The Battery Box 2.0!? Or what shall we do with all these new cells? 

That's my thinking too at the moment. It makes sense...

They come in all the time and are curious who I am talking too. 🐈🐕🐎

Agree . Big Rack on the ground/floor and up on the wall Or boxes with powerful Andersen connections so it’s easier to maintain or switch when must.

@@mortendiysolarshinybilplei4646 My thoughts, exactly

Building a rack under or nearer the inverter cabinet, for separately BMS’ed batteries. The bus bars could be insulated, and at the back, for safety. Then the shorter connection to the inverter, from the top of the rack, would be better.

I looked at server racks but the size per shelve is not enough for 16 cells. Also, the shelves don't carry a load of 90kg so I would need to reinforce them. And, the prices are more then for a battery. Used ones? Nothing in my area with 250km radius which I would even look at. Mostly just standard size 600x500 which is not big enough.

@@OffGridGarageAustralia you would need to build a custom shelf for a server rack. I only mentioned it as a possible option. If i were you I'd probably build a custom rack out of angle iron to fit into a convenient but out of the way place

Andy, you said it already build a shelf with independent batteries per floor. Think about heavy duty drawers for better maintenance of each Battery.

The state of charge will be identical if they are in parallel.

That is a good point on knowing the exact AH of each batteries although each separate n,s could also have that capability and you rely on the Victron for the total picture.

@@SpeakerKevin In normal conditions, yes, but Andy was also talking about suing parts of the battery to (temporarily) power the house etc. Also, if one battery is down for maintenance or whatever, the state of charge will also differ. In addition, if one of the cells has a lower capacity and thus drives the overall capacity of the battery, both batteries have a different capacity and can be at different state of charge.

It's not too important to have them on the same SOC when connecting. They will balance over time. Of course one should not be empty and one full. But if both are at 3.3V say but have different SoCs, they will balance over time.

Absolutely correct! Anytime you connect in parallel(cell or bank), you have to get them close. Too much difference and there’ll be more than sparks.

Well, it's not a big of a deal really. I've tested a 4s configuration, one pack with 30%, one with 80% and the current was only 50A initially, dropping quickly. The voltage difference (1.5V) is not high enough to have really high currents flowing. I'm not planning to take one bank offline unless for troubleshooting. They will stay together all the time. But yeah, I would need to ensure they have similar SoCs when connecting.

And what about your existing battery? Do you keep that and parallel both?

I looked at his. Prices for these racks are very high (even used ones) and none of the shelves could hold 90kg and was big enough to hold 16 cells one one shelve.

@@OffGridGarageAustralia They are around, I have had to move offices in Brisbane a few times and always never been able to sell the old racks, ether free or in the dumpster was their fate, there are servers that are more than 90kg fully populated so you could look for a rail kit off something like a HPE DL980 and build from there

@@allan80supra I had a look on Gumtree a while back and even used ones where like $1k but no side panels or shelving. I'll have another look, now that I have your info. Thanks.

Yeah, just had a look on Gumtree again. This is all $500+ and they are only 600mm wide and 580mm deep (the usable space is even less), so that's not enough space to accommodate one battery per shelve.

@@OffGridGarageAustralia one of those things you need to be in the right place at the right time... a typical server rack is 1200mm deep and 19" they do turn up... i'd put a $200 offer on ebay item 154070192305 would have to sheet off one side or put that side to the wall. but there will be others no one wants to hang on to something that big when not in use...

Yeah, that is correct. They are the same cells and they should have the same voltage as they are both been charged by the same solar charge controller.

Thank you for sharing. So you have now a 2p16s battery with one BMS, is that right? That's the classic configuration I showed at the beginning of the video.

@@OffGridGarageAustralia Yes Andy, and I really think that is the best solution. As I said if you have 2 battery's connected in paralell, I really think that if one have any issues, it will take the good one to feed it. Maybe I am not right, but I think it's a possibility.

