SAVE Thousands - Build your own home solar battery backup!

[@ProjectsWithDave]

See recommended battery options on my website: projectswithdave.com/batteries/ See more projects and get my FREE Solar Financial Calculator on my website ProjectsWithDave.com: projectswithdave.com/ Thank You for considering a small donation to help with channel expenses by clicking here: projectswithdave.com/donations/give/ 304Ah Eve Cells US Source in stock here: solarsupplyhouse.com/product/set-of-four-304ah-eve-lifepo4-prismatic-cells-with-welded-studs/?ap_id=EverydayDave BassenGreen Battery kit link (Often Out of Stock until August): www.basengreen.com/product/diy-case-for-48v-battery-packenclosure-accessories-copy/ Alibaba source: 48v kits: www.alibaba.com/product-detail/basen-greenline-battery-EU-stock-51_1601147027430.html?spm=a2747.product_manager.0.0.186e71d2fLaq6V 280ah: www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Shenzhen-Basen-Lifepo4-Grade-A-Battery_1601114676597.html?spm=a2747.product_manager.0.0.186e71d2fLaq6V

[@legaladvice9546]

Namaste Bro, From where I can get it all products and accessories to my place in India at affordable prices. Thank You

[@legaladvice9546]

Namaste Bro, From where I can get it all products and accessories to my place in India at affordable prices Thanks 🙏

[@acchha]

3200 watt panels, What's your take about the ideal charge amp and volt for this pack?

[@HermanWillems]

Is this a HIGH VOLTAGE DIY ?? Do you know any HV battery builds ?

[@Nightowl_IT]

What is the TOC (Total Cost of Ownership)? Would LTO cells be better?

[@itservgmbh]

When you turn the housing on it's side, the lowest battery is loaded with the weight of all cells above. This prevents equal expansion of the batteries. Do not do this, lay it flat as intended.

[@Solid_Snake99]

Yea that would be stupid as hell

[@Amaloyz]

it looks like its meant to be side faced place mnt capable , look at main site selling it, its been placed in such same matter like in the video

[@Orionshield1948]

Well the same company's power wall breakdown shows all the cells stacked vertically, so if they make it that way does it matter?

[@MinusMedley]

You'd expect a good battery manufacturer to factor this into the design, instead of having the cell case breathing like a balloon.

[@bwobbles2368]

I have 48 300ah LiFePO4 cells inside of aluminum hard shells like in the video, I have never seen them expand even slightly. I think the burst disc would go before the cell swells? This is only my experience with a select number of specific cells so who knows

[@DHarrisChillin]

15kWh of battery for a little over $2000 is absolutely amazing!

[@asusreviews]

$2300 with circuit breaker vs $3300 for a signature solar battery, perhaps less if bought on sale. Nice savings, but at the same time the signature solar one is pre-made and has a warranty attached to it and has UL.

[@DHarrisChillin]

​@@asusreviewslooks like we're all winning here!

[@HermanWillems]

But it's Low Voltage so you need expensive inverters. Im waiting for High Voltage DIY batteries.

[@SiXiam]

The batteries are double the price now.

[@PaulPaid]

@@SiXiam Actually, battery prices have gotten even lower....across the globe. I don't know where you've been looking.

[@KL4life]

Should always connect the positive first in case of accidental short to the chassis

[@ProjectsWithDave]

Right

[@samuelfox8126]

What's the chassis connected to that would complete the circuit?

[@KL4life]

@samuelfox8126 uh, the chassis itself, duh. Every single one of those batteries is touching the chassis. If he were to hook up the negative first and accidentally touched anywhere on the chassis, it completes the circuit. Understand?

[@samuelfox8126]

@@KL4life then I'd be disconnecting the chassis from the negative terminal. I understand using a chassis ground on a vehicle because of the length of runs of wire. Is have a bus bar for the grounds and run one wire to the terminal

[@SayWhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat]

nope...

[@smashdaworld5916]

I was 100% skeptical before watching this video, now I'm 100% subscribed. Awesome content easy enough to follow fast enough to not get bored

[@crhpjeff]

Agree with this

[@iamblaineful]

I've only used and built DIY server rack batteries, the pre-built EG/SOK/etc are only 100Ah, so to me it was a no-brainer to build 304Ah for $500 more. I currently have 4 of them in Gobel cases, 60kwh, which will run my house in the summer for 24hrs if we had an outage. In 13yrs we've never had an outage longer than 4hrs, but the real goal was to run the entire house during the 4pm - 10pm Summer peak power rate/cost. We are NEM 3.0 here in CA, so there is no upside to backfeeding the grid at $0.03 Kwh while being charged $0.45Kwh.

[@chadmarkley]

Didn't DIY my battery, but I have the Signature Solar 14kw outdoor battery that is enough, and then some, to carry me through the So Cal Edison 4-9 TOU price jump. I an on NEM 2.0 and even making it under that wire to get the old terms, the buyback rates suck. Batteries for TOU buffering rock

[@dlfrestoration]

Why not just go off grid?

