AESC LEAF Battery Modules - Making a Charge Controller 2

As soon as I got back from Marseille, I dove into my LEAF / AESC Battery Modules Charge Controller project and started wiring the 2 Tyco Kilovac Contactors to the Dual Relay Programmable Voltmeter already installed 10 days ago ....



Crimping first


I start with a ON OFF ON switch to Charge or Discharge, or OFF




Let's add a fuse, always better, and solder its holder here


and get through the terminal numbers in the back for the relays


soldered fuse holder receives a 2A glass fuse


Everything wired to the Voltmeter now


Discharge / Grid Tie Inverter side Kilovac in place


GTI is active and pushing 250W into our home grid


Lower limit reached, the voltmeter opens its lower relay, which removes power to the Kilovac, which opens the DC line removing power to the Grid Tie Inverter, and the Discharge is stopped


Lower voltmeter LED is lit, indicating we reached the lower limit of the pack voltage


And now I have Automatic Cut Off at low voltage, 3.60V per half module or 21.6V for the pack of 3 modules (= 6 half modules)



After testing this, the next day, I wired the Charger side Kilovac, protection over charge, and stopping at 24.9V for the pack, which is 4.15V per half module



Charger side Tyco Kilovac with 1.5mm2, smaller section solid core wire



Let's start the charge now ...



I just finished this first controlled Charge tonight:



Once we reach the set 24.9V for this 3 module pack (= 6 half modules x 4.15V), the voltmeter opens its upper limit relay, cutting power to the Tyco Kilovac contactor, opening the charge lead and stopping the charge => Simple and Efficient !

Note the upper limit LED on the Voltmeter and the Green right LED on the Charger (a LiFePO4 24V 10A) showing the end of Charge; Now after 10s, the voltage has gone down a bit and will stay there


So now I don't have to stay next to my AESC / LEAF pack, since a Charge and a Discharge will be terminated automatically thanks to this set up :-)

LiFePO4 Charge Controller - New Enclosure, fits 2 Kilovacs and a Voltmeter & More items in stock for the DIYE SS

Last week end, I got a new waterproof enclosure for the my new DIY LiFePO4 Charge Controller Project



With this new waterproof electric junction box, higher, I can fit the 2 Tyco Kilovac  EV200AAANA Contactor, the digital programmable Voltmeter, and maybe few diodes ...




More stuff I got for the DIY ESS Kit #2 : AC breakers both for Europe, and US



More AC twin breaker enclosures for the Kit are in stock now; I have almost everything need for 5 complete DIY ESS Kit #2 Control Boards


I had also received some more smaller diodes for my next LiFePO4 Charge Controller project, and my dad measured them with me ....


Some of them were only working on one side, so not at all ... (defective ?)


I got this lot of 6 from Portugal for very low price, so it does not matter too much, just trying things for now; Here is the specification for this



I ordered it because it looked like what Jack Rickard is adding on top of the DC-DC Converters he is selling in his online store

New - Bottom Balancer Rental : 19.90€ / week - Why buy and own one when you need it only once ?

After building my DIY ESS, I realized that my DIY Bottom Balancer was not being used anymore; Of course, Bottom Balancing of individual LiFePO4 cells has to be performed only once before connecting the cells into the desired voltage string for use - before the first charge actually -

Same thing, if you want to build an ESS, convert your Vectrix from NiMH to LiFePO4 - many do that themselves -, or any other LiFePO4 based project, you will need to go through this step - see why below -





You will do the Bottom Balancing of all your cells and then, never gain ... So why buy and own an expensive piece of equipment for nothing ?

That is why I decided to provide a new service: The Bottom Balancer Rental, for 19.90€ / week, excluding shipping period, so you have a full week of use of it, plenty of time to empty your cells, then return the device to me


Why is Bottom Balancing mandatory ?

Read : LiFePO4 Battery Charging Method - Don't Ruin your Expensive Cells !


Bottom Balancing the DIY ESS CALB CA180FI Cells

Bottom Balancer video



Does it work ?

Yes, I have used this device on 3 different LiFePO4 Battery packs, with 2 different cells brands



How do I use it ?

I will provide a PDF documentation by email to the persons renting it



Interested ?

Start renting my Bottom Balancer Now:

Options

1 Week - €19,90 EUR 2 Weeks (20% off) - €31,90 EUR 3 Weeks (30% off) - €41,90 EUR

NB: Shipping costs not included

NB: To prevent problems, I will charge an extra 100 EUR as a security deposit, refunded when the Bottom Balancer comes back to me

EVTV Friday Show - April 19,2013

- Bottom Balance at Zero Volts? : A bit of a problem with the 1957 Porsche Speedster Electric replica
- VW Transporter Electric Drive conversion by EV4U Custom Conversions
- New: CHAdeMO charge port arrived at EVtv Werks




News

The ancestor (1947) of the LEAF (?) in Japan

Some more news

Jack has received a CHAdeMO port and its wiring harness

VW Transporter EV conversion to start soon by EV4U Custom Conversions

In-wheel motors ... can not work

HPEVS AC-50 / AC-75 (New)

Oops, the Porsche Speedster's battery pack went all the way down to ... 0.1V per cell ! 

Thanks to a good Bottom Balancing done by Matt few years ago, not much damages to the battery pack !
Maybe one cell, the smallest in capacity, has lost some more, but that's about it ...
Another episode proving that the Bottom Balancing is THE way to go with your LiFePO4 pack 

EVTV Friday Show - April 5, 2013

- Elon's "big" Tesla surprise
- Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) Cell Overcharge Fire description
- LiFePo4 long cycle life testing - some surprising results.




News

Anne Kloppenborg from New Electric in Amsterdam did an electric boat conversion in one week end !

Another even more detailed LiFePO4 chemistry lesson with professor Jack

Li-ion battery fire: Mostly caused by overcharge, and the release of Oxygen from the cathod at different temperature depending on the its chemistry 

I you respect the 2 basic rules - No Over-Charge and No Over-Discharge - , the LiFePO4 cells should last 20 years - ! - charged and discharged everyday ... very promising :-)

Plug Share in the USA