I will have at least 2 inverters at some stage. It's only the garage which would be without power, so nothing important. And I still have the 3kW Xijia inverter...

Those Victron shunts & battery protects are expensive. The BMS’es give enough info for each battery

No problem 👍

Yep, I will update it soon, just not enough time atm...

You would some plastic isolators to keep the heat shrink from possibly wearing thru and shorting

@@james10739 plastic covered shelves perhaps?

Ya maybe just something because the case under the thin heat shrink is connected to positive or negative I don't remember I think there is some resistance but obviously your would not want a short

A good server rack has isolated plates to avoid just electrical and heat problems

@@james10739 - and between each battery cell. Still be aware of fire risk, even with Lifepo4, (eg in case of short) so avoid wood and plastics as much as possible. Battery paper maybe. Cut up chopping boards can be used for compression, if metal, then insulate. Even modest compression helps keep a battery together, if you need to move it.

Thank you, I'll let him know.

They are great, go for it! A bit more expensive but great.

I'm looking at a 400kg full metal shelve at the moment. 400kg per floor. Fully enclosed and secured.

@@OffGridGarageAustralia With door? I could find a shelve system with back and side panels to make it almost closed. But the door was sold separate and that alone costs 3 times the whole shelves with side panels. Shocking. The Schneider cabinet costs more than the 14kWh pack! An empty cabinet. I just thinking to bend and weld a cabinet by myself. The materials are cheap. Only the shelves could be a problem. Making them to not bend even a little bit under the batteries weight (on an almost 1,5m length and 0,6m wide surface).

@@mrzed6597 I don't really need a door. Happy if I can just take off a side panel to access the batteries. I'm thinking of just getting a heavy duty shelve and get some sheet metal to cover it all around. Need to get some quotes though first 😉

@@OffGridGarageAustralia That was my first tough too. But I put it in the heated basement/garage and there are water pipes all over the ceiling. So I want something closed and water resistant. Not IP55 but if a pipe breaks no water could get inside. Check "Vladimir Toskovic - 20 KW solar Hybrid Inverter" 4 years old YT video (2 MPP Solar 10kW Hybrid inverter parallel and batteries inside in 2 big cabinet). I like that and I want a cabinet like that (with doors). But I can not find here anything in good price. And I will not pay the price of a 14kW pack for an empty Schneider that also needs shelves for a high price.

Great feedback, Edwin, thanks for sharing. It is good to hear that people paralleling battery banks don't seem to have any trouble. I will go this same way too and just keep adding strings down the track if needed.

Just googled it. I like this idea and the price is not too expensive! Thanks for the tip!

Yep, I've seen his video with the burned cell in his 300p pack. That's not what you want. I'm a control freak and would really like to have all cells monitored individually. I didn't look into a toolbox installation, but it sound like a good alternative. I'll see if I can find one large enough. I was more thinking about a shelve on wheels which can hold the weight as well as giving me enough room for future expansions. The cat is useless with batteries 🔋🐈

That's what I think too. 2x 16s batteries in parallel with their own BMS each should have the same cell voltages after a while. And yes, the battery bank themselves will be on the exact same voltage as they are connected to the same busbar, charge controllers and inverter.

It's not recommended using them in a horizontal position over longer periods of time. They should stand upright.

Why would I do that? I would of course make sure they have similar voltages before connecting. Within 30%SoC is fine, the current won't be to high.

@@OffGridGarageAustralia your bms's will decide on the Moment to turn on and off the Relais. Correct?

Thank you. Yeah. 8.0 ....😂

There are a few pros and cons for each solution, right?! I still like the idea of having a separate battery...

Perfect. Thank you. Each BMS has it's own shunt so I can still monitor each bank individually if I want to.

I still have grid power on the charging circuit, so it's something I can think about int he future. The vehicle charging is only one load, I have to deal with... I cannot change anything on the house solar installation as per my very first video 😉 Until 2027...

Yes no problem as long as same chemistry.

@@jasondevine6014 ...and should discharge/charges equally. Right?

@@trevilights yep. No problems.

