LifeP04 840 AH Battery Upgrade….

[flynaz]

Every morning I get up and check the battery level to see just how well we managed overnight? The batteries usually show 12.6 volts before the sun starts hitting the solar panels. I always watch the battery draw when making my first cup of coffee in our dual brew K-cup machine.The brew cycle really pulls the current and the battery usually drops down to 11.5. Then once the cycle is finished the battery recovers. Normally the battery will lose 1 to 3 tenths of a volt after one or two brew cycles and also run the furnace to get the house up to temp before any solar starts to trickle in.

On our last trip during the first brew session the voltage drop went to 11.5 volts and recovered to 12.5 volts. The second brew cycle for Nancy showed the voltage drop into the high ten volt range. The third brew caused the inverter to shut down due to a low battery < 10.0 volts. The batteries are not handling the load and they are fairly new. I need to do a load test on my batteries to find a bad one! Or use this as an excuse to upgrade the batteries to LifeP04? So I started doing the research to replace the battery bank with LifeP04 batteries.

Battle Born are $900 a pop for 100AH batteries. To match my current setup I need 4 100 AH batteries. That’s $3600 dollars in batteries and REALLY hard to justify. There are other options that get China made LifeP04 batteries down around $500 for 100AH. That’s still $2000 in just batteries. So I watched a couple of videos on YouTube on building LifeP04 battery packs by Will Prowse. He really knows his stuff and has great information. So now I ‘ve decided to build my own LifeP04 battery packs.

So for the price of two BattleBorn 100AH 100A batteries I am building 4(ea) 280AH 120A battery packs. I will put three packs in parallel for a total 840 AH. That will give me an insane 10,080 watt hours at 360A max draw on paper. That should run the coffee brewer just fine now! That also creates another problem. I don’t have enough solar on the roof to recharge the packs? So I will add two panels to my existing array. Oh right! The charge controller needs to be upgraded to handle the increased charge current and panel output too! Our 3000 watt Victron inverter can handle the charging and LifeP04 just fine. I also plan on building the battery enclosure with tank heaters for warming the batteries during cold weather camping.


Current Battery setup:
4(ea) 110AH AGM 100A. Batteries for 5280 WH @ 400 amps.

New Battery setup:
3(ea) 280AH LifeP04 120A Batteries for 10,080 WH @ 360 amps.

New Modified solar array:
6(ea) 195 watt 12 volt panels
Victron 100 / 50 MTTP charge controller
3 sets of two wired in series for a total of 3(ea) 24 volt panels in parallel for 585 watts. That ends up being 1170 watts @ 12 volts and is just above the 10% of total battery capacity charging recommendation.

I will post pictures once I start my build and would appreciate any advice from those that have done something similar..


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[A.Texas.Yankee]

I built a 900ah 12v battery from those Chinese cells. Spent less than $1600 including BMS (which is a Daly 500amp I'm actually quite happy with). Waited 3 months though.

I just got the brand new Victron Multi II so I'm ordering more cells so I'll have a total of 1200ah for a little over $2000 total.

Great way to save a few grand!

Newly full timing in our 2021 Momentum 395MS-R with our tow pig being a 2021 F-450 KR

[FirstAscent]

Building your own is definitely the way to go if you want to spend the extra time to assemble it and setup the BMS. I have those same 280ah cells as well, although I’m not sure where you got the 120a from. They can easily handle 0.5C continuous which would be 140a.

Btw, typically when building your own pack you would refer to each individual item as a cell, and your assembled pack would be the battery. So it sounds like your wanting 12 cells in a 4s (4 cells in series) battery, which you want to parallel them together, so that would be a 4s3p configuration.

Just be prepared for the long wait, which is worth it. There are typically “faster” shipping options, I chose the slow boat which was 2-3 months but I wasn’t in a hurry at the time.

Good luck, it’s a blast!

