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Thread: Inverter battery packs

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    Inverter battery packs

    So we have a million 5 and 60 thousand hundred batteries installed below inverters all over the world.

    I have a couple of sites where there are racks made up of 4 batteries (48 volt) stacked 3 high and 3 wide... fused with 100 amp fuses ...thick bussbars ...thick cables ...all the same length ...fuse on each 48 volt pack and a removeable fuses in the trunking etc etc...which has working for a couple years doing the job.

    Now it gets interesting... batteries are no longer holding the charge for the load shedding period (2 hours) ...so it is time to remove and take them to be tested... and this is where it gets interesting ...with surgeon precision i have to remove the fuses and the packs disconnect each battery and try not interfere with the other packs.

    The question... anyone have a cool system using plugs to connect the batteries?

    This is something i am looking to do for my home automation project... i want to be able to plug and play... be able to remove a pack anywhere in the stack without having to shut down and fiddle with each battery.

    What i would like to achieve...

    A steel case/trunk with lots of ventilation for the batteries ...not sure yet which ones i am going to use... price is a huge factor.
    A double pole DC circuit breaker mounted in the enclosure... which can isolate that enclosure batteries from the rest even if it is plugged in.
    A female DC plug with a lead from the enclosure.
    A roll of male plugs (this could get interesting) if you plug in the other racks these will be live...so maybe a daisy chain system on the enclosures... or a row of double pole isolators.

    The way it is setup a the moment...

    There is a cable from the inverter to a buss bar.
    A cable from each battery bank.

    So what is the problem with this system...everything.

    if you disconnect the battery bank... there is power on the battery bank cable and the bussbar... and until you actually remove every single battery cable there is always power on the cable... which if anyone has shorted out a 48 volt x 400 amp battery bank will understand why the concern.
    Last edited by ians; 03-Nov-19 at 07:03 PM.

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    Diamond Member Justloadit's Avatar
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    I have used the "Anderson Connector" specially designed for battery applications.
    Many of the electric forklifts use this plug. They have different colours and different amp ratings. They do not have a male and female, but one plug is a male/female.
    Another advantage is that if you use colours, they will only match the same colour. In other words if one plug is Grey, it will not connect into say a Red plug. So you can make up a network of different colours and there will not be an error of connecting two different colours.
    Do google search and find a supplier near you.
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