Victron DC/DC charger install ARB Drawers

[spressomon]

Nice work!

Just an FYI, I'm no expert on LFP but have learned considerably over the past 9-years of using them. Ideally, the BMS should be a stand-alone electronic management device. Generally, the LFP if properly charged & stored, will outlive most BMSs. And when an internal (to the battery) fails, its most often if not always a situation involving the manufacturer and typically shipping it back for repair. And hopefully they honor their warranty. Usually when a BMS fails, it won't accept a charge and/or will not output current...making it useless.

Not an LFP tech panacea, but I have been using my 400Ah LFP I put together 6-years ago using Fortune Prismatic 100Ah cells along with cell balancers for each of the 4S (4-Series) without a BMS and it works great. Of course, its properly fused, charged within its maximum current and minimum temperature spec, etc.

And, there are outboard BMSs available that make swapping if/when necessary more convenient and rapid.

Again, no judgement...just an FYI/FWIW.

 

[RKRUGER]

@spressomon I am sure many here would agree that your experience ranges wide on this board and should be heeded. And I appreciate the kudos and the encouragement. You jumped into this thread very early on and informed many of my decisions along the way. Thank you.

Does BMS = battery management system or battery monitoring system? The CycleNBatt has “an upgraded smart BMS that protects against overcharging, over discharging, overcurrent, and short circuits. The BMS supports continuous charge and discharge currents of up to 100A, with a peak discharge current of 300A for 5 seconds, providing a maximum output power of 1280W.” I consider that to be a management system. I have integrated a Victron BMV-712 as a monitor, as the battery won’t tell me state of charge or voltage in/out or amps in/out.
I think what you are saying is that I am covered. The integrated BMS should ideally keep the battery “safe”. The Victon should keep it usable.

I think it is pretty amazing how you built your own battery, and considered that process until I stumbled upon the new form factor of the 100ah minis on the market. That and a few videos and it was plug and play. Again a fun project that hopefully others will find useful or at least enjoyable.

 

[spressomon]

No strike-through feature...could have sworn it used to exist . At any rate, I edited my post above from the BMS being a "monitoring" device to, more appropriately and accurately, being a "electronic management device".

 

[RKRUGER]

Got it. I believe the point your making is these batteries are happiest when you know what is coming out/going in. And the comfort added of low temp cutoff for charge and discharge lessens the likelihood of failure. In any case, it’s been a fun project and I’ve been very pleased with the performance of the battery as well as the Victron BMV and dc/dc charger.