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AH has nothing to do with voltage! The video is not about Watt hours nor is it about reserve capacity. It is about Amp Hours. Yes voltage is very important when specifically comparing the capacity different batteries and when using Watt hours. However, this video is not about Watt hours. It is imperative that new or beginning RVers, boaters, ect have a firm understand of Amp hours before they begin to understand about Watt hours. However, there are many people who do not understand Amp hours and many will never even need to understand Watts hours unless they are comparing power systems or calculating how much energy an appliance uses. 90% of battery users are only caring about how much energy is left in their battery, leaving their battery or being charged back into the battery. Amp hours is more than sufficient for these people . This video explains that and is for them. Reserve capacity used the 20 hr standard, today people are moving to lithium batteries which are measured in Amp hours and Watt hours. The capacity of lithium does not change to the extreme that lead acid does when put under heavy loads. The internal resistance is far less than lead acid. Also, shunt battery monitors are very accurate when measuring battery charger and discharge. BTW, If you care, the unit Ah is Amps X 1 hour.

@@TravelingLightReflections You need to revamp your definition of battery capacity - it has to do with stored energy - not amps x hours.

@@TheCSRTech I am not interested in arguing with you but I and the rest of the world will strongly disagree with you. Find any reputable source that will state that Amp Hours is NOT a measurement of Stored Electrical Energy. I have been using Ah to measure battery capacity for over 25 years. Did you learn some magically physical theory that no one else knows. Seriously though, where are you coming from? I am baffled at your confusion or stubbornness of this basic and common understanding. In case you have not noticed, I have spent time communicating with you and being respectful. Now you are wasting my time because you are unwilling to learn something or agree with a concept that I am an expert in. Here, I did the google search for you. Choose one! www.google.com/search?q=what+is+an+amp+hour&oq=what+is+an+amp+h&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgAEAAYgAQyBwgAEAAYgAQyBwgBEAAYgAQyBggCEEUYOTIHCAMQABiABDIHCAQQABiABDIHCAUQABiABDIGCAYQRRg8MgYIBxBFGDyoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Thanks for your feedback and support. I use my Waterman as a beater uke that I will not be super upset about if something happens to it. We have quite a few different ukuleles that both my wife and I play. She is the banjolele player in the family though! I grew up listening to my father play the banjo so it's sound brings my happy feelings. I will be reviewing the Kala Dog Hair Concert Solid Mahogany very soon. It sounds as good as it looks. It is definitely not one I would subject to abuse though. kalabrand.com/collections/solid-doghair-mahogany/products/ka-sdh-c?variant=40812697649222

Your capacity should be at or very close to the rated capacity. Also, LiTime is a reputable company so they should definitely be at or very close to the rated capacity. What I am saying in the video (if you have only 1 230Ah battery) is that the concept of Amp Hours says you should be able to deliver 230A for 1 hour or 460 A for 1/2 hour or 115 hour for 2 hours. Being as you have 4 X 230 you could deliver 920A for 1 hour or 460A for 2 hours or 230A for 4 hour. To more directly answer your question. Your LiTime 230A battery has a 200A BMS. This limits each battery to only 200A. (the math still applies but your BMS limit each battery to 200A. So, if you only had 1 battery you could, at maximum deliver 200A but for 1.15 hours not 230 for 1 hour. This is 200A for1 hour and 9 minutes for a 230AH battery with a 200A BMS. However being as you have 4 230 Ah and assuming they are set us a 1S4P you can deliver a max of 800 amp in 1 hour and 9 minutes. If they are in series then the max current would be the maximum of the # of batteries in parallel. For example, if you have a 24V system of 2S2P you would be able to deliver 400A but a 24V. Please let me know if this makes sense. In summary, the BMS does not have anything to do with the battery capacity. One of it's jobs is limiting the current, going both in and out of the battery. The stated capacity is independent of the BMS performance. However. As you add batteries in parallel you can add the current limits of the BMSs. If you tell me you battery set up I can share more.

