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Old 02-21-2016, 02:58 PM   #1
7.3Ford
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Lithium Battery Project

Hi Folks,

My six Trojan T-105 Golf Cart batteries are about done. So I am building the next generation battery system. Lithium Batteries from a Chevy Volt. See the link for more details and pictures.

http://montana3611rl.blogspot.com/20...ks-for-my.html

I still have some work to do, but the hardest part was the Battery Management System (BMS), and getting them to work with standard dumb Converters and Solar Controllers that don't support Lithium Batteries.

 
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Old 02-21-2016, 03:34 PM   #2
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Awesome John, looking forward to following the progress....

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Old 02-21-2016, 11:51 PM   #3
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Dang, I haven't gotten my new solar installed yet and you are teasing me with upgrades to yours. Looking forward to watching the progress.
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Old 02-22-2016, 04:08 AM   #4
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This makes me extremely jealous. I give you two thumbs up for design excellence so far. My guess is that you are already well into cooling decisions, ie, distilled water, distilled water with safe antifreeze, etc. John
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Old 02-22-2016, 04:41 AM   #5
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Finally a good use for the Volt.
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Old 02-22-2016, 07:03 AM   #6
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Keep us informed. Many of us are probably considering something like this in the future.
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Old 02-22-2016, 09:00 AM   #7
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Yeah Dick,

Now we have to start searching the bone yards for Volts with good batteries!

Wonder what John will charge for his BMS and cooling system for us MOCers once he has the prototype completed!
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Old 02-22-2016, 02:00 PM   #8
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quote:Originally posted by Bigboomer

Yeah Dick,

Now we have to start searching the bone yards for Volts with good batteries!

Wonder what John will charge for his BMS and cooling system for us MOCers once he has the prototype completed!
You're funny Les.

Here is the url on eBay where I got the batteries. I think Al buys new Chevy Volt Battery Packs, then breaks them down in to manageable sizes, convert them to 12 Volts or 24 Volts, and sells them for a profit. The non-controverted packs are cheaper. In talking to Al, he has been doing this for 4-5 years.

http://www.ebay.com/usr/1eyedcruiser...53.m2749.l2754


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Old 02-22-2016, 11:16 PM   #9
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"I haven't found any data on max temperature, but some folks say keep them under 90 degrees." Really???? Don't know how Chevy thinks these things will last in a Volt if that's true (not disagreeing, just sayin'). Our S&B is in Northern VA and it gets well above that here in the summer. Last year near Yosemite it hit 114 degrees & stayed well above 100 for over ten days. Year before in NM and AZ it was close to that. You're in SC and it's probably warmer there in the summer than here, and I'm only talking about air temp. What about solar gain when you're rig is sitting w/o the AC running? IMHO a lot more research is needed to find out how long these wonderful sounding things will last before croaking from heat.

By the by, that day in CA when the air temp was 114, our inverter decided to go into alarm mode until sundown. Since there was plenty of sun and the AC is on the other leg, I just turned it off since we were out & about anyway. Anything electronic has operating temperature limits too.
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Old 02-23-2016, 04:26 AM   #10
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quote:Originally posted by WaltBennett

"I haven't found any data on max temperature, but some folks say keep them under 90 degrees." Really???? Don't know how Chevy thinks these things will last in a Volt if that's true (not disagreeing, just sayin'). Our S&B is in Northern VA and it gets well above that here in the summer. Last year near Yosemite it hit 114 degrees & stayed well above 100 for over ten days. Year before in NM and AZ it was close to that. You're in SC and it's probably warmer there in the summer than here, and I'm only talking about air temp. What about solar gain when you're rig is sitting w/o the AC running? IMHO a lot more research is needed to find out how long these wonderful sounding things will last before croaking from heat.

By the by, that day in CA when the air temp was 114, our inverter decided to go into alarm mode until sundown. Since there was plenty of sun and the AC is on the other leg, I just turned it off since we were out & about anyway. Anything electronic has operating temperature limits too.
Walt,

I don't disagree with you. The Volt Batteries are suppose be a better chemistry than LiFePO4, but I don't have any data on the Chevy Volt Lithium Ion chemistry. Here is the link that I am referencing:

http://www.technomadia.com/2015/02/l...attery-update/
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Old 02-23-2016, 04:00 PM   #11
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John, your reference has some good info. Does your battery management system take care of both heat and cold issues? I'm seriously past wanting to do ANY kind of camping in below freezing weather, but I can leave our Monty & solar system running through the winter while parked in our driveway & only check on it every few days or so. Lithium does sound like the way to go though - still got 3-5 years to go on our T-105s so maybe things will catch up by then.
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Old 02-23-2016, 05:50 PM   #12
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quote:Originally posted by WaltBennett

John, your reference has some good info. Does your battery management system take care of both heat and cold issues? I'm seriously past wanting to do ANY kind of camping in below freezing weather, but I can leave our Monty & solar system running through the winter while parked in our driveway & only check on it every few days or so. Lithium does sound like the way to go though - still got 3-5 years to go on our T-105s so maybe things will catch up by then.
Hi Walt,

I finished the environment controls circuits tonight. I just added them to the bottom my post. I have heat and cooling, see blog for pictures and detail.

http://montana3611rl.blogspot.com/20...ks-for-my.html
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Old 03-08-2016, 02:56 PM   #13
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Progress is being made. Battery box complete, batteries installed (minus plumbing), Battery Monitoring System (BMS), installed, etc. Have it hooked up to dumb battery charger, which will act like Montana's converter. I haven't updated my blog post yet, but here is a picture of my 21" W x 24" L x 15" H battery box, which hold my 800 AH battery system. Batteries are sealed, so no spills or venting required.



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Old 03-14-2016, 03:01 PM   #14
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Today was mostly cloudy. I went over early this morning and turned on the Inverter, Sat Receiver, and fridge. I went over tonight, to check on things. The Sun had already gone down, so no solar coming in and 21 AH have been used. I will check on it in the morning before the Sun hits the panels.

Here are some picture I took tonight. I haven't updated the blog yet.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...k3QW1adlNvVXhR

Click the Above link for pictures.


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Old 03-14-2016, 04:21 PM   #15
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Looking good John. I'd love to see your setup and see some of your handiwork some time.
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Old 03-21-2016, 03:59 PM   #16
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Hi Folks,

Lithium Battery Project is doing very good so far. I have updated my blog http://montana3611rl.blogspot.com/, but keep in mind writing is not my strong point.

I am running about 12 Amp load 7/24 on it for over two weeks. Ran a 21 Amp load for 36 hours also. The Battery Management System (BMS), is work perfectly, but I have to run over to storage to get a point in time. The MorningStar Solar controller has some history, so I can kinda see what's going on.

I think I will start programming some kind of logging to the micro SD card on the Arduino Ethernet shield board.

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