Don't recommend it but yes you can

@@dredre9484 Hey Dre, what's your experience on this? I have also thought of not putting them on parallel, but building a second battery and connecting them to the same busbar. So at the end I will have one 24v 280ah and a 24v 100ah joined at the busbars. This way each will have it's own bms.

@ Justin… absolutely ..

In that case, the safest thing to do is to fuse between parallel cells. Would require custom hardware since the typical busbars dont accommodate fuses.

@@firpofutbol That would require a lot of fuses.

@@henvan8737 Yep 🤷‍♂️

Thank you. you have a 100kWh battery? On wheels maybe? 😉

@@OffGridGarageAustralia Not going to be on wheels. Have the 80 x 375 watt panels to be ground mounted so I can grow my tomatoes underneath. Next will be some management hardware then the batteries. Looking at the 420ah. Want to buy them all at once, from the same batch hopefully. What you say about individual string management on the batteries makes good sense to me. Cheap insurance. I like the slide out rack suggestions people made here for the batteries. Will look in to surplus souces for those. It amazes me that building out a solar system rather than paying the power company the $22k to upgrade my service actually pans out so well. Keep up the good work. I need to buy you a beer or two.

I looked at this, they are not big enough to fit on battery on one shelve. Or if they do, they cost more than the battery. Nothing used in my area here...

Ah, right, thanks for sharing. So you running a Victron shunt on each battery bank?

Thank you very much. You're not in Brisbane, are you? I would need a sparky here to help me with the legal further development of my system... Anyways, I looked in to server racks and the standard ones are too small to host 16 cells on one shelve. The larger ones (800mm deep), do cost more then the battery.

Andy, sadly I'm in the cold UK, i cry every time you say its winter and wearing shorts haha .. I'm not sure you could get the entire system coded District network operators don't take kindly to DIY offgrid setups.. but Australia will have a completely different code than here , the large server racks get thrown out quite a lot, might be worth having a word with a local scrap yard or ebay.. failing that a metal paint/ tool cabinet

No heat problem in this box so far. Even at 40+ outside temps, the battery stayed at around 30°. There are no big loads connected at the moment, max is 60A I'm pulling once in a while. It's a 48V system already, so I will stick to that. The batteries should be standing upright when in use. I know solar production is not great atm, more panels will follow. I will take only parts of the house off-grid over time but still experimenting with the garage only.

@@OffGridGarageAustralia thanks for the reply. I was also thinking take the house off grid in parts. I have also been figuring how many miles you could drive your tesla daily given your solar capacity.

That should work just fine. I have a pair of 175A Anderson connector which was intended to go in the battery supply cable (never did it though). It's a good idea and you are very flexible with that...

I can’t lift my 280aH 48v 16s battery. No reason to put an expensive Anderson disconnect. Build your batteries with their tops at workbench height along one wall. All connected to a big copper bus bar going back to inverter. You’ll enjoy testing, troubleshooting, maintenance or replacing much more.

Everything on the same bus will be at the same voltage. Any problems that arise will show up as a loss of capacity. Data from the BMS will very quickly lead you to the problem.

I agree with this. I don’t mind the two BMS solution but I think the concern about not having each cell monitored in a parallel situation is overrated. Yes it is something to consider but not decisive. I ran 4s7p for six years on 100 ah Calbs. I had very few problems but when I did I was able to find it by the one S being off even though that was comprised of seven cells. It was just harder to diagnose. On the other hand as cells age having more cells in parallel lessons the impact of any specific underperforming cell.

OK, I'll text you about this. Can you send me some photos if you have time please?

They should not be in a horizontal position for too long from what I read. Server cabinets are very expensive and I could not find a reasonable one which can carry the 90kg load per shelve and also has side panels all around. They cost more than the battery.

Yes, I've forgotten to mention that. Imagine you have 4 280Ah cells in parallel and a 0.2A balance current. On the other hand 4p cell may not get out of balance as quickly any more...

