On-grid domestic battery storage

EVandPV

Solarchaser said:

EVandPV said:

Solarchaser said:

3 battery modules all supposed to be 18v I guess or similar, all at 6V.

Stripped down a little more

Edit they are 3.2v cells squished together in a row of 10 so I guess doubled up at 16V

That makes sense, 3.2v x 15 cells gives you the 48v.
So it looks like each of the 3 packs will be 5 cells at 3.2v giving 16v as you say.
Those yellow connectors look like xt90 connectors for Lipo batteries and the white connectors look like the balance cables.
I'd say your best bet then would be a Lipo charger and set it to charge a 5s Lipo battery at 1amp.
Something like this ..... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Haisito-Charger-Professional-Multi-functional-Intelligent/dp/B0831G245T/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=Lipo+battery+charger&qid=1614414282&sr=8-6
Which of course you can send back if you no longer find you have a use for it. 😉

Mate that's awesome,  I didn't even know there was such a thing. 
It looks like the kind of thing I'll find many uses for, like my nicad drill who's batteries are poor, and as time goes on, as I start to accumulate more dead pylontech's.

Well, I suppose I should see if it works first.
Fingers crossed though

I use a similar charger myself for a pack of 18650 cells I made up to run an electric outboard motor.
Bit more pricey but it's a great piece of kit, charges just about anything. Even got it to get some nimh batteries going that wouldn't charge with any other charger as the voltage was too low. Not unlike the problem you've got with this Pylontech !

https://www.amazon.co.uk/HTRC-Balance-Charger-Discharger-Channels/dp/B08CHKKQXR/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1RFIKQFQEFCR7&dchild=1&keywords=htrc+t240+duo&qid=1614422449&sprefix=Htrc+t240,aps,175&sr=8-2

What voltage are you getting at each of the yellow connectors by the way ?

Solarchaser

Getting about 6.2 to 7 volts across the 3 packs, so around 1.2v to 1.3v per cell.

Edit, maybe you should set up a business charging dead batteries.... I've got 3 here for you to try.
I notice there's an ebayer asking for the old pylons and saying its a public service as it costs £100 to scrap a pylon... shysters!

EVandPV

Solarchaser said:

Getting about 6.2 to 7 volts across the 3 packs, so around 1.2v to 1.3v per cell.

That's encouraging, I'd be more worried if any of the 3 packs showed less than 1v.
Again though, I can't understand how it could go from 40% to what it is now in just a few weeks ??

Solarchaser

Yeah im cautiously optimistic.
But hmmm, what I did notice last night when stripping it down was some of the screws came out pretty easily... surprising as there is loctite on them... and others were a nightmare.
Suggests someone had been in it before.

Though maybe just for same reasons as Micky,  just wanted to see what it looked like.

I'm realising I'm kinda hijacking Marts thread here, I should have created a new thread about pylon stripdown and batteryview I think.

EVandPV

Solarchaser said:

Yeah im cautiously optimistic.
But hmmm, what I did notice last night when stripping it down was some of the screws came out pretty easily... surprising as there is loctite on them... and others were a nightmare.
Suggests someone had been in it before.

Though maybe just for same reasons as Micky,  just wanted to see what it looked like.

I'm realising I'm kinda hijacking Marts thread here, I should have created a new thread about pylon stripdown and batteryview I think.

Keep it on the Lux thread if you like, I started that one and most folk with a Lux are using Pylons.

Electricsaver

Thanks to all those who replied to my request for advise on adding a battery to my system.  You have confirmed my gut feeling which is all I had as I do not have the expertise and knowledge in this field.

gabitzul

Very interesting, thanks all for the updates on this project (saga?). I am not sure my US3000 is 100% ok either to be frank, as it does charge but, though I set the cables in to set it as master, as soon as I connect the inverter data cable to it, things go funny and the inverter throws Error 52 - Unable to connect to BMS. So for now I have connected to the RS485 port on one of the slave US2000 batteries. No idea, really.

EVandPV

gabitzul said:

Very interesting, thanks all for the updates on this project (saga?). I am not sure my US3000 is 100% ok either to be frank, as it does charge but, though I set the cables in to set it as master, as soon as I connect the inverter data cable to it, things go funny and the inverter throws Error 52 - Unable to connect to BMS. So for now I have connected to the RS485 port on one of the slave US2000 batteries. No idea, really.

I emailed Luxpower in China about this and the guy (Canhao ??) said you should use the battery with the newest firmware version as the master (presumably the one with the most recent manufacture date on the label). Not sure if this would solve your issue or not but it definitely fixed a problem I had with a 2nd hand Pylon.

gabitzul

EVandPV said:

gabitzul said:

Very interesting, thanks all for the updates on this project (saga?). I am not sure my US3000 is 100% ok either to be frank, as it does charge but, though I set the cables in to set it as master, as soon as I connect the inverter data cable to it, things go funny and the inverter throws Error 52 - Unable to connect to BMS. So for now I have connected to the RS485 port on one of the slave US2000 batteries. No idea, really.

I emailed Luxpower in China about this and the guy (Canhao ??) said you should use the battery with the newest firmware version as the master (presumably the one with the most recent manufacture date on the label). Not sure if this would solve your issue or not but it definitely fixed a problem I had with a 2nd hand Pylon.

Thanks, will check, though not sure how to achieve this, as I have a mix of 1 x US3000 and 2 x US2000. The doc I read stated that the larger one should always be the master. Go figure...

Solarchaser

EVandPV said:

gabitzul said:

Very interesting, thanks all for the updates on this project (saga?). I am not sure my US3000 is 100% ok either to be frank, as it does charge but, though I set the cables in to set it as master, as soon as I connect the inverter data cable to it, things go funny and the inverter throws Error 52 - Unable to connect to BMS. So for now I have connected to the RS485 port on one of the slave US2000 batteries. No idea, really.

I emailed Luxpower in China about this and the guy (Canhao ??) said you should use the battery with the newest firmware version as the master (presumably the one with the most recent manufacture date on the label). Not sure if this would solve your issue or not but it definitely fixed a problem I had with a 2nd hand Pylon.

Isn't that weird, when I had issues, he directed me to the older ones not the newer ones.