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Lithium Batteries (Big Ones)

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wayneL

VIVA LA LIBERTAD, CARAJO!
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I've made my first foray into the alternative energy space.

On my ute carry several pretty heavy duty electric tools, 1000w drill stand, 750w bench grinder with multitool attachment, angle grinders, big fans and whatnot.

It requires me to either plug in to the mains power onsite, or or run a 3000w generator, which is not *usually required to run more than about 5 minutes at a time... Not really very good for the generator engine.

So I punted on this 2048 Wh lithium *iron* portable battery. Just took delivery today and plugged in all my power tools and I must say it absolutely nailed it as far as delivery. (It can putatively even run a mig welder, so long as you don't crank up the amps too much)

So I can now be in the middle of 1000 acre paddock, weld, grind, drill, be cool, without the noise and emissions of a petrol generator.

Impressed, very @#$&ING impressed.
 
Dewalt 54v range is pretty good. I
use the 125mm grinder a lot and its on par with a corded version. Pretty sure they have chainsaws as well now.

I think they have a setup where you can plug in the batteries to an dc to ac convert that allows to plug in tools like the above.

There was a stage from 2001 to 2016-17 where battery tool tech kept advancing. Not a lot of progress has been made for a while.
Which makes me wonder if we have hit the limits for a while.
 
How much does something like that cost Wayne? The son might be interested in one on the block.
 
sptrawler said:
How much does something like that cost Wayne? The son might be interested in one on the block.
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I got on sale for 2.5k normally 3k. But they seem to be having sales on all the time so two-and-a-half is probably the real price.
 
Cadogan did a good review here, which nudged me over the line.

 
Mobile food vans are going battery now. Generators are so old school.
 
Knobby22 said:
Mobile food vans are going battery now. Generators are so old school.
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Gennies aren't that much cheaper and my back of an envelope calculations so much more expensive to run, especially if you're recharging the batteries with solar or off your alternate like I will be.

My 3 KVA generator with just under 2 K and is like over a dollar an hour to run in petrol, plus maintenance costs (keep it as a backup of the backup)

Worth noting that this lithium setup is expandable to 8182 Wh, which with the way we live would actually run our household with the 5.5 KVA solar panels we have.

(With apologies if I'm getting all the kvs and w's and whatever wrong, electrical stuff is well out of my knowledge base)
 
All looks good. Kwhrs are energy. KW are power. So be careful.
 
Knobby22 said:
All looks good. Kwhrs are energy. KW are power. So be careful.
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I am going to have to sit down and study these things. Electricity and particularly AC has been somewhat of a mystery to me for too long. I dips me lid to whoever figured out all that stuff in the first place.
 
wayneL said:
I am going to have to sit down and study these things. Electricity and particularly AC has been somewhat of a mystery to me for too long. I dips me lid to whoever figured out all that stuff in the first place.
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You and me both. Lucky I pushed my young bloke towards being a sparky.

I was looking at carbon lead batteries, seem cheap?

11.5kWh 24V 480AH Lead Carbon Battery Bank (2V cells)

11.5kWh 24V 480AH Carbon batteries and solar power generation for off-grid energy storage systems with narada Lead Carbon solar batteries
www.aussiebatteries.com.au
 
Compared to the Lithium batteries size and weight for a given capacity, would be the major difference when considering portability.
 
sptrawler said:
Compared to the Lithium batteries size and weight for a given capacity, would be the major difference when considering portability.
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Portability no. Powering the house it's probably a better idea?

Cheaper, lasts longer, less fire risk?

I've noticed (at least in tools anyway) that some lithium batteries last ages and other brands are trash after 2 years.
 
moXJO said:
Portability no. Powering the house it's probably a better idea?

Cheaper, lasts longer, less fire risk?

I've noticed (at least in tools anyway) that some lithium batteries last ages and other brands are trash after 2 years.
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Yes it depends which cells they use also as they connect them in series parallel they are only as good as their weakest cell.
 
Yes space was a major consideration for me.

Also a consideration with the lead batteries, is that you can only discharge them about 50% without drastically shortening the life of the battery. Lithium is 90%
 
Bigger than EVs at the very least!

Australian battery maker lands $161 million defence deal for infantry vehicles

Australian battery maker Edea Energy has partnered with Energy Renaissance to supply locally made batteries to infantry fighting vehicles.
thedriven.io

PS. This may not only be being nice to the environment. No, or less, heat trace makes detection harder from thermal imaging. Quieter too. The current Hawkei vehicles can operate for several hours on battery power, I understand.
 
Jeez I've had my battery for over a year now, doesn't seem that long.

It's been a great little piece of kit for me, loving it.
 
wayneL said:
Jeez I've had my battery for over a year now, doesn't seem that long.

It's been a great little piece of kit for me, loving it.
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Time seems to be flying
 
sptrawler said:
Yes it depends which cells they use also as they connect them in series parallel they are only as good as their weakest cell.
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There's some shocking designs out there.

Came across one that had a 6 x 6 arrangement.

Six cells in series, and six sets of those in parallel so 36 cells in total.

No prizes for guessing this wasn't overly reliable.
 
Question for the whizzes here.

As I carry both this battery and lpg bottles, I'm very concerned about the battery fire --> lpg explosion risk.

I am going the compartmentalize with ceramic insulation board, same stuff my lpg forge is insulated with.

My question is whether it would be better to isolate the battery, or the lpg bottles? It would be logistically easier in my setup to isolate the battery, but maybe there's something I'm not talking into consideration?
 
Late in but you know the #1 rule, safety first, foremost and always.
 
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