Looking at building my own 48v pack from gen 1 Leaf cells. How often do you test individual cell voltages? What maximum rate do you charge your 14p pack?

@@andrewradford3953 hi mine is gen 1 cells to for my hole battery pack i charge with 100 amps soo 17. amps per 48 volt pack max, i have maybe checked cell voltage 2 times in what 3 years of use,, i have a 10 amp fuse on each 48 volt pack, the highest ive seen charge amps was 75 amps, but that's if there's no charging cose of clouds or rain for 4 days, my day to day is 49.0 to 47.0 something like that,, hope that helps , if you have more question's just ask

@@oogie-boogie If I go without a bms, I'll experiment away from any structures. I'm worried about the rare cell that might go poof! First 48v pack will power my ride on mower. See my first RU-vid video. I'll add videos when I do the upgrade to Leaf cells.

Thank you. Will you run a BMS too, or just the balancer?

@@OffGridGarageAustralia Now when I use lead-acid batteries, I don't use BMS, but I don't intend to use BMS either when I use the new lithium batteries.Now I use some little wireless modules that permanently measure the voltage of each battery and transmit it to a rasberry pi mini computer running Home Assistant. This way I can see the voltage of each cell from wherever I am. Moreover, in Home Assistant I have the possibility to stop the two Victron chargers, or the two MPP Solar inverters that I use. When any batteries exceed 3.7 volts, for example, their chargers will be turned off automatically and I will be notified on the phone. When any of the batteries will have a voltage lower than 2.8 volts, for example, the inverters will be automatically switched off and on grid and they not will consume more batteries than 0.5-1 ampers. As in the previous case I will be notified on the phone about this situation. When the total voltage in the battery bank drops below 47 volts(setting on the inverters,not on Home Assistant), the inverters switches automatically to the grid until the morning when the chargers will charge again the battery. All this does much more than a BMS, and using the two active balancer, everything will be perfect.

And by the way, I don't like at all the solution used in BMSs for equalization, the one with resistors.Egalizatoarele active sunt mult mai eficiente.

Hat mir schon jemand empfohlen hier. Muss ich wohl mal Zeit fuer finden...

It really is! I'm still undecided after reading all the comments here. Guess, I have to do a follow up video...

I can see all this too, yes 😊

I agree, you need to back them up with a lab test (but you have the wrong kind of dog at the moment....).

also will prose already has the diagrams for multiple cells, so you basically came to the same conclusion we all did

True I use multiple BMS to control that but multiple shunts would also tell you what is happening but it happens fast so control is important.

Multiple shunts, FTW.

Why would he parallel a full one with an empty one though? Wouldnt he want to charge both to same SOC? And then connecting them in parallel should only cause minimal equalization between the two. Also, wouldnt a load draw from both batteries more or less equally assuming the internal resistance of the two batteries are more or less the same? That's just what my logic is telling me.

@@firpofutbol I completely agree if all things are equal.

A smart BMS would monitor the current per string, assuming the bms's are networked & monitored.

By that same logic you will need 2 inverters / chargers too. Or build completely separate systems and couple them via AC. And no one here "maintains functionality and flexibility" - all maintained is low price. Otherwise why buy cheap undocumented chinesium and waste hours explaining it?

@@2L40K No you don't. My system calls for 4 and I'm putting $30k+ worth of proven tech and 4 parallel inverters to carry the load better , but only one charger on the bus is required. The 4 BMS will handle each string. But that's me. If you want to get by "on the cheap", expect to burn the house for your "corner cutting" or don't play. Want to get down to basics, it's ALL chinesium. Even Battleborn!!! Which BTW has a BMS in each module making each effectively a string. So you still place them in parallel to up Ah right? Do you need multiple chargers or inverters, one for each unit? NO. And that's why people burn shit. They know just enough to be dangerous and not much else and too lazy to do the research it takes to do the job properly. Been working this field for 40 years+ and critical backup power systems for ATT for the last 20 of it. Retired 2 months ago.