@@TravelingLightReflections Thank you for the detailed explanation. My batteries are in 4S for my Growatt 5000 ES. But no need to go any further, I get it now. I have 230Ah capacity, I just can't deliver it all in one hour because of the BMS limitation.

@@azycray4801 Yes exactly as you said about the battery's BMS limitation. Your system is 48V with 230 Ah of capacity. The next and better way to describe batteries is to use Watt Hours instead of Amp Hours. Where Amp Hours is good to discuss many aspects of battery usage it does not take the voltage into consideration. Watt Hours does. Watt Hours is the Amp Hours of a battery, multiplies by it's nominal voltage. For example: 230Ah X 12.8V = 2944 Wh. Or in you case, 230Ah X (12.8V X 4) = 11,776 Watt Hours. Another example of this is. someone can say to you, "I also have 230Ah". However if they have a 12V system, you both my have the same Amp Hours but you have 4X the Watt Hours. So... why did I make a video about Amp hours and not Watt Hours? Because understanding Amp Hours is very important and often misunderstood by beginners to battery systems. Also, it still very useful and finally, it needs to be understood before one can understand Watt Hours. I have an article about Watt Hours on my website. It is definitely time for me to make it into a video. www.travelinglightreflections.com/what-is-an-watt-hour-ah

The BMS takes care of the balancing among the cells that make up each battery.

I can give you a copy and you can add that if you want. I bet you can just expand the columns and the formats will follow. If not, being as you were going to create one yourself you can probably figure out how to adjust it to fit your needs. I am linking a version as Template/Preview. When you open it, click on Template. It will open a sheet without locked cells. You can edit this in any manner you want. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kW7hYQn1PQxSeNe7aN877LyxVme7FiH3ftYJT667ZaY/template/preview

@@TravelingLightReflections Again, thanks a lot I will try that first.

If you have a 2 battery setup with the batteries in parallel, then the inverter should be connected the same as any charger. Use method B. Regardless of whether the battery is being charged or discharged the connections should be the same. Throughout the batteries' life it will get an equal amount of charge as it get discharge. I hope I answered your question.

I have connected as the B...I was not sure but finally is the best way.also the chargers cables are connected as the B. Thanks a lot!!!!also I don't know if you can help batteries during day are full charge 13.8v as the panels produce power.with no loads and the 12v power inverter off at next morning controler shows 12.7v.batteries are 2x 12v gell deep cycle 150ah each connected parallel.any ideas?connections are ok charger is an mppt powmr 60a maximum

@@djperfecto1 Your batteries look like they are okay. The float voltage is also higher than the resting voltage. Your solar controller is correctly bringing the batteries up to 13.8 volts. When it shuts down the battery voltage settles down to it's resting voltage. For AGM the fully charged resting voltage can be between 12.7 and 12.85. It depends on the manufacturer and also on the whether there is any voltage drop in the device you are reading the voltage from. Regardless, from all that you have told me, your system is working fine.

Okay

Check out this power system interactive I created. It may help you predict how well you planned system will work. th-cam.com/video/mIKc81QS_Fw/w-d-xo.html

I agree and you are absolutely right watt hours are a much better and precise way to measure energy. However I made this video to be a simple as possible. An understanding of amp-hours is needed to understand watt-hours. I have an article on my website about watt-hours. www.travelinglightreflections.com/what-is-an-watt-hour-ah. I actually have a written version of this video too. Maybe I should make the watt-hour one into a video too. The battery world has slowly moved from Reserve Capacity to Amp Hours and now Watt Hours. Mostly because lithium has a different voltage than lead acid, it is import to compare using watt-hours. However, when we are reading a battery monitor to see the State of Charge (SOC), we use Amp-Hours. Thanks for your comment on this.

It can keep you from overloading one of the batteries.

@@TravelingLightReflections Nope, incorrect, try again.

Thank you for your well thought out and detailed expert response about this.

