Vectrix ESD Charger Removal process

Antiscab / Matt from Australia is showing us how to remove a Vectrix Charger (the ESD version)

DIY ESS - Fan Grid installed

After purchasing longer screws, I finally installed the recently protection grid for the fan on my ESS

Looking more professional like this, no ?

DIY ESS - Fan holes drilled & spinning test

A bit noisy, all this drilling, but it is done !

First: markings

Second: small holes drilling (2.5mm, easier)

Third: bigger holes (7mm)

A little test with a 12V AGM battery: it blows well, enough to egt all the hot air out when charging or discharging I think; And it is very quiet :-) with or without the doors closed

Two extra holes to put screws to hold the shelf, otherwise it just falls (!)

I bent a little bit the base of the second shelf and put it on top of the bottom metal sheet

Bending on this corner side

DIY ESS - Charger Side last modifications

A little drilling on sunday morning to make a collector for the negative chargers leads

Note that all the positive chargers leads are already mounted onto the Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA (the one with the home made economizer)

6mm through hole in the board

A long 6mm bolt

popped from underneath and tightened with a nut and a washer 

All the negative chargers leads lugs are now in contact with the battery pack negative terminal, and this bolt is  not moving at all when I pull on this 10mm² battery cable

side view, note that the bolt head is protubing under the board so I added a rubber pad on each corner of the board

Thightened and secured with a second nut

New charger side Tyco Kilovac Contactor positionned on the ESS Control Board

Work in progress ...

Last night, I removed the automotive 24V relay on the charger side and looked in to mounting the Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA contactor on the Control Board of the ESS

Also a one inch M6 bolt to hook all the negative leads of the 6 chargers to the negative of the battery pack 

The two contactors will be side by side, almost touching each other

The resistor and capacitor will be mounted on the side, vertically  

Discovering my New CALB CA180FI Cells

Friday night, I could at last dicover my newly arrived CALB CA180FI Cells I received in the morning

I saw that some of them had marking for 190 to 192Ah, probably measured after the first charges in the Chinese factory 

I checked the violtage of each cell and it was 3.30V for all of them

They came with basic straps, made of 4 or five layers of copper, and M8 bolts and lock washers ans washers

Fits perfectly

I thentried several layouts: in line, against a wall, it would take a very small space in a room 

for that, I had to make this strap flat and it would reach to both terminal holes 

CALB CA180FI

pretty big

Now that I strapped every cell, I protect the terminals all the time to prevent any accident by short circuitiing one or sevreal cells; Total voltage of the 8S pack = 26.4V

With Jack Rickard's precious documentation

and added the Blue Sea 150A DC Switch / Breaker

Now, I have to work on the new Control Board to start lowering the pack voltage and then do the bottom balancing of each cell