Casing for Aluminum Cells

[evm1024]

Originally Posted by Steve_C

I am looking at the ampacity ratings of the bus bars they supply. They would appear to be rated at 157 amps roughly. I am concerned that it would be too low if ever the bank was highly loaded, even though this would be rare. Their spec looks like its decent quality, but only 1.5 mm thick. If I double, or even triple them I would be where I want to be. If I spec my own the price jumps pretty drastically.

Any opinions about using these doubled up as opposed to one thick bar?

Thanks!

I have no problem with doubling them up. That is what I do.

With proper torque you should have no problems - If they are tinned. If they are bare copper you can tin them yourself. The home PCB suppliers have tinning kits. Sorry no link off the top of my head.

[nebster]

Verify them, preferably with a thermal camera if you can get your hands on one, under load. You will be able to see if they are performing adequately, and you can see which ones need torque adjustments, too.

[Steve_C]

Originally Posted by nebster

Verify them, preferably with a thermal camera if you can get your hands on one, under load. You will be able to see if they are performing adequately, and you can see which ones need torque adjustments, too.

I will definitely be using a thermal camera just for my own peace-of-mind! Not just for the bus bars but for the entire system!

But I will need to pick a bus bar and build it well before I am able to operate under full load. I can always make changes, but I would rather not after its built and in place. My instinct is to go ahead and use two, rather than custom thicker ones.

[Steve_C]

Originally Posted by mikedefieslife

Have you tried RJ Lithium? That's where my cells and a few other guys in the lithum on a boat group bought their cells from. Prices were very keen.

https://www.rj-lithium.com

They have a range of cell sizes, for Europe (I don't know about the states) have fast and cheap shipping options. No taxes or duty on my (small in comparison) 300ah bank.

Not seen any reported problems as yet, and my bank has been happy enough crossing the Atlantic.

I did contact them, and they were very quick to respond. prices are about 10% cheaper but they also seem to be very limited in what they offer in terms of spacers and such. They sent me a picture of a stack of fiberglass sheets that they said they could cut for spacers between the cells. It seems to be somewhat of a small re-seller.

Overall I am not getting a real great impression like I have from Frey.

[Winston Batteries]

Originally Posted by Steve_C

I was pricing a large bank of 1600 AH, so 64 cells of 100 AH. I actually quoted a few extra cells just in case. Shipping added a WHOPPING $1268 US.

Wow, 64x100Ah, door to door shipping charge from China to US only USD1268, that’s a very cheap cost if talking about shipping lithium batteries. Are they ship these batteries as DG(dangerous goods)? we never get an attractive shipping quotation like this before. Can you ask her to share her shipping broker?

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Winston Batteries

Wow, 64x100Ah, door to door shipping charge from China to US only USD1268, that’s a very cheap cost if talking about shipping lithium batteries. Are they ship these batteries as DG(dangerous goods)? we never get an attractive shipping quotation like this before. Can you ask her to share her shipping broker?

don't know about his shipper but mine were via DHL 16 x 25ah aluminum cased cells were $180 delivered to my shop

I can email you a screenshot of the invoice
To much personal info for posting here

[Winston Batteries]

Originally Posted by newhaul

don't know about his shipper but mine were via DHL 16 x 25ah aluminum cased cells were $180 delivered to my shop

I can email you a screenshot of the invoice
To much personal info for posting here

Thanks Newhaul, invoice usually don't have shipping broker info, we are good. Just trying to find a cheaper shipping solution to save my customer's dollars

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Winston Batteries

Thanks Newhaul, invoice usually don't have shipping broker info, we are good. Just trying to find a cheaper shipping solution to save my customer's dollars

yea it just says air freight and under terms it just says ddp it was purchased thru Alibaba b2b via trade assurance

[Steve_C]

Originally Posted by Winston Batteries

Wow, 64x100Ah, door to door shipping charge from China to US only USD1268, that’s a very cheap cost if talking about shipping lithium batteries. Are they ship these batteries as DG(dangerous goods)? we never get an attractive shipping quotation like this before. Can you ask her to share her shipping broker?

Actually that was Air Freight! I later got that down to $350 if using Sea transport to a Port like Houston. This was actually using only a partial container and I was told I could over double the size of the order and it was still the same price.

[Winston Batteries]

Got it. They are right about sea transport. Because sea transport calculate base on CBM, cubic meter, within one CBM shipping charge almost same��

[lateral]

I wasn't aware of the cases connected to positive terminal so when I received mine I thought it was a fault. Tested them all, and got same result.
Could you imagine if your FLA's had a metal case that was positive, one huge terminal.
With some cellophane over and a hole for the pole. (of course it would have to have plastic inside)
Why dont you"x" times the risk factor of a short. If these are widespread in boat installs I wonder what ABYC is going to say and insurance companies?

[hjohnson]

Originally Posted by lateral

I wasn't aware of the cases connected to positive terminal so when I received mine I thought it was a fault. Tested them all, and got same result.
Could you imagine if your FLA's had a metal case that was positive, one huge terminal.
With some cellophane over and a hole for the pole. (of course it would have to have plastic inside)
Why dont you"x" times the risk factor of a short. If these are widespread in boat installs I wonder what ABYC is going to say and insurance companies?

I think it's likely for corrosion reasons within the cell itself (you don't want the casing to be eaten away).

That said, it's not that big of a deal assuming you take appropriate precautions to isolate the cells from each other. We're building a 460AHr DIY battery for our boat (8 230AHr cells in a 2p4s configuration). Between each pair of batteries, we're putting in a thin HDPE sheet as electrical and mechanical insulation.