199,000 Visits on the Blog .... another 1,000 and we will reach 200,000 !

Almost 200,000 Visits !  Another small 1,000 effort :-)

I am really happy to see all these Visitors from around the World:  Check out all these flags below

LiFePO4 ESS - Crimping again - 35mm2 cables

Let's crimp again !  :-)

This sunday, I cut & crimped 35mm2 cables to replace the small doubled ones that could not hold high current too long ...

Now this is much better 

35mm2 copper cable into 35mm2 / 8mm lug

screwed onto the GTI side Tyco Kilovac contactor

and onto the postivie battery pack terminal

First link from the battery pack to the contactor : Done

Since I could not find any red 35mm2 cable, I just put some red tape on both ends to mark it "RED"

Here, all the cables have been replaced by 35mm2 ones; 2 mores: 

- From battery pack negative terminal to the GTI stack negative terminal

- From GTI side Tyco Kilovac contactor to the GTI stack positive terminal

Now I can put the GTI stcak and the chargers at a 1.5m distance from the battery pack and ESS Control Board / EMS - Energy Management System - ; I am planning on putting all these just outside the window to be able to charge at night - low rate - and sleep normaly - all this is in my bedroom :-) - 

GTI side Tyoc Kilovac contactor

GTI stack

Battery pack terminals

LiFePO4 ESS Battery pack

LiFePO4 ESS - User settings can be modified and saved in the EEPROM

Users can now change Variables in my DIY ESS program and save them in the EEPROM for the next runs; This is a major enhancement and I think it will be usefull

If necessary, the users will be able to plug their Mac or PC to the Arduino board via a regular USB cable and see the log displayed by the program

If some of the frequency, sensitivity, thresholds need to be adjusted, it can be done using a simple code letter and value:

i.e.: 'd100' + Enter will change the delay between two readings from the original 50ms to 100ms, and if this is happens to be a good value for the behaviour of his ESS, the user can save it typing 'save' + Enter

The modified value(s) will then be located in the Arduino's EEPROM (Read Only Memory) and will reside there even if the power is switched Off, for the next runs

At start up, the ESS arduino board program will read values stored in the EEPROM and use them 

Typing 'config' + Enter, the program will display all the variables stored in the EEPROM

DIY ESS - Still testing & Evening Usage Covered

This is the Energy graph from last night using my DIY ESS in automatic mode: I am covering almost all the energy used during the evening and shut off the system when I went to sleep with still half in the LiFePO4 battery bank

Wattson Anywhere Energy Graph

Wattson Anywhere Energy Analysis Pie Chart

Energy Storage: Crossing the Chasm to Commercialization

A very interesting conference held by GreenTech Media about Energy Storage broadcasted yesterday from NYC



Moderator:
Zach Pollock - Smart Grid Analyst, Greentech Media

Speakers:
- William Acker - Executive Director, The New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium (NY-BEST)
- Johannes Rittershausen - Managing Director, Convergent Energy + Power
- Valerio De Angelis - Executive Director, CUNY Energy Institute

Published on Feb 6, 2013

Electricity is unlike any other commodity in that it must be consumed the moment it is produced and at any given moment supply must be rebalanced to meet demand. However, energy storage has the potential to change this paradigm.

At the grid-scale level, effective storage technology can shift and firm dispatch of energy generated from renewable sources such as wind and solar, defer billion dollar investments in transmission upgrades, as well as provide key grid support services. On the distribution grid, storage can provide voltage support services that enable higher penetrations of residential and commercial solar and electric vehicles in addition to providing backup power for communities and microgrids.

Despite the recent bankruptcies of several Lithium Ion battery manufacturers including A123 Systems, investment in the energy storage sector remains strong with several early stage companies such as Ambri (FKA Liquid Metal Battery Corporation), and LightSail having received venture capital funding in the past year. Recent regulatory measures such as FERC 755 have also provided a strong case for investment in storage technologies. Nevertheless, energy storage has been deployed at an incremental pace in the United States.

What factors (materials, technology, cost) are holding the industry back? Can the government help, or have we done too much already?
For this event, leaders working and studying the industry will dive into successes, failures and the steps which can be taken to expedite the commercialization and deployment of advanced storage technologies.



The panel discussion is a featured event of Solar One and NYC ACRE at NYU-Poly's cleantech panel discussion series, Clean Energy Connections.

Moderator:
Zach Pollock - Smart Grid Analyst, Greentech Media

Speakers:
- William Acker - Executive Director, The New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium (NY-BEST)
- Johannes Rittershausen - Managing Director, Convergent Energy + Power
- Valerio De Angelis - Executive Director, CUNY Energy Institute




Source: GreenTech Media

Vextrix VX1: NiMH to LiFePO4 Conversion using Winston Batteries

Interesting NiMH to LiFePO4 conversion of the Vectrix battery pack using Winston Batteries





2 cells fit perfectly ...


I would not use any cell shunt balancer though, always a bad idea...

2nd story + some electronics ...

LiFePO4 Energy Storage Storage Sytem - Automatic Cutt Off - Video

In this video shot last week, I show you the automatic cut off of my LiFePO4 Battery Bank / Energy Storage System: At the end of the discharge cycle, reaching 48V, one of the two relays of the programmable dual relay voltmeter will open, which will in turn open the Tyco Kilovac contactor, cutting power to the Grid Tie Inverter and thus stopping the power being fed back into my home grid.
My system is now almost fully atomated...

LiFePO4 Cell Bottom Balancing Device - First try

Few weeks ago, after receiving my programmable dual relay digital voltmeter, I set up what Jack Rickard had showed us on EVTV, with an automobile 12V relay, some switches, and taking a 12V solar battery as a source of power

In the background you can see my former Enginer PHEV Prius kit, with their new BMS V4 

LiFePO4 Battery Pack Bottom Balancing Tool

A little video of my automatic bottom balance device

LiFePO4 Energy Storage device

This vidéo was shot at the beginning of my work on this system

Now this is what it looks like, after removal of another BMS, use of more powerful grid tie inverter (500 W) and use a of programmable dual relay volt-meter

This morning, I will shoot a video about the discharging step, where energy in the battery bank will be used to feed electricity to my home system, at a steady pace, reducing my use from the grid

I will go into details and the steps later on

To be continued...