[@cyumadbrosummit3534]

Yep and that's why I installed 66 kWh of recycled Tesla modules because the utilities keep moving the goal posts on the payback and then you still have no power in a blowout. My houses main disconnect has been off for 3 year now.

[@johnzach2057]

This is the way. With cheap batteries there is no reason to sell electricity to the grid for pennies.

[@judd_s5643]

@@dlfrestorationthink of the grid tie as a insurance policy if any single component of your system fails and takes it off line.

[@robosborne9913]

I’ve been waiting for DIY batteries like this. Great video, thanks for sharing.

[@ProjectsWithDave]

Thanks! It's fun to be able to evaluate the various options out there for everyone to see.

[@SayWhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat]

yeah like 5 years too late video comes :D

[@propylaeen]

Wow, what a nice channel to find! A guy talking battery and PV stuff without shouting at me all the time, thank you for sharing

[@cali-electro-dad]

Who is shouting about PV and batteries? They aren't THAT exciting. (I mean I LIVE for renewable storage, but come on.) Edit: Spelling.

[@MrLandslide84]

Smart on the ring removal. Buddy of mine's ring became a conductor on a 10KV heater. He's fine. But lesson learned.

[@nyplantings2420]

Great video. You might think that you are too busy then trust a "solar company" to set you up with solar. Well, if you are handy, a gear head or a tech head then please DIY solar set up. The solar companies are a complete rip off with 1000% mark up, mediocre work, poor customer service and once they install good luck if you need to make changes. We spent over $75k on solar setup we could have done better for $20k.

[@P7ab]

Every solar company I've ever seen is a scam. I call them up and pretend to not know anything just to hear the scummy sales tactics and ridiculous bids

[@Oliver-rb1tf]

@nyplantings2420 75k$ 😮 how much did you get for this. It must be around 90kWp right?

[@snowe..]

@@Oliver-rb1tfif they got powerwall batteries that easily doubles the cost of the system.

[@leverloos]

obviously when you DIY someothing it's much cheaper. When you have it done there are way more costs then just material cost. And even on material cost you're trying to save here by putting it together yourself.

[@earthenergyhex]

Dave, when you run out of space at your house to do these projects, I will offer up my house so you can continue your channel.

[@craigsymington5401]

Note the healthy dose of competence 😊

[@plus790]

Put your batter shims on the other end and your cable won't be so tight.

[@ProjectsWithDave]

Good idea, I don't know why I didn't think of that.

[@zalllon]

This is great to see. It’s amazing to see how far costs have come down.

[@AllAroundTube50]

I've built one of these.... I've also forgotten to remove a ring from my finger (trust me, you do not want to do what I did!). It only takes one time to forget to remove that ring from the finger and boom, that ring is glowing red faster than you can blink your eyes! And yes, it hurt like holy hell! When the ring shorted the two terminals and 500+ amps went through the ring, it instantly glowed red and in a mad rush to remove the ring from my finger, I literally threw it from my finger, and in doing so, removed a perfect 'ring-full-of-skin' from the finger, along with the ring. A 54.6v system will not kill you by electrocution, but the amperage from those 304A LifePo4 cells (in my case, 2P) can melt metal together in less than a second.

[@ProjectsWithDave]

😬Thanks for the real world reminder!

[@a2cryss]

That site now has 314ah cells on pre-sale for $87 which brings the capacity to 16.077KWh and price to $1964 Case is now $572 but they also offer it with 314ah cells for $1925 or 12c/wh.

[@richardthibeault7796]

i cant find anything 6 87 dollars can you keep me up to date on this

[@a2cryss]

@@richardthibeault7796 I am not 100% sure what you mean but if you go to the BasenGreen site linked above and choose the US warehouse, the cells are listed.

[@errcl65]

My MB31 actually test out to 325AH, some as high as 330AH 3.65V to 2.8V. Big jump from the LF280K which were hovering around 280AH.

[@AntManBee19]

The kapton tape is a very very good idea. I never thought I’d see a DIY battery like this. The potential voltage risks of a short during the build have always freaked me out. Dropping something and having it hit the terminals in just the wrong way. Someday maybe I’ll get past that fear.

[@soloflo]

Fear is your friend. It is our warning signal not to become complacent especially when fooling around with electrons. I embrace it and just stay super careful. Heck I haven’t yet (?) experimented with powerful lasers for this very reason! Reflection dangers to the eyes. Not just my eyes but other people, pets, etc.

[@patrickday4206]

You should try lithium titanate they have a 10c discharge rate dropping something could put 20,000 amps

[@GodzillaGoesGaga]

I’d guess printing 3d plastic guards with kapton inside would be better! Especially by the front panel

[@troydorame890]

Your video is a little bit over my head. But you did a great job of explaining things. I do not have full understanding still. Thank you very much. I will look into this product.

[@dbf1dware]

Watch some of Dave's how-to build videos. He's great. Also, there is Will Prowse (hmm, I hope I got the name right). He did lots of beginner build/instruction videos. The info is out there and really good.

