How to Connect Lithium Ion Batteries in Parallel | Wire Your Batteries in 6 Easy Steps

How to Connect Lithium Ion Batteries in Parallel | Wire Your Batteries in 6 Easy Steps
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Welcome back to the channel ya kooks!
..::CHAPTERS::..
00:00 - How to Wire Lithium Batteries in Parallel
01:18 - Step 1 - Cut Wires to Size
01:44 - Step 2 - Strip Your Wires
02:20 - Step 3 - Slide on Your Heat Shrink
02:25 - Step 4 - Crimp-on Your Copper Lugs
04:28 - Step 5 - Heat Shrink
05:09 - Step 6 - Wire Batteries Together
Today we are wiring our Battleborn Batteries in parallel this is an easy and straightforward task that should give you some confidence to start wiring your 12 Volt system in your van conversion.
Here are the tools I used in this video. If you don’t have a vice grip you can buy heavy-duty cable crimpers to do the trick as well.
2 Gauge Wire - amzn.to/3m1W9TE
Copper Lugs + Heat Shrink - amzn.to/3xaXKwR
SOK Lithium Batteries - www.us.sokbattery.com/product...
Heat Gun - amzn.to/3x3SjhH
Heavy-Duty Crimper - amzn.to/3NaDAZr
Wire Cutter - amzn.to/3x5sGyr
The first order of business is cutting your cables. Make sure you cut all the cables the same length this is very important for the longevity of the batteries. Next, you will want to strip the ends of the wires to put on the copper lugs. Whatever you use to crimp this make sure you have a very tight and positive connection on the lug. You can test it by giving it a good tug to ensure it is tightly secured. Make sure you slide and put your heat shrink on first before you crip your lug otherwise you might not be able to get it to slip over the lug. Once the lugs are secured using your heat gun or a lighter to apply the heat shrink to your cables. Once they are crimped and heat shrunk they are ready to be installed.
You should have already established a secure ground connection either to the chassis of your van or to the secure ground that you have created. You can always get your ground by checking the resistance or ohms on a multi-meter.
When wiring your battery in parallel always start with the ground connections first before moving on to the positive runs. Also, when attaching your cables make sure they are tight but do not over-tighten the battery terminals. This can damage the batteries for good and you may not get a return on them as it will void the warranty. Use a socket set or a Phillips screwdriver (depending on battery) to tighten the lugs to the battery terminals. Now that all your batteries are wired in parallel you can now test to make sure each battery voltage is the same. You can do this with a multimeter and set it to DC Volts. Put the red and black prongs on their correct terminals and measure the battery voltage. It should have the same reading across all your batteries. If you are getting different readings check your connections and crimpings to ensure they are tight.
Once your batteries are wired in parallel you are ready to start wiring the rest of your 12 Volt system.
Congratulations you have started the first project to wiring your own 12-volt solar system. Give yourself a pat on the back and have a mini celebration.
Happy Building ya kooks!

[@VANESSASVANLIFEJOURNEY]

Thanks for sharing

[@Vankookz]

Hope it was helpful

[@aatirehrarsiddiqui8894]

Isn't it better to use a bus bar for all the batteries (+) and (-) to connect to?
I mean in this state there is a chance that at a higher C rate discharge the cable nearest to the inverter will heat up excessively not to mention the battery closest to the inverter will be supplying more current than the other two.

[@woodie228]

What if you have 2 battleborns in the undercarriage, and 2 battleborns in the van. Is there going to be a problem will doing parellel when 2 or about 3 ft away from the other 2?

[@davidedwards8940]

Get a crimper, man!

[@bradriesgraf]

No doubt! They are about $25 at an out parts store for a hammer crimper. Works great

[@frederick6008]

Thanks 2g wire👍

[@Vankookz]

🤙🏽

[@jesseberry2459]

Hey what battery’s are you using and how much did they cost? Thx for the video I knew how to do this but I needed to show a few people how to do this sometimes people won’t understand unless they see it themselves!

[@Vankookz]

Those are 100ah lifePO4 Battle Born Heat Enabled Batteries. They are quite pricey. I have a link in the description for SOK lifePO4 that are great and half the price they just don’t have the heater function of you are going to be in cold weather. You can always get a 12v heat pad for winter for these batteries. The SOK are highly reviewed and come with a 7 year warranty.

