Thursday, January 23, 2025

Cost of upgrading the LiFePo4 battery bank

All of the materials are in now to figure the total cost.


I visited the Pacer Group in Fort Lauderdale this morning, it was a grotty day, windy, rainy and expensive! Actually cheaper than Amazon, but still it's a lump of money.

The new batteries from Chins cost a total of $420, including shipping and tax. 
I paid $525 for the 18' of 4/0 AWG Red, 18' 4/0 AWG Yellow, 6' of 1/0 AWG Red, 6' of 1/0 AWG Yellow and a Blues Seas 4 Position Switch ( Continuous rating of 300Amps ). That worked out about $80 less than Amazon.


I have previously purchased a 300Amp Fuse block, 100Amp and 300Amp fuses, a 300Amp Terminal Block, appropriate Heat Shrink Tubing. All in all, the cost of the project so far is just over a $1000. It had better be worth it.

The next challenge is to get the old cables out of the conduit tubes that run from the stbd side of the bilge to the port side adjacent to the holding tank. Then !!! pulling the new 4/0 cables through the conduits. Lots of lubricant will be involved. The 4/0 cable is Tinned Fine Strand, so it does bend nicely, it came on a spool with an internal pin of about 4" and the conduit smallest radius is about 6" so bending is not an issue. 

The folks at Pacer Marine Group were really helpful, they cut and rolled the wire in less than 10 minutes. There Store has lots of good stuff - I purchased the Blue Seas 4 way switch as it is much smaller than the one ordered from Amazon which just won't fit where I hoped. Pacer has probably every item you could want from Lugs to Switches, all sizes of Heat Shrink, Terminal blocks and every type of wire.  Impressive. The front desk team were really helpful and had a great attitude.  I'll probably go back again for some future project. 

Meanwhile, I need to get down to getting this job done and I do have a ton of work keeping me busy, and We Want To Go Sailing.   Our next opportunity is to celebrate my Birthday, following that is the Fellowship Race on February 15th, that should be a great sail! Saturday Race to Lake Worth, Sundary, Race back, Sunday evening it's Chilli Cookoff.   Hmmm, going to be a challenge to cook chilli while racing South on the Ocean from Lake Worth to Hillsboro Inlet.   Will the new batteries be installed by then???? I'm trying!

See you on the water.

Thursday, January 16, 2025

Installing the new LiFePo4 batteries.

Installing the final (?) two LiFePo4 Batteries. 

January 12th. 2025

Between Work, Home and Family, I keep squeezing time for the boat. In the works is the last part of the upper deck refinishing of the non-skid areas - The Coach Roof which extends from forward of the mast to the sides of the companionway hatch. It's all masked off, I have the painting materials and the weather is looking good to get it done.

Meanwhile the final pieces for the addition of the 4th & 5th batteries are arriving despite one package getting damaged before it was even delivered. Waiting on the Switch, Terminal Block, additional Fuses and the Terminal ends.  I have to go to Fort Lauderdale to get the 4/0 AWG cables ( Red & Yellow ). The Batteries are on the boat but I need to make the hold down straps and secure them with the Stainless Steel Footman Loops. 

Of course theirs Work too! That helps pay for the upgrades & maintenance on Eximius. And I have a Family too! Peggy & I have a life and a Granddaughter whom is really a major part of our lives. She loves Ice Skating and we get to see her skate nearly every week. As she skates several times a week, it's easy for us to fit in a couple of hours to go see her. Love that kid.

Ok, it's time to do some work, Sewing, Taxes, and Home maintenance. 

Wednesday Jan 15th.

Taxes are done, 4th and Final coat on the Cabin top non-skid. Got some sewing done. 
Most of the Parts for the new Battery install have arrived and I checked with Pacer Group in Fort Lauderdale and they have the cable in stock. I should get them this week, 14' of each 4/0 AWG Red and 4/0 AWG Yellow.

