How I'm combatting rising fuel prices with solar.

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Biggkidd said:
Got to watching an old movie late last night and while I was at it I went ahead and put the cells in the battery case. WoW talk about a perfect fit. I used some 1/8th" high density foam mat to sandwich the cells tightly inside the box, one piece on each end. The foam was packing material from the lift kit. lol None of the cells actually touch the case anywhere. Lord help me if they ever need to come back out they are in tight. I still need to figure out some way to lock them in place side to side where there's a 1/4 inch gap between the cells and walls for airflow. If anyone has any ideas I'm all ears.
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May be a little late...

Cut a section of webbing from a ratchet strap to run down one side across the bottom and up the other side. Use the strap to lift the batteries out.

Ben
 
Neb said:
May be a little late...

Cut a section of webbing from a ratchet strap to run down one side across the bottom and up the other side. Use the strap to lift the batteries out.

Ben
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Damn good idea if only the strap had gone in first. I've done that before, Now why in the HE-- didn't I think of it this time?
 
Biggkidd said:
Damn good idea if only the strap had gone in first. I've done that before, Now why in the HE-- didn't I think of it this time?
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Well...

Use some duct tape to seal of the other 2 sides then...

Shove the tip of a shop vac down one side were the strap should be. Tie a cotton ball to a thread and drop it down the opposite side and let rhe vacuum pull the cotton ball under and up the other side. Use thread to pull in string and string to pull in strap.

Of course you will need a gap underneath.

Ben
 
There is no gap and they are wedged in pretty good. I think I'll use strips of foam or lexan pushed down vertically with plenty of space between them to let the air rise.
 
The super oversize BMS arrived today a whole lot earlier than expected. Now to figure out where in the heck it's going to go it's MUCH larger than what I had designed for. I designed for a 100 amp BMS not this 250 amp BMS. It is HUGE and HEAVY and has 2AWG wires.
 
Spent a couple hours wiring up the BMS today only to find I can't seem to squeeze it inside the battery box. This is a prime example of why not to change plans in the middle of building something. The BMS I had planned to use would have been an easy fit.
 
It was nearly an all day ordeal but I finally managed to shoehorn the BMS mostly inside the battery box. It looks like I may have a couple problem cells. One is rather much higher than the others and the other is a little lower than the others. The BMS appears to be trying to balance them as the numbers are SLOWLY getting closer together.
 
I've got the Li battery in the house running the AC. Might wait until fall before I put it in the GC. The batteries in there are doing okay. I am also toying with the idea of going ahead and swapping them and trying to use the existing GC batteries to run the AC. I would really like to have this one in the GC for the added performance and weight loss but being able to run AC all night without using gas is worth a lot considering how much fuel has gone up. Still thinking on it.
 
Biggkidd said:
I've got the Li battery in the house running the AC. Might wait until fall before I put it in the GC. The batteries in there are doing okay. I am also toying with the idea of going ahead and swapping them and trying to use the existing GC batteries to run the AC. I would really like to have this one in the GC for the added performance and weight loss but being able to run AC all night without using gas is worth a lot considering how much fuel has gone up. Still thinking on it.
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Nice to have those types of options!

Ben
 
Finally put the LifePO4 battery in today. Holy Smokes alive! Stupid quick is the only thought I can come up with for it. If you can imagine getting axel hop in a golf cart then you know what it feels like. Loosing 260-270 pounds and adding about 7 volts under full load really was a game changer. I'm actually a little afraid to mash it straight out anywhere it might get traction. Can not wait to get some taller SOFTER tires. It rides even rougher with the weight loss. Also looking forward to switching it over to a newer type system some time down the road. It would be nice to be able to run a lot slower without all the heat waste this one has. Went almost exactly 8 miles down logging roads and still had 71% state of charge when I got back. The new systems with regen motor braking would be a lot, maybe even twice as efficient as the current system.
 
Biggkidd said:
Finally put the LifePO4 battery in today. Holy Smokes alive! Stupid quick is the only thought I can come up with for it. If you can imagine getting axel hop in a golf cart then you know what it feels like. Loosing 260-270 pounds and adding about 7 volts under full load really was a game changer. I'm actually a little afraid to mash it straight out anywhere it might get traction. Can not wait to get some taller SOFTER tires. It rides even rougher with the weight loss. Also looking forward to switching it over to a newer type system some time down the road. It would be nice to be able to run a lot slower without all the heat waste this one has. Went almost exactly 8 miles down logging roads and still had 71% state of charge when I got back. The new systems with regen motor braking would be a lot, maybe even twice as efficient as the current system.
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Keep an eye on that motor temp. ;)

Ben
 
250 is what he said just found it 3 pages back I hope I never see it that high. lol I will put the gauge on tomorrow. Wonder if bedding it in some JB Weld steel stick would make the heat transfer better or worse? It would increase the surface area being heated by contacting on all sides instead of just a small strip like just a clamp would.
 
