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A slower drill speed is necessary for drilling metal. I think I can get mine down to about 220 rpm, maybe 180... Hand drills, especially battery powered ones are not a great idea for this kind of drilling. You can burn out your motor pretty quick. It was my understanding that carbide tipped...

Decided to take some time and have some fun. Made this battery tester, based mostly on the one David Poz designed. I think the only substantive change I made was I used a 4-pin connector so I could detach the lid from the body, completely... Next phase, testing.

I made this little device. 10W 20Ohm cement resistor...

I'm using a pair of 1" x 1/4", pure copper bars for my bus bars. Was wondering if copper was too soft to just tap the holes for attaching the battery cables, considering torque. I'm assuming 25 inch/pounds is good enough for a secure connection...

Yea, had I known that when I got this one, I would have gone a different route, but here I am. If this works well enough, I'll save up and replace it. Just keep it to experiment. Trying to make each section of the system modular enough that I can upgrade, more easily... Thanks for all your help.

Sorry, didn't see that first reply. 3500 watts continuous, 7000 peak... https://www.renogy.com/48v-3500w-solar-inverter-charger/

In keeping with the 'No news is good news" line, I flipped some switches and did some tests. Everything worked perfectly. Stayed cool, charged and discharged as predicted. Next I'll be testing each battery pack separately, to make sure I assembled those correctly. I am well and pleased...

https://www.renogy.com/48v-3500w-solar-inverter-charger/ Page 5 of the owners manual says Power (utility) or Generator. There aren't two discreet connections for them, but either can be used. I'll be hooking it up through a switch, so both can't be connected at the same time.

It's the Renogy 48V Inverter Charger. Yes, it has the inverter built in and I can set the rate of charge and discharge. I understand that it is possible for the pack to become so out of balance, that some sells can be over-charged/discharged, but this is unlikely in the short term. With regular...

Those migrated circuits are supposed to be from the main panel to the bypass panel. 'Load' here, is just meant to be 'parts of the house'. Since those will now be separate circuits, I guess it should look more like this?

I'm trying to figure out how I need to wire everything up for my particular needs. I'm not building off-grid, (it would cost more than the property is worth) I'm trying to build in multiple backup, in case of power failure. So, I have Utility Power, a Generator backup and then Battery Backup...

They're LiIo, but there are cell-level fuses, so thermal runaway is unlikely. I plan on eventually adding a BMS to each pack, when I can afford one I can trust, and can monitor remotely (smart BMS). They're just too expensive for me at the moment.

I'd like to build a 48V system, and have ordered an MPPT charge controller/inverter. I'm building the battery packs myself, using 18650 LiIo cells, and am trying to figure out the best configuration for those packs. With a nominal voltage of 3.6v, going into a 48v system, do I do a series of 13...

Thanks. Is there a convention, like ~+10%, or would it be buried in some technical chart in an owners manual I'll just have to track down? This is just a fun experiment (making my own battery packs) and will likely try different chemistries and arrangements. Like the 28.8V LG Modules from an...

Hopefully that detail is in the manual, because all I'm finding on-line is a minimum startup of 44v, where the battery is concerned...

Damn, that's one hefty bus bar. Glad I have a drill press. Planning on mounting mine to cement board. Should make a decently fireproof container for the project.

Building a 48V system, and have received the MPPT (Renogy 48V 3500 Solar Inverter/Charger), but don't have the batteries or solar panels yet. What tests can I perform on the controller, with a multimeter, without plugging it into panels or batteries? Any resources that cover these issues? If the...

Been going back and fourth on how I want my system to work. Here's the layout I'm thinking on, but I need a sanity check, to make sure there are no obvious issued, then I can start creating more detailed plans. Thinking of pulling a 120V line, with a 30a breaker, from the Main Panel to my...

So, I'm trying something a bit different. Instead of putting a BMS on each battery pack, I took a voltage monitor and wired in an active balancer. This monitor is good up to a 24s pack, though I'm just using 13. It shows total voltage, the highest and lowest as well as the difference. The idea...

I'm making a fail-over battery backup for my freezer and a few low-power appliances. Anyway, here's the wiring setup I'm looking at. Just want to make sure I'm not missing anything. What's not shown on the diagram, Each battery pack has it's own fuse. Batteries will be attached to a buss bar...

Haven't gotten that far yet. Just wired up the monitor/balancer. Still have to wire up the charge controller and power wall. I don't have a smaller unit to charge and discharge for testing, so it'll happen on the full unit. Seems all the battery packs are pretty well balanced (from Battery...

Right. I wasn't planning on charging or discharging to max, regardless. Rather have longevity over peak capacity. If I had the money for that, I'd just buy manufactured solutions instead of building my own. !)

Before I plug anything in... This is a temporary setup. I'm just going to be testing the various components, to make sure everything is working as it should before I move forward with the installation. I wan to test the discharging and charging cycles. Test each battery pack separately, etc...

Excellent. Just waiting on parts now so I can get started...

I noticed him using lock washers on his bus bar (the video above). Unless the application is mobile, or in an area prone to heavy vibration, I don't see that as necessary. A regular washer should work just fine. Anyone have any experience on that front? With permanent installations?

Crud. This won't work. The Inverter has to come before the bypass panel. The bypass panel holds the 10 circuit breakers that lead to what I want to have power. Bypass panel will be the critical load panel, which then goes to the individual circuits, migrated from the main panel.... I guess I...

So, my Inverter/Charge controller is 120v, but the input is up to 40A. This is from Utility. Does this mean you can run two 120v inputs, on 20A breakers, provided they are on the same phase?

Back to the grid? I don't believe so, but it's not something I'm interested in, either way. The intent is to have a backup system, not lower my power bill. If I can cut utility usage. That, and it's a fun experiment. My next step will be to diagram each part of the system, so I know what I...

That was one of the reasons I got it, that and it was on sale, at the time. In the drawing, the PV, Generator and Batteries are all plugged into the charge controller. Line power is taken from the main panel, to the charge converter. 10 circuits are migrated from the main panel to a bypass...

Maybe this is better?