES in fact alter things by placing the positive in the central position. He was saying that he had not seen anyone place ALL on one terminal with a busbar which is counterintuitive to be sure. True Scooter poorly worded his comment but he is in need of an apology. He well may have been living under a rock, but at least he had power !
@@paulbunion6233 No, I did not get bent out shape. I stated facts. Do facts upset you? Why are you so sensitive? Poor Baby, do you need your pacifier?
@@MrSummitville you simply are so myopic that you have no idea what this guy said and that he was in fact agreeing with you and thanking you for confirming his own "in my mind" which he had not found validation for anywhere else. I won't even mention your bad choice in title of your video which is, as others have mentioned very misleading. You may or may not have valid knowledge but you most certainly DO NOT have the capacity to pass any knowledge on is a reasonable manner. There are more than a few detrimental comments here. Jumping down someone's throat for saying "ground" instead of negative is also over the top. You must be a real fun guy at a perty
@@MrSummitvillewhat an arrogant know it all you are. You should really learn how to talk to people with respect. I bet the people that deal with you on a daily basis can't stand your crappy attitude and obnoxious way of talking. You need Jesus in your life 🙏
I like how you showed good, better, and best setups. This video is also a good demonstration of why it makes sense to go with higher voltage configurations, whenever possible. There will be less total drift across the cells, if they are all managed by a single BMS. If your video showed 4 batteries in parallel, and then showed those same 4 batteries in series, for 48 volts, you could demonstrate how that configuration results in even less drift than the bus bar connection you used.
Agreed, i will soon by upgrading from 12v to 48v.
Thanks. Yes a lot of us from the rv world are not initially knowledgeable. I love the 2 I bought from you for my rv. As noted...one of my batteries charges and discharges a bit faster...likely a byproduct of thor not running exactly the same lengths or it could be the busbar setup. It has not been a problem as they will equalize in normal use. Another thing you can let the rv folks know about is that lots of the stock battery setups were really undersized for the load. A 3000 watt inverter that can surge needs batteries that can support heavy load. My thor setup was a good example. The 100 batteries from the factory really didn't match up with my load ( ac running...other loads) and thus constantly put the batteries uner stress...sometimes in hot weather to the point of their bms shutting down. Your batteries support the load with ease....and you were very helpful with advice in the bms settings.
Been in the electronics field for some 50 years now, amateur solar for 15-20 years and i learned something new today. Thanks for this video and greetings from Jamaica.
I have a 6 position busbar rated for 300 amps. The center 2 positions are occupied by the inverter and solar charge controller, the 4 outer (2 on either side) have 4 batteries with equal length cables and it seems pretty balanced in operation. I use Anderson connectors on them and have MRBF fuses on each battery.
We are working on a bus bar it is shaped like a hexagon, rated for 500 amps, the center point will be for the load and 6 outer points for the feed, should be out sometime next year.
@@sfkenergyany news on the new bus bar?
Also, Busbars make it very easy to remove one battery from the bank if needed.
Definitely recommend the bus bar set up. The Victron Power In has made this even easier.
You should have charged the batteries to 100% before each test.
Of course you have small balancing currents between the batteries and slightly uneven loads in setup 2 and 3 after the test of setup 1.
Glad to see the use of busbars, yes! But those busbars look teensy, might be why you're still seeing differences between the batteries. Maybe they're heftier than they look ... or maybe not. (The ones I use are probably three times that size.)
Thank you sir and you are correct with example 3. In addition you can make the make the battery cable closest to the inverter cable on the buss bar a little longer then you will have equal power distribution. By the way I really love your battery kits I just wish that I could afford them. I am disabled and unable to work anymore so I live on a very fixed income but if I ever come into a lot of money then I will buy 4 of them for my 1967 GM TDH-4519 city transit bus that I live in full-time in the high desert of New Mexico unless there is any way you can help me or we can help each other
if you make a round busbar you can make t even better but you need a super beautiful terminal kind to go in center of the round busbars!!!! would love to se terminals for equal distribution !! kEEP the good work even half plannet away i love get educated and entertained from your videos!!! greetings from greece
1 terminal won't be enough, they should make one with like 3 grouped together so you can feed power from solar charger, inverter, and alternator. a Circle with 3 botls in middle and 5-6 bolts around it.
@@FoxfriedI agree with you completely. Separate bus bars going into the main bus bars ? See my comments for some more thoughts on the matter. We'll figure something out here... 😃
AMAZING how clear this showed various setups and their respective effect on the batteries. I've got 3 lithium batteries and was looking for best practices on wiring them. Thanks, and well done!
