Lux ac battery controller

EVandPV

Solarchaser said:

EVandPV said:

Solarchaser said:

Strange that it's 14 cells. 
I'd have thought 15 cells would be right,  5 in each pack, 14 is a strange number for 3 packs
3.2 x15 = 48v
So for some reason it doesn't show is the 15th cell 🤔

Think I just realised what your seeing there.
The terminal app shows the cells as an index number starting from 0 up to 14 so you do actually have 15 cells in total.

😂😂😂
That is so much more embarrassing than you can imagine, as someone who regularly deals with logic controllers that always start with 0 😱

Well spotted mate, what a !!!!!! I am 😳😳 

I'm sure that caught me out at first too. 😁
Thanks for posting the shots of the Pylon internals by the way. Very interesting !
Must admit, I was surprised to see Lipo-type cells. Was expecting to see 18650 cells like you get in most laptops, going by the weight of the Pylons.

Solarchaser

Yeah, as was I.
Infact I had a plan of buying old laptop batteries to replace any dead cells I found... thats oot the windae!

EVandPV

Solarchaser said:

EVandPV said:

Solarchaser said:

Yeah I did that and noticed that the last one in my second stack was aboui t 15% lower than the other 3, so I'm gonna shuffle them and confirm it's the one I think it is, and also if I can pull it back up by mixing it in a different place, or maybe in the other stack.

I wouldn't worry too much about that. My 2nd hand one I bought last year shows that all the time. It can be up to 15% or so higher or lower than the other 2 at times but they always get to 100% and balance out ok. It's the last one in my stack too and I've tried switching them around but it made no difference.
I think it's just due to a different firmware version from the other 2 in my case, the 2nd hand one is 2 years older.

The problem is that if I watch the stack charging, it goes from around 88% to quite suddenly at 100%, much quicker than the other stack, it also is not giving me the 8.5kwh of discharge from full, it comparatively charges and discharges less than the other stack by a notable amount  (iirc 0.6kwh) so I know there is something not right, it was at least part of my motivation for getting the 3000

Yeah mine sit at 88% too for about half an hour before finally ramping up to 100% fairly quickly. I thinks that's probably when it does the balancing ??
Bit like an EV, the last 20% always takes the longest.

EVandPV

Solarchaser said:

Yeah, as was I.
Infact I had a plan of buying old laptop batteries to replace any dead cells I found... thats oot the windae!

You could replace one of the 3 packs with 3.2v cells, but of course you'd need to replace a whole pack at a time meaning 5 of the 3.2v cells at a time.
I take it there's no way to get at each 3.2v cell and charge them individually ?

Solarchaser

Mine don't sit at 88% for a while tbh, they progressively increase until 88, then while one stack goes to 92% the other goes straight to 98% (mine never go to 100)
Also while one is still accepting 2.4kw the other is down to 1.2 or thereabouts. 
If they were both the same I'd shrug it off.

You may have the same issue, are you able to see 6.3kwh of discharge on yours when they go from full to empty?

I've ordered the charger you recommended and I'll pull the packs separately and attempt to charge them enough to kick it into life as right now they may be saveable, but if that doesn't work then I'll possibly look to tear them apart, but at the moment they look like they are welded together, so reluctant to try getting them apart until I know I can't save them.

Cursed myself saying solar was good here,  back to the grey sky's now

EVandPV

Solarchaser said:

You may have the same issue, are you able to see 6.3kwh of discharge on yours when they go from full to empty?

Got mine set to 20% DOD which the older one is rated at so a possible 5.8kwh of discharge or thereabout.
I'm seeing around 5.2 to 5.6kwh from them most days so probably about right after losses ??

Was having a look for suitable 50ah 3.2v cells in the event of any of us having to look for replacements and came across these ......https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4Stk-LiFePO4-3-2V-50Ah-Lithium-Ionen-Akku-Zelle-DIY-Selbstbau-NEU-/154139703792
I guess something like that should work in theory, just need connecting up in series and the appropriate connectors fitted to hook them up to the Pylon BMS board.

The price seems about right being in the region of £50 per cell so £50 x 15 cells = £750, around about the price of a new 2.4kwh Pylontech.

Fingers crossed you can get yours working properly though and won't need to go down that route. 

htsoft

EVandPV said:

Solarchaser said:

Yeah, as was I.
Infact I had a plan of buying old laptop batteries to replace any dead cells I found... thats oot the windae!

You could replace one of the 3 packs with 3.2v cells, but of course you'd need to replace a whole pack at a time meaning 5 of the 3.2v cells at a time.
I take it there's no way to get at each 3.2v cell and charge them individually ?

Actually, 10 cells in each pack: 2P5S setup.

htsoft

EVandPV said:

Was having a look for suitable 50ah 3.2v cells in the event of any of us having to look for replacements and came across these ......https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4Stk-LiFePO4-3-2V-50Ah-Lithium-Ionen-Akku-Zelle-DIY-Selbstbau-NEU-/154139703792
I guess something like that should work in theory, just need connecting up in series and the appropriate connectors fitted to hook them up to the Pylon BMS board.

The price seems about right being in the region of £50 per cell so £50 x 15 cells = £750, around about the price of a new 2.4kwh Pylontech.

These are probably closer to what you'd need, but replacement is not an easy job:

EVandPV

htsoft said:

EVandPV said:

Solarchaser said:

Yeah, as was I.
Infact I had a plan of buying old laptop batteries to replace any dead cells I found... thats oot the windae!

You could replace one of the 3 packs with 3.2v cells, but of course you'd need to replace a whole pack at a time meaning 5 of the 3.2v cells at a time.
I take it there's no way to get at each 3.2v cell and charge them individually ?

Actually, 10 cells in each pack: 2P5S setup.

That can't be right, surely ?? 
10 cells would be 32v and 3 packs would give 96v ??
Happy to be corrected though.

htsoft

EVandPV said:

htsoft said:

EVandPV said:

Solarchaser said:

Yeah, as was I.
Infact I had a plan of buying old laptop batteries to replace any dead cells I found... thats oot the windae!

You could replace one of the 3 packs with 3.2v cells, but of course you'd need to replace a whole pack at a time meaning 5 of the 3.2v cells at a time.
I take it there's no way to get at each 3.2v cell and charge them individually ?

Actually, 10 cells in each pack: 2P5S setup.

That can't be right, surely ?? 
10 cells would be 32v and 3 packs would give 96v ??
Happy to be corrected though.

5 pairs in series.