18650 Conditioner unit.
Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2019 2:53 am
Hi guys A quick personal intro and then a intro into my new project.
I am 64 years old, live in Brisbane and am a avid tinkerer for all my life. Master Mechanic by trade and some Engineering background aswell.
I have a limited grasp of C++ I can program in basic and have zero knowledge of Arduino code. Although from what I read a lot is familier with C++.
My Project.
Two months ago I decided I was going to build myself a PowerWall using 18650 cells. There are a lot of people out there who have done or are doing this aswell.
One of the main issues with using recovered 18650 Lithium cells is that your off the shelf chargers are both too small, and very inadequate to work with recovered cells. Therefore it is common and necessary to build your own to suit your needs.
I am planning to build a 26 slot/bay cell conditioning unit. 20 slots are charge /discharge slots with monitoring, and the additional 6 bays are for cells that need extra attention to either be recovered correctly or classed as DOD and disposed of.
The 20 bay section is going to be controlled and monitored by a new Arduino Mega and assorted hardware, and the 6 bay special section will get its own Mega as well.
So far I have run in to very few problems I cannot resolve. Except for one, and it is a project killer.
Arduinos must have the worst serial GUI ever. That brings me to this MegunoLink GUI.
Hopefully with this GUI I can overcome the greatest hurdle of all, displaying and recording data from 26 individual cells that are being processed.
Each bay is set to supply data on the voltage, current, capacity, and finally the power of each cell. So 26 I2C data feeds. Plus PSU monitoring and 6 cell temp sensors.. 26 lines out to control relays aswell.
I think thats about it for this version as it stands.
So, Ladies and Gentlemen, have I come to the right place? Have I indeed found the GUI I am looking for?
Cheers for now... Mike
I am 64 years old, live in Brisbane and am a avid tinkerer for all my life. Master Mechanic by trade and some Engineering background aswell.
I have a limited grasp of C++ I can program in basic and have zero knowledge of Arduino code. Although from what I read a lot is familier with C++.
My Project.
Two months ago I decided I was going to build myself a PowerWall using 18650 cells. There are a lot of people out there who have done or are doing this aswell.
One of the main issues with using recovered 18650 Lithium cells is that your off the shelf chargers are both too small, and very inadequate to work with recovered cells. Therefore it is common and necessary to build your own to suit your needs.
I am planning to build a 26 slot/bay cell conditioning unit. 20 slots are charge /discharge slots with monitoring, and the additional 6 bays are for cells that need extra attention to either be recovered correctly or classed as DOD and disposed of.
The 20 bay section is going to be controlled and monitored by a new Arduino Mega and assorted hardware, and the 6 bay special section will get its own Mega as well.
So far I have run in to very few problems I cannot resolve. Except for one, and it is a project killer.
Arduinos must have the worst serial GUI ever. That brings me to this MegunoLink GUI.
Hopefully with this GUI I can overcome the greatest hurdle of all, displaying and recording data from 26 individual cells that are being processed.
Each bay is set to supply data on the voltage, current, capacity, and finally the power of each cell. So 26 I2C data feeds. Plus PSU monitoring and 6 cell temp sensors.. 26 lines out to control relays aswell.
I think thats about it for this version as it stands.
So, Ladies and Gentlemen, have I come to the right place? Have I indeed found the GUI I am looking for?
Cheers for now... Mike