Great video, it helped me figure out why I was having shut downs in my system. Love the buss bar!
The negative wire should go out to inverter from the last battery.
Yes we show this in configuration 2, this video was to show what happens if you don't do it this way.
So - the Title is missleading for non Professional viewers
@@simonst1308You seem confused. What is wrong with TITLE?
@@MrSummitvilleits Not the Best, but the worst way to Connect Batteries 🙃
@@simonst1308you should watch the video and not just go off the thumbnail
Good video. One of the odd ball things I have seen out there is others maintaining the battery to battery connections and doing bus bars.
As if, you know what is, or is not, an "odd ball" configuration?
@@MrSummitvilleyou're really an asshole. A real POS explanation point
How about using a junction block post instead of the bus bar? , that way all of the connections are the same distance , just a thought.
This is really a very nice video which proved that the bus bar solution is the best. what I don’t understand is: when using the bus bar solution why the second battery still has the lowest load although the second one is closer to the inverter than the third one.
Negative (Black) at first pole LEFT and Positive (RED) first pole RIGHT Cheers 👍
Try a single post for each (positive & Negative) distributed battery connection. Place the load leads between battery leads. You should see an event better balance on charge / discharge. Busbar will have some distribution issues.
The one flaw in your setup is you should have fusing to each battery either at the battery or the busbar connection. Fuse rating at 150% of anticipated load. This prevents failure due to one of the batteries internally shorting and the other batteries delivering 10XC (C = battery capacity) current!! In your setup 60 to 80 amp fuses would be suggested.....
Thanks for your reply, this was meant to be a demonstration real world installs will use breakers and or fuses as needed. SFK batteries have internal shunts and can monitor amps which means they can be set to disable output at a definable output by the user in the app as well.
Oh thats a cool feature! I am considering replacing my lead acids in a sailboat and lithium certainly seems the way to go.
Which pole of the battery ought to be fused
@@scrypturefx3077 The terminal that is *not* connected to system ground.
@@MrSummitvilleLOL
Seven words to make algorithms love you.
알고리즘이 당신을 사랑하게 만드는 일곱 단어.
I love your video, this is extremely helpful for me as I’m setting up a 8S4P right now. The question is instead of a bus bar if you want them equally distant why don’t you just have one post where they’re all connected together? A single post and stack up all the connections that way they’re all equidistant?
Use a busbar.
I really want to buy US made. I like ur batteries, but need a nice % off inspiration. All your competitors are doing it. Help us shop US confidently! Thanks!!
A custom made circular bus bar ? A big flat washer with battery lug holes on the outside and a big hole in the middle for the input/output ? But with just a standard bus bar mount the two anode/cathode wires of the four on top of each other with the charger/load wires in the middle ?...🌩 ⚡️
BTW this shows some of the inside big batteries cells and why when full loaded the cells voltage drifts away and needs balancing!!! never forget cells are independent batteries in series and some of them are in center and others act as poles!!! !!!! made my run and install the active balancer to my pack
Nothing in this video showed that individual *cells* need balancing.
@@MrSummitville no, but logic explains it by extension
@@dominus6695 Maybe you do not understand English? I said and I will repeat ... *Nothing* in this video showed that individual cells need balancing". So, which video are you talking about? Give me the @time in this video where "... logic explains by extension ...". Oh wait, it did *not* happen ...
@@MrSummitville it shows how resistance causes a voltage drop and differences in charge/discharge. So it does not show it directly, but it shows the effect of different cable lenghts and resistances. Therefore his comment. hahaha
@@MrSummitville maybe you don't understand how electricity works and why he made the helpful comment lol
power out should be from the middle of the bus bar
Hi, yes that would improve it.
I also like tin coated copper, less of an issue with oxide.
Take care M.
The ground should be at the other end
There is no "ground" wire on any battery, in this video.
Did you watch the video?
Doing the same thing with four batteries,I think putting 00 gauge cable and fully prepped lugs would change the outcome in a more even way in the diagonal type layout,resistance is the main cause of in balance,what are you thoughts,and thankyou for the vid.
Yes ground is wrong it does need to be on 3rd battery
The point he is trying to make is the bys bar is pulling both positive and negative off batt 1 isntead of how it was connected in example 2 with the neg on battery 3 if he did that setup on the bus bar he would get even closer numbers.@@MrSummitville
Excellent demonstration. Nice job.
That first battery taking the load more than the others .
I hook up the power to one of my battery's and the ground on the other to keep the current and load the same .
