LiFePO4 Batteries: Discussion Thread for Those Using Them as House Banks

[mbartosch]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

Tip-O-The-Day

Internet Trolling:

And what is missing is the important advice not to feed them.

[PacificGreen]

Yeah it sucks when you get trolled hard but I find this helps: All About Online Forum Etiquette - Webopedia.com

[senormechanico]

For some reason, the

"I'm not paranoid, why are you all against me?"

line comes to mind.

[alctel]

So CleanPowerAuto have apparently been bought out or something and no longer sell the HouseBMS I was going to buy - what other BMSs have people had experience with? I don't want it to autobalance.

[scaredycat]

These are what I am using:
BMS
Regards,
Greg

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by alctel

So CleanPowerAuto have apparently been bought out or something and no longer sell the HouseBMS I was going to buy - what other BMSs have people had experience with? I don't want it to autobalance.

He took another job and shut the BMS stuff down.

[PacificGreen]

I sent an email to clean power auto asking if replacement or spare boards are still available. Perhaps he will answer. Otherwise I like the look of 123smartBMS.

At the outset it does not look good for those with the mini or house bms if parts are not readily available. Perhaps there is stock elsewhere if one wanted to ensure longevity of an installed system. Does anyone know if there are other retailers of the system that may have stocked parts?

Otherwise migration might be better planned to a different BMS.

[alctel]

Originally Posted by scaredycat

These are what I am using:
BMS
Regards,
Greg

That looks good but then I read the manual and

1)It monitors the battery voltage, if the voltage falls below 12V or rises above 15.5V (flashing red
LED) for more than 30 seconds the relay will open. Then will be a solid red LED.
2)It monitors the BMS cell module loop. If any cell goes below 2.5V or above 4.0V (flashing red
LED) for more than 10 seconds the relay will open. Solid red LED.
3)If the battery voltage is below 11.9V or above 15.9V and the BMS cell loop signals an error on
one cell the relay will immediately open, no delay. Solid red LED.

Those voltages seem too high/low for the high/low voltage shutoff to me, and there seems to be no way to change them

Originally Posted by PacificGreen

I sent an email to clean power auto asking if replacement or spare boards are still available. Perhaps he will answer. Otherwise I like the look of 123smartBMS.

At the outset it does not look good for those with the mini or house bms if parts are not readily available. Perhaps there is stock elsewhere if one wanted to ensure longevity of an installed system. Does anyone know if there are other retailers of the system that may have stocked parts?

Otherwise migration might be better planned to a different BMS.

123smartBMS looks great, esp since you can customise a lot of it - but it doesn't seem to support 2P4S configuration. I guess you could pair up cells and monitor using one cell board per pair, but not super keen on that...

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

He took another job and shut the BMS stuff down.

So what if I'm a cruiser with a House BMS...am I now flying solo without support when (not if) something goes wrong with the electronic controls in my BMS?

This should serve as a Cautionary Tale to those looking at LiFePO4 systems.
What good is your $4000 battery bank if you can't get a replacement $50 board for your BMS.....

[alctel]

They didn't sell with support anyway - it was VERY clear on the site it was just for DIY stuff. And the boards themselves were only 80 bucks or so.

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

So what if I'm a cruiser with a House BMS...am I now flying solo without support when (not if) something goes wrong with the electronic controls in my BMS?

This should serve as a Cautionary Tale to those looking at LiFePO4 systems.
What good is your $4000 battery bank if you can't get a replacement $50 board for your BMS.....

I don't really see it as a big hurdle for those living on the bleeding edge of technology... Heck you can't even get many of the cells a number of LiFePo4 users have these days which were plentiful five or 6 years ago... There are plenty of BMS products out there so not really a big obstacle....

For me I have spares but I would not be opposed to throwing a new BMS in.. Not a real big deal. I also fully understand where Dimitri is coming from on this move to shut down Clean Power.....

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

I also fully understand where Dimitri is coming from on this move to shut down Clean Power.....

Amen on that Amigo....I get it 100%

[PacificGreen]

I hailed Dimitri and this was his response.


If I could see the future I would not be in this business.
I still have a few HousePower boards, but I don’t have any cell boards.
Some failures can be repaired by sending the board back to me, if absolutely necessary.

Probably a good idea to order board spares in the future with any new BMS.

[bill good]

Alctel, Just a note re the BMS Scaredtcat listed. They are the protected low / hi voltage points as the last resort protection with each wired in a daisy chain. (Used one on each cell).They will balance the cell with bypass current as it reaches the top end voltage. Have protected my installation on a couple of low voltage events over the 8yrs of LIFEPO4 300 A/H house battery install. Tested a couple of days ago @ 75% SOC all 12 cells max difference 0.001V (3.289V). Pretty good for the time in service. Kept @ 50% SOC when not in use.

Regards

[roetter]

Hi PacificGreen
Not a big loss but I realize how bad lead acid batteries are when you draw a lot of power. I will go back to Lithium in time.

Wow. What a project on your boat. Besides the 48V bank do you have a small 12V bank for all the small stuff? I would need to drive electric winches and the windlass on 12V plus the usual small stuff with it. I guess small 12V Lithium battery could do that if you have a good DC-DC charger.