[@YobieTheQuestioner]

Wow, great unit. Brings back memories of my telecommunications career, I used to work a lot with all the main rectifiers and battery strings small and large 🙂

[@FranciscoJavier32423]

Since a few years that i didn't research about it, one day I will generate my own electricity, is amazing how cheap it becomes and many DIY options. Thanks

[@ProjectsWithDave]

I have to say, it's rewarding to be able to produce my own power and have a level of self-sufficiency.

[@BillyBobDingledorf]

While the price has dropped quite a bit, not sure I'd call it cheap yet.

[@universeisundernoobligatio3283]

Simple build most of the complex work is done for you. No breaker or fuse in the battery box, consider that a negative. On my DIY system I have multiple battery’ banks, size each breaker so that total breaker current rating is 150% of max load since each battery will only see a small percentage of its current rating.

[@ProjectsWithDave]

It does have a built in fuse, but I wanted the external breaker.

[@GeneralWAITE]

@@ProjectsWithDave Looks like they took your advice. The one for sale on the website now has a breaker switch above the on/off button. Pretty cool unit for a good price!

[@Super--Star]

The BMS leads go to the positive of each battery and the one black one goes to your first negative. I love the way you’re wrong with confidence though.

[@rxonmymind8362]

Seriously? Yet it all worked?

[@Mooooov0815]

@@rxonmymind8362 The balancing leads being hooked up wrong would not show any immediate effect. These leads are only there to compensate slight differences between the different cells and ensure they're on a consistent voltage. If you actually hooked those leads up wrong, it would only become apparent as some cell voltages drift over time, its not a problem that becomes visible right after putting it into operation

[@bazza2540]

The positives are bridged to each negative and will read the same voltage, abeit of the battery below it. I love the way you are so confidently wrong.

[@fullyelectric]

@Project With E. D. Truly great idea, David P. Made a similar video however i would use the CATL 204ah cells they only cost $38 each so a 10kWh battery would only cost $608 excluding the case, basically getting getting 2x the capacity at half the cost of an EG4 LL.

[@joenardecchia1132]

Do you know where to get the catl cells cheap?

[@fullyelectric]

@@joenardecchia1132looks like I can’t post links, so just search for the company name, they are on KZbin as well.

[@fullyelectric]

@@joenardecchia1132 do a KZbin search, can’t say anymore as the post will get remove.

[@fullyelectric]

@@joenardecchia1132 KZbin

[@SetTheCurve]

I’ll totally do this when I go back in time to an era where people could own homes.

[@NPzed]

Wait?! WE used to actually own homes?!!!!??? xD The cost of housing and lack of true starter housing (size and price) is tragic :'(

[@TheFlatronify]

Yup exactly this, I love watching these kind of videos but I'll never actually buy parts and built one as living in a multistory home which is not your own makes deploying this absolutely 100% unfeasible. But one can still dream! :)

[@pablorages1241]

It's ALWAYS been a struggle to own your own home ... people now just have higher expectations

[@kylewatson5133]

Taxation is the road to authoritarianism.

[@cpg0973]

@@pablorages1241The median home price is not affordable for those who earn the median household income

[@4431mike]

Prior to placing the cell bus bars, you should have scrubbed the alloy cell connections with a stainless wire brush to remove the non conducting aluminum oxide that forms due to exposure to air; then lightly coat each terminal with petroleum jelly and torque un the nuts.

[@Pappy-1]

Looks like they do have breakers now. I saw this on their site. New Release: 2A active equalizer +DC breaker. They also have three versions one without batteries and the other two with batteries. The battery versions are 280ah and 314ah

[@gf3803]

What's the difference between 280 and 314? Bigger cells or more of them in the same case?

[@mrrustygray]

Newly subscribed. Thank you. FL resident and I am dismayed that so many homes in FL do not have a solar. Sadly they require your solar be disconnected in grid down events. I am building a parallel network to avoid this restriction.

[@ericjonboone]

I priced out a Tesla Powerwall with Solar Panels. If I finance the equipment, the monthly payments are twice my electric bill. If I had the cash upfront and put that money in the bank instead, the interest earned will almost pay my entire electric bill and still have my entire capital investment. The only thing I'm losing is power when a hurricane takes out the power. The current high interest rates have changed the equations for the financials of solar.

[@craigsymington5401]

There's a simple auto disconnect box...

[@TRUMP_WAS_RIGHT_ABOUT_EVRYTHNG]

Ya that rule is bull$hit. They do it here in taxachusetts . We have 32 panels for our house . I'm having a friend fix that issue for me. If the grids down why should our house be without power 😑

[@samuelmellars7855]

Any backup power must disconnect in grid down events. This is so the repairs on the grid can be performed without the workers getting fried when they find the "dead" cables actually have power going through them!

[@stevekean512]

​@@craigsymington5401simple? Our hookup and solaredge 10kw inverter go out of their way not to autodisconnect; but instead hobble/throttle the panels output to 1 volt.

