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Old 04-12-2018, 06:50 AM   #61
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So here is what I hope will be the final battery layout.
I realized I hadn't explained the wiring illustration above. so for the few who may be interested in the re-use of the Gen2 volt battery pack, the additional info is provided regarding the wiring scheme:

1) BMS "signal wires" are not shown in this diagram

2) White dotted lines represent the red cables run on the pics in the previous post. These wires are not technically required.

However, the batteries had two unused posts and I decided to run wires to them creating two new battery terminals:
A) a new positive for the 12S batts
B) a new negative terminal for the 4S batts

By doing this the connections on the cut bus bars will never need to be touched.

3) Yellow dotted lines represent the series wiring needed to create a 48V (12S) battery from the three 16V (4S) orphan battery modules.

4)As you can see, batteries are paired to share a BMS. The four pairs of batteries will then meet up at these terminal blocks and then be fed to the inverter.

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Old 04-15-2018, 08:55 AM   #62
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This morning I assembled some more cables and then connected the inverter to two batteries.

Yummy 2/0 cables...


I did not use the BMS for this test but I did use the "composite" battery made up of the three 16V (4S) orphans along with one of the 64V (16S) batts modded to 48V (12S).

I sacrificed a 12 gauge extension cord for the AC charger input and the AC power output. I ran my heat gun off the inverter to test and then plugged the charging cable into a 20A house outlet.

Only two of the "four" batteries are connected here and no BMS yet...


Sweet remote control and status display. I think I need to buy the Magnum battery management kit as well for overall battery health and monitoring at the system level.
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Old 04-15-2018, 12:17 PM   #63
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Still getting quite a few missing images.

What image host are you using?
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Old 04-15-2018, 12:42 PM   #64
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Still getting quite a few missing images.

What image host are you using?
I saw that... Annoying, sorry. I used to use Photobucket until they started their extortion campaign. I have now been using Google photos.

I try to make sure I only use my shared albums for posts but I must mix them up sometimes. I'll fix it when I get home...
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Old 04-15-2018, 12:55 PM   #65
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I saw that... Annoying, sorry. I used to use Photobucket until they started their extortion campaign. I have now been using Google photos.

I try to make sure I only use my shared albums for posts but I must mix them up sometimes. I'll fix it when I get home...
If you are considering a new host, I pay $40 per year for Smugmug.

They offer unlimited storage of images at full resolution, and a whole raft of other stuff. Money well spent.
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Old 04-15-2018, 04:10 PM   #66
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Originally Posted by ComfortEagle View Post
This morning I assembled some more cables and then connected the inverter to two batteries.

Yummy 2/0 cables...


I did not use the BMS for this test but I did use the "composite" battery made up of the three 16V (4S) orphans along with one of the 64V (16S) batts modded to 48V (12S).

I sacrificed a 12 gauge extension cord for the AC charger input and the AC power output. I ran my heat gun off the inverter to test and then plugged the charging cable into a 20A house outlet.

Only two of the "four" batteries are connected here and no BMS yet...


Sweet remote control and status display. I think I need to buy the Magnum battery management kit as well for overall battery health and monitoring at the system level.
Let me try this again...

2/0 cables


Only two of the "four" batteries are connected here and no BMS yet...


Remote/Display
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Old 04-18-2018, 05:10 PM   #67
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I did get an opportunity to run the two batteries connected to the inverter with the BMS connected as well. The BMS performed perfectly and the android app has many programmable parameters. I wanted to use heavy gauge wire (2/0) so I decided to connect the BMS using terminal lugs and screws vice soldering.


If you look to the left side of the two top battery packs you will see two rolled up sets of wires coming from the BMS plugs. These will be connected in parallel to another BMS to manage/monitor those (currently unconnected) batteries. I also ordered the Magnum ME-BMK battery management kit to enable management and monitoring of battery health at the system level.


While not much of a test, I did run my house refrigerator off the two batteries for 12 hours and was just under 70% SOC, although they only at 90% when I started. I am trying to get smarter on where to set the charge parameters to get the most efficient use and life of the batteries; not a lot of info available on the web for these batteries...
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Old 05-09-2018, 01:38 PM   #68
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what does something like this cost to do
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Old 05-09-2018, 04:25 PM   #69
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sub'd for future progress. I like it
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Old 05-09-2018, 05:57 PM   #70
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what does something like this cost to do
Not including cables, circuit breakers, and other consumables, it looks like I've got about $7800 tied up in the electrical system. Full up system cost with roof racks, cables, etc. will be around $9K.