I do the same with Power Inverter too
Great video for us beginners. I didn't see how your charger was connected.. iS THERE A WAY TO SHOW US ?? tHANKS MUCH
Thanks for a very educational video. I am trying to learn the effects and value of parallel versus series connections and this video did the job for parallel. Do you have a series connection study?
Make triangular shaped bass bars where all connection points from all batteries will have approximately the same distance to the two connections for the solar charger and for the inverter on the opposite corner.
I really liked your video. Would you gain much if you connected the black (negative) cable to the stud going to the 3rd battery on the bus bar arrangement?
Thanks so much for the very clear explanation. Question? Do you recommend using fuses with this set up?
Excellent! Very informative and well presented. Thank you.
For best balanced battery output move the negative cable to the first battery terminal.
This would not make any difference as the third battery is wired the same way you could say in this setup that the order of the batteries are 3,2,1.
Thanks
@@sfkenergy Have you ever heard current sharing and also internal resistance from the battery itself this would make significantly affects the performance. The 3rd battery would probably the first be charged up and also the first one to take the discharge.
Ive only seen a few of setups these in person in an RV, that said the way it was setup they had the battery charger on the same post in the bus-bar that was going to the inverter, this was years ago and the batteries were not lithium, but agm's, the system was not solar but more of a backup system. Curious if that setup was correct.
Wish you had included a connection to the 2nd (center) battery. Do you have a similar video for lead acid? ...
Thanks for this. What if you added a couple inches to the battery 1 cables? Would that even it out even more?
Don't do that. Move one of the wires, from the inverter to the busbar, to the other side of the bus bar.
You could have done even (pun intended) better had you wired the busbars [1|2|3|inverter] and [3|2|1|inverter].
This gives bats 3 and 1 the same resistance and bat 2 should be pretty close, if not the same (depends on whether the busbar studs are equally spaced). In this wiring config, all the busbar distances (and resistances) should be the same.
Ty I 100% agree,they will be even closer balance,it's that one last step overlooked,even those his load is close enough,it can still be better
@@dustydawson8977 the only time I have seen any real difference is under really heavy loads or charging. It’s all probably in the margin of error in the clamp meter. My four batts in parallel stay balanced well, though and it was 5 mins to put the wires in the better (theoretical) order.
Nice video, well done. However I have a question, in the busbar configuration could I further reduce the current differences by adjusting the cable lengths for two of the batteries, say battery 1 and 2, to take into account the current path length through the busbar?
No. Move the one of the wires, going from the inverter to the bus bar, to the other side of the bar. Or use a bigger bus bar.
A big buss bar to get them more equal draw on them the load a little ways aways from battery bank
My Victron shunt states it should be connected to the negetive of the last battery? How would that work in this setup?
Is victron talking about batteries connected in *series* ? This video is about parallel connections.
Do you have the charger connected to the inverter?
Good useful information. I got what I needed.
I have 3 SOK batteries and the app will only show 1 battery at a time, that's pretty useful the way that your app shows all 3 batteries at the same time
Love your battery scan. Is that part of the BMS?
The app does the scan :)
I'm completely stumped as to why no one is commenting on wire Guage. I'm seeing all kinds of wire used across the internet and no one seems to care but people say it's important... but leave it out of every tutorial.
I have 3 12v 200ah batteries to be run in parallel. I was just going run a bolt and nut through the 3 red to the red trunk, and the 3 black to the black trunk.
Wouldn't this be better than a bar?
I'm stuck on wire size... I'm also stuck on, do i need a fuse and what size to my 3000w inverter.
I have a bunch of 8awg and some 4/0. Was going to 8awg the bank and 4/0 the trunk, with a 100a fuse, although i might up it to 200a.
Thoughts?
In case anyone cares:
2 x 60v 7ish amp solar panels, 300w? To controller run in parallel. So 60v 15a for 600 watts. To meet 100/50 mppt.
3 x 12v 200ah sla bats run in parallel(haven't done this yet, but planning to) on 8 awg wire to stud/ trunk. Trunk would be a fused 4/0 to inverter. All lines would be as close to same length respective to their run. Although I feel like a fuse would mess up one leg on the trunk... something else i don't see anyone addressing.
Any help appreciated
There are plenty of videos discussing AWG wire size.
No one else had an issue with how close the pos and neg bus bars were to touching felt like one little bump or opps and sparks would be flying.
Question: I have four lithium batteries (12v/100ah). I have a bus bar like yours (four poles). Do I occupy all four poles with the four batteries, then add the inverter to one of the used poles? (So, the inverter would share a bus bar pole with one of the batteries.) Would that be bad practice? Thanks
Sorry but that is wrong one should come in from the other end to equal it out.