[@Cotterpin_Doozer]

2:25 I almost had a panic attack as I watched him lift of the front panel and almost take out the pcb. edit: I think it did make contact, if you didn't notice might be best to check the traces for any damage. Gorgeous looking system.

[@USA-GreedyMenOfNoIntegrity]

He barely bumped the fiberglass strip for the balance wiring. Not a big deal.

[@puertadelaestrella]

Thanks for identifying my first project when I retire in a couple of years

[@puffinjuice]

Start now!

[@harrystorey3699]

FYI - Strictly per the SI standard, the IEEE and others , ' KwH' would be 'Kelvin-week-hours' vs. 'kWh' which is 'kilo-Watt-hours'! There also should be a space between the number and units - .i.e., '100Ah' should be '100 Ah'.

[@jankoodziej877]

The last point depends on language, the space is not always there. Though I guess the international standards do specify the space.

[@ToddMoore1]

Everyone. Welcome Dr.Spock to the chat

[@davidpayne6541]

Thank you. It’s always good to be able to write down correctly the work which we learn to install correctly.

[@geekswithfeet9137]

Week is not an SI unit AT ALL

[@Smithcraft1]

@@ToddMoore1 Dr Spock? Are we raising children?

[@offgridd]

Using prebuild closets with bms included has also drawbacks: the balancing power of the included bms often is limited in bleeding power. I am running for more than a year with two paralleled strings of each 18 EVE LF280K cells and will add two more this summer. All will be built in a metal closet with 4 drawers, isolated from each other and equipped with a cell level modular bms and an aerosol fire extinguisher/preventing devices. It cost you a bit more but you are in control about important things like safety, monitoring, bleeding capacity etc.

[@ProjectsWithDave]

The right BMS does make a big difference.

[@darrinhemphill2239]

As you verified the voltage between cells is very close however this does not mean they are all at the same charge state. From experience the cells will not be at the same state of charge unless you top balance them. I tried several days of hooking them up in parallel with no progress. One cell would always drain first and another cell would cut off at the top. I could watch it on the overkill BMS. After top balancing this took over a week with a 10 amp charger on a 12v bank, they preform much better but I do think the cell that would hit low voltage is not as “good” I now run an active balancer with this bank to help keep them balanced.

[@ProjectsWithDave]

Right, the voltage curve for LiFePO4 batteries is very flat. It takes some time to top balance them and they have to be regularly balanced to keep them together.

[@aftbit]

8:20 Just a small suggestion, consider attaching one zip tie to the wires, then attach a second zip tie to that zip tie, and attach that second one to the frame. That way, you won't end up with the zip tie rubbing the wires against the frame. Given that this is in a stationary application, it will probably be fine.

[@TimStrobel]

saved this vid in my favorites. i have 27kwh of tesla batteries which is like ~$28k vs your $5k for 30kwh. next house i may consider diy

[@USA-GreedyMenOfNoIntegrity]

You gotta keep contributing to Elon the greedy musk $56 billion annual salary.

[@berengerchristy6256]

Same

[@DerekMurawsky]

I'd love to see how this holds up over time. Great idea!

[@tomrust312]

I'd be a bit concerned with standing the array upright. It puts 100lbs of load on the bottom cell. Fine laying down, which was what it was made for.

[@jimanderson4444]

good work Dave, This should be an easy build for most people. I do plan to follow your work ,, Jim

[@UncleSAM-py5pq]

Cable as short as possible. Not about the resistance, that can be lowered with thicker wires. The killer for the inverter is high inductance on battery cable. Usually the inverter manuf. will specify the max cable length on the bat side. High inductance means high ripple current trough input capacitors (maybe also resonance....and that will kill them fast!) that will lead to premature aging on the caps. With caps that are degraded, you will have failure on the semiconductors. So the resistance is not that critical, but inductance on leads is the killer.

[@gregben]

In a DC circuit, as long as the DC loads aren't varying wildly, inductance is not an issue.

[@UncleSAM-py5pq]

@@gregben you are missleading yourself. The conversion from 48V to 400V is performed at 100-300khz...

[@gregben]

@@UncleSAM-py5pq Yes, and that is done inside the inverter. Not in the leads from the battery to the inverter. I'm an engineer and you clearly are not.

[@UncleSAM-py5pq]

@@gregben well, check how many agree with me. My personal opinion regarding your experience, maybe you can try something else, that fits you.

[@SRHMusic012]

​@@UncleSAM-py5pqI gather you're saying that high lead inductance can cause the ripple at the converter output to exceed the rated or design target for ripple. So the load capacitance is part of the smoothing of the switcher. That could make sense. Can you point to a reference on these large battery pack inverters? (Had to laugh, though. Engineering does not depend on likes. LOL) Thanks

[@Ecostainable]

We love our backups too! Gotta have them to keep it going when winter comes in here in Colorado.

[@thomasbolton8373]

at 4;55 i notice there is no ventilation for cooling of the batteries. I would like to see an airspace around erach battery, those things can get dam hot when discharging large currents.

[@timgerk3262]

These cells need to be physically constrained to avoid swelling. If swollen, the space between electrodes is irregular, creating hotspots. It's a vicious cycle.

