Voltage drop on inverter
I have a Samlex 3012 inverter charger that is powered by 4 x 100 ah LIFEPo4 batteries. Each of the batteries is wired separately to a bus bar using 00 welding cable, this bus bar feeds another one tha...
Forum Discussion
Hi phemens,
There is only one way to wire an odd number of batteries together in a balanced manner. Please see method #3 at this site:
http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html
My first battery upgrade was to seven marine batteries totaling 875 amp-hours. One bank of 4 and one bank of 3, for reasons of physical space. Having them switched allowed me to charge one bank, while using the other. It also allowed me to equalize the banks with 1/2 the solar panels. With the cost of solar (5.50 per watt) at the time, it made sense to be able to switch them.
Given that LI's need for balance may be greater than lead acid--I would certainly make the effort to do method number three. Feed wires to the bus bar need to be identical lengths. Do not "stack" all the feeds on one bolt. I suppose a "sandwich" would work with one connection on top of the bus, and one beneath the bus.
bolt-->feed wire-->bus bar-->feed wire-->nut.
and
left bolt feed feed, middle bolt feed draw, right bolt feed feed.
the draw wire would go to a second bus where all the various loads are connected.
It would be nice to find a round bus bar or 3 inch copper washer.
I would use T class fuses on each positive battery post.
There is only one way to wire an odd number of batteries together in a balanced manner. Please see method #3 at this site:
http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html
My first battery upgrade was to seven marine batteries totaling 875 amp-hours. One bank of 4 and one bank of 3, for reasons of physical space. Having them switched allowed me to charge one bank, while using the other. It also allowed me to equalize the banks with 1/2 the solar panels. With the cost of solar (5.50 per watt) at the time, it made sense to be able to switch them.
Given that LI's need for balance may be greater than lead acid--I would certainly make the effort to do method number three. Feed wires to the bus bar need to be identical lengths. Do not "stack" all the feeds on one bolt. I suppose a "sandwich" would work with one connection on top of the bus, and one beneath the bus.
bolt-->feed wire-->bus bar-->feed wire-->nut.
and
left bolt feed feed, middle bolt feed draw, right bolt feed feed.
the draw wire would go to a second bus where all the various loads are connected.
It would be nice to find a round bus bar or 3 inch copper washer.
I would use T class fuses on each positive battery post.
phemens wrote:
I have a total of 5 batteries to wire up. Someone (might have been you!) was suggesting wiring them in 2 banks (1 of 2, 1 of 3) and then joining at the bus. You have your banks separated because they're different capacities/age? Mine are all same (100AH) and same Mfg date.
Right now I was putting them all in parallel and fusing before the positive bus. I'm assuming I don't need a separate fuse to the inverter in that setup.
