Crankshaft

The active balancer option sound interesting. Is there a particular model that one can get here in SA? Are these things adjustable, or does it just pull all the cells up to equal the one with the highest voltage? I'm liking this idea as is means I can clamp my cells and wire them in series, charge and top-balance and be done with it. The 'traditional' method of putting in parallel and charging to 3.6 volts means, ill have to break-up the battery and rewire it again before commissioning it.

I order though Nuvision. Orders usually gets here under a week. Big time and shipping savings.

Digikey sells a silver loaded grease. https://www.digikey.co.za/en/products/detail/chemtronics/CW7100/307001 Not cheap though. A waste of money?

I would prefer proper busbars. There are the types with a flexible centre, but then I guess one is back to the cable situation.

Thank you Chris Do you reckon it will fine to put some grease on the cell terminals?

Any comments regarding the cleaning and coating of the aluminium terminals? If I can't find any special stuff, I reckon I will carefully clean with fine water-paper, and then coat with a light grease.

I got one of the Apexium 100A BMS boards and 16 x 105AH Eve cells. I would like to to this 100% instead of just 'slap' together: Any advice on the following: 1. Should I first top-balance the cells? Thinking of paralleling in 2 sets of 8 cells and then charging to 3.6 or even 3.65 volts. Or, will the Apexium BMS eventually do the job? The battery is initially going into a UPS system so will be mostly at full charge. 2. For busbars, Stamcor lugs crimped onto short lengths of 25mm2 cable. This way I avoid the standard aluminium busbars and have flexible links between the cells. My concern is the aluminium oxide on the cell terminals. Is is necessary to use a special de-ox and protective compound and the connection? I have read that Silver conductive past is the best. The other stuff is called Noalox. No idea where to find either. Thank you.

Hi. I got the BMS from Lee when she was still with Apexium. The cells from another supplier. I'll send you a PM.

The cells are clamped in 2 rows of 8 cells. I guess it will just be easier to do 8 at a time. The total time should be about the same. My 3.6 volt PSU is only 5 amps, so it's going to take a while.

I got one of the Apexium 100A BMS boards and 16 x 105AH Eve cells. I would like to to this 100% instead of just 'slap' together: Any advice on the following: 1. Should I first top-balance the cells? Thinking of paralleling in 2 sets of 8 cells and then charging to 3.6 or even 3.65 volts. Or, will the Apexium BMS eventually do the job? The battery is initially going into a UPS system so will be mostly at full charge. 2. For busbars, Stamcor lugs crimped onto short lengths of 25mm2 cable. This way I avoid the standard aluminium busbars and have flexible links between the cells. My concern is the aluminium oxide on the cell terminals. Is is necessary to use a special de-ox and protective compound and the connection? I have read that Silver conductive past is the best. The other stuff is called Noalox. No idea where to find either. Thank you.

I'd put some large dollops of adhesive under those cement block. They may be heavy, but the wind can be stronger.

That makes sense. Thank you.

I'm wondering why a solar panel manufacturer has panel ratings so close. Checking out the Canadian HiKu mono panels. There is a 375w and 380w model. Size and weight identical, small price difference. Why would a manufacturer make panels that are so similar. I wonder why anyone would choose one over the over. My guess is that when the cells are selected , the better-performing cells go on the 380w panel. Could also be an older and a newer model.

Thank you Plonkster. I suspected as much. So far I'm very happy with these batteries.

Good morning I have 4 x 100AH Ritar Lead carbon batteries powering my Victron Multiplus 3000. No solar at present, so it is just a huge UPS for the house. I connected a Raspberry Pi as a Venus device, and find it great to be able to monitor the system. Whenever there is an outage (load-shedding), I notice that the battery voltage drops from 54 volt to 49 in approx. 15 minutes. After this it remains at around 49 volts (dropping slightly) for the duration of a typical 2 hour load-shedding event. I'm wondering if this is normal lead-carbon behavior. My guess is the 'capacitor' component of the battery discharges very quickly, and then it behaves like a regular lead acid type. Any comments?

Good reasoning. This is the route I will go.

I'm yet to fit my bypass or crossover switch. Do I get a 2P and utilize a cross-over circuit, or a 4P and do a full bypass circuit. My common sense tells me a 4 pole switch that will completely remove the inverter is better. But, this can also be achieved with an isolater at the inverter input. Any comments?

I was hoping that there were 4 proper LiFe cells inside the case. Looks like a bunch of cheap 'power-bank' lipo cells taped together. And the fourth bundle squeezed in! Please correct me if I'm wrong. Perhaps that is what LiFe cells look like inside there casings.

Bear in mind that you will require more time to charge the larger capacity battery.

Makes sense, thank you. I was thinking that the relay would disconnect the battery once it is fully charged, but yes, I imagine the relay is there to disconnect in extreme cases.

I'm busy checking this Chargery BMS out for suitability with a homebrew LiFe battery. Anyone have any comments on the following: The Chargery system has two relays to control charge/discharge. How will this behave with a Victron Multiplus used in UPS mode. I'm concerned that there will be conflict with the inverter's change-over relay and the BMS's relays/contactors.

I'm sticking with LF to power my valve audio. Case in point: I am about to replace a 30 year old 12volt stepdown transformer for halogen down-lights. It had been powering a a load of almost double it't rating for this period. Don't reckon one of those BIC lighter sized SMPS would do the same.

I reckon this will be like the great audio debates: Valves vs transistors. Class A vs class D

I've always removed the stickers to check the electrolyte in these 'sealed' silver calcium batteries. They need water almost as often as regular lead-acid batteries.