@@TexasVeteranPatriot I see, you don't have a clue about the videos you are watching, if you watch them at all. Also no clue about whats going in the industry. Get for example Battleborn Batteries. Made in USA, definitely not chinesium. No BMS of any kind required. Connect them however you like. That's because perfectly matched and perfectly aging cells. A living proof of what I am talking about. Next, if you watch the videos - BYD made chinesium DC contactor on the QUCC chinesium BMS failed. Than QUCC sent a replacement of, probably Chinese made, but definitely non chinesium TE Connectivity TYCO contactor. Than all the cells are undocumented, untested, unsorted chinesium from Ali. Not clear who the manufacturer is, no documentation, no test reports, no QC, no nothing. Not clear what grade they are and why they are sold so cheap (there is always a reason) But you can get the same cells officially from their manufacturer with all the necessary documents present. Not at that price however. Next, here in Europe houses do not burn, because it's all bricks and concrete. Even if there were cyclones and tornadoes also not much will fly - even the ceramic shingles on the roofs are tied with a wire. Batrium is a junk made by farmers, not much different compared to the chinesium Chargery. Watch and read the comments here on the same youtube. When balancing, the load resistors heat the temperature sensors and the battery disconnects. Common behavior for batrium... And the stupid users that use untested and unmatched cheap chinesium cells... Spending s*itload of money and expensive time is not a DIY. Because there are readily made commercial solutions (chnesium and not) which are set it and forget it, even with 5-10-15 years of warranty and on site maintenance. DIY is about doing something maybe less functional but significantly cheaper. Go and look for example how BYD B-BOX HVS/HVM is installed. Pylontech is not much different. They plug and talk directly, for example to Victron. Chinesium or not - thats what is coming. And Huawei and others even have complete systems. But in the US they are hated, because too advanced and US is too far behind... 5G story for example... And you can get things cheaper than BYD and Pylontech only with all random untested and unsorted chinesium BMS and cells. And already mentioned - QUCC failed, even being the best chinesium BMS. If you get at least normal BMS you are already at their price, but you need to spend time, and there is no warranty. And you can do it maybe better - but it's getting more expensive and more time consuming. Get good BMS, test and sort more cells than needed and sell the left over... By this is completely obvious - already not DIY! You become professional self installer... And BYD and Pylontech follow exactly what is in the Orion manual. Each string has BMS, there is a master BMS for a number of strings, and all Masters talk to a HUB. Then over the CAN bus to the system - inverters, chargers and what not. Lets make an analogy with the audio fools. - You say you made a DIY vinyl turntable for $30000. - I'm telling you, that a good, top of the line commercially available turntables, with warranty, are less expensive and easier to install. So what you do is not anywhere near to DIY. - in the videos, here, are discussed even cheaper really DYI solutions. And they fail on these same videos. And there is no warranty whatsoever. And also they probably even brake country specific regulations and laws...

But what is the right way?

The way he is doing.@@OffGridGarageAustralia

It wouldn't be easier to charge the Tesla 1 mile away? and leave the batteries where they are.... you get two 1 mile walks per charge - that's a side benefit, right?

@@JoeInBendigo At the moment we just have a Kia eSoul which my wife uses for work. Sometimes she comes home late in the evening and goes out early in the morning. Also it would be good to do trailer-house power. Normally I cycle between the charge point and my house but late night/early morning changeovers don't appeal and it is good to use the leftover energy at home.

Thanks for sharing, Nigel. I have planned to leave both batteries in parallel all the time. Taking them out of this group, would be only for maintenance or fault finding. There would only be significant current flowing between the two batteries if there is a higher voltage difference too. The charge levels will balance themselves over time. I have tested with a 4s pack, one at 30% SOC, one at 70%SOCl and paralleled them. The initial current was around 50A tapering off very fast though as both voltages come together quickly.

