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Parallel Connection of Lithium Batteries

Parallel Connection of Lithium Batteries

SAFIERY UNIVERSITY

PARALLEL CONNECTION LITHIUM BATTERIES IS STANDARD WITH LOSSLESS CELL BALANCING TECHNOLOGY

This article is designed to give assurance to the reader that parallel connections of Safiery Lithium batteries is easy and safe. In fact with our 48V batteries, there is 10 year warranty and Clean Energy Council Approval for parallel connections. It is now common place with Lithium technology.

If you have watched a Video on the dangers of parallelizing Lithium batteries, park that video with the “flat earth” believers.  Some suppliers have made a marketing decision to not pay the extra money for lossless cell balancing so that they can push consumers to upgrade to a larger single battery pack. Buyer, beware….

Rather than bamboozle people with technology talk, watch the video proof here

Lossless Cell Balancing

Lossless balancing is a recently developed method that reduces losses by reducing the hardware components and providing more software control. This also makes the system simpler and more easier to design. This method uses a matrix switching circuit which provides the capability to add or remove a cell from a pack during charging and discharging. A simple matrix switching circuit for eight cells is shown below.

During charging process the cell which is of high voltage will be removed from the pack using the switch arrangements. In the above figure the cell 5 is removed from the pack by using the switches. Consider the red line circles to be open switches and the blue line circle to be closed switches. Thus the rest time of the weaker cells are increased during the charging process so as to balance them during charging. But the charging voltage has to be adjusted accordingly.

When there are multiple batteries, the maximum cell voltage of all connected batteries is shared using communication over the battery terminals. There will be a limit to the number of batteries and cells, that can be connected. This way multiple battery cells are balanced.

This method is superior to either Active or Passive Cell Balancing

SAFIERY 200Ah Parallel Test

Discharging 180A

Charging 10A

During test

After Test

After Test

mV

mV

mV

Highest

3,233

3,283

3,310

Lowest

3,189

3,266

3,296

Variation

44

17

14

Unbalanced %

1.36%

0.52%

0.42%

The video Shows that the unbalanced % decreases substantially when parallelized and back on charge. It will move to the standard deviation of less than 0.4%.

Parallel and Series Limits with Safiery Lithium Batteries.

  • Parallel connection of up to 6 batteries.
  • Series connection of up to 4 batteries (48V).
  • Parallel and then series connection of 6 batteries for 24V and 600Ah Capacity

Permanent Capacity Loss.

Permanent capacity loss, as the name implies, refers to permanent loss that is not recoverable by charging.

  • Permanent capacity loss is mainly due to the number of full charge/discharge cycles, battery voltage and temperature.
  • The more time the battery remains at 100% charge level, the faster the capacity loss occurs.
  • This is true whether the battery is being charged or just in a fully charged condition.
  • Always maintaining a Lithium battery in a fully charged condition will shorten its lifetime.
  • The chemical changes that shorten the battery lifetime begin when it is manufactured, and these changes are accelerated by high float voltage and high temperature.
  • Permanent capacity loss can be held to a minimum by observing good battery practices when charging, discharging or storing the battery.
  • Safiery is committed to Smart Victron battery chargers with “storage mode” that reduces the float voltage automatically in storage.
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Lithium Battery Upgrade Kimberley Karavan

Lithium Battery Upgrade Kimberley Karavan

SAFIERY UNIVERSITY

LITHIUM BATTERY UPGRADE FOR KIMBERLEY KARAVAN

This article describes the ease of upgrading AGM Batteries to Lithium Batteries and get up to 375Ahr capacity.

Upgrading from 200Ahr AGM to 250Ahr Lithium:

  1. Weight drops from 67kg to 31kg
  2. Usable capacity increases from 50% of 200 Ahr =100Ahrs to 90% of 250 Ahrs = 220Ahrs
  3. Charging ability under solar becomes 27% more efficient
  4. Charging time from Generator reduces significantly.

1. Replacing 2 x Ritar 100 Ahr Batteries with 2 x 125Ahr SAFIERY Lithium

  • This is a straight forward job as the size of each is virtually the same.
  • Before starting, make a note of the serial number of each battery and the position it will be in. We will rename the battery from a long serial number to a name of your choice later.
  • Undo the restaining strap accross both AGM batteries.
  • Undo the terminal conections.
  • Remove the AGM batteries. (last time you will lift 33 kg battery)
  • Keep the washers and use the same cabling
  • Insert the bottom Lithium battery.
  • Insert a foam packer at the top of the bottom battery in the rear as the bottom profile of the Lithium battery is slightly smaller than the top. This keeps the face of the battery square. This packer should be about 25mm thick. Use the packing material around the SAFIERY Lithium battery and cut to suit with a stanley knife.
  • Insert the top battery.
  • Tighten the strap. You may need a 35mm M5 SS bolt for this. Buy from Bunnings, it doesnt need to be a hex head special bolt.
  • Re-connect the cable conections.
  • Thats IT for 250Ahrs.

