Hi All: I linked back to my original statement of purpose.
Converting all here with starting batteries to truck type Group 31 post type lead acid batteries.
Number five done now:
This one was space fitting easy. Bugger getting the vehicle harness slack freed up to go higher up, and over. The GM factory negative side terminal had hidden road salts build up corrosion resistance.
I may just lop off both factory harness ends and extend to regular lead end clamping terminal sockets.
Now just as many Iāve come to personally know been doing fine with banks of common 12 volt lead acids Banked-up as 12, 24, 48 volts for over-night; 2-3 day services.
Not to put down all of the lithium chasers here on the DOW . . .
But think about it . . .
All of your self-powered mobile; electric starting generators and welders have to have a starting/accessory battery anyhow. Why not make those heavy-duty, common, same-same, and bank-able?? Let the normal equipmentās usages do the battery charging maintenances until needed.
Regards
Steve unruh
Iām hedging my bets with batteries. I already have some lithium cells so I may as well use them, but I really like the idea of changing all my batteries to Group 31s. Especially any of the gasifier equipped vehicles(longer Amphours for the starter blowers when a hard cold no gasoline start may be necessary)
Answer is simple, if I speak for myself. Copper for cables and price of inverters. As voltage increase, price decrease. The same for cables.
I have to go with Victron, the only way to stay under the radar of my better half. I can do what I want as long as the house stays warm and the lights keep burning.
As far as I looked, victron is the most suitable to do that. It charges the batteries. And does that the way you want. LiPo4 or lead acid, no problem. Tested it a few weeks ago. Super!
Yes. Yes. We are all subject to pleasing the she-who-must-be-obeyed in our lives.
The alternative is hermit living alone. Cold and lonely.
This Off Grid Batteries topic is an excellent one to point out the great dividing line of DIY power intentions.
Some want to be able to on demand power up every single wall mounted switch and outlet in a She-occupied house. The FOUR females I live with (6 years to 66 years) have these expectations. Or; you want to fully power your own Grid-evolved workshop.
You now directly compete; and are compared to BIG billion dollars, fully staffed Grid Electric systems.
Here rural USofA very easy to find old propane or diesel big heavy 20 and 30 kW three phase trailer mounted electrical power generators. Cheap. That will do it. Now fueling the bastard. Maintaining that old worn-out bastard. And the noise and exhaust pollution.
Your DIY power generation and banked power has to be comparably big and capable.
Some of the big battery banks pictures shown up. The use my Tesla as my bank real proposals.
Then on the other side of the divide are those of us that when the Big-Grid fails to deliver (weather, war, economic-political) just want to power deliver something. Ha! The Sheās quickly scale back their expectation to just having basic power minimums. Soon acknowledging the circumstances impose limits.
What? 3 KVA versus 48 KVA; the American code standard wired-in Grid house capability.
And this 3 KVA, d-i-y can be done copper wire, and old set aside last Century with 12 vdc equipment.
Ha! Ha! The also Reasonable, in-the-border-divide-land is to craft for the power capabilities of an R.V.; or a live-on boat.
No electric cloths dryers, no virtually unlimited electric hot water heaters; no electric four burner with oven cooking stoves; no forced air electric space heaters in those.
So . . . Sheās soon learn reasonable power-use limits too.
Or always draining out the propane bottles to empty.
Then self-created; without the easy power.
Regards
Steve Unruh
Exactly Mr Steve. The same over here. Keep the queens quiet.
I am just a pizza boy that wants to change things. All playing and learning now. In this sort time we have generators from 900 W to 30 kW. The little is for the kids and party time on our landplot. Last weekend they used the powerpallet for airfryer and lights.
The 30 kW , I bought for the engine. It is the same as the agria tractor , the genhead came with it.
The lifepo4 is bought for peakshaving. That can save me ā¬1000 a year. I hope a ROI of 4-5 years max. Nice hobby, energy.
And if shtf, al least I can power up something.
BruceJ.
The current and goona-be source for most-all needed is an old Class A motorhomes.
Hell, here PNW, these can be had sometimes for just the eyesore removal.
'Couse a fellow has to scale-back from the current-best 48 volts system expectations to last Century 12- and 24-volts usage bases.
And give you a H.D. rear axle assembly to make in to a gasifer wood chunker!
Ha! I am very much a āWannaā Be Left Behindā kindāda guy. Happy to use 19th century stuffed brass cases versus case-less electronically ignited. Gyrojet, me, not.
S.U.
Just about 10 years ago we had a week long outage from a snow storm. I was not prepared. Had about 10 gallons of gas which didnāt make much or a dent in the power situation with the gallon an hour generator I had. After a few days with no power my wife would have been happy with something to charge the computer let alone the whole house. We had 60 MPH winds last night and still roaring pretty good right now. Lots of outages throughout the state. Luckily we are not involved but now I have a little inverter gen and 50 gallons of gas and if I need to I can fire up the bigger generator on wood gas. You can teach an old dog new tricks.