[@jumpinjohnnyruss]

@@timgerk3262 Maybe some kind of grate structure would do the job. Or would they still swell through the gaps?

[@EricRobertson-vx3lr]

Good video thanks for sharing. God bless you and yours.

[@dc1544]

The new MB30/31 cells are $70 each which means 1120 for the cells. That is 3 times more power than buying a 5kw battery for same price.

[@DoRu42]

Basengreen has since added an output ON/OFF switch which cuts DC power to everything and there is now an active battery balancing module which is rated at 2A. If the active balancing is like other BMSs I've worked on it works all the time by charging up some super capacitors from the highest voltage battery and discharging it into the lowest voltage battery. So the installation method is close to how Dave did it except for a few things. The voltage sense wires go to the + terminals of the jumper bars and the balancing cable harnesses(2) connect to the - terminals and are labeled B0 - B16. Once all the balancing cables are connected, I went around and torqued all the battery terminals down but B- and B+ and then plugged in the balancing harness. The balancer will start as soon as you get the 2nd/smaller harness connected. Then it's much the same, pull out the temp sensor cables, get the front panel in place pulling the temp sensor wires out, get the front panel red wires up off the bottom for later connections. Connect the voltage sense cables, connect the B- cable/terminal and then connect the B+ cable. The wires were well protected with a sleeves this time. I'd purchased 314Ah cells and was surprised they were loose even when I put in the extra spacers and the foam sheet. I ended up laser cutting 2 squares of 3mm plywood and using that with the spacers which came with the batteries.

[@ssoffshore5111]

If it had a JK BMS w/ active balancer and a breaker, I'd buy one! Nice clean look for DIY!

[@knajfy]

It must be a JK as far as i know

[@Stelios.Posantzis]

That is some impressive set up you got there. It must have taken some serous effort to research and build this. Well done. I hope it pays off. A couple of points regarding this new battery. First, I can see the appeal compared to the older battery: it saves a lot of space and it costs less on account of the fewer boxes and only one pair of connecting cables versus the multiple jumper leads the old one had. However, I would still prefer the modularity of the older battery. On 13:10 you say you are going to stand the new battery upright. I would not do that because when stood up the bottom cells will be subjected to the weight of all the entire cell stack above them. Whether they can withstand that or not, I would not want to risk to find out. Also, most batteries have vents and I think these are meant to face up. There is an advantage to standing the battery up in that the risk of shorting in case it is exposed to water or condensation is significantly reduced.

[@tammieaf2712]

This is way over my head! At first, I thought it was something I might be able to do. Then, you walked over to the very established wall of equipment, of which I'm scared to ask the price. Looks like I'll have to stick with pre-manufactured, Bluetti type stuff.

[@chrisroberts3278]

Go watch some Will Prowse videos for beginners. He has amazing content as well. This was a very good video btw. 😁

[@fshalor738]

I've had some history with the Bluetti type kits, and I think they're OK. Beware though, a similar competitive product (can't name them) almost killed a family in VT last winter due to a forced Bluetooth update on a subcomponent taking out their "in a box" system. Right when they needed it to run their mini-split during a storm. They had gone through many outages before, but it was too much for their home and that night. Husband broke his leg on the front porch. Phones were down. And they had no alternative heat source other than the fully charged battery system which wouldn't operate. They have since drank the anti-cool aid and installed a wood stove like many suggested. A $40 craigslist kerosene heater would have been a good alternative.

[@mmaster23]

Very clear and calm video about great stuff. Keep it up, I like it a lot!

[@michiel1362]

Nice video, remember that electrons run / are coming from the negative pole.. so always connect that pole the last.

[@kylewatson5133]

The biggest pain is top balancing the pack. I just bought 2x DC Variable Power Supply, connected the batteries in parallel prior to putting them in the pack and set it to 3.5v and left it for about a week before they were all top balanced.

[@HaroldMcDermott]

Not necessary bms with active balancing will do that for you, my 16 280ah charged to 100% and top balanced within 6 hours done

[@kylewatson5133]

@@HaroldMcDermott Yes, I have two packs with a pitiful balancer so you need to do it in that case.

[@michalmazurek4385]

Amazing video! Thank You for sharing. May the force be with You!

[@quartamile]

So cool! Thank you! I think a similar video recommended using gloves to make the connections claiming that 48v can go through the skin, yeah?

[@ekbuz]

It takes all about 60v to penetrate dry skin. You should be pretty safe with these batteries without gloves.

[@ProjectsWithDave]

It never hurts to have another layer of protection with some rubber insolating gloves.

[@PCMenten]

Outstanding video. Thanks for your work to showcase this product.

[@LADETROIT]

Handcart and tape great ideas. Subscribed

[@chimeranzl9147]

There is an earth screw front bottom right, you also should be earthing the case

[@ProjectsWithDave]

Yes, I should have shown that in the video. Thanks.

