Lithium battery placement

[Johny London]

I see there are battery boxes available for a few quid, to keep batteries safely covered up - but what are the rules (as far as not voiding your insurance presumably by failing to observe bss and so on?). I'm making stern steps next and intend to have batteries inside - so nothing at all would be exposed, unless I was purposely accessing them. Would I need to allow space to have the batteries in the plastic boxes or should I just have them within the plywood structure? There would likely be bus bars/fuses and so on in the same enclosure.

ta

[WotEver]

4 hours ago, Johny London said:

Would I need to allow space to have the batteries in the plastic boxes or should I just have them within the plywood structure? 

The plywood structure would be fine. The BSS rules basically states that they must be secure (not fall over when the boat heels as Narrowboats do so often...) and that the connections (terminal posts) must be protected from anything dropping on them. 

 

Additionally, Lead Acid Batteries should ideally have a flow of air so that they can vent to the outside but I can’t recall whether or not this is in the BSS. 

[peterboat]

4 hours ago, Johny London said:

I see there are battery boxes available for a few quid, to keep batteries safely covered up - but what are the rules (as far as not voiding your insurance presumably by failing to observe bss and so on?). I'm making stern steps next and intend to have batteries inside - so nothing at all would be exposed, unless I was purposely accessing them. Would I need to allow space to have the batteries in the plastic boxes or should I just have them within the plywood structure? There would likely be bus bars/fuses and so on in the same enclosure.

ta

Thats what I have done for my leisure batteries they live under the steps fastened down in a big plywood box, the plastic heating pipes run through it to keep them warm in winter, but I have no terminal protection, and couldnt fit it anyway

[WotEver]

(Added for completeness)

(The LA bit)

[Johny London]

Thanks, I'll build my boxes to suit typical dimension batteries with as much wiggle room as I can manage. If I can build somewhere to put lithiums then at least I can go onto the next step... 

[ditchcrawler]

4 hours ago, Johny London said:

Thanks, I'll build my boxes to suit typical dimension batteries with as much wiggle room as I can manage. If I can build somewhere to put lithiums then at least I can go onto the next step... 

Most installations also seem to include a lead acid battery as well

[Dr Bob]

The Lithiums need to be constrained to stop swelling. Ours have aluminum straps around them doing that job. They are then in a tight fitting wooden box with a thick Perspex lid. If you can, then have all the gubbins ....i.e. Fuses, shunts...etc outside the box. You should never need to get inside the box but you will need access to the fuses, shunts etc. Just to be be clear, the main fuse on the 12v +ve is outside the box but the individual cell voltage monitoring wires have a fuses right next to the cell terminals so are under the Perspex cover.

Have you already got you batteries? If so measuring them is easy. If they are still waiting for them to be delivered, remember the aluminum straps make them bigger.

 

eta. Under the bed is a great place to put them...if your bed is at the back.....so you can read them bedtime stories. Ours are old enough now to not have to do this any more.

Edited April 18, 2019 by Dr Bob

[peterboat]

48 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

The Lithiums need to be constrained to stop swelling. Ours have aluminum straps around them doing that job. They are then in a tight fitting wooden box with a thick Perspex lid. If you can, then have all the gubbins ....i.e. Fuses, shunts...etc outside the box. You should never need to get inside the box but you will need access to the fuses, shunts etc. Just to be be clear, the main fuse on the 12v +ve is outside the box but the individual cell voltage monitoring wires have a fuses right next to the cell terminals so are under the Perspex cover.

Have you already got you batteries? If so measuring them is easy. If they are still waiting for them to be delivered, remember the aluminum straps make them bigger.

 

eta. Under the bed is a great place to put them...if your bed is at the back.....so you can read them bedtime stories. Ours are old enough now to not have to do this any more.

Mine dont Bob, the only ones that I have heard of that had swelling problems were, I forgot the name of them but they were crap and the company went bankrupt, maybe it will come to me in the morning

[David Mack]

On 17/04/2019 at 23:15, WotEver said:

 

Additionally, Lead Acid Batteries should ideally have a flow of air so that they can vent to the outside but I can’t recall whether or not this is in the BSS. 

 

BSS requires that battery boxes are vented to the outside to prevent build up of hydrogen gas, but then says that ventilation into an accommodation space with adequate high level ventilation is sufficient to meet this requirement.

[Dr Bob]

9 hours ago, peterboat said:

Mine dont Bob, the only ones that I have heard of that had swelling problems were, I forgot the name of them but they were crap and the company went bankrupt, maybe it will come to me in the morning

Ours our thunderskys ( is that Winston?), which appear to be a good and well respected make. Same as T&B and MP. The articles I have read suggest the swelling is only on overcharge so it's belt and braces stuff (literally). If Johny is buying from the same secondhand source.....which was a good choice for us.......then they will come with the 'braces'.

Peter, what make are yours? I know you have said many times but so many posts and threads to sift through...and what capacity. Don't forget to post the video of your system.

[peterboat]

3 hours ago, Dr Bob said:

Ours our thunderskys ( is that Winston?), which appear to be a good and well respected make. Same as T&B and MP. The articles I have read suggest the swelling is only on overcharge so it's belt and braces stuff (literally). If Johny is buying from the same secondhand source.....which was a good choice for us.......then they will come with the 'braces'.

Peter, what make are yours? I know you have said many times but so many posts and threads to sift through...and what capacity. Don't forget to post the video of your system.

Mine are by Valence 138ah I have 10 for drive and four for leisure today its performing very well

[Johny London]

I had not heard of the swelling phenomena before. I don't have the batteries or anything yet, so want to build somewhere to put them at the same time building the steps for the stern. One thing at a time... or rather two in this case, the steps and the battery storage.

Edited April 19, 2019 by Johny London

[Dr Bob]

2 hours ago, Johny London said:

I had not heard of the swelling phenomena before. I don't have the batteries or anything yet, so want to build somewhere to put them at the same time building the steps for the stern. One thing at a time... or rather two in this case, the steps and the battery storage.

You cant really make somewhere to put them if you dont know the size. Any box needs to be tight fitting to stop them moving. It looks like the used Thunderskys from Jeremy are the cheapest at the moment circa £700 for 320Ahs @13V. Ours are performing very well.