2017 Chevy Volt Battery Pack - $3,500
8 each Solar Panels Hyundai HIS-S325TI - $1,510 ($189 each)
Magnum Energy MS4048 4000W 48V Inverter Charger - $1,591
Magnum Energy ME-ARC50 Advanced Remote Control - $177
Magnum Energy ME-BMK, Battery Monitoring Kit with shunt - $141
4 each 12s 100A smart board LiPo lithium polymer BMS / PCM / PCB Battery protection board - $304 ($76 each)
Solar Charge Controller Victron Energy BlueSolar MPPT 150/70-Tr (12/24/36/48V-70A) - $540
Victron Energy ASS030536010 VE.Direct Bluetooth Smart dongle - $50
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Old 05-09-2018, 06:35 PM   #71
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I'm impressed!

I really like following your build. I'd love a setup similar. I'll save my pennies and wait on costs to come down or my budget to go up.

Super cool seeing it actually done. I see builds of banks on YouTube but usually they don't finish or don't show what they are running on it. Especially awesome seeing it in a mobile application
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Old 05-10-2018, 04:29 AM   #72
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I'm impressed!

I really like following your build. I'd love a setup similar. I'll save my pennies and wait on costs to come down or my budget to go up.

Super cool seeing it actually done. I see builds of banks on YouTube but usually they don't finish or don't show what they are running on it. Especially awesome seeing it in a mobile application
Thank you for the encouraging words. My other three BMSs showed up yesterday. If I can clear off some space on the garage work bench I hope to wire everything up this weekend (no solar) and do a full up system test. Lots of wires...
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Old 05-12-2018, 07:40 PM   #73
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Today I wired up all eight batteries four BMS's, and "tested" them out without the inverter. The BMS BT and phone app are pretty nice, and all BMS's are wired correctly and appear to be working as advertised. I still need to build eight more 2/0 cables and four more 4/0 cables before I can connect all eight batteries to the inverter thru the distribution blocks, circuit breaker, and BMK shunt...
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Old 05-12-2018, 08:56 PM   #74
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Do you have a background in electronics?

Li home built seems a lot more involved then the standard mix and match lead setup

I built a solar system for a radio station that has a 100% solar powered broadcast tower. That was just about sizing all the premade components correctly and building a housing.

I'm a bit lost on li, yours is definitely one of the better builds I've seen
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Old 05-13-2018, 05:22 AM   #75
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Do you have a background in electronics?

Li home built seems a lot more involved then the standard mix and match lead setup

I built a solar system for a radio station that has a 100% solar powered broadcast tower. That was just about sizing all the premade components correctly and building a housing.

I'm a bit lost on li, yours is definitely one of the better builds I've seen
I would say that two primary factors have added layers of complexity to my battery build:

1) The configuration of the Gen2 Chevy Volt battery pack - Gen1 Volt packs come with a combination of 24V and 48V modules, good voltages for solar. However the Gen2 Volt packs (my pack) have 48V and 64V modules. I chose to reconfigure the three 64V modules into four 48V modules; that definitely added a layer of complexity.

2) The need for BMS for the lithium batteries. The Volt pack is made up of 96 ~4V cells, and for safety and long battery life (waaay longer then lead acid...), all lithium cells in series should be monitored and balanced by a BMS; that'a a lot of cells to monitor...

So, using a Gen1 Volt pack or a Nissan Leaf pack could eliminate the first layer of complexity completely.

And I'm told that when reconfiguring some EV packs (Nissan Leaf for sure) it's easier to run more cells in parallel reducing the number of cells the BMS must monitor.

As for my background, I am retired military where I was an electronic tech on Harriers for 20 years. That of course does not make me a solar or battery SME, and I appreciate all the help our resident Skoolie.net SME's have been providing.
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Old 05-14-2018, 05:53 PM   #76
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I finally got the battery pack completed today. I moved it to the garage (it was on the kitchen island...), and finished building and connecting cables. All eight batteries are connected and feeding the inverter. 18.4 kWh of Lithium glory. It's so ugly it's beautiful; a modern art masterpiece.


I can monitor the four BMS's from the living room with the slick "xiaoxiang electric bike" BMS app. Nothing says quality like "xiaoxiang"...

