I reached the point with my pair of 200a (400a total) where they just were unserviceable. But the bullet and ordered 2 x 206A (412a) total lithium batteries from KS Energy.
I actually got round to fitting them yesterday. They are a smidge wider than the gels they replace but the same length. It needed some modifications to the battery braces, so a little redrilling of the battery enclosure, but in terms of physically fitting them, it wasn’t too challenging. The worst part was just the sheer weight of the gels and extracting them from the battery locker.
KS are really clear that their BMS provides for a complete fit and forget approach. I have a Centaur 60a mains charger already on the van. This doesn’t have a lithium setting, but KS assure the BMS manages just fine as long one selects the profile closest to the 14.4v that their lithium’s require.
After the physical install, I hooked up each lithium in turn to the charger then to 100%. Nothing needed changing on the terminals other than removing the battery clamp. The mate connection fitting with the battery perfectly matched the cable ends previously connected to the battery clamps, so nothing to change there.
KS come with built in Bluetooth. The app is a little more basic than I would like, why can’t parallel batteries be displayed concurrently in the app, but you can connect to each in turn to view the individual battery status. The charger dumped 45-50A bulk charge into the lithium cells, so it’s a sensible charge rate for a 400a bank at 0.25C.
I then connected the two batteries in parallel and saw a corresponding drop in Amps being delivered across the two batteries.
A question please….Has anyone seen/experienced a Bluetooth controlled 100a+ switched relay/shunt? Would be great to hear from you all what is available on the market? Whilst KS say that the BMS handles everything from what is effectively a dumb power supply now, when hooked up to the mains for a couple of weeks on a site (for fridge, heating etc), I feel it would make sense to switch that ‘dumb’ power supply on an off to control the power supply to these batteries.
These lithium’s also didn’t come with any terminal covers. That alarms me as I would like to isolate as a minimum, the positive terminal from shorting against any chassis bolts. Anyone seen any smart solutions to this?
A few pics.
I actually got round to fitting them yesterday. They are a smidge wider than the gels they replace but the same length. It needed some modifications to the battery braces, so a little redrilling of the battery enclosure, but in terms of physically fitting them, it wasn’t too challenging. The worst part was just the sheer weight of the gels and extracting them from the battery locker.
KS are really clear that their BMS provides for a complete fit and forget approach. I have a Centaur 60a mains charger already on the van. This doesn’t have a lithium setting, but KS assure the BMS manages just fine as long one selects the profile closest to the 14.4v that their lithium’s require.
After the physical install, I hooked up each lithium in turn to the charger then to 100%. Nothing needed changing on the terminals other than removing the battery clamp. The mate connection fitting with the battery perfectly matched the cable ends previously connected to the battery clamps, so nothing to change there.
KS come with built in Bluetooth. The app is a little more basic than I would like, why can’t parallel batteries be displayed concurrently in the app, but you can connect to each in turn to view the individual battery status. The charger dumped 45-50A bulk charge into the lithium cells, so it’s a sensible charge rate for a 400a bank at 0.25C.
I then connected the two batteries in parallel and saw a corresponding drop in Amps being delivered across the two batteries.
A question please….Has anyone seen/experienced a Bluetooth controlled 100a+ switched relay/shunt? Would be great to hear from you all what is available on the market? Whilst KS say that the BMS handles everything from what is effectively a dumb power supply now, when hooked up to the mains for a couple of weeks on a site (for fridge, heating etc), I feel it would make sense to switch that ‘dumb’ power supply on an off to control the power supply to these batteries.
These lithium’s also didn’t come with any terminal covers. That alarms me as I would like to isolate as a minimum, the positive terminal from shorting against any chassis bolts. Anyone seen any smart solutions to this?
A few pics.
