Just seen your info on website so I would need the babyblock for my ebike an fit it so it has air flow but keep away from rain so can ,mount in my buggy as it has a roof with vent .
Hi Shawn. The bloc build fitting into a PVC fence post is a clever idea, as are the magnets. Have you had any corrosion or contact issues with the zinc coated plates that you are using to bond all this together? Is the very moderate pressure of the nylon screws enough? Have you taken a FLIR camera to the packs under full load test? I'd be interested to see if any hot spots show up. I agree with you that active balancing is the way to go when you have high current capacity parallel cell blocks or high capacity cells. My primary concern with the system though is that there is no provision for any fusing in your system, whether that be between blocks or on individual cells. A single cell starting to fail in fuse/short mode in a 60P enclosed pack would be hard to identify and on failing would be catastrophic. Your blocs are made to be serviceable, but part of the issue is identifying the bad cell. Have you considered using fused nickel strips in conjunction with your magnets? If a cell fails, the fuse goes, and life goes on with 59/60 working just fine. It's not so much of a concern with LiFePO4, but with Li-Ion runaway mode is a problem. Too many fires to ignore, especially in EV applications.
I am a newbie to electronics and how they work, but i would like build a solar generator to power a small apartment freezer for my kids ice cream busiess. The freezer uses very little power as it is a new Danby 5.1 cubic foot freezer. How much power does that battery with 60 cells produce ? I want to hook up an inverter to it to power a solar generator. I appologize if this is a dumb question i am just tring to figure out how many 18650 cells to buy to power this generator. I have 60 of the batteries currently. Can you help
Brad, that is doable, a friend just set up a freezer in his tool shed using a few solar panels. But I would request you to contact me at shawnwiththewind@gmail.com and provide the power consumption of the fridge, and the mah of the cells you have. Then I can show you how to do the math.
Sure. It depends on your loads of course. My home has a 100P14S battery made of mostly salvaged cells. If I watch my useage and especially if I freeze water and move it to the fridge at night so I can shut it off, I can get through a long night. When the last hurricane hit, power was out here on my block for a week, and Cecilia and I were very popular with our fridge and AC! You start with your best guess of how much power you need to store.
I'm always amazed at your ingenuity. Most boats use 12V systems to power everything. What is the plan to get that kind of voltage. I'm guessing 3 of these in series at full charge of 4.2 volts would give you 12.6 volts. Some equipment is voltage sensitive and won't operate on too low a voltage, so it seems to me there may not be as much capacity at the lower end of the charge. You've probably figured something out. Please enlighten me.
Yes, it is an issue because the voltages of a Lead Acid and LIthium chemistries don't mesh well at lower voltages. I'm working on a sailboat battery now, we are going to go 4S for 16 volts. He uses solar panels and the motor alternator to charge. He is going to change the wiring of his solar panels, putting two in series, to get 24 volts or so, then use a MPPT converter to step the voltage down to 16. His alternator puts out 14.4 volts. 14.4/4 is 3.6 volts. So the alternator will charge the battery if it is low enough... 3.6 volts is right in the middle. So the idea is the solar panels top off the battery and the alternator brings it up from bottom. Any better ideas are welcomed!
One thing to consider is to go to a 24 volt system in the boat for the house batteries. Not everything will run off that voltage, but stuff that needs 14 volts can be fed off an MPPT converter stepped down to that voltage. One of the nice things about 24 volt systems is in long wiring runs with high amperage loads, you only need half of wire size since the amperage is half of what it is in a 12 volt system.
I recommend 4 in series to use 16 volts. Then wire two solar panels in series to raise the voltage and use a MPPT charge controller set to 16 volts to charge. So the high voltage is 16, and the low voltage is 12. This will keep the electronics happy. What do you think?
You are totally right, the higher the voltage the greater the efficiency. The thing is, we are still using legacy 12 volt equipment designed around lead acid chemistry. I think this will all evolve soon.
