Articles and Resources
Check out our guides and thoughts on DIY battery building. We will update this page as often as we can with new content, guides, and news.
Can a Car Alternator Charge a Lithium-ion Battery?
If you are looking to charge a lithium battery off a car alternator there are a few things to consider. We discuss them in this article and how you can work with and around those issues. The best thing to do is to use a DC- DC charger.
How Do You Balance Lithium Batteries in Series?
In powerwalls it's common to have multiple battery packs running in series to meet your voltage requirements. Over time one or more packs may slip out of balance so learning how to get individual packs into balance is crucial. This is a pretty simple and straightforward task, read more about it here.
How Does A BMS Balance A Battery?
Most BMS offer some type of cell balancing, if yours doesn't it might be time to get a new BMS. We will discuss the two main types of cell-balancing BMS use and the benefits of having cell balancing.
Best BMS for Lithium and LFP Batteries
Choosing the best bms for a battery build can be confusing at times due to all the options on the market. We have tested and compared ANT, JK, JBD, and Daly to see which is the best! Honest answer it comes down to budget but all around JBD seems to be the winner.
Do Lithium-ion Batteries Go Bad If Not Used?
When lithium cells and battery packs sit unused they tend to lose a little bit of life due to degrading but it's very very little. Compared to other chemistries lithium-ion is more shelf stable and okay to leave stored for prolonged periods of time.
What is the Difference Between 18650 and Pouch Cells?
Picking the right cell format for your next build can sometimes be a little overwhelming. This article compares pouch and 18650 cells based on several factors. We hope this helps to pick the best cell format for your battery build.
What is P and C On A BMS
Common Port and Seprate Port BMSs have a few differences one of those being the main connections into and out of the BMS. We will break down the purpose of the P and C connections that you commonly find on a separate port BMS.
How To Calculate Internal Resistance With Load Resistors
Learning how to use a multimeter a resistor and some simple math to calculate internal resistance is crucial to knowing the health of a battery or cell. Sure there are easier options like a dedicated IR tester but if only being used for a single project they are not worth it. Calculating IR is a pretty simple process, learn it here!
How to Reduce 24 volts to 12 volts?
When building a 7s battery it is a common issue to need to reduce 24v down to 12v for various devices. Surprisingly this is very simple to do and can be achieved in 2 ways. It's always better to reduce voltage than to boost voltage due to the losses in boosting.