I have figured out where the components will be located. The new +ve Fuse Block and the -ve Terminal Block will be located on the inside of the storage area with the two new batteries, the -ve Terminal post will be located on the base of the main battery compartment and the new 1/2/Both/Off switch will take up the space of the old switch, may need to move the existing -ve Terminal Block near the old swtich as the new switch is much larger.

Now to get some sewing done. I have to pay for all of this stuff.

See you on the water.

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Adding Chins Batteries

The additional Batteries Arrived.

The new Batteries arrived on Jan 3rd, about the time I expected them anticipating delays due to the holidays.

I was initially concerned that they were not the 'Smart' / 'Bluetooth' models as the EE-BMS did not find them. There is no indication on the outside of the batteries that suggests they are the 'Smart' type. The three existing batteries on the boat are all Chins Smart 100Ah 12.8v LiFePo4 batteries, the same as I ordered.

Reaching out to Chins customer service and sending them an image of the battery labels, I asked if they could confirm the batteries are 'Smart'. Overnight, Peggy asked if they show up on the Phones list of nearby Bluetooth devices. DUH! So I checked, and they did show up. Well that's annoying. 

In the morning Chins replied that I should use the BAT-BMS not the EE-BMS - Duh#2. I really should RTFM. So I downloaded the BAT-BMS and it found the one battery but not the second.  Another email to Chins. They responded in a couple of hours advising that I should charge them and then discharge and recharge them. "some batteries require a simple charge and discharge before they can be linked.".

Ok, that worked.

I put one battery on charge using a LiFePo4 4Amp Charger. It was only 50% charged according to the charger.

After charging it overnight I disconnected the charger and attached a bilge pump that was sitting in a bucket of water. Discharged for 5 hours but still could not see the battery on the BAT-BMS app. 
Charged it for another few hours and then it showed on the App.
Left it charging until it showed 100% on the App.

Then I repeated that process on the second battery and the same outcome. Now both batteries show on the BAT-BMS app and both are charged 100%

With the batteries ready, I placed the order for the additional Fused Terminal Block, Fuses and Switch. They should arrive next week. I'll head down to the boat tomorrow and confirm if I need to upgrade the wiring from the battery box to the Victron Multiplus Inverter Charger.

I'm busy working this week, so not going to get much on this project done plus, I'm expecting the order from Jamestown Distributors so that I  can complete the refinishing of the top deck. That should take 4 days with two trips to the boat each day.  So a busy week.

We're getting there.

Update - Thursday Jan 9th. 2025

As per the plan ( and Chins advice ) I wired the two new batteries in parallel and left them connected for 24 hours.

Result: Both battery packs are within 0.01 volts of each other, the highest and lowest cells are similarly within 0.01v 

Before you jump on me for the thin cables --- I checked the current flow and it was initially a max of 1.2amps and quickly dropped to 0.9.





Just for my records. 
Here's screenshots of the two batteries displayed in the BAT-BMS after the 24hours of Parallel connection.

I like that the App allows for switching between each of the connected ( connected to the App ) batteries rather than have to back out and select another battery in the EE-BMS

The rest of the equipment is on it's way and should arrive this week. I'll go down to the boat today and check if I need to upgrade the cables from the batteries to the Victron Multiplus.

Should be able to get to finish this upgrade next week.

Target date is January 23rd - hope to get the boat out with some buddy boats.

See you on the water.

Short Update Friday January 10th.
Amazon has lost part of my order for the components of the upgrade. Just a delay of a few days I hope.
I was able to take the batteries down to the boat and physically put them in their new home. I had to relocate some consumables - Oil, Coolant, Greases etc. I found some were duplicated so I brought them home. The bag containing the extras actually felt heavier than the two LiFePo4 batteries. 

I updated the wiring diagram as I'm going to have to relocate some of the cabling between the Selector switch and the Shunt & Victron Multiplus.  

Again, see you on the water.