Shawn McCarty I like your idea. Most 12 volt marine electronics/ will work fine with 16 volts. Some I've seen will work over a wide range of voltages. I've actually gotten around 16 volts from an alternator by using an external adjustable voltage regulator, you just have to watch the charging current so you won't overcharge.
what will be the connectors ?, if i plan building 13 units of this 60-block into a 46.8V. Each units will have 135Ahr capacity. Again this will be supported by off-grid solar panels. i want to sure of the inter connecting links before purchasing the units.
Shawn McCarty do you take PayPal for payment, I don’t know where you are and how much postage would be. I’ve got SPIM08HP pouches also, 8 of them and 24 of the 38120 8Ah, would like to know which size you think I need. Are you or your company on Facebook?
Sure-My company is www.batteryblocs.com and I am in the USA. There you will find the Balancers and my business email. We can sort out your battery requirements there.
Many,........ head to my website www.batterblocs.com and send me a personal email. I will learn more about your project, design the battery and give you a quote.
I want to thank you Shawn as I have learnt so much from watching your videos. I hope you make more .
I love ingenuity ...excellent idea.
Impressed. Well DONE
will be purchasing soon. I need a 48volt battery.
Thanks, appreciate that!
Great kit!
Thanks, I am proud of it.
Shawn, I enjoy watching you building the battery banks !!!more grease to your elbow.
They can really be assembled in a zippy fashion. Of course I like showing off!
Damn, I like this system
Can’t find website to look at buying your products was wondering where to go
I see you on holiday will order a babyblock soon.my niece was in Vegas just.steve
Just seen your info on website so I would need the babyblock for my ebike an fit it so it has air flow but keep away from rain so can ,mount in my buggy as it has a roof with vent .
Sure, that would work. I use my BabyBlocsinside fence post tubes.
Loved the idea. I saw many battery kits but yours are still look like the most fun one like a lego. Do you make international shipping?
Yes, BatteryBlocs are shipped often to Europe. I can ship anywhere, but it is expensive....; (
Hi Shawn. The bloc build fitting into a PVC fence post is a clever idea, as are the magnets. Have you had any corrosion or contact issues with the zinc coated plates that you are using to bond all this together? Is the very moderate pressure of the nylon screws enough? Have you taken a FLIR camera to the packs under full load test? I'd be interested to see if any hot spots show up. I agree with you that active balancing is the way to go when you have high current capacity parallel cell blocks or high capacity cells. My primary concern with the system though is that there is no provision for any fusing in your system, whether that be between blocks or on individual cells. A single cell starting to fail in fuse/short mode in a 60P enclosed pack would be hard to identify and on failing would be catastrophic. Your blocs are made to be serviceable, but part of the issue is identifying the bad cell. Have you considered using fused nickel strips in conjunction with your magnets? If a cell fails, the fuse goes, and life goes on with 59/60 working just fine. It's not so much of a concern with LiFePO4, but with Li-Ion runaway mode is a problem. Too many fires to ignore, especially in EV applications.
What brand are those batteries and what's their mAh rating/capacity?
I am a newbie to electronics and how they work, but i would like build a solar generator to power a small apartment freezer for my kids ice cream busiess. The freezer uses very little power as it is a new Danby 5.1 cubic foot freezer. How much power does that battery with 60 cells produce ? I want to hook up an inverter to it to power a solar generator. I appologize if this is a dumb question i am just tring to figure out how many 18650 cells to buy to power this generator. I have 60 of the batteries currently. Can you help
Brad, that is doable, a friend just set up a freezer in his tool shed using a few solar panels. But I would request you to contact me at shawnwiththewind@gmail.com and provide the power consumption of the fridge, and the mah of the cells you have. Then I can show you how to do the math.
How feasible can you use 12 of this 60 blocks to building a 48V system to support off-grid solar ?
Sure. It depends on your loads of course. My home has a 100P14S battery made of mostly salvaged cells. If I watch my useage and especially if I freeze water and move it to the fridge at night so I can shut it off, I can get through a long night. When the last hurricane hit, power was out here on my block for a week, and Cecilia and I were very popular with our fridge and AC! You start with your best guess of how much power you need to store.
