DIY Lithium Battery – 2

This is one of a series of articles, describing my journey of assembling and installing Lithium battery cells, as part of my van conversion. I will likely make mistakes and may not even reach my goal of a cheap, yet large Lithium battery bank.
This is Part Two of my journey.

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A short update

I finished top balancing my eight Lithium battery cells (3.2V @ 272Ah). Had them charging at 3.65V (max. allowed for these cells), most of the time at around 10A. The top balancing should finish when the amps on the power supply drop below 0.100A, but I disconnected the power at about 0.385A. At that time, checking the cell’s terminals with a high-quality multimeter, I saw a cell voltage of 3.653V, clearly getting above the allowed 3.65V.

The day after I disconnected the power supply to the battery cells, all of the cells showed a resting voltage of 3.539V. Compare that to the 3.276V for seven cells and 3.273V for one cell at the beginning.
Now getting started building the battery housing.

Other articles in this series

DIY Lithium Battery – Part 1

TOOLS & MATERIALS*

Lab Power Supply
Lithium Battery Cells ➜ See Resources below.
Klein MM400 Multimeter
Loctite Threadlocker
Bus bars ➜ See Resources below.
Serrated Flange Nuts
Set Screws
Woodworking Clamps
Wrench and Socket Set
Isopropyl Alcohol
Sandpaper
Metal File
Vacuum

*Some of the links above are affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.

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RESOURCES

Lithium Battery Cells

I bought my cells through Alibaba.com from Shenzhen Xuba Electronic Trading Co., Ltd. Their email contact is Pina Long.

Lithium Battery & Solar Info

Will Prowse – YouTube
DIY Solar Forum

Other Resources

My Experience of Buying from China
How to Buy Batteries from China

Disclaimer: I’m not an expert at this and I’ll probably make some mistakes that I have to correct. Always consult an expert if you ever think of doing this yourself.

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