[flynaz]

Every morning I get up and check the battery level to see just how well we managed overnight? The batteries usually show 12.6 volts before the sun starts hitting the solar panels. I always watch the battery draw when making my first cup of coffee in our dual brew K-cup machine.The brew cycle really pulls the current and the battery usually drops down to 11.5. Then once the cycle is finished the battery recovers. Normally the battery will lose 1 to 3 tenths of a volt after one or two brew cycles and also run the furnace to get the house up to temp before any solar starts to trickle in.

On our last trip during the first brew session the voltage drop went to 11.5 volts and recovered to 12.5 volts. The second brew cycle for Nancy showed the voltage drop into the high ten volt range. The third brew caused the inverter to shut down due to a low battery < 10.0 volts. The batteries are not handling the load and they are fairly new. I need to do a load test on my batteries to find a bad one! Or use this as an excuse to upgrade the batteries to LifeP04? So I started doing the research to replace the battery bank with LifeP04 batteries.

Battle Born are $900 a pop for 100AH batteries. To match my current setup I need 4 100 AH batteries. That’s $3600 dollars in batteries and REALLY hard to justify. There are other options that get China made LifeP04 batteries down around $500 for 100AH. That’s still $2000 in just batteries. So I watched a couple of videos on YouTube on building LifeP04 battery packs by Will Prowse. He really knows his stuff and has great information. So now I ‘ve decided to build my own LifeP04 battery packs.

So for the price of two BattleBorn 100AH 100A batteries I am building 4(ea) 280AH 120A battery packs. I will put three packs in parallel for a total 840 AH. That will give me an insane 10,080 watt hours at 360A max draw on paper. That should run the coffee brewer just fine now! That also creates another problem. I don’t have enough solar on the roof to recharge the packs? So I will add two panels to my existing array. Oh right! The charge controller needs to be upgraded to handle the increased charge current and panel output too! Our 3000 watt Victron inverter can handle the charging and LifeP04 just fine. I also plan on building the battery enclosure with tank heaters for warming the batteries during cold weather camping.


Current Battery setup:
4(ea) 110AH AGM 100A. Batteries for 5280 WH @ 400 amps.

New Battery setup:
3(ea) 280AH LifeP04 120A Batteries for 10,080 WH @ 360 amps.

New Modified solar array:
6(ea) 195 watt 12 volt panels
Victron 100 / 50 MTTP charge controller
3 sets of two wired in series for a total of 3(ea) 24 volt panels in parallel for 585 watts. That ends up being 1170 watts @ 12 volts and is just above the 10% of total battery capacity charging recommendation.

I will post pictures once I start my build and would appreciate any advice from those that have done something similar..


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I finally finished my LIFEP04 battery upgrade…

Lithium batteries will get damaged if charged while below freezing temps. So I built a box with tank heaters inside. The idea being, when expecting cold temps., turn on the switches for the heating pads. They are set at 40 degrees on - 60 degrees off. We are snowbirds, we chase the sun (endless summer). So testing the heating pad will be difficult! Also the BMS has temp sensors. It should prevent the batteries from charging below 32 degrees.

The hardest part of this project was waiting for the cells to show up from China. I actually ordered two sets, the first set never showed up and had no way to track the shipment. I received a full refund from ALIExpress. The second set was a bit more expensive, but had a FedEx tracking once they reached the USA. They still took over 90 days to arrive!

Hooking up the cells 4(ea) to make a 12V battery was straight forward. I watched several videos from Will Prowse https://youtu.be/EPIKWUa6CSY . He does an excellent job explaining details.
Once I assembled the 4 cell packs, I added the BMS to each using Gorilla tape. The BMS units have two temp sensors and BlueTooth so they can be accessed remotely! So each cell is 3.2 V @ 280 AH. The finished battery will be 12v @ 280 AH. I’m building three identical packs. That gives me a total of 840AH or 1060WH or 1 MegaWatt of on board power!

Each 280AH pack weighs 50 pounds when completed. Still 10 pounds lighter than the 100AH Gel Cells they replaced and almost three times the AH. They also take up less space. The box I built to contain/heat the 3 batteries measures 24” X 15” X 10”.

ALL THE NUMBERS….