[@ericklein5097]

If you don't live in a cold climate or are willing to diy your own heating system (easy) then there are so many $300 12V 100Ah options out there. Redodo, Power Queen and LiTime are all identical batteries. Literally every single aspect of the build and they all have mini 100Ah batteries but they are not prismatic cells and have no room inside for a heating circuit but you could create a box for multiple batteries and heat the entire box of batteries instead of heating each 12V battery itself. The cost of doing a DIY heating circuit is under $40 per battery, it can be done as cheap as $20 per battery if you are doing at least 2 or 3. Alternatively you can just have a temperature controlled charge controller to cut any charge current when the temps dips below a certain point. That could be a bit cheaper but annoying if you need to charge.
I recently got 2 12V 100Ah PowerQueen Minis for a total of $570 shipped to my door. I have been very happy with the communication from customer service when I had some technical questions about their BMS. Installing your own BMS with low temp protection (no heating) is another option that allows you to view stats over bluetooth on your phone including cell voltages, input and output power, and enable or disable charge/discharge. JBD and JK are the two top BMS companies, JK is a little more advanced. A JBD BMS for a 100Ah 12V battery can be had for $60 with bluetooth and a max 100A discharge rate. Cracking open the top of the battery will void your warranty but if warrant repair requires you pay shipping both ways....well the warranty isn't worth it

[@ehsoule]

Did you make sure the batteries were at the same state of charge to avoid current rushing from one battery to the other potentially damaging the BMS or battery?

[@Vankookz]

Yeah they were. But that's a great point I missed. Thanks for sharing.

[@frederick6008]

I'd make sure all were charged 100%

[@dangeroustoman]

How many batteries can you put in a parallel battery bank?

[@davidedwards8940]

Battleborn has connection instructions

[@briankaplan1482]

Can u do 4 lithiums in parallel? Anything special I need to do?

[@Vankookz]

It’s the exact sage thing. Just use a crimper tool

[@ericklein5097]

Cable lengths the same. Draw power from opposite corners. If you are drawing positive from top right then draw negative from bottom left. You want to avoid there being differences in resistance so the batteries self balance themselves as a group

[@Scrambler85]

👍

[@Vankookz]

Thanks we are putting together some content for our website. More stuff will be coming soon.

[@RidingwithStymie]

I wish somebody would address one thing that nobody mentions in their videos or articles about parallel setups. Should both the input from the solar and the output to the load be attached to the same battery terminals?

[@edb75001]

No. At the least, positive on the front battery to negative on the back battery. The way he did this in his video will likely be alright with 2-3 batteries. Regardless, if you connect the solar and/or output to any one battery in the chain... those batteries will wear sooner. Will Prowse has a great video on his page explaining all of this and why.

[@anio6865]

Let's say I connect 2 - 36v 20ah lithium ion batteries together. And they already have their own charge port. I solder the + to + and the - to -. So therefore I cannot undo them. How do I charge them ? And with what ?

[@64-bit63]

Charge them with your battery charger.

[@anio6865]

@@64-bit63 since they would already be connect by the red - positive and black - negative wires that would be connected to the controller. So I could then charge them each through their own charging ports separately ? Is that safe ?

[@kele6733]

4 12v 2/0 OK?

[@Vankookz]

Yes

[@WebDesignSocal]

Just fyi, you can buy 2 awg cables that are already crimped with terminals. No need to reinvent the wheel.

[@Vankookz]

Yeah I know but it’s cheaper to DIY plus you will have to crimp so many you might as well get good at it.

[@romeowhiskey1146]

A VISE is not the same as a VISE GRIP....

[@WebDesignSocal]

Bus bar? You didn't say anything about how the bus bar hooks up or what it is for.

[@Vankookz]

Yeah there’s tons more information on every step of your van conversion here - we have a couple modules all about bus bars…
www.vankookz.com/vankookz-van-conversion-masterclass

[@shmayazuggot8558]

This is not the correct way to parallel the batteries if you want even distribution across all batteries atall times.

[@samwam45]

Which way is better?

[@shaunmoyes8616]

@@samwam45 connect each battery to a bus bar with identical length cables. 1 for positive, 1 for negative.

[@johnyjohnson3972]

you can buy a really good hydraulic crimping tool , with multiple adaptors for 50 bucks , vice crimping looks very amateurish ,

[@Vankookz]

Yeah. Since this video I don’t do that anymore you are right. Everyone taught me well. Thanks 🙏

[@ElectroKevDotCom]

Sorry but you are going to start a fire crimping wires like that.

[@Vankookz]

I know, I know... thanks to everyone in the comments. I did get a crimper tool and don't do it that way anymore. I appreciate you guys looking out for me.