Use of Nissan Leaf battery in Solar installation.

[mitch672]

offpist, I know you mentioned you didn't want to do this as a business, but if you keep getting salvaged Nissan packs, you could buy them, and safely take them apart, then offer the modules to the DIY community in your area, that want to duplicate the clever storage system you've built. you could even partner with a local solar company, to do the installation work for others.. just a thought.

[offpist]

I now got hold of two more battery packs from two crashed cars.
But at the moment I am not going to expand my current setup as I think 30KWH is enough.
So probably I will sell them, and help others build something similar.

[mxp]

Awesome project you undertook! It looks amazing, and a very clean/neat installation.

Apart from the batteries, how much in total did you spend on the rack, electrical components, connectors, whatever else AWG cables, etc etc?

Cheers.

I now got hold of two more battery packs from two crashed cars.
But at the moment I am not going to expand my current setup as I think 30KWH is enough.
So probably I will sell them, and help others build something similar.

[offpist]

Rack, wheels, shelfs and fan: 2000 dollar.
BMS, fuse and contactor: about 1100 dollar
50 mm2 cabling: 220 dollar
Inverter, display, about 4400 dollar.

Prices are only estimates from the top of my head.

Most of this can be done a lot cheaper.. especially the rack parts as its easy to find cheap on second hand marked.. Its standard server rack components.

There are also cheaper BMS solutions out there.
I chose this one, as I wanted the CAN interface.

[mxp]

Thanks for sharing the costs.

Again, I am very impressed with the "clean" and professional looking project implementation. I LOVE the way the batteries are rack mounted into server racks! Definitely a touch act to follow.

Rack, wheels, shelfs and fan: 2000 dollar.
BMS, fuse and contactor: about 1100 dollar
50 mm2 cabling: 220 dollar
Inverter, display, about 4400 dollar.

Prices are only estimates from the top of my head.

Most of this can be done a lot cheaper.. especially the rack parts as its easy to find cheap on second hand marked.. Its standard server rack components.

There are also cheaper BMS solutions out there.
I chose this one, as I wanted the CAN interface.

[hill]

Thanks for the feedback.

Now I am just sitting at the office watching the battery pack charge.
This morning it was 10% SOC, and now it is 80%SOC(14:00).. should reach 100%SOC by 16:00.
It works flawless and automatic, no need to human input.

If i can get my hand on one more battery pack I might consider expanding.

Salvage yards are going to be more popular than ever!

P.V. battery backup systems I've seen folks build around our 2nd home in Montana are lead acid - so the thought of no off-gassing fumes / venting requirements would be a real JOY - not even considering the power to weight improvement.
.

[wongfeihong187]

I am very impressed with your skills offpist. Like you said, you thought of it and you did it! Wow!!! Great work. Enjoyed your enthusiasm and the ability to get it done. Continue with your "hobby"

[sub3marathonman]

Yes, but now I am using almost 1,5 battery pack, total of 70 modules.

As others have said, very impressive.

Each module has two cells, so its only 7 modules in series and 6 in paralell.
Then I can use 42 of the 48 modules from the battery pack.

I'm wondering about the parallel / series connections for the new setup with 70 modules.

And, at least with lead acid, it is undesirable to have parallel connections. Are these cells able to remain balanced with so many parallel cells? And what would be the maximum number that could be connected in parallel? Or would it be better to parallel two 48V packs, with their individual pack cells of 6 parallel?

Has the monitoring showed that cells are remaining balanced over time, or are they needing to be balanced on a regular basis? I ask because there is a debate on another forum about whether LFP cells need a battery monitoring system or not when used in solar PV installations. And of course, the Nissan cells are a different lithium chemistry.

[Kris1]

Impressive effort. I'd be interested in purchasing the battery case/electronics if any of them are from a 2012 vintage Leaf. I'd really like to assemble a pack with more range for my 2012 model Leaf using higher capacity cells but need a swap out case to try the idea because I don't want to tinker with my current pack

[offpist]

Lithium batteries can be put together in parallel in very endless numbers.
Just look the Tesla battery.

If i were to change it in to two strings of 5 in parallel, i would need two BMS`s.
Would not make any sense.