[@onthelake9554]

Nice job on the video . The box has the same flaw they all seem to have , the cells are not fully supported for compression on one end , you did have the extra room though for a plate at the hollow end . You can flip the handles over and they will be out of the way of the posts . Would like to have seen a breaker also . Any idea what BMS ?

[@ProjectsWithDave]

I couldn't find any clear identification on the BMS. They claim it's their own, but I don't know who is making it.

[@schunkelndedschunke6914]

​@@ProjectsWithDave BMS looks like the same as in the GobelPower batteries. 200A Pace BMS

[@Blakehx]

Wow, that’s an AMAZING price! Thanks for sharing!

[@danielrichmond99]

It would be essential to know the battery chemistry, the replacement costs and vendors and the number of cycles it can accept before failure.

[@rxonmymind8362]

This. I heard the price and instantly thought of that old adage "Nothing is free". While this isn't free it dang near is. Something is missing. Can't put my finger on it.

[@rxonmymind8362]

Skid4482 couple post down just nailed it. I knew something was fishy.

[@mattcruz5915]

Glad I found this video! I tried ordering, but it looks like it's out of stock. I plan to put this in an RV. From what I can tell building this versus buying 15kwh server rack batteries, this will be around $1k cheaper, and 100 lbs lighter!! win/win

[@ProjectsWithDave]

Glad it was helpful!

[@mkhbeats8968]

THE ADDED SPACE IN YOUR CASE WAS TO ACCOMODATE FOR HEAT EXPANSION. Lithium ion batteries with no expansion allowance buckle and degrade faster. Ask diy toy makers

[@cdx873v]

Or you could just ask Samsung 😂

[@somedude-lc5dy]

he may be ok since there was also foam, but agreed that it's risking taking out that space.

[@SRHMusic012]

I was going to ask the same. How are other, high rel Li-ion packs made to allow for cell expansion? These are all tight next to each other, and he mentioned installing the case vertically. Those lower cells will have a lot of weight on them. Galaxy Note 7 on steroids?

[@redred333]

won't the foam alow for enough expansion?

[@avoirdupois1]

If I'm not mistaken, the prismatic cells actually perform better with some mild clamping force. These are lithium iron phosphate, not lithium polymer cells, so the expansion is less of an issue.

[@jasonpearson2507]

A little dielectric grease would be a good idea.

[@billrobert3226]

Keep your knees off the floor when touching live parts. Bend over at the waist, not kneeling on the floor

[@JMC8415]

I wonder if there's a way to piggy back something like this to an Enphase PV system 🤔

[@geneinmyrtlebeach6967]

Before attempting a DIY battery build, check the 'I burned my house down' threads at the DIY Solar Forum. You'll find that the majority of threads there are the result of a DIY battery build. A lot of the commercial batteries have built-in fire suppression systems, and safety mechanisms out the wazoo. Please keep this in mind.

[@rxonmymind8362]

Is wazoo an electrical term sir? 😂

[@geneinmyrtlebeach6967]

@@rxonmymind8362 Yes. It is. As are hootenanny, poppenjigger, thingamajig and minglemoose.

[@Cotronixco]

I use a 120V 100W Incandescent light bulb as a cap charge resistor.

[@ProjectsWithDave]

Light bulbs are a great solution for pre-charging, it gives a nice visual indicator of the charge status.

[@Cotronixco]

@@ProjectsWithDave Exactly.

[@grubbypaws3566]

Having worked on aircraft ni-cad batteries, if you decide to make this do not wear a watch or rings or wrenches 👍

[@ProjectsWithDave]

Yes, good advice. Avoid anything that could potentially cause a direct short.

[@jimhood1202]

I totally agree. The notch in my wedding ring also agrees. 😮

[@BenState]

seen a guy vaporise the flesh around his wrist due to a watch band grounding to the aircraft chassis.

[@Alex_Justified]

Just discovered solar panel efficiency. Spending 30k and buying alittle plot of land with an RV, huge solar panels on it, a pistol with ammo, and a mini well with water filters to last 1-2 years. Is now on my bucket list. Grab a laptop, phone charging banks, and maybe some internet of some sort. This is totally doable. NO more rent ripped off etc, just go to town once ever 1-2 months and stock up on food. Work remotely on the laptop maybe?

[@ProjectsWithDave]

Solar has brought a new level of independence. With an electric car, it's even possible to survive without gas.

[@TechBrewGamer]

you forgot the tin foil hat.

[@daddyred8192]

Water

[@fshalor738]

That bubble's already legally popped in most places. RVs can't be your permanent structure on *most* land you may be able to buy. There are limitations on limitations on limitations for long-term occupancy. If you "convert" the RV into a "non-mobile" structure and DIY rebuild it / you may still be "ok". In some places, an existing structure MUST exist. And the camper must end up, in the end, (add a room or something, or outdoor kitchen) matching exactly the footprint of the original structure. Else you have to do backflips legally.

[@Alex_Justified]

@@fshalor738 What about getting a trailer RV and just attaching it to a car/hook? Your telling me I can't even get a trailer and park it on a piece of land that I own?