@@OffGridGarageAustralia Good to know that reconnecting battery packs of differing charge levels are unlikely to challenge the BMS current carrying capability. Not a problem for you in Australia but as my lithium batteries will be operating outside a heated environment in winter I am including insulation and battery heating. To know whether the insulation will need me to lift the lid to ventilate in summer do you get any heat build up in the battery pack during high current discharges?

Hmmm, I can achieve that with the inverter. It has a programmable relays which can achieve exactly that. But how do I charge bank 2 if it's not connected and what would b the benefit of having only one connected at the time?

​@@OffGridGarageAustralia I don´t know your system so well as you do. If inverter and charge controller are seperated you can charge your batteries on one charge controller. As far as I know for charging 2 batteries parallely on one charge controller there needs to a diode between the batteries to avoid reflow especially when the capacities of the banks drift apart during time. (In german: Ausgleichsströme zwischen den Batterien). An example for a dual batterie charger for 12V systems is Kemo M174. Please be aware using a diode there is going to be a diiscrepency in voltage between the banks caused by the diode. The voltage drop of a standard schottky diodes is at about 0.7V. I just found a device named ideal diode with a voltage drop of only 0.04V. (ebay, search: "50A Ideal Diode Controller Solar Battery Anti-backflow 9-70V Protection Module". Maybe you find on other with the voltage you need.) I noticed that you are using victron stuff. According to the description their charge controllers can be used parallely. So you can use one charge controller for each bank as an alternative. So much about my ideas concerning charging. Now about the switching between the banks. In my system I am using the solenoid YLE YL314-12V-C-S. It is connceted as follows: Bank 1 is connected to 87, bank 2 is connected to 87a, the inverter is connected to 30, 86 and 85 are connected to the batterie guard which is connected to bank 1, common ground. Please have a look at the sheme of this solenoid and check. Benefits: Increased life time of your batteries by avoiding flow between the banks when capacities drift apart (mentioned above). One can work on the disconnected bank and one can switch between the banks by interrupting the line from batterie guard to the solenoid (defined basic status). This system can be scaled/ cascaded. Improvements: May be one should use a capacitor between solenoid and inverter to avoid a power drop during switching.

Not sure what exactly you mean... Can you send me the time stamp of the scene?

@@OffGridGarageAustralia I saw it in another video, dont remember which. Funny enough, in searching for such video, I ran into a video that shows how you did it. It is a push switch with a resistor to precharge the capacitors of the inverter. Looks like the wire of this setup is connected to positive and negative posts of the main switch, thus bypassing the switch for a moment while capacitors get precharged. Great idea and a time saver!

Yep he's no Horus .

It was his first time, give him time 🐈

@@OffGridGarageAustralia absolutely!

@@OffGridGarageAustralia Yep , He will be doing Cat scans in no time.

Thanks for sharing. That is a good point. The balancing in a parallel connection is perfect of course. And, yes, you may want to consider fusing these cells in a parallel connection in case of a faulty cell and the others will discharge through that path. This could lead to extensive heat 🔥

@@OffGridGarageAustralia Andy, do not worry about a default in one cell. Our expirience is that defectiv cells have an extremly high internal resisitance and therefore do not take high current. One can easily find out the row with the weak cell because their capacity is less than the others and BMS switches off to avoid undervoltage of this row. Without observing the system at all one will realise that the usable capacity of the battery is going down. Having build and sold hundreds of big power pack with 280 cells (14s20p) over the last 10 years we never faced a problem with paralleled cells.

Just charge the lower voltage battery or discharge the higher voltage battery before connecting them.

So, there are no other issues?

If there's no difference in potential, no current will flow. It's safest to do it near 100 percent or near 0 percent soc though

To elaborate, it's safest to parallel your batteries above the curve near full charge where the voltage rises quickly, or below the curve near full discharge where the voltage drops quickly. Under these conditions much less current will flow in relation to a difference of potential. @Off-Grid Garage, you've seen this effect in your battery tests.

@@Mike_Neukam yes, I did. I was wondering if you cannot connect the two banks when both are at say 3.3V. If they have different SoCs they should balance over time when get higher or lower in voltage. One battery voltage will rise faster than the other and balances the one with lower voltage. Eventually they should sort it out.