Biggkidd said:
Ha Went and found the gauge. Now if I could just remember what temp @Supervisor42 said the limit was. Hopefully he will chime in again as I now have the gauge in hand to put on tomorrow.
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I pulled those numbers out of some old memory bank.
We "Turbo'd" a lot of stuff at the request of customers... And burned up some motors.
I just remember the temps when the smoke started to roll out of them. :(
It soars fast after a certain point. :oops:
And yes, higher voltage does make a motor produce more horsepower...unless it is overdesigned, that is not very cool.:rolleyes:(bad pun)
Yes, the JB weld for the sensor will be better than a simple pipe clamp.
Knowing long before it starts glowing red... is the important part.;)
Edit: DC motor..... extra-crispy:
UniversalMotorStator800.jpg
 
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We need an alternate fuel thread so I can go on for hours about how to load a methane generator and what to eat before you poop in it. Sloppy cheap beer makes a good starter too, works best on vegetable matter like grass and food scraps. Just a pack of yeast works too, mix it in a gallon of warm water with X2 sugar and dump it in.

You know how EASY it is to modify a lawn mower engine to methane and use it and a scavenged air compressor unit to fill your tanks up to 100 PSI?
 
Went to install a temperature gauge on the cart motor and found I had bent both rear leaf springs since switching the battery! Does anyone else know what can cause leaf springs to bend hard in front of the axel mount? To say the least I was surprised when I saw it. Last time I saw something similar the truck had over 1000hp and steam roller tires. I think maybe my little project could be making some torque. LMAO I'll post pics later to hot to walk back right now.

Gauge is installed waiting for the JB Weld to setup. It's the 5 minute steel stick so I'm giving it an hour. haha
 
So I just went out to check the current voltage and charge status. The only charge it's had today was from the solar roof and the battery is pretty much full. It's actually a little fuller than I'd like it for the longest possible battery life at 55.3 volts resting. I have the BMS programed to shut charging off at 56.8 which it had done. I may have to drop that a little lower. I'm not so worried about all the power I can get but I am trying to make this battery last as LONG as possible! That does seem to answer the question of if just one 300 watt panel in place of the roof can provide enough charge for my daily use. I didn't do a lot of extra running today but I did make the chore rounds and a few other things.

I am running a Renogy 300 watt 24 volt monocrystalline panel from 2018 and a Renogy 36/48 volt boost charge controller and a DIY 105AH 16s LifePO4 battery.
 
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I just changed the charge controller parameters from lead acid to LFP 15s we'll see how that does. I haven't gotten everything figured out for custom programing the charge controller for a 16s system yet. I may not have too since this looks like it may be just what the doctor ordered for long battery life. If I am guesstimating correctly this will let the charging current get up to about 55.5-56 which for my purposes should be just about perfect! That should limit the battery voltage to about 54-54.5 which is right in the neighborhood I'm looking for.

From my tests so far it looks like I can do chores and stay on the property for about 4 full days without ANY charging. So I am of this moment fairly convinced it will suit my purposes nicely.
 
Put an offer in on some HD 4 leaf rear springs, hope they accept. Also found some reasonably priced shocks on Amazon and ordered those. This will pretty much finish out the suspension repairs & upgrades. Unfortunately I won't be able to order wheels & tires anytime soon. Still looking for a viable front brake kit option. I could really use more brakes on these hills!
 
Here's our solar setup. It will power the house, shop and fur shed. Currently the backup generator runs an average of 4 hours a day year round. I'm going to add another 5 - 415 watt panels and a 1500 watt wind generator to the system. With the price of diesel, and going up, the new panels and wind turbine will pay for themselves in about 2 years. The grey building houses the 12 kw Perkins generator, battery bank, 55 gallon day tank and all electronics. There's a 300 gallon off-road diesel tank just outside the building.
20220127_142257.jpg
 
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Mountain trapper said:
Here's our solar setup. It will power the house, shop and fur shed. Currently the backup generator runs an average of 4 hours a day year round. I'm going to add another 5 - 415 watt panels and a 1500 watt wind generator to the system. With the price of diesel, and going up, the new panels and wind turbine will pay for themselves in about 2 years. The grey building houses the 12 kw Perkins generator, battery bank, 55 gallon day tank and all electronics. There's a 300 gallon off-road diesel tank just outside the building.
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Nice we are also fully off grid almost 15 years now.
 
@Supervisor42
I ran the cart about 5 miles today after the first 2.5 the temperature gauge never moved but I was where I was going so I put my hand on the motor. At that point it was warm but not hot to the touch. By the time I went another stop or two then came home the gauge still hadn't moved so I put my hand back on the motor. It was hot to the touch but not hot enough that I couldn't keep my hand on it for as long as I wanted to. So I guess the gauge is or could be working but just didn't get hot enough to move off the peg at 130f. I did make sure the gauge actuated using a lighter before installing it.

What do you think do I have anything to worry about temperature wise?

In all that running I used about 20-25% of the battery.

ETA: Just checked the BMS I used 23% of the battery today.
 
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