2 (ea) RV Tank Heater Pad 71/4 X 25 12V. . $54
6 (ea) ECO-Worthy 195W 12 V Solar Panel $1152
4(ea) RadioB Tech Smart BMS 4S 12V 120A. $360
1 (ea) Victron Energy SmartShunt 500 amp $130
1 (ea) Victron Energy SmartSolar MPPT 100v 50 amp $324
1 (ea) Victron Energy MultiPlus 3000VA 12-V Inverter $1284
3(ea) 4pcs LitoKala 3,2V 280AH LifeP04. $1350
Misc. wire, tools, supplies. $300

TOTAL $ 4954


Solar Panel Array

6(ea) 195 Watt Panels

2(ea) - wired in series = 1 (set) 24V @ 195W

3(sets) - wired in parallel = 585 watts @ 24 volts input solar charge controller.

Battery Bank

LifeP04 cell 4(ea) = 280 AH Battery Pack @ 120 A draw Max.

3(ea) 12v 280 AH Battery Packs in Parallel = 840 AH or 10,080 WH @ 360 Amp.
1 Kilowatt battery bank.


Formulas:

Solar Panel Output 195w
VOC = 22.8V
ISC = 12.23
LOP = 10.27 A

Solar Panel Array Output
Pma= Np x Ns x Pm
1170 = 3 x 2 x 195

Max PV / Open Circuit Volt = Max Charge Current * Controller efficiency 95% * Battery efficiency 95%
1170 / 22.8 = 51.31
(51.31 * .95) * .95 = 46.3 Max Charge Current

Max Recharge time 840/46.3 = 18.1 hrs (if discharged to 20%)


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[xrated]

I finally finished my LIFEP04 battery upgrade…

Lithium batteries will get damaged if charged while below freezing temps. So I built a box with tank heaters inside. The idea being, when expecting cold temps., turn on the switches for the heating pads. They are set at 40 degrees on - 60 degrees off. We are snowbirds, we chase the sun (endless summer). So testing the heating pad will be difficult! Also the BMS has temp sensors. It should prevent the batteries from charging below 32 degrees.

The hardest part of this project was waiting for the cells to show up from China. I actually ordered two sets, the first set never showed up and had no way to track the shipment. I received a full refund from ALIExpress. The second set was a bit more expensive, but had a FedEx tracking once they reached the USA. They still took over 90 days to arrive!

Hooking up the cells 4(ea) to make a 12V battery was straight forward. I watched several videos from Will Prowse https://youtu.be/EPIKWUa6CSY . He does an excellent job explaining details.
Once I assembled the 4 cell packs, I added the BMS to each using Gorilla tape. The BMS units have two temp sensors and BlueTooth so they can be accessed remotely! So each cell is 3.2 V @ 280 AH. The finished battery will be 12v @ 280 AH. I’m building three identical packs. That gives me a total of 840AH or 1060WH or 1 MegaWatt of on board power!

Each 280AH pack weighs 50 pounds when completed. Still 10 pounds lighter than the 100AH Gel Cells they replaced and almost three times the AH. They also take up less space. The box I built to contain/heat the 3 batteries measures 24” X 15” X 10”.

ALL THE NUMBERS….

2 (ea) RV Tank Heater Pad 71/4 X 25 12V. . $54
6 (ea) ECO-Worthy 195W 12 V Solar Panel $1152
4(ea) RadioB Tech Smart BMS 4S 12V 120A. $360
1 (ea) Victron Energy SmartShunt 500 amp $130
1 (ea) Victron Energy SmartSolar MPPT 100v 50 amp $324
1 (ea) Victron Energy MultiPlus 3000VA 12-V Inverter $1284
3(ea) 4pcs LitoKala 3,2V 280AH LifeP04. $1350
Misc. wire, tools, supplies. $300

TOTAL $ 4954


Solar Panel Array

6(ea) 195 Watt Panels

2(ea) - wired in series = 1 (set) 24V @ 195W

3(sets) - wired in parallel = 585 watts @ 24 volts input solar charge controller.

Battery Bank

LifeP04 cell 4(ea) = 280 AH Battery Pack @ 120 A draw Max.

