Saturday, July 12, 2014

How to disarm a 16,000 watt battery like MacGyver

           I sort of had the feeling I was disarming something dangerous- one wrong slip and ka-boom. Now for those of you who are a little nervous, you might wanna look away. Here comes the fun part, just remember don't drop a wrench or touch anything across the positive / negative bus bars. The best case is you might be blind after you see 4th of July fireworks.






Here is the battery & BMS that needs to be removed
for shipping it also sits inside a metal frame.
The gray tray & black box is the BMS
Left side has 800 amp fuse and contactor
The right wire is Negative
The left wire is Positive





Its so easy, flip a tiny switch and see 13.71 volts
100% charged would be 14 volts maybe
On this battery Bulk is 14.0 vdc
Absorb is 14.4 vdc
Float is 13.6 vdc

NO- EQUALIZE-REQUIRED
no water to refill



First switch the BMS off 'silver switch" & remove the negative to the BMS
the black button is the reset button


This works great with 1/2" or 13 mm socket




Step 2 remove the positive wire from the BMS





Step 3 unplug the wiring harness from the BMS


Remove the 12+ little wires from the battery circuit boards


In my case it was easier to get the black boards to pop off 


vs. unplugging each wire
and maybe break something






Finally remove the 4 bolts holding the BMS to the battery
this was a 6 mm allen wrench


Here we go BMS is removed - danger is mostly over


Last item remove the 9 bridges tying the 4 cells together


Finished for now
Stay tuned - removal of metal frame & reinstallation coming soon







Friday, July 4, 2014

New 16kw Lithium Battery Power for 100% RV - Solar Powered HVAC


         Here is your first sneak peak at 
the new mega 16kw battery / power center. 


The cornerstone of a 100% solar HVAC system for Rv's - 
something that pretty much everyone agrees is impossible to do


         It's replacing a old 400 Ah Surrette L16 flooded battery - weight of which was 260 lbs - to get a lousy 2,000 to 2,500 watts 50-60% DOD per day. I fell into the same trap that all the other suckers who since 1865 bought flooded or AMG batteries - since that's 98% of the market, how was I to know it was really a $1,000 junk lead brick, money out the door. The new power centers weight is only 400 lbs but will provide up to 13,000 usable watts daily at 80% DOD for up to 3,000 cycles. If the sun stops working - I might live a few days longer then the rest of you :-) I figure if I use it for 10 years it will save me over $24,000 vs using a generator with gas or diesel to generate power as the cost of solar is free and to charge it on the grid will cost me $1.50 vs $13.00 running a generator or even worse being forced into a RV park at $40-$50 per night. The black box on top with the RED button and LOUD ALARM is the self destruct if you break into the trailer. You then only have 30 seconds to disarm the system "or" it might be part of the BMS - I forget which right now ! The last picture is the power center wrapped on a pallet in my truck bed. Stay tuned a more detailed report of exactly how it will power the OverTheTopCargoTrailer - HVAC mini split AC which is expected to hopefully arrive in the next 1-2 weeks. 


When the trailer is complete it will be able to heat at 10F and also cool at 110F 
parked in the full sun thanks to 100% solar power 


The era of the 100% solar powered RV 
- HVAC system has arrived