If you are building a lithium battery from lithium cells you need a Battery Management System (BMS) for each battery. This BMS will manage the cells contained in each battery, as a unit. This video is about batteries. All lithium batteries already have BMSs managing the current and voltage of the cells. No large lithium batteries are sold without BMSs. You can get small lithium batteries for model aircraft that do not have BMSs. The ones that do not have BMSs will have balancing leads with a JST connector. However, this video is about power system batteries.

It does. It actually makes a big difference. That is why I made the video.

As an auto elec, yes, it does make a difference.

Many people suggest using a bus bar. If you can make every cable the same length and insure every connector is crimped perfectly then a bus bar is a good choice. To contradict this though, using a bus bar means 2 times as many connector to crimp and more chance of a failure. Also with today lithium batteries the BMS's also regulate charge so it become near impossible to get all cells and all batteries perfect. So, for beginners doing the work themselves and making your own crimps, I would put the 3 batteries in parallel and not use bus bars. If you are a pro you probably not interested in my input but if you can get excellent crimps then go with bus bars. Of course bad crimps are dangerous in all cases. I am just suggesting using as few as possible. Also, I always put the system under a high current load and use an infrared thermometer to look for hot spots that need to be repaired.

I am surprised and baffled at your response. This video is exactly about explaining what an amp hour is , what it means and its practical use. I made the video to help people understand what an Ah is and how it is used, so if you can tell me what you feel is missing I would love to hear it.

It is much greater too, at high currents.

Yes, you should. So many DIYers just to method A, because I do not realize there is a difference.

Thanks, Not sure what to say but....

I knew there was a difference under load that would balance out as the batteries recharge. I have had a lot of people's comments telling me I am wrong. I went looking for other videos and found this. I was shocked at the difference. I created this video based on theory. This video shows actual tests in action. Even though the resistance is low, it still follows that if the cable length is doubled, so is the resistance. I learned from the links video too. I am curious how the quality of a crimp affects the performance. I originally made my video to help people see that they could easily use method B. Here is the other link. th-cam.com/video/_pQ0WjpSEa0/w-d-xo.html

When you’re talking hundredths of a volt between 90% and 100% charged, every micro ohm matters and the way you’ve shown it is the correct way to easily equalise between battery 1 and 2 when wiring direct and not from a busbar.

You may be right.

It is not actually equal but closer with a bus bar and only if the crimps are done perfectly. Plus with the bus bar you have 2X as many crimps. I removed that section of the video because I made the video to stop DIY people from doing Method A.

See my other responses.

I do not have a video recording of this but if you do not believe this watch this video. He recorded the currents for each battery. Ohms Law, V=IR or I=V/R. At a constant voltage, current is inversely proportional to resistance. th-cam.com/video/_pQ0WjpSEa0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=VJ-nIWsvUDvWNpU5

It is more about voltage drop, from load vs cable length, don’t forget contact resistance as well… When two identical batteries are connected together, the shortest path has the least resistance, coupled with voltage drop and load drop, the closest short cable battery drains faster than the further ones. Forcing round trip through both batteries equally, the batteries experience equal resistance, and equal voltage drop, resulting in more even discharge.

@@whochecksthis voltage drop is the result of resistance. Not sure what connectors you are using but those also should not have any relevant resistance

@@Ed19601 … everything except a superconductor has resistance, and when you connect to the closest side of the closest battery, the further lengths have resistance. It adds up, resulting in uneven discharge.

@@whochecksthis Spot on. When there’s hundredths of a volt between 90% and 100% charged, every micro ohm matters. Connecting in the way shown is the correct way to negate any differences and is so easy to do.

You should do some scientific test before you call this BS. There is an incredible difference between the load on battery 1 and 2 in method A when you piggy back and pull off the same battery.

@@TravelingLightReflections No there is not. And your electrical engineering masters degree is from?

