Low Cost Coil Economyzer Test for Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA

I am still in search of an economizer for my new Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA

Last night, I tested different resistor values along with this 4700uF capacitor - I got for my Grid Tie Inverter repair previously - and found that the simple economizer described in this DIY Electric Car thread


seems to work . I could not find a resistor that works so I used this air dryer resistive wire again - alreday used on my mini bottom balancer - and cut a piece that was 10Ohms;

Closing the circuit bypassing the economizer, the relay closes and is using 3,5A

With the economizer, the contactor is closing and only 1A is going through the circuit - instead of 3,5A with no economizer -   

1A at 12V = 12W

I will have to try with 20Ohms and see if what it does ... The idea is to leave the relay closed using minimum current, thus minimum power

Another Tyco Kilovac Contactor and an Emergency Cut Off Pushbutton

Yesterday I got this other - brand new this time - Tyco Kilovac Contactor to replace the automotive 24V relay on the charger side of my DIY ESS. Like Jack Rickard says and uses for his heating system, it is overkill but you do not want to leave a ceramic hetaer load on that drains your battery pack to flat, for me, I do not want to chargers not to stop when the battery pack reaches the voltage limit of 3.50V per cell times 8 cells, in my case 28V

I also got, from the same eBay seller here in Paris, a small emergency cut off pushbutton/switch that will cut the 24V to the ESS box and deactivate all contactors, arduino, relays ... and hopefully stop any problem

Just realized after buying it that it is a Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA, and not the one I have already for the Grid Tie Inverter side, which is an EV200AAANA; The difference is that this new one I got does not have the Coil Economizer, so I guess it will use more power when the coil is activated - during the charge mode -

The 24V automotive relay, works fine, but get a bit hot, and you never know when it is going to stick/weld inside and not open when necessary, I just do not trust it as much as a good Tyco Kilovac Contactor 

Last charge for my 3 LiFePO4 cells pack

As explained in my last post, it is time charge the 3 LiFePO4 cells pack again, but for the last time, because now I think I tested them enough and will put them for sell online

I do not know if I already wrote this, but I am using two 12V Mascot chargers in parallel to charge twice faster this pack, and, of course, I am carefully following the voltage using my Bottom Balancer for this as a voltmeter

A clear indication of the voltage

The two Mascot (Norvegian) chargers working together

Parallel charging and single cell voltage reading

LifePO4 ESS - Control Board Rebuilding Update

As of last night, this is where I ended with my BESPSS control board rebuild:

Overview of the left side of the board, the right side being the relay activated outlets

- Heavy gauge wire connecting battery pack to Kilovac contactor cut and screwed

- USB connector for Wattson USB connector (providing colors voltages)

- Charger leads input terminals, with positive connected to charger automotive relay, going through the Ampmeter, and to contactor battery positive lead; I am using solid core 2.5mm² wires here to handle the 10A coming from the charger

- A automotive fuseholder and 3A fuse are mounted vertically to save space

- The main swith is screwed to the board (was already done last time I think)

- The Arduino board is not moving

- The programmable dual relay Voltmeter is fitted between the Arduino board and the main switch 

I also ordered a 24V automotive lighter socket USB converter, that will provide 5V to the micro USB used to power the Arduino board (I had problems with the power supply using 12V); After testing it, I will probably open it and only keep the PCB connecting the battery 24V to its input and will plug the USB to micro USB cable in its USB output

LiFePO4 ESS News - 24V charger security relay and 12V power supply to Arduino board

Last week end activities on my LiFePO4 ESS (Battery Energy Storage & Power Supply System):

- Swap the 12V charger security automotive relay for the 24V (30/40A) one (received quite a while ago):

The contact is better now because this relay is just more adapted to this voltage and it is heating up a lot less than the 12V one 

Also the 12V relay used to get stuck from time to time, and being a security charger side cut off, in case the charger does not stop, it would not be of any help !

- Power the Arduino board through its power supply inlet:

I am now running the programmable dual relay voltmeter and Tyco Kilovac contactor from the 24V battery pack directly, and then used the DC-DC converter to power the Arduino board, switching it on when the ESS is in Power Supply Mode ... and it worked perfectly ...

... only in the beginning, because something strange happened: the automated power on and off of the relays activating the grid tie inverters did not seem to work well anymore after that, and it took me little time to find out why. I thought : "What's wrong, this program loaded in the Arduino board micro-controller has not changed for weeks, Wattson color voltages thresholds can not change, they did not for weeks... The only thing I changed today is this power supply: from micro-USB 5V to power inlet 12V"

I also realized that this power inlet area on the board was heating up abnormaly ... (?)

So I removed it, switched back to micro-USB 5V and everything worked like a charm , as it did for the last weeks :-)   I still do not understand what is wrong with this power supply inlet, the DC-DC converter provides exactly 12V, nothing more

Nice green (small) negative usage, the (almost) perfect situation when running in Power Supply Mode

Also received in the mail, the 4 4700uF 35V 105°C capacitors to replace the vented one in the last damaged Grid Tie Inverter

Dc-dc converter arrived from ebikes.ca

Few weeks ago I received this DC to DC 12V converter; It will go from 70V down to 12V, perfect for my LiFePO4 Battery Bank Storage System, which is between 48V and 58V (charging) and needs 12V to run the programmable dual relay voltmeter and Tyco Kilovas contactor  

Ordered from ebikes.ca, it is waterproof, consums almost nothing and should be reliable

Tyco Kilovac contactor added to grid tie inverter set up

Few weeks ago I received my Tyco Kilovac contactor from Hong Kong; I purchased it used on eBay at a bargain price of 50 EUR or so, and it took 3 weeks to get here.
After testing it with a 12V battery, I added it to my discharge line, between the Amp meter and the Grid Tie inverter (3rd picture below), and it is deactivated by the Programmable Voltmeter when the battery pack hits 48V (and when kick in again at 52V, which means never)
The makes a loud clap noise when the coil is activated and the contact must be able to carry 500A ! Of course it is oversized for my project (10-15A max) but I wanted to try it after seeing it on many EV conversions