DIY Booster Battery for your Bluetti /Ecoflow Solar Generator 

Where did you get the standoffs from?

@@latymz came in the kit from PCB way.

@@MrSkipturner Cool, I'll check my kit.

The makita box is way too expensive dewalt has one for < 1/4 the price same size

Why don’t you like quality tools? 🤷‍♂️ 😁

No! You need to make in a DeWalt box. DIY remimber?

This sounds exactly like what I want to do. Could you please send me a parts list and a how to if you have it. I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

This was my plan too. Limitations on how many watts of solar you can dumb into the Eco or Bluetti, so using solar charge controller to charge a battery bank, then charge the Solar charger from the battery bank using another charge controller.

I'd be interested in doing a setup like this too. What all did you use?

I am using 16x 280ah batteries, wired in series for 48v through a Overkill Solar 48v 16s BMS. 48v x 280ah = 13,440kwh of available backup. The batteries are charged through two Victron 100v/20a MPPT charge controllers (smile.amazon.com/dp/B075NPQHQK) feeding from two different arrays. Don't worry about the voltage in the listing, they indeed charge at 12/24/36 or 48v. The output from the batteries is wired from the output side of the Battery BMS directly into the Solar charge port of the Bluetti with PV being selected as the charge source. The Bluetti cannot tell the difference between solar and battery at this voltage so it just sees it as a very large solar panel supplying ~48v that is Always available, rain or shine so long as the batteries have enough charge. When the internal Bluetti batteries drop to about 98% then it starts recharging from the batteries until it is topped off at 100% and then shuts down the charge until needed again. This setup got me through the recent winter storms in Texas for over four days running a fridge, 500w heater and occasional microwave + a coffee maker (can survive without everything else, but Coffee is a MUST!). For an example of the capacity, you could run a 500w heater for 26 straight hours assuming no recharge. I like what jehugarcia is doing here, extending the capacity of the Bluetti but I am concerned about using battery packs that, once they run out, are essentially no longer available - that is why I chose the 280ah LiFePo4 cells from China (took about 2 months to arrive).

@@houstonfirefox That sounds pretty great. Do you have a video on how you set that up? I have 0 experience with this stuff and am researching for a van conversion.

Looks like the shunt is included with the meter. AliExpress lists it with the product but calls it a sampler. Thanks.

nice

Good work!!

I also got those 12v packs coming. I look forward to seeing your build!

@@BondedLiberty I think I'm gonna do a couple of vids on it. One to show what I built, second to show the actual build. I'll probably have over 100 hours in editing lol It was my first build, and it came out way better than I had hoped. Plus the computer tower has a window in one side so you can see everything in it. So of course,I put a light kit in it lol

@@bikeradam I can't wait to see it! Hope it is beginner friendly.

@@LifePrepared after building this first one, I realize I can build one with all harbor freight stuff. Using the DC power strip ( sold on jag35) It's almost a plug and play system, sort of. I'm living in an empty bread truck. This is the first part of a bigger system. I'm making my system modular. I built this first because it's small and has the cheaper parts. If I mess up, not as big of deal. This part is all contained in the computer tower. It works as a stand alone I can take off my truck. It can charge with ac,DC, and solar on its own. But it's main job will be to run my 12v stuff In my truck. My truck will be a 48v system and this unit will charge off it. My main bigger inverter will be 48v also. I'm trying to figure out how much detail to put in the vid. Maybe I should also do a how to edit. I shot 9 hours of footage. I can do 100s of edits lol

Every single video that he makes is a way for him to misguide you to pay a lot of money for his bullshit knock offs. I recommend you save for that extra official battery that has WARRANTY and possibly insured if you buy from a reputable supplier I.e. amazon 2 or 3 years insurance

I don’t know if year(s) ago I liked or didn’t like this channel..but for its kind it’s one of if not the best done videos…I noticed little irrelevant info spoke..and currently the links work…really good video. Glad to work with it the channel by getting the board….really good video I don’t know if the info is only relevant, as I’m not an expert at this field of tech…really nice he stinks to simple words and most need to know if not all need to know…sure some will want all the electrical specs but I bet he knows them and would share if asked in video via email. If RU-vid has a award for a video like this it should win or come in 2nd. All around good job I can’t wait to have one.

This is single lot project, so no v2 unless he updates for 100% DIY only builds.

For the price & features it has and will have..I expect this to surpass my delta max as my preferred battery for all uses that apply to both…sure it’s heavier and as this video design goes it’s got a little issues but the little issues and possibles of what it can be is way better…heck I could add retracting wheels…a flush retracting luggage handle and probably more…this will possibly even be preferred over the delta pro battery although I don’t plan to buy one of those…& better if I do all mentioned. As far as fans go I’m going to take a exoflow nice feature and probably improve it…ecoflow PPS/portable power stations (delta max for sure) has fans on top…flow is from top side in to opposite top side out. I’m thinking put a in fan on a bottom corner near the side at the long end of batteries which would be near the big pcb board and with an other fan on top diagonally across out and that would mean humidity in could be absorbed by the batteries and the charger while the pcb area would tend to have less humidity and so less issues over time.

