My Sun-thing Lifepo4 Battery has ONE Connector?

[mst3kpimp]

Ok I just received one of the sun thing lifepo4 48v 15mah packs from ebay after waiting two months. Now I have it on the charger and everything seems proper i.e. voltage ect. What I don't understand is this one plug setup, unlike my ping pack which has two sets of wires, "one to the bms and one that you hook to the controller." I'm emailing Sunthing but does anyone know how this one-plug configuration is supposed to work? There is absolutely no other wires coming out of the pack, is there truly a bms inside as the auction claims? Do I really just use the same plug to charge and power the motor, is this safe? I took the cover off the plug and see that it's just the two wires with nothing connected to the third prong. I

 

[mark5]

overtonmath had the same situation as you, only one power cable coming out of the battery, here (with sunthing's answer) recently. You'll be needing a female end of a power cord like the ones that plug into a PC power supply.

 

[Ricky_nz]

Man I wish they wouldn't use that connector for Batteries.
Apart from the risk of shorts I often have multiple IEC power cords on my bench plugged into 230V AC that would probably be quite entertaining to plug into a 48V battery but rather destructive :lol: .
If I ever received a battery like that I would be swapping the connector to something more sane/less accident prone

 

[mst3kpimp]

Yes the package I got came with the the additional female plug but I am still confused by this setup since my familiarity with the Ping configuration dictates you can't use the same plug to charge and power the motor if it is going to a bms as well, can anyone illuminate me on this? I read overtonmath's thread and it appears his pack did cutoff at the appropriate times. Theres is no visible bms on this pack but the pings bms would heat up requiring ventilation so this troubles me as well.

 

[dnmun]

the BMS is at the end of that green wire. that is where you put the ammeter shunt, but if you wanna find the BMS follow that green wire. but it does look like it has the type of BMS that doesn't use a separate charging mosfet. it may be on the end where that label is.

 

[mst3kpimp]

heres the reply from sun-thing...

hi friend

yes, the charge and discharge is use the same plug.

- sun-thing28

 

[dogman dan]

Entirely possible to replace that bms with a signalab one if you prefer that. I would definitely chop off that plug and replace with andersons or whatever you prefer.

I liked the blinky lights a lot on my second ping. They let you know when balancing was done, and also when it was more unbalanced than other days.

Or, splice in some 8s jst plugs to the bms wires, and you can then use a cellog 8 to see what the cells individual voltages are, as the charger runs.

 

[amberwolf]

The VPower pack I had used a BMS that could have the same connector for charge and discharge, as did the one I fixed for someone else. (should be pics in the threads for each of those, somewhere around here).

 

[mst3kpimp]

i see, well if thats the way it works, I am curious to see the wiring on this thing without opening it of course. i'm just wondering about the bms heating up as it's would seem to be sealed with no ventilation.

 

[dnmun]

it looks like the BMS is on the end where that label is if you wanna pull it out to inspect it.

 

[dogman dan]

Yes, it will be able to radiate enough heat out through the shrink to be ok. But, DO NOT bury the end of the pack in foam or whatever. That end of the pack must get some air. Not much, but some.

Don't be too amazed if you see some light scorching of the shrink there. It does get fairly hot, but shouldn't get hot enough to melt holes in the shrink.

I'd seriously consider relocating the bms If that end mount is inconvenient. You'd likely have to unwrap the whole pack, but then you could use Dnmun's trick of using Masonite sheets to protect the cells, before wrapping it back up with tape to maintain compression.

 

[dnmun]

it may come out without cutting off the shrink wrap and there is a handle loop on that end also. maybe you can cut inside the shrink wrap through that whitish clear plastic on that end to expose the BMS but use scissors and don't poke deeper than the film itself because there will be tiny wires and the pouches too underneath it.

 

[friendly1uk]

Looking where the cable terminates into the 10 amp connector, It appears the insulation is torn longitudinally and strands of the conductor are cut off. I will let them off with showing over 1mm of conductor as they have made that nice twist. Pity they straight lined it from the cable clamp to the terminal though, rather than leaving some slack.

Is this the ebay seller often recommended? I would order some shrink wrap so you can split the pack and both inspect the bms and the quality of their workmanship.

 

[Punx0r]

That connector is a real disappointment that I hope is the exception on an otherwise good battery!

 

[mst3kpimp]

Ya the wires are merely pressure fit by the screws, I suppose if they were soldered on you'd at least have some improved conductivity. But I'm putting on andersons anyway so it'll make it easier. I'm still preparing this pack to go in my rig but Sunthing has been getting good reviews for a while so I'm optimistic that this pack will perform well.

 

[Punx0r]

It's not just the wire termination - fitting a 240V IEC socket to a LVDC battery is just stupid and would be illegal in most countries, I'd imagine. Good shout on fitting Andersons

 

[999zip999]

Put the battery on the charger to let the bms balance over time it could take a while for complete balance.

 

[alsmith]

My pre-built BMS battery also uses that connector for charging. I thought there was a possibility of plugging a mains connector into the BMS since the mains plug into the charger is the same- not very smart design. I went for a simple cheap solution- I wrap green/yellow insulation tape around all of the DC plugs and sockets. If it doesn't have matching tape don't plug it in- simple as that. The tape has never come loose but if it does fall off then it is easy to put more on after checking. No mis-plugging over the last 3 years......

 

[999zip999]

Always use a M.M. to check polarity befofe plugging in. Or double check.

 

[alsmith]

Always use a M.M. to check polarity befofe plugging in. Or double check.

It's a polarised multi-voltage connector (IEC C13/C14) so the problem in our use with these connectors is voltage. The specification doesn't have keying for different voltages or colour coding like the 50A 2 pin powerpoles.

Wikipedia shows the pin arrangements

The best answer would be to change those particular plugs and sockets to a different type- C15A/C16A , C19/C20 are 3 pin
C1/C2 or C7/C8 are 2 pin those I've seen have been lower current than the 3 pin.

C17/C18 is 2 pin but is shaped like the 3 pin C12/C13 so best avoided as the C18 will accept the C13 plug (that would be mains voltage to your controller).


You Americans will no doubt have a different name for them :lol:


I've looked at these options before but my short term solution has lasted several years now so I doubt I'll change.

 

[friendly1uk]

It's not just the wire termination - fitting a 240V IEC socket to a LVDC battery is just stupid and would be illegal in most countries, I'd imagine. Good shout on fitting Andersons

It's not illegal in any country, except the 10 amp rating and the poor termination.

 

[alsmith]

It's not just the wire termination - fitting a 240V IEC socket to a LVDC battery is just stupid and would be illegal in most countries, I'd imagine. Good shout on fitting Andersons

It's not illegal in any country, except the 10 amp rating and the poor termination.

I'd missed that.

The plug/socket isn't legislated to have any specific voltage use. Can Punxor advise of any that have a legislated single voltage use?


And nearly all of these batteries come from the Far East- would they care anyway?

 

[friendly1uk]

canny bollox man lol It wouldn't be an iec lead if he did. But that might make you right. It may look like an iec lead, and fit an iec lead, but I don't see any markings to say it is one. although china is signed up

 

[Punx0r]

It's hard to believe that any electrical safety inspection would pass an extra low voltage device with a socket allowing easy accidental connection to a low voltage (mains) supply.