A123 Lifepo4 battery bank build part 1

[@simplyfocus9937]

Hi Andy, just wanted to say thanks. I was able to set my new 48v system because of your video. Just Build 10kwh battery Lifepo4 for less than $1500.00

[@andycanfixit]

Excellent, glad to have helped!

[@joeking8181]

I like it being all one video. And you have some major patience

[@cameronburt9647]

word of warning: be super careful with the tabs that stick out the sides as it can be easy to accidentally bend one down and touch the side of the battery! A lot of people don't realize that the negative end of the battery actually goes all the way up to the edge of the positive side inside the sleeve leaving a very short distance between the 2 terminals! (Edit: upon watching further I see you covered this) Great video! I found that cutting between a couple plastic cards lowers your risk of touching the sides of the batteries to your snips.

[@andycanfixit]

Yes, it's best to be slow and careful, especially when dealing with cells capable of some huge c rates of discharge. If I ever get a chance to get more of these I certainly will, while certainly a slow somewhat tedious process, they've performed amazingly well especially for the price.

[@ericklein5097]

The negative end of the battery goes all the way up to the edge of the positive side? So what you're trying to say is the side walls of the can are negative? Wanna bet $100 that if I take a DMM and put the positive probe on the positive terminal and the negative probe on the side wall of the can I will get 0 volts?

[@offgridwanabe]

Those are awesome batteries I've got 7680 of them in a powerwall seems pretty safe as they are LIfePo4 and the cheapest lithium on the market at least in Ontario Canada.

[@andycanfixit]

That's a big powerwall, pretty awesome. With my setup I'll have 1024 in service. Just picked up some K2 cells today as well to play with, $306 shipped for roughly 2 kilowatt hours. I've been really happy with the A123 cells, they work really well and none of the fire hazards of the typical NMC lithium ion chemistries. I also like having that very stable discharge curve. Really good bang for the buck.

[@ericklein5097]

You have 7680 ANR26650A or B cells??? That’s enough current to get one of NASA’s old shuttles (man that’s weird to say) out of earth’s atmosphere I don’t mean to insult you when I say this because I know you’re doing it for cost savings but do you ever think those cells deserve to be in a high current application since they aren’t the highest energy density and you could save some space if someone wanted to trade you for an equal kWh of prismatic 280Ah LiFePO4 cells? You have enough to equip an entire go kart business with dozens and dozens of packs that would push a single seat go kart to 60, 80, perhaps even 100mph on a track. There’s a couple videos of an A123 powered go kart floating around and sweet baby Jesus, the acceleration is downright scary

[@offgridwanabe]

@@ericklein5097 lol I have about 6000 B's and the rest A's. I purchased them from a junk yard so someone else give them up for dead. I put between 10 and 20 kwh a day through them so they are happy to complete this menial task without much stress on them as they are quite old for lithium batteries. If I could trade for newer prismatic style I would as I could use the space but I never found anyone yet who wanted them. This is retirement for Lithium batteries (a powerwall). Cheers

[@simplyfocus9937]

thanks for the info on the video. I have a few of those batteries. I am building 48v also

[@joabtrust]

For my system I used Ford C-Max "Energi" battery(s) which come apart pretty easy and each cell @ 4.2v can be built into many configurations. I looked at the Nissan Leaf battery but it was huge as was the Chevy Volt so since I knew it was just me doing all the work I went with something I could handle. We use two solar systems, a smaller PIP 1012LV-MK which is new and can be Paralleled with up to 9 units and it's 12 volt so it will be in our Bus soon with two more units and the 22.8KWh or 3 Ford C-Max Energi 7.6Kwh.

[@andycanfixit]

I've seen those C-Max packs, they are well built, just hard to get where I'm at, most of them are a long ways away from me, but the price is decent and they don't have the heat degradation issues that the older leaf packs had. Nice setup.

[@joabtrust]

@@andycanfixit You might be able to do what I did in fact anybody should be able to. Open a business account with LKQ and then use their website to locate the batteries you want and they ship free to any business or terminals if you do not know a business owner to work out a deal, this is what I did. Our first BAT pack was $850, then we bought two more at $735ea.