3(ea) 12v 280 AH Battery Packs in Parallel = 840 AH or 10,080 WH @ 360 Amp.
1 Kilowatt battery bank.


Formulas:

Solar Panel Output 195w
VOC = 22.8V
ISC = 12.23
LOP = 10.27 A

Solar Panel Array Output
Pma= Np x Ns x Pm
1170 = 3 x 2 x 195

Max PV / Open Circuit Volt = Max Charge Current * Controller efficiency 95% * Battery efficiency 95%
1170 / 22.8 = 51.31
(51.31 * .95) * .95 = 46.3 Max Charge Current

Max Recharge time 840/46.3 = 18.1 hrs (if discharged to 20%)


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It sounds like you did your homework and have quite the battery bank. I'm in the process of doing the same thing, as far as building a battery from cells. I'm using EVE 302AH cells in a 4s configuration for just one battery. Just for future reference, one of the vendors that is on Will's DIYsolarforum, Docan, has been proven to be a top vendor in providing A grade cells and excellent customer service. The have a warehouse in Houston, TX and if the battery cells are in stock there, you can order and have them shipped to you location or if you are in the area, you can drive there and pick them up. Mine came from Houston, but the EVE 302's were on backorder for a while, so I didn't get them in the normal 1 week timeframe from order to arrival. I too built an insulated/heated box and am putting four 7 1/2 Watt 12Volt heaters in there and it's controlled with a digital temperature controller that also operates on 12V. I went with a Daly Smart BMS with B.T. Oh, and one correction in your write up....1 Mega-Watt is equal to 1,000,000 watts......you've still got a ways to go before you reach that milestone! Likely you meant to type KiloWatt.

[flynaz]

It sounds like you did your homework and have quite the battery bank. I'm in the process of doing the same thing, as far as building a battery from cells. I'm using EVE 302AH cells in a 4s configuration for just one battery. Just for future reference, one of the vendors that is on Will's DIYsolarforum, Docan, has been proven to be a top vendor in providing A grade cells and excellent customer service. The have a warehouse in Houston, TX and if the battery cells are in stock there, you can order and have them shipped to you location or if you are in the area, you can drive there and pick them up. Mine came from Houston, but the EVE 302's were on backorder for a while, so I didn't get them in the normal 1 week timeframe from order to arrival. I too built an insulated/heated box and am putting four 7 1/2 Watt 12Volt heaters in there and it's controlled with a digital temperature controller that also operates on 12V. I went with a Daly Smart BMS with B.T. Oh, and one correction in your write up....1 Mega-Watt is equal to 1,000,000 watts......you've still got a ways to go before you reach that milestone! Likely you meant to type KiloWatt.

Yep, thanks - Kilowatt it is… I just used tank heating pads. They have a built in thermostat which turns on at 40 and off at 60 degrees. I originally thought about using a thermostat, but figured these would work for my setup.


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[xrated]

Yep, thanks - Kilowatt it is… I just used tank heating pads. They have a built in thermostat which turns on at 40 and off at 60 degrees. I originally thought about using a thermostat, but figured these would work for my setup.


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I was kind of afraid of the tank heaters....most of them are in the 65-85 or 90 watt range, plus I didn't want the fixed type thermostat. The Facon 3" x 13" 7 1/2 watt heating pads are actually made to put around pipe and they don't come with a built in thermostat. So it was either install a switch to turn them on and off or go with a digital or mechanical thermostat. I chose the digital because I could adjust the turn on and turn off temperature.

[Butcher]

Not everyone is capable of making their own battery and have more money than knowledge. Knowledge can be obtained with time. One of the best things with knowledge is if something does go wrong, you have a better understanding what could be wrong and how to handle it. Those that have system installed professionally lose out on the knowledge factor and must call someone when the system is not working properly. Yeah, there are exceptions.

Hats off to you for researching and coming up with a system that works for you.

[flynaz]

Trying to include some pictures of the heated battery bank box and batteries.





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[SolarPoweredRV]

Trying to include some pictures of the heated battery bank box and batteries.





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Nice Installation and Good Execution on the whole project.