Lithium batteries and bench power supply

bbbuddy

Heh, well I meant something like a Prosine, not some no brand name Chinese knockoff...

bbbuddy

Well it's been a week now since we installed. I check the battery bank morning and night. The voltage variation between battery series tonight was 0 to .004v. I'd say they are pretty happy.
I'm ecstatic. The battery is down to 86% tonight. It will use another 7% by morning when the watts start to come in.

We're building a house and I'm sure will use more electricity than we do in the big 5th wheel, but even if we double the use, which I doubt, we'll have plenty. It's Arizona, so we have a advantage with solar.

Hey, I'm on an android tablet, and have been unable to get the full site here for over a week, anyone know why? It was never a problem before, now I just get a message that it can't handle the request and to check back later...

BB.

I use an Android Phone (Samsung) and never have any issues 1/2 the time i am on the forum. There is a "mobile version" of the pages (less data/more compact). On my phone, I can also check the Desktop Page (in Firefox browser) if I want to see the full site page.

You can PM me a screen shot and/or the exact error message and I will ask software support for help.

-Bill

bbbuddy

It's been two and a half weeks since the lifepo4 battery was commissioned, I check the voltage 2-3 times per day and the furthest apart the batteries have been is .007 volts.

I did have a problem with knowing "for sure" what the voltage actually was because the Classic and Trimetric differed from each other and the DMM, by up to .04 volts. I was pretty sure the DMM was accurate because I checked it with newly charged AAA and AAA batteries. Just to be sure, I ordered a voltage checker from http://www.voltagestandard.com/Home_Page_JO2U.html. The owner there is terrific and I received it as fast as could be. My DMM was off by .00001, so knowing this I changed the readouts on the Trimetric and Classics.

I DO LOVE ME SOME LIFEPO4!!!

bbbuddy

Well, it's April 28, and they finally fixed the forum so I can access the full site instead of just the mobile version... Thanks!

bbbuddy

9 weeks now. The battery bank has operated to perfection.  

We are in a large 5th wheel, so the battery is installed in an small outbuilding "powerhouse" with the inverter and chargers.  Because of this we installed it into a large white cooler.  There is a 2x4 and plywood platform in the bottom of the cooler with a 40watt incandescent lightbulb in a shoplight under the plywood so if we do not get the house finished by winter and the battery has to be there in the winter we can put the lightbulb on a timer and have it on just often enough to keep the temperature around 50-60.

The lowest we have had the battery is 39%, and the batteries were all within .003v.

We have not needed the generator one time since installing these.  We even turned on and filled our 3000 gallon water tank after dark one day, and it has a 1hp 230 volt Gould pump.  The batteries never even noticed.  The voltage sag is so tiny it's amazing.

Best decision we have made in regards to our solar setup.  I'll never go back to lead acid.

Raj174

Glad to hear they're are doing well.
Just one question, what is the absorb setting on your Classics set to?

Rick 

bbbuddy

I've played around with it a bit but mostly they've been set to 27.6 (3.45 per cell). 

Raj174

3.45 per cell is were I started also. I have since dropped to 3.425 per cell. How do you end absorb? END AMPS or Time?
Could you take a voltage reading of all cells just before the end of absorb, note the highest cell and post the result? You will probably find it a bit above 3.45. 

Rick