@@TravelingLightReflections If the cable cross section is correctly dimensioned for the current going through the cables it does not matter how you connect the wires to the load/charger. When charging the batteries, they will all get up to the same voltage as the charger is topping off / trickle charging

@@nixxonnor What you are saying is true only if a low current is being trickled into or out of the battery. As the current gets higher, is when this becomes more extreme. Electricity always takes the path of least resistance. In Method A you can have a huge difference in the current coming out of battery 1 compared to battery 2. Some other critics here are correct that for more than three batteries a bus bar is better. With the bus bar the currents in and out of each battery is closer than my Method B. However, This way doubles the # of connections. A failed terminal/lug crimp is the most common failure. Making good high amp connections takes practice. This video was made for DIYer, not professionals with lots of experience. I made it because I see too many people parallel batteries like Method A. I also made it short so people would watch it. If I was to remake this video I would add the bus bar method too. Even with the bus bar, under heavy loads, there is still a current difference within the batteries. The difference is slightly better and ONLY if the crimps are perfect and the wire lengths are exactly the same.

@@kschildt1 You apparently forgot your first year high school electronics. Draw the equivalent circuit with the resistance of each cable segment and battery ESR. Maybe capture the schematic in LTSpice and run the simulation with a 200 amp load. Look at the difference in current from each battery. Some engineers graduate with a 2.0 grade average and others with a 4.0 average. So you barely got an engineering degree ten years ago, that isn't the same as being correct. You apparently didn't study logic.

If done by a professional who can guarantee twice as many crimps will all be done perfect. For the small gain in similarity I would rather see beginners do it with less crimps. Pro do not need this video.

MY.. not MINE. or are you making LANDMINES.

Mine do to!

Thanks for your comment. I used a lot of data to develop the formulas to determine a strong estimate on the return energy from solar. What is truly missing though, is an accurate measurement of actual energy usage. As you mentioned, different days have different energy consumptions. I had thought of adding in a day by day energy drain but I decided not to for 2 reasons. One, it is confusing and complex enough for some people. I am confident I can find ways to make it simpler to use in time, as I get more and more suggestions. In fact I just updated it with a suggestion from a friend to add a converter from Reserve Capacity to Amp Hour for people using lead acid batteries. So, the second reason I did not add the option of varying the energy consumption over multiple days was because there is already too much guessing for most users about their energy usage. I felt that multiplying guesses would muddy the result to a degree that they would be very inaccurate. I am a strong supporter of RVers, or any one using batteries to get a good reliable battery monitor. Knowing the state of charge of the battery (SOC) and or the amount of energy drained in amp-hour, along with the charge current of the charger could easily tell one how long they need to plan to run their generator on a given day. Maybe I will add section, that uses the loss of Ah and a users battery charger current, to predict the run time of a generator. I could combine this the "strong estimate on return energy from solar" as you mentioned. This combination would give a good estimate on how long and when to run a generator. The spreadsheet, as it is, does a good job of estimating the performance of a system. I wish there was a way I could make the energy loss calculations better. In the end, using a battery monitor over a period of time is only tool that will be able to really address any individuals actual energy usage. I have had a plan to create a video and or just write an article that helps people, who do not have enough energy reserve, to answer the question: Should they, A. Buy a generator, B. Buy more batteries C. Add more solar or D. Some combination of the three. If you copied the Google Sheet make sure you have a copy of the one I updated today 03/18/2024. Thanks for your comments, thoughts, advice and suggestions. JT

After I made the reply to you I updated the spreadsheet with a Generator line. It gives you the run time for a generator after each day of not running it and not getting to a full charge from solar. For example if you do not run the generator until day 2 you will need to run it X minutes. If you wait until day 4 you will need to run it X minutes. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18q7fwx5kcjJZNSB25I8l0F4LeatBad5wxWBdf_zjveo/edit?usp=sharing

An advantage to your suggestion on method C is that you could use smaller wires to each battery. The disadvantage it that there would be more connections. Connection failures are the most common failure in a working system. This usually comes from a failed wire terminal or lug crimp. Limiting the number of connections is a high priority in my personal opinion. But your method C would serve the same purpose. There are applications where your method C is a better choice, for example when the batteries can not be installed next to each other due to space constraints.

