A zythophile is defined as “someone who loves beer and all things beer-related".
This channel will mostly be videos on the topics of craft beer and the craft beer industry, and "van life" - traveling the earth in a converted cargo van and related topics, including van conversion design and building techniques.
You know, I believe you are correct. Not aluminium, but zinc. Big box stores carry it. Maybe the brand was Hillman? Perforated-slotted is the key term to hunt for.
With the Dimmer + Solar PV, self-sufficiency will now increase to almost 95% in summer, which means a huge breakthrough. The prerequisite is that you have at least a small balcony power station, and you don't need an expensive battery either. Example of a kettle: Without a dimmer, the 2500W - 600W PV system needs = 1900W, which you have to pay more for. If I turn the kettle down to 600W with a dimmer, then every weak PV system can now supply each consumer independently and independently, because the 2500W kettle becomes a 600W kettle thanks to the dimmer. Magic... The 2000W e-heater becomes a 500W e-heater with a dimmer, which can run 12 hours a day free of charge via PV. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QbLWDbJi6ew.html . The 4000W oven is also tamed. Not the solar systems have to grow, but the consumers just have to drop by 75%, which is sooo easy with the dimmer. are you convinced now I have already switched my entire household to dimmers. Please have a look at my channel. ............. 🌞 ............ Increase mini PV solar self-sufficiency (winter and camping): A boiler and other power-hungry consumers can be infinitely reduced using the "5000W dimmer". Ebay €7. I run 5 dimmers in parallel on an 850W inverter. Kettle 2.2KW at 150W runs 12 hours a day, so the water is always hot. The room is also nicely heated. 2.5KW washing machine runs in parallel with dimmed to 400...600W and always reaches its 60°C, and also its 1400rpm... It doesn't matter to the washing machine whether it changes the washing temperature to 5min@2500W or 100% can be achieved free of charge via existing PV power in 20min@600W. The wash cycle lasts the same time dimmed and non-dimmed, 3Sth 10min. The iron, dishwasher, oven, electric heater, waffle iron, coffee machine, all internal heating are throttled with me. Videos on my channel ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-eC2olbCBhh0.html The inverter stays cool, quiet and the MOSFETs + (battery) remain intact because no extreme current peaks arrive at the inverter. Now every Mini PV Inverter is enough to sell large devices. So, with the dimmer, all internal heaters/devices can be converted into base load devices that stay almost permanently ON, drawing very little current directly from the PV. With a wattmeter / energy cost measuring device you can then measure this perfectly in order to set the dimmer optimally.
the aluminum case is connected to the postive terminal through leaked electrolyte from manufacturing. Some cells are worse than others. Usually around 10-30mA of current flows if you provide a short from the cell case to your negative terminal. That's about the same amount of current to power your BMS. It will run your battery down over time. I used 1" cargo straps. I use high temperature polyamide tape between my cells and covering cell terminals/busbars. I use quarter inch ceramic fiber cloth around the whole battery to prevent wood from catching on fire in case of a cell malfunction.
Thanks for sharing! Thats first proper video i found of good DIY box for our cells. Ive made few boxes for 100Ah cells but never liked end result. Just came into possession of 8 of these exact same cells and will copy/reverse your boxes!
The boxes are really simple, there's not much to them. I think the one thing I did that was unusual was to mount the BMS to the separate piece of wood and then mount that up to the wall. All the other videos on DIY enclosures, the BMS seems to always be held down by tape, meh! One option would be to go that same route with the BMS, but to attach it to the inside of the lid rather than on the inside of one end. Obviously you'd have to build the box that much taller, and add some sort of material or shield in, to make sure there's not the possibility of contact between the BMS and the cell terminals just below, should you hit a bump or something. Using the proper flexible welding cable is key too.
@@wanderingzythophile9083 I used an acrylic sheet across the top of the battery and attached the BMS to it . Its totally isolated from the battery and has air space all around it so it really can't get hot.
I am glad to see that you got to built a diy pack. You seem very knowledgeable and even then there was nearly a problem when topping off your cells. Imagine how many people out there were not so lucky
That's the thing, I wasn't knowledgeable. I found your videos and some others and took away the best of the bunch. I'd say the topping-off issue was due to that little benchtop power supply, it does in a pinch but it's certainly not efficient. Served my needs fine as I wasn't on a schedule :) Hey now you're back on this side of the pond, if you come through Colorado, it'd be great to meet up and say hi. I'm up near Boulder.
That is a really nice looking DIY box. Couple of comments I gleaned from my own experience. I'd like to see a non-conductive layer on top of the battery for safety. Clear acrylic sheets work well. Not sure why you used heavy 3/4" plywood for the box. 1/2" or even 15/32" is very strong and lighter. The Blue Sea terminals are nice, but I would have set them with the mounting screws on the outside of the lid. Covers the drilled holes and looks much nicer. The aluminum flat bar between the threaded rods is doing nothing but adding weight and not strength. If you run a screw through both sides of the box into the compression plates on the ends of the battery it can't move in inside the box. That works well if you are using it in a RV where vibration can make the battery assembly walk inside the box. I am in the process of building a similar box for a 412ah battery. Insulating it with foil faced 1/2" polyisocyanurate sheeting to keep the battery warmer in cold weather and cooler in the summer heat. You did nice work. The hinged lid was something I like a lot. I was going to just screw my lid down, but I may use hinges now.
