Starting on Balance Leads
After watching Lithium Powers youtube video I got motivated to start the BMS Balance Leads. I purchased some ring terminals and using some wire sheath I got from China months ago I started work.
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Equipment Purchasing Time
I bit the bullet today and purchased the following equipment for my powerwall Victron Multiplus II 48V 5000 Victron Cerbo ET340 – 3 Phase Power Meter 3 Pole fuse holder/isolator
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More Modules and more delays
In early May I was contacted by someone on the Second Life Storage forum about the possibility of obtaining some more Leaf modules for my project.The price was good and in early May I travelled to Canberra to pick up 50 modules. (thanks goes out to the supplier for a great transaction!) I started testing…
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Circuit Breaker and Shunt Trip
Thanks to Rohan Wilschefski’s advice I found a second hand Merlin Gerin NS160 N circuit breaker from eBay. I then found a compatible 48V 30w shunt trip. This will allow the Batrium BMS to disconnect the Battery from the inverter in case of emergency such as Low Cell Voltage, High Cell Voltage etc. Merlin Gerin…
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Bus Bars
What a pain in the arse. I started by cutting 5 lengths of copper to around 41cm and filing the ends smooth. I then used the OEM busbars to mark the first and second hole positions. I then drilled out the holes with an 8mm drill bit. I repeated this over and over until I…
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The Spacers
I realised the other day when stacking the modules that I didn’t have enough spacers. The spacers are required and sit at the front and back of each module. A client of mine – Scott from www.allwaterjetcutting.com.au said he could easily laser cut them if I provided him with a drawing. I photocopied two of…
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Bits n Pieces
One of the most time consuming parts of this project is researching and sourcing the required parts and tools. Hours of reading forums and watching videos! Making the wrong choice can cost $$ and time so I agonize over the choices. I decided to go big on the battery cable. Welding cable appears to be…
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The Busbars – Nickel Plating Experimentation
I was able to locally source a 4m long 25mm wide 1/8” thick (3.17mm) piece of copper bar. Nickel plating I saw some videos on tinning copper and after asking about this in the second life storage forums I learnt about Nickel plating. I decided to have a go at making the Nickel solution and…
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Crimpers and other bits arrive
I plan on using 70mm sq cabling so I needed a decent hydraulic crimper. Hopefully this does the trick. Din rail will be used to mount the Batrium and maybe a shunt trip.
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List of Equipment and Expenses
I am starting to compile a list of equipment I’ve purchased. Its ever-evolving. Some of the equipment on this list won’t get used on the Powerwall but has been documented anyway as it was a real cost. The file is in MS Excel format and can be viewed here. Edit: I gave up keeping this…