[@mcChristPuncher]

A little concerning. Cells swell when something goes wrong with them. If they're right up against each other with nowhere to go it's possible one bad cell can physically damage the others.

[@stalwart56k]

Great build sir. My only critique on these boxes are that they don't have a fuse or breaker beyond what is in the BMS. You might be able to add a T-class fuse inline on the main red positive conductor. A little tight to secure a fuse cover to the inside of the box. A small DC breaker would be nice as well.

[@ProjectsWithDave]

I wanted more than the BMS fuse as well, that's why I added the external breaker.

[@RichardSalmore]

Excellent build and instructional! My only concern is missing active cooling ability. In warmer climates, under load the cell temperatures could be in the higher range. This possibly could cause loss of capacity. Is this a valid concern? I am a new subscriber today. Excellent content coverage❤️ I am looking forward to your future videos ..😊

[@michaeljames5936]

Help me here, folks. If I can get 15kWh, including BMS and case, for 3200, why is the Powerwall a thing? OK; I'd love to do a large, generation and storage system (I don't know where you live, but I would Love to see more material on thermal storage, in cheap mediums like reject sand, or pebbles, to store those summer rays, for freezing days.), but even this, Ikea-level build, scared me, so I can see why the vast majority want as close to plug 'n' play as possible, but why aren't there armies of entrepreneurial electricians, with some mates who can build an app, buying, assembling, installing and gamifying systems such as these? You could turn 5k, on every one of these installed. (..and no, it isn't 'because, no one wants to work anymore.')

[@ProjectsWithDave]

When you do a system DIY, you cut out all the risk and overhead for warranty and system level customer support.

[@TheRealAfroRick]

Because you have to become a real business and insure and warrant those installs.

[@jeffamerican5628]

Got my Redodo 30kw battery bank (12 x 24v batteries) for about $450 each no assembly required, 5 year warranty.

[@TRYtoHELPyou]

"out of stock"......

[@rotaryperfection]

17:00. So when changing the capacity setting, do you still have a way to limit the total charging level in the software? I'm wondering if the manufacturer did that on purpose so the pack never charges over 80%. Keeping batteries between 20-80% is supposed to extend the battery life cycle so I read.

[@BrucePotter]

So not actually 'building from scratch', just assembling a kit using readily available components, technology, firmware. Literally a premade kit.

[@Heretowatchstuff]

Kind of like not grinding your own flour to make a cake.

[@IndependantMind168]

​@@Heretowatchstuffexflour mill worker. Great point. Not easy and very labor intensive.

[@Firehazard159]

"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." - Carl Sagan

[@ge0x1]

Did you think he was going to build the batteries and this whole thing? Come on😂😂😂😂😂

[@SailingCatamaranElement]

Please use safety glasses when handling bus bars and battery cells. There are newer brands of DIY boxes with JK BMS units installed which natively communicate with Victron equipment and have 2A active balancers to keep the battery cells more consistent, a built in breaker and more robust main battery terminals, that are definitely worth considering....

[@tombruinsma7281]

While these reviews are fun, when the company is unable to meet ANY demand or debates the fundamentals(i.e. claims a 280ah pack is 300ah)... it is nothing more then an exercise in frustration. Please, reach out to the source company before committing to a fluff piece, ensure they have the ability to meet a moderate (30 day) demand window. I am super proud that it met your design goals but the loss in confidence that resulted from trying to order.... left me ready to unsubscribe. :( I know that isnt fair to your channel but wanted to voice the frustration.

[@butchthurman4685]

Even the pecron 3600 with 4 batteries. Is 5200. 15klw. Good price here.

[@friendryan]

why would you keep tighten the screws after you clearly hear the beep...Jesus man, you want a fire in your house?

[@poisonouscarnage2289]

It's fine unless you strip the thread or spin the stud lol. Torque wrench is overkill to begin with

[@WinJan]

Have you used a digital Torque wrench before? All the the ones I've used have short beeps when you're within 0.5 to 1 nm of the limit

[@raygibson1295]

A tutorial on how to use the dinkle terminal blocks would really help me out with my solar build. Thanks

[@ProjectsWithDave]

I spent some time on them in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4SblKSmpaasbdU

[@PastoralTeacher]

304ah cells but at only 3.2 volts. So you need 4 to make a 12 volt battery. 16 of these cells (what you have) will be like 4 300ah 12 volt batteries. I can by this already made for 2 grand. I save 250 dollars with no building. Oh...sorry. Maybe I wasn't suppose to point this out. 🤣😂🤣

[@Na0uta]

A lot of cost for doing this is getting it wiered into your home. But if you just want it in a rack for temp use in emergency situations. Its a decent solution. Need a few good extension cords for it tho.

[@baneverything5580]

"Easy beginner" until you see the chinese user manual for MPPT controllers. How much money will I have to spend to find one in the actual ENGLISH LANGUAGE for a beginner????