So it is better to connect charger to the inverter than the busbar or the batteries themselves?
Broooo this is what i searched for!
But i really want to DIY the barries with eve prismatic cells.
I eliminate the buss bar alltogther, and place all in to one line, and using a copper switch to conected to a fuse, then conneteced to a main. it is all in a box this is what I did with even my agms, and I do the exact same set up with my solar array.. becasue the intersting thing, is the soilar arrays, are the exact same thing like ones batteries. .I jsut make sure that I am not over drawing what my lines can handle, I also tap my lines directly in to the charge controller from breaker to the battery bank. My charge controler has fuses in it aswell, they seem to be more touchy than the breakers. My newer system has a build in breaker and just needs a connect disconnet switch.
they are starting to make these units idiot proof. I just make sure everything is tight.
Ok so will AGM lead be okay like the first set up? For two batteries?
My boat has 2 battery system. Factory wired it parallel but battery (1 ) & (2) are 5 ft away from each other. The load is plugged into battery 1 like your first set up. Battery (2) is 5 ft away located in the back of the boat with just the Pos & Neg cable ran to it from battery 1 😅. Neg to neg pos to pos. Long cable.
Should i just add a bus bar to it at this point so it pulls from each end? Draining & charging it equally as 1?
AGM will charge each other much better in parallel because they have a more sloped charge curve. But if possible use option 2. 1 should only be used if you are drawing low amps (under 10).
Good 👍 stuff..
Impressive. But where is the charger connected?
He connected it (via clamps) to the terminals sticking off the front of the inverter.
The charger is the little black box on the right, the inverter is the larger blue one underneath the charger.
your setup can be improved a little more if you think about it😇
Are you referring to jumping battery to battery m?
Pretty sure people watching this video are not going to know... like me.
@@inv1s_- In the first set up, just connect the inverter negative to the negative on battery 1, Now just saved you money time and frustration.
@@oilpressingNo, that is *not* the best way. The busbar is the best way.
Is it fair to assume that likewise the input/charge wires (Solar charger) should also be connected similarly?
yup
This is why you don't use 3 batteries. You don't need bus bars, and you get perfect balance, if the number of batteries are determined by geometric sequence. (1,2,4,8,16, etc.)
I'm a retired electrician did some DC work it's all about balance of these batteries,I'm going with 48 volt hybrid used cheaper then buying these solar types batterys that's the big thing is storage of the power from your panals .I like your system.
Very helpful information, thanks
can they be charged at the same time?????
So would it be fair to assume that for a 2 battery setup, probly best to go with a piggy back setup with positive and negative going off different batteries?
Better but still not best.
What was the charging performance on setup 1 & 2 please?
Would have been good to see test 3 with the inverter supply cable in the middle of the bus bar.
Excellent vid thanx from aus.
Is the app you are using on the ipad connected to the BMS in each battery via Bluetooth?
Very informative video, thanks a lot for sharing
How about the victron halfway hookup???
What is that? I googled it but Im kind of slow. Im trying to determine my wiring currently.
Thx for showing 🥰
We should see what happens in series ?
No. Not with these batteries and this inverter
I think batteries can be connected in series but not with this inverter. I was saying what will happen if you connect them in series , each of the batteries will have different voltage
@@ferdm9646 Yes, batteries connected in series will have different voltages. So what?
@@MrSummitville so what ???? Fine 👌
@@ferdm9646 Each cell, inside each battery, has a different voltage - lead acid and Li-Ion. When did this become an issue?
Thank you much? This was a huge help!
Good info , good job.
I was told that everything goes to One positive bus and 1 negative BusAnd everything is distributed charging equally. In a parallel configuration
That would be mostly correct. The "mostly" qualification is because electricity always tries to take the shortest path to complete the circuit. Because the load wires (going to the inverter) are on one end of the bus bar the battery connected closest to that end is going to have a slightly heavier load due to its location. In another post here the guy who made the video says he's looking at making a circular bus "bar" (bus wheel?) so you can have a centrally located load / charge cable with the ones going to the battery terminals equidistant.
Could changing wire size balance the amp draw.
Could you have the cable for the inverter in the middle of the three cables on the busbar coming from the batteries? In other words could you connect the inverter to the middle lug on the busbar? Pause at 10:50 on the video
Yes that would make it a bit better but I think as long as the amp difference is under 10 amps it should balance out easily when you fully charge. The main goal is to avoid the large amp differences of 30+ and as long as you do this you should be good to go.
