Hi All

Busy with a 16s 272amp DIY bank, cells have been top balanced to 3.6v 

BMS JBD 200amp and Hankzor 5amp active balancer 

Cables are crimp and soldered . Busbar heat shrieked and insert cut out for balance leads and BMS leads

Where did you order the cells from?

I would also like to know @Raj35

Busy putting together the elements for my battery and the availability of Cells from unquestionable origins is not easy in SA.

@Gnome @Brickman 87Dream put me in touch with Thomas who had them for sale. They are from Shenzhen Basen Technologies.

@Brickman prices are hectic especially freight below is the quote from Shenzhen Basen Technologies to your door but it a chance to take. My first order was from another store it was a nightmare 😫 I thought I had lost my 40k on Aliexpress with much fighting and providing evidence I won the dispute and they refunded my money 😦

Interesting. That's some serious numbers after conversion and factoring in ancillary costs and time etc.

I'm sure you did the maths and ran through all the pros and cons but I'm curious (as I'd also like to potentially explore a similar route)

Did the numbers work in favor of this direction as opposed to an off the shelf prebuilt solution amongst the plethora available?

Edited December 6, 20214 yr by JoeyhZA

@JoeyhZA it's not everyones cup of tea if you good with DIY and hands on then that a plus  and also time is a requirement. I have them for more than a month and only working with it now@Gnome he posted the pro and con,s on his DIY pack. The price of a 15kwh battery would set you back 75 to 80k depending on the brand.My current calculation is around 50k so it depends on one self.

Link bar for pack 31mm x 3mm copper  taped and heat shrinked 

3 hours ago, Raj35 said:

The price of a 15kwh battery would set you back 75 to 80k depending on the brand.My current calculation is around 50k so it depends on one self.

Also your pack has active balancing and a 200a BMS.  As far as I'm aware none of the battery manufacturers use active balancing and 200a (continuous) BMS would be a stretch for any manufacturer.

2 hours ago, Raj35 said:

Link bar for pack 31mm x 3mm copper  taped and heat shrinked 

<snip image>

I realise you already went the copper route, but my Aluminium bus bars are working out perfectly.  We had load shedding this weekend and we were running the kettle & watching TV, hitting around 4kW at times and the busbars and contact areas didn't get warm at all.  I can safely say that Aluminium works just as well if you have it sized correctly.

Your bus bar measures 31 x 3mm, so 93mm² area.  Compare that to electrical wire by Aberdare welding cable (SANS approved cables)

So you should be good for ~400 amps at 100% duty cycle.  Given the length of bus-bars that should be no more than 0.04 - 0.08 volt drop across your entire battery pack @ 100amps (using the Aberdare calculation)

Edited December 6, 20214 yr by Gnome

@Gnome the active bms has a switch function which I'm going to use to trigger on and off maybe put something to trigger remotely when need.

The copper busbar I had lying around so I used what I had , I saw a video of Andy aswell  he used aluminum which is also great.

Thanks for the feedback @Raj35

Good luck with yor battery journey.

If you guys are looking for 280ah lifpo4 sells and JBD bms, I got someone that imports local.  Jaco is importing direct from the manufacturer. 2nd shipment is on it's way. There is already a bunch of this bms floating around in SA that he have imported and sells. 

Friend of mine setup that we are busy with with 280ah grade A match sells and JBD bms's.

@Gerlach That looks very neat! I can see where he is going with that color scheme... Looks like it will be a proper "power wall".

Edit: I hope there will be another DC disconnect for the batteries (apart from the hidden fuses)?

Edited December 7, 20214 yr by P1000

8 minutes ago, P1000 said:

@Gerlach That looks very neat! I can see where he is going with that color scheme... Looks like it will be a proper "power wall".

Edit: I hope there will be another DC disconnect for the batteries (apart from the hidden fuses)?

Jip a nother set is coming in between the bus bars and the 2 Multi II 5kw inverters. Work in progress. I help him out with the battery build quickly  because I got my hands full in my side building my own setup at my house to. 

@Raj35any updates?  How is your journey going so far?

@Gnome appologies been busy at work I have made a battery stand nothing to fancy 

Cell have been connected, will share an update later on connection.

7 hours ago, Raj35 said:

@Gnome appologies been busy at work I have made a battery stand nothing to fancy 

Heh, no problem, I'm more interested in how it's going, its your project  

I had the same problem.  I don't have kids so I was able to work on weekends, but making my own busbars basically took almost an entire weekend of productive time from me.  Theoretically it is all really quick and easy, practically each small little detail takes time.

Did you weld that stand yourself?

My welding skills are near non-existent but I'm thinking of dusting off the old welder and trying to build a metal enclosure.  Alternatively I also have some Aluminium brazing rods and thought I might try to make an Alu enclosure using brazing rods.