[@joabtrust]

So price wise we set right at $100 per Kilowatt of energy and they are made by Panasonic. The only thing I found is the Studs are small and the nuts are 12pt. So you need to have patience and good tools. I took apart the first BAT pack and found out I did not need to. Keeping the packs Tight Together is better so you just remove the nuts and plates and configure them in any formation you need, 12v (16.8) 24v, 36, 48 etc... However, if you do take them apart you can make your battery shape however you need, any shape of form and that could be major if your building a Van/Bus or any type of Mobile Unit.

[@andycanfixit]

@@joabtrust That's good to know! Thanks man.

[@uhjyuff2095]

the cell specs are 50 amps discharge PER CELL! at 4p you got 200 amps but yeah they will get hot but as you said you are doing 6 amps peak on a 200 amp rating.

[@andycanfixit]

2 plus years of daily cycling and they are still perfectly balanced with basically no capacity loss. I've got about 10kwh of them in service and they've been fantastic. Super easy life for them in this use. I have a 12 volt battery I've built with them that's 4s8p that I've used to start my riding lawn mower as well as an Onan 7000 watt generator, pulls about 250 amps at start and works fantastic. Way better than any lawn mower battery.

[@williamkn621]

Playing with these myself

[@andycanfixit]

They've been super reliable and consistent. Balanced really well, I've put a couple years of cycles through them with zero issues.

[@williamkn621]

@@andycanfixit my main bank is Weize 100a lifepo4. But I have another inverter with 6 SLA renogy batteries to retire. Hard to find these packs now

[@josearrasola7236]

Hello sir , I’m loving the work you did on making them into 48v . I never hade those or have ever seen one up close and I have been asking around for the measurements and no one can give me the specs I want to buy some but also want to buy a box at the same time and it’s hard to pick one without the specs ! Thank you iso much

[@andycanfixit]

No problem. If you need any other measurements let me know and I can get them for you. They have been working quite well.

[@josearrasola7236]

I’m buying three sets of the EMC packs and the seller doesn’t respond to my emails he say the spec are up on the site but that with the case on them and I’m just looking for the 4p12s apecs ? Thank you 🙏

[@scottpetersen2028]

If you disconnect the yellow jumper, is there a way to reset the BMS?, accidentally did this. I would like to use the existing BMS for charging, which it seems to do fine without any other connections, in another Vid, someone says to connect pins 2 & 3 and the BMS will turn on, but time out if no load is on it after 3 seconds, I have not tried this

[@VictorLopez-ol8fq]

Hi! Could you give an update of your system? If you could do it again, would you build your packs differently?

[@andycanfixit]

I have 2 of these packs, both about 5 kilowatt hours each. If anything I'd probably use a smaller gauge wire for the cell to cell interconnects used to balance the 16 individual cells and parallel them together as the most I've ever seen is less than a half amp cell to cell. But being overkill is certainly not an issue. The packs of held up well, remain very well balanced and are cycled daily. My oldest pack is over 2 years old now. Cost wise it worked out to be very affordable. Of course now, it's much easier to get new prismatic cells for a reasonable price.

[@janosvarga962]

Good but long. Should be multipart. Few watch a hour long stuff. 10-20 min. Just a friendly advice. I enjoyed. Good build.

[@offgridlivingstlucia8865]

Nice video

[@andycanfixit]

Thanks!

[@JuanGonzales-or6pu]

Great video. Its a waste to use these cells on such tiny amperage. you can start a car with 4s2p its a great cell for starting battery. Make sure to use the B version. not A, which is defective from factory.

[@andycanfixit]

I actually have built a 12 volt pack I use for my starting battery on a riding lawnmower until I finish the conversion to electric on it and it has worked well. Using them at such low C rates however for solar will allow them to survive many many cycles. The 2 packs I have built with them so far have gone through quite a few cycles now with no degradation and they have held balance via the BMS very well.

[@user-wf2ek8hz8g]

Can i use these in a ebike?

[@andycanfixit]

Depends on how many amps the bike pulls. They have a decent c-rate and they won't catch fire.

[@user-wf2ek8hz8g]

@@andycanfixitabout 20 amps but i can set the controller to 10

[@andycanfixit]

@@user-wf2ek8hz8g They can handle both of those easily. Depending on the version they can handle between 35 amps to 50 amps discharge continuously. 20 amps is not an issue at all. Max charge rate is 10 amps

[@user-wf2ek8hz8g]

@@andycanfixit where can i get them cheap

[@andycanfixit]

@@user-wf2ek8hz8g Might try ebay, not seen them at batteryhookup or others for a bit.