I only plan 2 fans as the charger has a fan and just my 2 fans already will give the air the possibility of dead air spots less…unlike my delta max…which after almost 2 months of pretty much daily use has dust from airflow from areas that have gaps..usb/ac and probably every pluggable area has this…I’m gonna plug them as I don’t want dust/lint in if I can prevent it…shame they didn’t seal it better…few do like I would…few electric designs are sealed like I’m saying and like I’ll do to my version of this to the best of my ability..only Apple stands out and yet their older stuff had more temp issues even though vent gaps were less than comparables…. …anyway yea I may even add sealing to my delta max PPS..I mean I have plugs on the way for pretty much every plug it has and now I’m thinking adding some sealer/paint or such along the plastic where plugs go for it but as is delta max is pretty dang good….better than the Delta Max battery…I’m stumped why the DM battery doesn’t have fans…duhh?

I really think adding fan(s) will be a smart move with this build. Even when using the charger he referred to being only 4 amps it burns around 150-200w and that’s some real heat….wanna toasty car??? …get the charger and I bet it would even make a difference in Alaska In winter time…sure it would not be enough for most in that case..it still would help and also change the pack. No fans with the charger left in the box…man that would make some serious heat!!

15A output

you can connect them and USE energy same time. (correct me if I'm wrong)

You could just open the unit and add a 2 parallel XT adapter off the battery to inverter. ONLY DO THIS IF YOU HAVE THE SAME VOLTAGE BATTERY SAME CHEMISTRY AND SAME STATE OF CHARGE (full). This might confuse the microcontroller that is in charge of the fuel gauge

I don’t know anything about those units yet

@@jehugarcia Ok, thanks!

Well are you? Answer us please

No idea, only if they send me units to review

Here we go amzn.to/3i7K12p

Lifepo4 plus the small bms throttle the out rate so no issue. But good to stay on your toes.

Well, the XT90 connector is a big hole as well, with those big stand-offs holding it in place. Of course it's also easy enough to make another cutout for a vent cover.

Very cool dyi

This is what the solar generator does for you. This diy project just increases your battery capacity to the generator.

@@michics100 Aaaah I see, I see. ok Thanks 😉👍

Car stereo fuses are good. They are kinda long though. Why not use a breaker vs fuse?

@@randybobandy9828 breakers yes, you can get a marine breaker from Blue Sea rated at least 65V for something like $13. Physically large, and cost adds up when needed for 20 packs. But yes works really well and you get a switch. For car stereo fuses, I found AGU style online but the few specs I could find also said 32V. I ended up with the higher voltage ATO fuses like I mentioned which aren’t too expensive and let me use a regular automotive fuse block to make lots of connections.

@@mschaus gotcha. I just looked on digikey and they sell blade fuses that are rated up to 80amps. They are $6 each but I couldnt tell if it was a single or a pack. That's pricey for a single considering you can get about 100 regular blade fuses for that price.

Yes

or extend the existing ones with wires (tricky but doable) so half are surface mounted and half are"floating in the air" but usable

Yes working on it

Maybe

no I havent built that so I cant recommend any particular product

Thanks for your reply! Hopefully, I will find something that will work. I'm not in a hurry, but I would like the option, since I will use the AC200, and this booster battery, onboard my 24' homebuilt houseboat off grid for several weeks at a time. It primarily powers my ICECO fridge/freezer.

Yes this is possible

No the bms will turn off at 5A

Do it

So the NMC battery based ones are going to be good for ~500 to 1000 full cycles until they hit 70-80% of original capacity. That’s considered “End of life” for that chemistry but it still has several hundred cycles left until degradation gets to the point where you’re getting like 50% original capacity and the cells are less powerful so you might find it shutting off when you try to run big loads and the battery voltage is under 75% Unfortunately these booster packs can’t get around the fact that the original battery is the power source and you’re just charging it up BUT if your power station can run the loads off the solar directly, then this booster pack is only getting cycled (not sure if any do this or if they are charging and discharging at the same time). I’d have to look into how these power stations work. I know most residential solar systems will power their inverters from the solar energy if that’s enough to power your loads. If it’s not enough then any extra comes from the battery. The LiFePO4 based power stations won’t degrade to 80% until they’ve been cycled somewhere between 2000 and 4000 times (full 100% to 0% cycles). I’m sure many of the companies put a little buffer on the bottom so you don’t go all the way down to 2.5V per cell which will increase cycle life. Same with the NMC packs. If you manually stop your power station from hitting 100% or going below 10% you will DOUBLE its cycle life (assuming your gauge is accurate and they can take a few cycles to calibrate). Running 80% down to 20% would triple or quadruple cycle life. Unfortunately this isn’t a common feature installed on the apps of these things. What you can do on Ecoflow and Bluetti units is limit AC charging power. Blasting them at a full 1500W+ is going to be rough on a 1500wh battery. You want to charge at 0.5C or less so 1500wh=750W or less. Doing a constant 1C charge from AC will probably not allow you to reach the stated cycle life, 0.5C would.

Fixed now

@@jehugarcia Hmmm, link(s) still not working :(

@@jehugarcia Ahhh, your description has two separate Links to these batteries... the first of which was fixed and the second which remains incorrect. 👍

I think it was: 3s3p - 5A per battery series - 15A per parallel group

With the current code it is about $1400. Still, if you can diy, you are coming out ahead.

They are 16v not 12

none that im aware