My last ditch setup is the Yanmar diesel turning a 10si. We have enough fuel, alternators, and two 6kw Yanmars. These seem to be able to hold up.
Next up is the Kubota, and 6kw induction generator. Good fuel economy, good longevity.
I could do the h and a belt driven ST head, on blocks/charcoal.
I still donāt know what all the fuss is about 48v. I like it for the shop. Less wire. Better inverters. I Like the Sigineer 3kw inverter, so much so I bought a 6kw version for the shop.
I was sad that I canāt buy a Honda eu7000is, but thatās old tech too. The real obtainium are these Lithium iron phosphate batteries. They seem to be able to cycle at least 2000 times. G4LL server rack 48v 100ah go for $1500 shipped. They are rebuildable.
The kids are designing a 144v battery management system for the eGeo. They are stacking LiFePO4 cells.
Are they using the big round cells or those super nice big rectangular cells that have a high AmpHour? I would expect the big rectangular ones so you could just wire them all in series.
Even at 36v itās scary to me. I was removing a busbar from my LiFePo4 cells and the bar slipped and shorted against another busbar. Almost welded itself to the other so I had to rush to find a wooden stick or anything nonconductive to pry it off. Luckily I was using those nickel plated steel busbars so it didnāt damage the cells.
Yes, and 36 VDC doesnt kill you. 100+ DC I am not sure. AC hurts, DC kills.
Correct me if I am wrong. Only on a learning curve.
Last weekend the last changes on my heating system for the house while working. Touched a wire, auw. Cant be, so went for another auw. That why I stay away from high dc voltage. You might not get a chance for a second auw.
The problem with DC is that the current flow is continuous and doesnāt cycle like AC. AC when it cycles will pulse your muscles allowing your muscles to throw you away from it most times. DC will clamp your muscles with the steady current.
One of my professors in college told us voltage hurts current kills. IIRC OSHA the safety board in the USA sets the lethal voltage at 40 volts both AC and DC below that the body has a high enough resistance as to not conduct enough to kill you. But that said I know someone who witnessed his cousin get killed by shooting a car battery with two wrenches. When he separated the two wrenches the established current flow was able to cross his heart and cause a heart attack.
The same collage professor told us when you work with electricity always keep one hand behind your back so you donāt make a path across your heart.
That advice saved my life about 10 years later when I was working on a laser with a leaking 680VDC capacitor bank. Standing on a wooder floor with rubber shoes the cap bank managed to charge me up to 680 volts or so but there was no where for the current to flow. I let go of the surface it had leaked to without knowing anything was going on and reached for the lockout key to test the laser only to get zapped saw a spark jump from my fingers.
But it just tingled nothing bad besides the shock. Then I got my meter out and determined the plate I had touched first that was suppose to be isolated with no voltage was actually 640 volts above ground. The key was at ground. If I had been working with both hands the failing capacitor that had shorted would have pushed 680vdc across my heart and killed me.
So the lesson of the day is voltage hurts current kills if the system has high power it is dangerous at any voltage level.
Oh from what I have read donāt charge lifepo4 batteries when they are below freezing. Instead of storing the energy they will electoplate the lithium internally in the cell and damage the cell. Their is no issue discharging them if they will release energy it is safe to draw it off to the low limit voltage
They ordered those rectangular (prismatic?) cells.
There certainly is a lot to learn. The motor controller on the car allows up to 500 amps to pass to the motor. When I was dinking around doing donuts, I saw 350amps on the ammeter. I am anxious to see what the voltage sag looks like with LiFePO4 or even 18650 Li-ion cells.
I think if we build the bank right we would only have to worry about over charging.
Its good advice.
If you had a choice between staying inside, and staying safe, during the storm, OR going out in the storm because it might be the last one you ever see, what would you do?
I just had a cancerous tumor removed. The surgeon told me it was likely I wouldnāt reawaken from the surgery. Much to my surprise I awakened and have been gaining strength ever since. Now, I go out in the storm. I refuse to sit inside and be afraid of everything. Death is always right around the corner, a good life with out fear, is harder to pursue.
Reminds my of a saying from way back in church, a multi cancer survivor I very much respected
āStop telling God how big your storm is, tell your storm how big your God isā
Wear gloves and eye protection. A hard short at 144v will instantly send molten steel flying. You donāt want that in your eye.
Lithium batteries can generate massive currents and naked terminals have no circuit breaker.
Think about all your movements a step or two ahead. And try to hold back reflex - easy to grab a hot terminal on a falling battery or a cable end, hot in terms of temperature and voltage.