The Magnum Energy remote display is actually a different model than I originally ordered. Originally I ordered the ME-RC remote, but I exchanged it for the ME-ARC. If you look at pics in my previous posts, they look almost identical, but the "A" (advanced) version allows for much more customization. It will probably be several months before the system goes into the bus; in the meantime I am considering drilling a hole thru the garage wall and running the remote cable into the living room for training.


Here is a close up of one of the BMS's. All BMS's are wired thru the Chevy Volt OEM BMS plugs (orange plug), and spliced together with yes, "wire nuts" (fancy Posi-Twist wire nuts). There are 52 (4X13) splices, each joining 3 wires. The Bluetooth boards connect to the BMS's thru the 4 pin connectors on the BMS boards.


The Magnum Energy ME-BMK monitors the batteries at a system level and is monitored/controlled thru the ME-ARC remote display.


This is the shunt that comes with the ME-BMK.


The three grey cables connected to the inverter are for: 1) ME-ARC display, 2) the ME-BMK battery monitor, and 3) battery temp sensor.


The four pairs of batteries are connected to these distribution blocks with 2/0 and then run to the inverter with 4/0.


For now the setup is in the garage running my garage refrigerator; I plan to let it run for a few days while attempt to get smart on all setting up all the parameters for the inverter, BMK, and BMS's...
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Old 05-14-2018, 06:14 PM   #77
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That is so far above my pay-grade that it's not funny.

However, spendy though they are, I love "Posi" products. They have allowed me to fully customize the electrical system on my bike without ever touching the OEM wiring harness, with the exception of three Posi-taps.
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Old 05-18-2018, 08:37 AM   #78
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That is so far above my pay-grade that it's not funny.

However, spendy though they are, I love "Posi" products. They have allowed me to fully customize the electrical system on my bike without ever touching the OEM wiring harness, with the exception of three Posi-taps.
Yeah, for sure Posi's are nice pieces of gear. Funny you mention them wrt motorcycles. I've used them frequently for motorcycles, they are very secure; few years ago I replaced an old glass fuse panel with a few of these.


So the garage fridge has been running for four days now. FWIW, the batts were down to ~45V (3.75V per cell) this morning; they were ~48.5V (4.04V per cell) when I connected them to the inverter. I plan to let them go a few more days and then charge them up from "shore power" (a 15A garage circuit).

The Android app for the BMS's is addictive. When I get home the first thing I do is fire up the app to check cell voltages and balance. And I did move the Inverter remote into the living room; there was already a hole in the wall for the TV cable...

I still need to get smarter on all the settings and functionality of the BMS/BMK/inverter. I look forward to getting this setup in the bus and getting the solar side up and running. Also, in honor of another thread here (#foolserrand), I ordered and received my mini split. I ordered this SuperAir 12K BTU 22 Seer unit:
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Old 06-25-2018, 07:01 AM   #79
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I wanted to post a quick update on the battery pack. Today marks 6 weeks that the system has been up and running in the garage under admittedly light use... I run the garage fridge fulltime with it plus occassional power tools. I charge the pack off a 15A garage circuit.

To date I have experienced no issues with the setup. I have the BMS's set to balance the battery cells to within .03 volts. However, unless I've missed it which is possible but not probable (I have been monitoring system health pretty closely), the cells have consistently been staying within .01 - .02 volts without the need for any active balancing.

I have the inverter/charger setup to charge to 49.2V (4.10V per cell). I believe I have taken the pack down to ~42V (~3.5V per cell). As for heat, the garage has gotten pretty hot, but I haven't put enough current thru the pack to generate any real heat there... During bulk charging, the charger puts ~32A thru the pack, so only ~8A thru each BMS. The "quality" Xiaoxiang BMS's are rated for 100A each; maybe I should buy a spare...

I still need to spend more quality time with the inverter manual, but there are only so many hours in the day, and I really need to build a bus in which to put this battery pack.
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Old 07-02-2018, 11:30 AM   #80
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Below is a diagram of my proposed solar in / battery out setup. If any of our resident solar SMEs (subject matter experts) are willing to take a look at it and provide some feedback it would be greatly appreciated.

My plan is to co-locate this gear with the battery pack, in a suitably sized, well vented climate controlled compartment in the bus, with 4/0 running to another "electrical closet" (also vented, climate controlled) containing the inverter and AC load center and DC converters and fuse panels.

As always thank you all for your help.

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