What did you do today

[Capebuild]

Ordered a new 100W panel to replace an old suitcase panel I made a few years back (2-20w panels). I chose one 100W panel as the physical sizes have come down on panels and this one (32"x26") is small enough to be able to move around. And it was about $60 less than the two 50W panel suitcase I built for my son's TD last year.

Nice Tim. Do you mind telling what brand your new panel is?

John

[Tom&Shelly]

Decided to do one more thing for our shop today. I built a 5 x 10 foot layout table about 5 years ago to support our teardrop build. It was so handy we decided to keep it



Only problem is that the way I made the under-carriage, there was no way to store anything under there. So today I re-built each end



We'll probably dedicate one of those shop vacuums to the Sawstop table saw when be finally buy one. The saw will go at one end of the table. The other shop vac will be for general use.

Should be done with the job, but I realized, only after screwing the top back on, that one of the cross pieces is sitting a little proud and causing a high spot on the top. Decided to leave the night watchman in charge and make the fix in the morning.



Tom

[TimC]

...

Nice Tim. Do you mind telling what brand your new panel is?

John

It is this one. They are on sale right now...
https://hqsolarpower.com/100-watt-12volt-polycrystalline-solar-panel-new/

[Capebuild]

It is this one. They are on sale right now...
https://hqsolarpower.com/100-watt-12vol ... panel-new/

Thanks Tim. Nice price. I'll be interested to hear how it performs.
John

[twisted lines]

Sorting trinkets from a old tool box and moving it out, I need Concrete space, and the mess day's
It's going farther across the country then I have.
May the spark's fly next week

[twisted lines]

May the spark's fly next week

Brought a case of black powder in the shop

[tony.latham]

Me? I sent this manuscript off to my editor.



I think it's a good story. I interviewed 48 people during the research. It's kinda dark.

Tony

[Tom&Shelly]

Me? I sent this manuscript off to my editor.

I think it's a good story. I interviewed 48 people during the research. It's kinda dark.

Tony

Sounds like non-fiction Tony? Looking forward to reading it, dark though it may be!

Tom

[TimC]

A little tinkering...

A week ago I ordered materials to put together a portable "Solar Generator". It'll consist of a 24 aHr 12volt LiFePo4 battery stuffed in a plastic ammo box. With Anderson Powerpole inputs and outputs, and a USB charging port. I wanted to create the bank using LiFePo4 6aHr cells and an inexpensive BMS. Welding the pack together seems to be the preferred way to "wire" everything together to make a 4S4P battery configuration. So I did some research on the tiny welders that DIYers use and purchased an ebay kit for under $20. I substituted an EC5 connector for the included ring terminals (intended for a battery post) and will use my car starter pack to power the welder. After experimenting on an old D cell to get the welding technique down. I am ready to go at it. Though I am still experimenting and would be reluctant to pass on much of my limited knowledge at this time.

Pictured is the car jump pack, the welding control unit, the welding tips (+ and -) and a D cell to practice welding nickel strips on. I donned a pair of safety glasses and a sheild. Yeah, I was a little nervous. I've found that it needs to be set at full power (there are eight levels) to weld the .015 nickel strip to the battery. After a few pull tests I realized that even though the strips were anchored to the battery I could pull it off with a little tug until I set the power to 6. I ended up settling on full power (8). I might file the welding tips to a smaller point to see if that helps get a better weld.




The welding control is kind of cool. You put the negative tip on the nickel and then place the positive tip a fraction of an inch away on the nickel strip. The welder must sense a closed circuit and it sends a momentary charge and then beeps. Then move the tips to another spot on the strip and repeat. Still playing with it to try to improve the welds but they are darn good after only a few trys.


The 4S4P batteries in their holders ready to prep for top balancing.


This is the kit I bought. There are hundreds of others out there.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/403402812021

[featherliteCT1]

TimC,

That is so cool! Thanks for posting the info.

[twisted lines]

As a teen I had several VWs; One jump yea that voltage! poooped all over and it was in the back seat.
No battery tacking for me but that is cool. I had Hyster come do it

[bdosborn]

A little tinkering... A week ago I ordered materials to put together a portable "Solar Generator".

That will be a fun project, I did one a couple of years ago and really enjoyed building it.

https://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=71943

Brue

[bdosborn]

I got half my solar panels installed on the van, just in time for it to snow:



Bruce

[TimC]

...

That will be a fun project, I did one a couple of years ago and really enjoyed building it.

https://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=71943

Brue

Nice thread to look back on Bruce. Has that battery bank been useful for you? My intentions are not real clear on use. I'll probably use it when going to my father in law's camp. For lights and a fan and such. It has wood heat but I've found that a small fan to circulate the air near the stove helps cut warm up time considerably. From four or five hours to just a couple depending on outside temps.

And someone mentioned using the battery for trips with the 12v fridge in the car. Brilliant.

Mostly I was just bored in February and kept looking at options for a small battery. I saved around 60 bucks or so even buying the welder. Source was good ol' batteryhookup. Thanks to Lauren for that lead last summer.

BTW, these cells are the same (6aHr instead of 5 aHr) that they sell in a kit for a 100 aHr build. For some reason they no longer sell the kit with a BMS included. I have had good luck with the two kits I purchased. I hope it wasn't the BMS that caused them to drop the kit.

Now just have to figure out how to top balance these. No matter how I look at it once I weld the nickel to the ends I won't be able to get them in or out of the holders to reconfigure to 4S4P. Hmm? Might have to do them 4 cells at a time and then I can just flip them. Any problem top balancing 4 sets of 4 parallel cells one set at a time and then assembling them? Should be close enough I would guess.

Ah oh, I called it a solar generator!

[bdosborn]

Nice thread to look back on Bruce. Has that battery bank been useful for you? My intentions are not real clear on use.

I made it for powering a portable fridge but ended up expanding the trailer battery so it wasn't as important for that use. Now I use it for a quick 12V supply. I last used it to wake up the victron equipment for the van and to test a new compressor fridge.

Any problem top balancing 4 sets of 4 parallel cells one set at a time and then assembling them?

I would still top balance them all in parallel at once if you can. A good top balance will keep you from having balance problems down the road; I had to redo the balance on my first LiFePO4 battery. I just bought a 5A!!! active balancer but haven't had a chance to install it yet. Most cheap BMS balancers are in the milliamp range and only work when the battery is almost charged (so they don't work very well).
Active Balancer

Ah oh, I called it a solar generator!

Ha, I win!

Bruce