You’d have to be sure you didn’t close that switch when things were unbalanced, I’m not sure it’s a good idea to have a convenient way of causing a problem.

@@edc1569 You need to connect the packs together anyway so no matter how you do it you need to be careful. You could just have two sets of Anderson 100A connectors, one for each pack.

The two battery banks will be in parallel all the time. I'm not planning of switching one off or using only one at a time. Except for maintenance or troubleshooting. So I think a switch is not really needed in my case.

@@OffGridGarageAustralia for maintenance or emergency disconnect it will be useful to isolate each parallel bank from each other

@@ralph9987 yeah, each battery back will have their own 2-pole breaker/isolator before it connects to the common bus bar.

I’m glad I didn’t get a four way switch. I think the both option is risky, if different state of charge.

@@michaelbouckley4455 what is the risk? All that will happen is that they with equalise each other.

Really?

@@OffGridGarageAustralia Yes, any high current terminals or busbars should be on first, then the low current smaller terminals like the balance leads.

Just the black label came off when I removed the foam. No dents.

Can you write a name model of this inverter?

@@zarbonida I think he might be talking about the Growatt mmpt - inverter - they are gaining in popularity within the USA RU-vid battery solar community - Cost savings are considerable and can be paralleled to great huge input and output. ie. Up to 30Kw output and 35Kw input.

It's illegal for unlicensed people (i.e. not registered electricians) to work with voltages higher than 50V in Australia. Not necessarily logical, but a different kind of risk: huge currents can burn your place down really quickly - high voltages can kill you really quickly.... I personally would sleep more soundly with high voltages and low currents... others my think differently..... clearly the law makers want to protect the electricians' trades and don't care how well I sleep :) so we have to stick with 48V and big cables....

@@zarbonida Hi, for example Kostal Pico available in different sizes. I fully agree that one should know what you are doing when working with voltages above 50V. But I have recently learned that the MPP Trackers have a hard job working out the optimal point, when you have several parallel strings an any shading... see ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lz8OsIIXPlg.html (sorry in German)

I cannot really have higher DC voltages due to the shading in my location. This would make the whole system a lot less efficient. Otherwise I probably would have them all in one string.

Hello! 😊

He has a 48V system and inverter.

Yes, everything is 48V.

It's one app for multiple BMS.

Yes, thank you.

You will half the current with two in parallel.

@@cdkipp To clarify, double the output potential.

I can still monitor the individual battery banks through the BMS. Just not remotely, I have to be in the garage for that but I guess that's OK...

@@OffGridGarageAustralia you can add the qucc BMS to the victron vrm via the raspberry pi. There are drivers, see - community.victronenergy.com/questions/76159/victron-venusos-driver-for-serial-connected-bms-av.html

Sounds good. What are your rough plans?

@@OffGridGarageAustralia An AC or DC coupled, (or combo) grid tied system to start, with 16kW lifepo4 battery. I am not sure on the configuration as there are pros and cons for each. That is what you are for😊 It is about 6 months away so I will contact you when ready. Oh btw I have found your QUOC BMS on Alibaba much cheaper but can not post the link here as it gets taken down. Any idea how I can send you the info?

Thank you very much! You're not accidentally in Brisbane, are you? I would need a sparky here to assist me with the further legal setup... Anyways, I looked into server racks. The shelves are too small for 16 cells, the larger racks (800mm deep) are more expensive than the battery.

I am situated in Bulgaria, not too close to you. So in case any of us has a bigger accident, the other one will survive ;-) As i still need to build the work bech, i can make it any size i wish. This is an advantage that probably is not the case for you :-( And it will take some tim for me, as the garage has a pretty low priority at the moment... Water supply, garden, balkony repair and so on will be my work during the summer... Time will show.

The large one with drawers? Hmmm, they are expensive, but a good idea... I'll have a look if they are big enough to host one battery per drawer.