Option c also means any problem with a connection affects only one battery and will be easier to detect.

@offgridwanabe is spot on the way he describes is the only way to perfectly balance all the batteries traveling light is wrong

My batteries are connected with 1/8 in. x 5/8 in. copper buss bars, I think the resistance would be negligible. On the other hand, it would take very little effort to move one cable to the other battery. Good advice, thanks.👍👍

Yes , I would agree. That is great, short and complete summary of the idea.

I do not have a definitive or data based answer for you. I can give the best science or physics based answer though. It takes the batteries a long time depending on how hard you are using them. You will not see an effect within days or weeks but over months and years. However, the harder that batteries are worked, the greater the in use difference, in each batteries discharge you will get. Let me explain that. Think of it like this, In example method A, if you pull a high current from the batteries, battery 1 has slightly less resistant than battery 2. Battery 1 will discharge slightly more than battery 2. It would be working harder to supply the load. It would essentially lose more energy and its voltage would be slightly lower than battery 2. When this high discharge current is removed, Battery 2s voltage would be slightly higher and it will charge battery 1 until they are balanced. This process happening over and over is what method B prevents. Method B just simply prevents this by the physical nature on the wiring. Each battery the same wire length as all the others. Therefore each has the same resistance in the circuit. This is because they are all in a loop, as opposed to a string with one on the end like method A. So, method A is not going to ruin your batteries but method B is better for them. If you have new lithium batteries I would recommend changing the wiring to method B as earlier a possible. They last a long time and method B will help make them last. If you are running lead acid, leave them alone. They don't last that long anyway. If you are only, ever, running very low currents, it is probably not worth changing to method B either unless it is a simple task. If you are running an inverter from your batteries, I would make the change as soon as possible. Also if you are running more than 2 of any type of batteries I would change it. I know I did not exactly answer your question but I hope I least gave you a better understanding of how battery 1 gets "exercised" more then battery 2. Oh, part 2 to your question, I kind of answered but, this is only happening during "running time" and mostly during high current loads. During "idle time" the batteries balance each other to equal loads. JT

Cheers. I think the “buzz” word is current. Less pressure on the battery and adding a fuse. @@TravelingLightReflections

Peace

Care to elaborate?

This is correct!💯

To expand on that you are correct with load using method B but add to it the charge circuit should also use method B bur reverse the + and the -

I have a lot of ukuleles. It is nice to have one I cannot worry about.

You are an excellent grandfather.

Glad you enjoyed it! It is currently, my most viewed video over all and it's only been up for just over 4 days!! I think it is that photo showing you awesome cutout design.

My pleasure!!

That is the sunset on the Madison river in west Yellowstone. I have that one in a metal print on the wall of my RV. I also had a 1000 piece puzzle made of that image. It was a challenge!

@@TravelingLightReflections It's marvellous !!!

Enya as their own Enya Fluorocarbon strings. I was just playing an Enya 25D. It has Enya's strings on it too. They are nice and light. They sound good and stay in tune well. I wish Enya would make the Nova U, smaller sizes, with metal frets. Clear strings against a uniformly colored fretboard make the game a little tougher! The new Kala Waterman Beach series, and Water Glass series, have their frets painted silver! I will be posting a review of those soon. I am just waiting to get photos with a Waterman ukulele bungeed to my kayak!!!

It is a bummer that they are discontinuing them. Now the only other manufacturer of HLP ukuleles will be Martin. I know Enya still has stock but, I do not know how much! I asked them but I have not heard back. Meanwhile, if you anyone wants an HLP ukulele for under $300, act soon. This uke is available on Amazon and the Enya still has their other concert and a pineapple on their website.

Glad to hear that. It is a majestic place.

Good 👍