I would use beefier hinges than I did. The ones I got aren't all that burly. When you say "run a screw through the box into the compression plates" - do you mean from the outside, into the edges of the inner plates? Hm. HM. That's not a bad idea. Right now, as you'd expect, the pack with the outer plates and hardware is just sitting in the box shell, without anything holding it down. They're pretty heavy so it would take a huge bump for them to move (and I'm nowhere near to the point with my van that they're going to be installed and bumping around, har). But securing them that way would be better, yes!
@@wanderingzythophile9083 Yes. Run a screw from outside of the box wall into the pressure plate. . One for each end of the 2 pressure plates on each side of the box. 4 screws total. Holds the battery pack perfectly in the box. I just did one that way and it worked really well. It was an easy solution to a rather vexing problem of how to secure the pack in the box. Just size the width of the pressure plate to fit exactly inside the box. Make sure you know exactly where you are setting screws so you don't accidently it a cell! One other suggestion. For the nuts on the threaded rod, use Statuary Bronze/Antique Bronze Furniture Connector Bolts ¼ -20 JCB (Choose Your Size) by E.H.C / 8 Bolts with hex Key (Hex / .67 inches Long Neck) (Amazon). They are a bit spendy, but I like the look of them and they reduce the length of the box by the width of the washer and bolt on each end of the rod., making your box just a bit smaller. You can also get them at your local big box or hardware store.
@@michaeldoherty2289 Oh my yes don't want to poke a cell, hah! The trick with your bolt idea (second paragraph) is you still need to have room on either end of the pack to get hands in there to tug it all out, should you need, so reducing the total length of the threaded rods by using smaller hardware on the ends won't really make any difference, IMHO.
@@wanderingzythophile9083 You can add a carry strap to each compression plate so it can snugly fit the case. Fabric strap just folds down so it doesn't take space end to end. I used them not so much to reduce the size of the case, but I just like the clean look rather than clunky nyloc nuts withy washers on each end. I get around that issue by building my boxes with a removeable side and top. When I do a tear down, I just unscrew and remove one long side and slide the pack into the box. I find that easier with larger packs that get pretty heavy to drop in or pull out vertically.
@@michaeldoherty2289 Interesting! Actually could make one side hinged with some latches too. Open the top up, fold one side down... I'm not worried about how the inside looks as it's inside! And then it'll be in my van and I won't even hardly see the box as a whole! :D
Hi, excellent video. Do you happen to know the final external dimensions of your boxes? I would like to make one for my van, and I have a space that has a max size I can fit in. Thanks.
10 3/4" H, 10 1/2" W, 16 1/2" L. Made with 3/4" ply. It's a bit oversized, there's open spaces inside that are larger than necessary. Part of the size is due to the end pieces needing to be wide enough to accomodate the threaded bars being spaced away from the cells enough that they don't touch. I've been pondering redoing these boxes, been keeping eyes open for suitable containers on the market, but the ones I find are either too small, too big, too flimsy. Frankly the best DIY solution I've seen online is this company's offering, but it's kinda pricy; www.sunfunkits.com/product/1/sfk-battery-kit-v1-280ah-4s-12v-lifepo4
ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wYYmOAC_log.html saw on another channel you request some info on these 2 items ,hope this will be useful
I made up a pack last spring using 4x 320amp cells as they were on sale - like you I used a blue tooth 120a BMS but with 3 x 8AWG tails from each post - I put a self addesive insulater between each cell and clamped them between 18mm ply and 3 HD industrial nylon cable ties - I equalised the cells in parralel overnight just using crockadile clip fly leads - they were all 3.3v. The next day I assembled the pack with balance leads and BMS - I fitted an additional set of balance leads to a second JST outlet so I could charge with my T8 charger which ballances up to 15watts as it charges, I disconected the balance leads from the BMS and charged the pack to 14.6v at 20a - which is 3.6 - I then remove the charger and reconnected the bms - all cells arrived at 3.6v beatifully balanced - from now on the pack will only be charged to 14.2 or 3.55v max. The Pack is used on my RV and hooked up to a 1500watt ( 30000 peak) sinewave inverter when needed - its charged by a 280watt REC panel and EpEver MPPT charger with Renogy DC to DC 20 when motoring and 30amp dedicated charger when on hook up . After a summer of heavy use charging ebikes, her hairdryer, microwave etc it has performed brilliant and never needed additional balancing - often the solar is more than enough, once full it dumps into the small 4 gall water heater.
Very nice! I'm working on my enclosures right now and I snagged some super-thin cutting boards to cut down and fit in between each cell, as a bit of protection from the unlikely event that the blue wrapping material on two adjoining cells should get damaged and the aluminium casings on those cells touch, and short.
@@wanderingzythophile9083 Yes - I used a PV double sided sticky between mine more so they wouldent "pant" and rub the thin blue insulator off - to be hones they are seldom discharged more than 25%
Fortunately, power was restored a few hours later. To absolutely nobody's surprise, Woods Boss Brewing (where this took place) is going to brew a beer named for this event. Stay tuned...