@@sfkenergy Its just something i noticed in the video. I seen other videos where there was more than four batteries and the cables from the batteries were taken from the middle of the bank to the inverter. Unfortunately comments were disabled in the videos I saw. I wonder why?
I believe that you should connect the inverter to the Plus of the first battery and the minus to the last battery. The configuration you have will draw a higher current out of the battery closest to the inverter and will draw the least amount of current from the battery farthest away from the inverter.All wires should be of equal lengths.
You have a point there.
@david - Your suggestion is certainly better, but still not the *best* way.
@@MrSummitvilleokay, what's the best way
I have the same setup with everything on bus bars but with two batteries. I want to connect a shunt but I don't know exactly where to wire it because the bus bars are throwing me off. If someone would enlighten me I'd appreciate it.
Good video
Question. i got hold of 57 free batteries of 6volt 4,5Ah NiMH type of batterys .. Thats a lot of batteries.. i wish to make a giant powerbank in parallel connection .. Is there something i have to remeber? ... do i need thicker cables then the ones that already are on the batteries? how is it when i charge that many batteries in parallell ? do i need a super charger? or just use a normal charger that will just take much longer time?
I also got a hold on 43 of 4 cells NiCd batteries with a voltage of 4,8 and they have 4,5Ah -- planned to make a 2nd powerpack with those. All batteries are only 3 years old and they are fully functional.. they had to be replaced because of strict rules on batteries that feed emergency light on ship .. they get replaced every 3 years even the law say 5 years.. guess shipping company just want to make sure their ok .. they have been maintain charged trough the years they been active.. and they only sometimes get used on test of the emergency light onboard.
Very good teac😊
I don't think the length of the cables going from bus bar to inverter/charger matters when using a BUS BAR
Correct. Length of wire from bus bar to battery must be equal.
Can I have 2 AMG + 2 LIFePO4 batteries connected together to bus bar ?
@@arturhulboj7762 This is not recommended, mixing ago and lithium will just keep draining the lithium battery.
Thanks!!
Would you recommend a buss bar for 2 batteries?
@@ChadGerstmeyer-vr1sg 2 is not really necessary but 3 or 4 yes you should.
@@sfkenergy excellent! Thank you
Great info !
Much appreciated ! Liked/Subscribed !
*FJB !*
How do we calculate the wire size for interconnects?
Compute the maximum allowed voltage drop.
What would happen if you tapped off the middle battery.
Best to use a busbar.
Stack the terminals instead of bus bar?
Why?
Hi Andrew, My three 100ah LiFePo4 batteries are now stacked on one external terminal. Been like this for a year now. I'm adding two more batteries soon and those will be added to the stack. However i will be ordering and using buss bars instead shortly. Eventually i will be upgrading to 48v so i may or may not need the buss bars anymore.
Using bus bars only seem to make them more uneven as battery number one is much lower than 2 and 3. The best way to hook up batteries is the positive from the first battery and negative from the last battery... Demonstration two is the correct way
No. The best way is *Bus* *Bar* . Always was. Always will be.
Nice vid, most people will already know about the wiring, I think you just wanted to show off the app 😁
😊
Bus Bars in RV's, Boats and Off Grid has been the *Industry* *Standard* for at least the past 25 years. Absolutely, nothing new here ...
Why you na try bolt all 3 batteries and inventor lead together in one bolt
What size are you cables?
Too small.
I want to learn this. But the way you move camera, it is hard to watch for more than 15 seconds without feel dizzy . Have to give up watching.
When batteries are wired in parallel.... You should connect the Positive to one, Like in this video, the 3rd battery..... But then the negative should be connected to the first battery (on the far left)....... Inverted connected directly to one battery like this, Forces that 1 battery to take the power draw, and then for the other 2 batteries to keep up with the demand...
Connecting negative to first battery, and positive to the 3rd battery.. Will share the load equally between the 3 batteries, when the inverted demands a load.....
(i install home, and off-grid solar systems for a living.. This has been thoroughly tested and proven to be more effective, stopping 1 battery from premature cell wear due to load draws)
hello, do you mind illustrating ?
I think you just described his second (better) setup. It shared the load much better between the batteries on either end but the middle one was not directly loaded.
@the english miner - No, your idea is *not* the best way. Using a Busbar is the best way.
this is how the test should be.
Dangerous video. Where's the fuse?
It's a demonstration. You need a beer and some pizza!
@@zugmeister314But we like watching things that blow up... 💣
I think we need triangle busses.