Where can I find that box????
Also is there a way to make sure the batteries stay balanced and charge equally?
Yeah he had a resister balancer inside there, that fuse at the back gets switched on at a certain voltage to keep it from overcharging.
Hey what would you suggest to build a 60v 26ah battery the big block kit ?
Do you have 2600 mah cells? If so, 15 of the 10P Blocs in series...
Could you just flip every other row or every other 2 - 2 rows to do a paralel / series set up?
Absolutely.
I'm always amazed at your ingenuity. Most boats use 12V systems to power everything. What is the plan to get that kind of voltage. I'm guessing 3 of these in series at full charge of 4.2 volts would give you 12.6 volts. Some equipment is voltage sensitive and won't operate on too low a voltage, so it seems to me there may not be as much capacity at the lower end of the charge. You've probably figured something out. Please enlighten me.
Yes, it is an issue because the voltages of a Lead Acid and LIthium chemistries don't mesh well at lower voltages. I'm working on a sailboat battery now, we are going to go 4S for 16 volts. He uses solar panels and the motor alternator to charge. He is going to change the wiring of his solar panels, putting two in series, to get 24 volts or so, then use a MPPT converter to step the voltage down to 16. His alternator puts out 14.4 volts. 14.4/4 is 3.6 volts. So the alternator will charge the battery if it is low enough... 3.6 volts is right in the middle. So the idea is the solar panels top off the battery and the alternator brings it up from bottom. Any better ideas are welcomed!
One thing to consider is to go to a 24 volt system in the boat for the house batteries. Not everything will run off that voltage, but stuff that needs 14 volts can be fed off an MPPT converter stepped down to that voltage. One of the nice things about 24 volt systems is in long wiring runs with high amperage loads, you only need half of wire size since the amperage is half of what it is in a 12 volt system.
I recommend 4 in series to use 16 volts. Then wire two solar panels in series to raise the voltage and use a MPPT charge controller set to 16 volts to charge. So the high voltage is 16, and the low voltage is 12. This will keep the electronics happy. What do you think?
You are totally right, the higher the voltage the greater the efficiency. The thing is, we are still using legacy 12 volt equipment designed around lead acid chemistry. I think this will all evolve soon.
Shawn McCarty I like your idea. Most 12 volt marine electronics/ will work fine with 16 volts. Some I've seen will work over a wide range of voltages. I've actually gotten around 16 volts from an alternator by using an external adjustable voltage regulator, you just have to watch the charging current so you won't overcharge.
Where do you buy the products to make yourself, there are no links in your discription.
I am really a poor salesperson! www.batteryblocs.com
what will be the connectors ?, if i plan building 13 units of this 60-block into a 46.8V. Each units will have 135Ahr capacity. Again this will be supported by off-grid solar panels. i want to sure of the inter connecting links before purchasing the units.
The connectors are aluminum busbars.
Can you adjust the balance block for Lipo or other batteries?
Yep, the chip is programmable to any balance voltage, high alarm voltage, and low alarm voltage you need.
Shawn McCarty so there is away to adjust the valve of high and low voltage. Do you think it would be O.k on 38120 cells?
Like Headway cell? Sure, it works just the same. Yes, the high/low alarms and the resistor trigger are all programmable.
Shawn McCarty do you take PayPal for payment, I don’t know where you are and how much postage would be. I’ve got SPIM08HP pouches also, 8 of them and 24 of the 38120 8Ah, would like to know which size you think I need. Are you or your company on Facebook?
Sure-My company is www.batteryblocs.com and I am in the USA. There you will find the Balancers and my business email. We can sort out your battery requirements there.
Where do you buy the products to make yourself, there are no links in your discription. please
www.batteryblocs.com
@@shawname2 my f safe secure say's harmful website.
Any suggestions or assumptions ?
Many,........ head to my website www.batterblocs.com and send me a personal email. I will learn more about your project, design the battery and give you a quote.
Can’t find website any help
Mike I have retired, Sorry.
I want this baby well designed and field servicabl
Yea, have some one else assemble, lol