2. Expand to 375Ahrs

  • The third 125Ahr battery should be placed on its end in vertical position.

  • To hold this in place, an additional stopper is needed on the battery lid or use a stopper at the bottom of the storage box before the turned up vertical edge.

  • This battery will need a new restraining strap. You can use the existing stainless strap at the bottom fixing point to add a flexible “just strap” anchoring it to the same fixing point. On the other sizde of the battery, add a simple saddle. The restraining stap will need to go over the top of the battery and come around and be joined on the front side of the battery. Position the strap locking buckle here.

  • Connect additional inter battery cables with 35mm sq cable going to the battery with just one existing cable (bottom battery on right)

3.  Renaming Batteries

  • One of the nice things with the SAFIERY app is the ability to name the batteries.

  • Enter the passcode on the first display (it isnt 1234) and then enter the new name. We suggest using the battery position. To identify which battery is in which position use the Bluetooth serial number.

  • Connect additional inter battery cables with 35mm sq cable going to the battery with just one existing cable (bottom battery on right)

4. Using the App

Download the app from either the apple store or the google play store:

  • Open the app.

  • You will see 1, 2 or 3 batteries appear on the display.

  • Each battery will have a serial number and a bluetooth communication strength value expressed in dB. It will be a negative number like -65dB.

  • To manage this you will need an advanced battery monitor…. with artificial intelligence.

 

You need to know two important items:

  • State of charge (called SOC)

  • Time to go (called TTG)

Simple Clean Colour Display with high contrast Gorilla Glass.

  • Displays the State of Charge (SOC) as a percent with a coloured circle indicating the battery health (blue for healthy, orange for unhealthy, red for alarm)

  • The “lightning” icon and blue “up-arrow” indicate 100% SOC is expected in 9.5 hours

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Intelligent-DC-DC-Charger

Intelligent-DC-DC-Charger

SAFIERY UNIVERSITY

LITHIUM BATTERIES INTELLIGENT DC to DC CHARGERS

This technical article is designed to give value to the reader through more knowledge of charging Lithium Batteries with a DC to DC Charger.   

Great Charging from Vehicle and Solar

DC to DC Lithium Chargers supply:

  • Up to 25A Charging from the vehicle
  • Work with vehicles that have smart alternators
  • Up to 360W of solar panel power transferred
  • Operate at 96% efficiency.

Recovery of Lithium Batteries after Deep Discharge.

In early 2012, we had installed a well know brand DC to DC charger on 240 Ahrs of Lithium Batteries. After a deep discharge, the customer could not recover the batteries. We had to go out and purchase a very low current constant power supply of 1-2A to recover the batteries. After deep discussion with the battery manufacturers’ engineers, we understood the problem. It was not the batteries, but the DC to DC Charger.

When Lithium batteries have a deep discharge, the voltage will nose dive very fast and very deep. Once below about 8-9V, the BMS in the Lithium Battery will not allow it to be charged at a high charge rate.

Most DC to DC Chargers start up by “sensing the battery voltage”. The Lithium Battery BMS will show maybe 3-4V to the DC Charger. Those DC chargers may them want to thump through a medium or high output current to recover. The Lithium BMS will not allow this for safety reasons. Hey presto: an impasse with no recovery.

PROJECTA solved this problem with the new IDCL 25.

The Projecta team have addressed this in their IDC25L Lithium DC to DC Charger.

When in recovery mode, the charger starts with 2 levels of “soft start”.Soft Start 1 Constant 1.25A if 2V< Battery Voltage <8V

Soft Start 2 Constant 6.25A if 8V< Battery Voltage <10V

Bulk 20A at 9-11Vdc input; 25A at 11-32Vdc input

Hey presto: full Lithium recovery!

Need a Bullet-proof Combination

Deep discharges can occur on a trip. It has happened to me several times.

  • Recovery is vital
  • Recovery has to be bullet-proof with little mucking around.

Charge efficiency

  • PROJECTA IDC25L has a charge efficiency exceeding 94%
  • Typical AGM Batteries are around 75% efficient. But as Lithium is close to 100%, you need a high efficiency charger to match them.

Charging from Solar is full 360W

  • Some DC to DC Chargers have a solar rating that is less than the vehicle rating. But not PROJECTA IDC25L. It is 360W solar power charger!

Compact Design

  • Only 123mm L 122mm W and 40mm high
  • Fits into the engine bay of most 4WD

IP 67 RATING

  • Waterproof and Dustproof to IP 67