[@kevinroberts781]

It's cheap enough that it's worth educating yourself. 1/2 cost or less

[@baneverything5580]

@@kevinroberts781 I`m on a fixed income and I don`t speak chinese english and solar forums appear to be a lot of people trying to sound more and more technical disagreeing over everything. Even a guy who USES the charge controller I have can`t explain the most basic simple questions I have about it. If you ask me he hired someone to install his system but isn`t admitting it. And nobody uses 12 volts like those of us who live in campers. Nobody has any answers about how to set parameters on affordable charge controllers. My only option now is to keep buying charge controllers until I find one written in proper english or go broke and nobody has recommendations unless it costs over 500 bucks and connects to a bunch of apps. I guess I should have bought a big solar power station that`s plug and play but those are rigged scams that force buyers to use THEIR SOLAR PANELS to get the input wattage needed for a tiny air conditioner!

[@sylvester4207]

Just translate it man. Plus I love supporting xi Jin ping and his minority-friendly country

[@mondotv4216]

What are you talking about? There are no MPPT controllers in the battery and Dave uses a Victron solar charge controller. Victron are a Dutch company and there is incredible English support.

[@freddurstedgebono6029]

😂😂

[@JFK666666]

Great video :) I've placed an order for a pretty similar case (from an other producent), and can't wait to put my cells in there (currently standing "loose" on the floor).

[@VWtech562]

Exellent explanation. This video is gold. I just subscribed to your channel. Thanks for taking the time.

[@ProjectsWithDave]

I'm glad you found it helpful!

[@johnp5250]

Definitely saving this one

[@RideWithYaH]

Good Job Dave. 👍🏻

[@thyristo]

Hard- and software from China has now matured enough to make DIY-batteries a very viable solution.

[@richsums]

Safety near miss at 3:30. Admire the battery at a safe distance from the other battery, not directly over the terminals of another battery.

[@sunburn72]

Thanks. Great video. Can you show me how i can use the same battery with my existing Solar panels?

[@emilkjellner8522]

Would love to see an update on this today

[@ProjectsWithDave]

I have run it continuously with no issues so far.

[@emilkjellner8522]

@ cool, when do we get to see your basengreen 300kWh in racks build? Best regards

[@CarlAyers-x8h]

How about a cylinder/ Squirrel cage wind generator, covered with flexible solar panels. Wouldn't matter where the sun was, as long as it was up. What do you think..?

[@ProjectsWithDave]

It's better to point the panels where you want them. Spinning panels would be hard to wire and they would only get sun as they pass by the south facing side creating a sinusoidal output that would likely confuse the MPPT tracking system.

[@bradleycooper5436]

Its not as hard as you think for wiring. E-line drums ( drum of wire for down oil wells) have a slip ring to allow spinning

[@pteepan2708]

Nice video, that was one of the easier DIY 48v cases I have seen. I'll just need to work out if the cost the others are worth the extra work.

[@ProjectsWithDave]

Which other ones are you considering? What features are you willing to pay extra for?

[@robertsmith2956]

Only thing I could see as an improvement is the plate being adjustable so you don't have to shim it.

[@jimk8520]

@9:10 Why on earth would you touch both leads of a charged battery? Yes there was tape over the terminal and it’s only 52 volts but geez.

[@olafschermann1592]

Thanks for the idea of using capton tape!

[@jacek-jan]

Batteries is only a half way in ongrid. BMS compatible with your Inverter and "smart meter" is necessary too.

[@flapper111uk]

Fair play. Must admit realised it's a little overkill for my old camper 😅

[@chimeranzl9147]

Great video thanks for creating. Im based in New Zealand and solar down here is still fairly expensive, we don't quite have the selection that the US market does, although is getting better. Im pricing up a hybrid system currently, and 15kwh battery is exactly what I've spec'd (with 7.5kw panels) I was initially looking at Fox ESS as relatively well priced, however it appears to be exceptionally proprietary and seems to only work with their Fox batteries (like the nano cube) I dont like being tied into a certain vendor, and like the Victron kit however its a lot more expensive than Fox. Stuck between a rock and a hard place at he moment as only have a certain budget, but the basengreen kit does look good

[@ProjectsWithDave]

It's hard to make decisions with all the options out there. As you said, I would go with a system that is flexible. You will have more freedom to expand or change things later.

[@chimeranzl9147]

@@ProjectsWithDave Thanks for the reply. I've ordered Basengreen with 16 x 306AH batteries from Alibaba, and it seems pairing PV panels and battery with a Deye SUN-8K-SG05LP1-AU hybrid inverter should do what I need. Cheers

[@mountainmarauder2575]

I don't see your link to a complete system build. Are your inverters full sine wave? How many? Are they paralleled? 3000 watt seemed low for a household with A-C. Nice presentation.

[@dennisferrer8178]

would this system be able to be integrated to the grid to buy electricity when it is cheap and sell when it is expensive? I live in holland and as of now these 'smart batteries' have a high return on investment.

[@sloanNYC]

Very straightforward build. Nice!

[@petertrinh4602]

I nerves and excite to dip in the DIY battery backup for the first time. Can't wait until it get in stock. Great no nonsense video! Plus I think we get a 30% fed rebate for the battery?