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Lithiumate™ Manual

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Install - large cylindrical cell board

Installation and wiring instructions for Cell Boards for large cylindrical cells

A cell board WILL be damaged if you do any of these common mistakes.

A DAMAGED CELL BOARD MAY DRAIN ITS CELL!

These are installation instructions for cell boards in this case:

  • Large cylindrical cells
back to topWarning.

warning Li-Ion batteries are dangerous!

  • Wear safety glasses.
  • Do not allow conductive objects (tools, solder...) to come into contact with cells or Cell Board
  • Do not touch more than one battery connection at the same time
back to topGood technique

Unfortunately, we do not have the resources to teach all of our clients proper assembly procedures, which are essential for a succesful project. What we can do is to pass along this info to you:

back to topCell Boards installation

Short video (0:15) showing installation of a cell board (courtesy Travis Gintz).
  • Install the cells onto a frame, so that they are mechanically secure (do not tighten nuts yet)
  • Connect all the cells together, with straps, cables or bus bars
  • Identify a bank of cells: see the banking page
  • Prepare a Cell Board for pair of cells in series in that bank
    • Prepare 1 Positive End Cell Board, 1 Negative End Cell Board, and the number of Mid-bank Cell Boards shown in the table below
Number of cells
in the bank
Cell boards
Mid-bank* Positive Negative
3 0 1 1*
4 0 1 1
5 1 1 1*
6 1 1 1
7 2 1 1*
8 2 1 1
9 3 1 1*
10 3 1 1
11 4 1 1*
12 4 1 1
13 5 1 1*
14 5 1 1
15 6 1 1*
16 6 1 1

*)
For N cells, where N is even, you need n/2-2 "mid-bank" Cell Boards
For N cells, where N is odd, you need (n+1)/2-2 "mid-bank" Cell Boards, and only 1/2 of the negative board is used

Even number of cells anchor
  1. Assign the Cell Boards to the cells:
    • All the Cell Boards will be mounted on the same side of as the bank's most positive and most negative terminals
    • Assign the positive end Cell Board to the 2 most positive cells
    • Assign the negative end Cell Board to the 2 most negative cells
    • Assign the mid-bank Cell Boards to the remaining pair of cells
  2. Orient the Cell Board properly DO NOT CONNECT BACKWARDS!
    • The ring terminal that is mounted directly to the Cell Board (labeled 'B-' on the PCB) goes to the negative terminal of the most negative cell in the pair
    • The ring terminal that is mounted on a short red wire (labeled 'B+' on the PCB) goes to the positive terminal of the most positive cell in the pair
    • The ring terminal that is mounted on a long yellow wire (labeled 'BM' on the PCB) goes to either terminal on the opposite side of the cells (the bus bar that connects those terminals together)
    • The electronic components go towards the cell, the LED towards you
  3. Place a Cell Board on the most negative terminal of its pair of cells
    • Remove the nut from the cell's terminal, keeping the power connection in place
    • Place the 'B-' ring terminal (mounted directly to the Cell Board) onto that terminal stud
    • Put the nut back on and secure it
  4. Connect the Cell Board to either one of the mid point terminals of its pair of cells (on the opposite side of the cells; they're connected together)
    • Touch that terminal with the 'BM' ring terminal (mounted on the long yellow wire)
    • The LED will blink twice, repeated a total of 3 times
    • If the LED doesn't blink when first connected, DISCONNECT THE CELL BOARD IMMEDIATELY
      • If you installed the board backwards and removed it immediately, once connected properly it may appear to work correctly; however, it may be damaged and drain its cell
      • Test a Cell Board with a current meter in series with one of its power terminals; after the blinking stops there should be no measurable current drain
      • If the Cell Board draws measurable current after the blinking stops, or it it reports the wrong voltage, the Cell Board is damaged: replace it
      • If the Cell Board was connected properly, and yet the LED doesn't blink, please see the cell troubleshooting page
    • Remove the nut from one of the 2 cells' terminal, keeping the power connection in place
    • Place the 'BM' ring terminal (mounted on the long yellow wire) onto that terminal stud
    • Put the nut back in and secure it
  5. Connect the Cell Board to the most positive terminal of its pair of cells
    • Touch that terminal with the 'B+' ring terminal (mounted on the short red wire)
    • The LED will blink twice, repeated a total of 3 times
    • If the LED doesn't blink when first connected, DISCONNECT THE CELL BOARD IMMEDIATELY; see above for info
    • Remove the nut from that cell's terminal, keeping the power connection in place
    • Place the 'B+' ring terminal (mounted on the short red wire) onto that terminal stud
    • Put the nut back in and secure it
  6. Repeat with the other cells in a bank
Bank wiring example
Cell boards mounted on a 6S2P battery of large cylindrical cells: top (left) detail of bottom (right).
Cell board isolation
If the bus bar extends below the cell board, add insulation on the bus bar to prevent shorts.
Odd number of cells anchor

Proceed as above, except for the negative end Cell Board

  • Prepare the negative end Cell Board
    • Cut off the orange wire
    • Cut a 18 AWG wire (preferably orange, but any color but red or black will do), same length as the yellow wire
    • Insert the wire from the component side, into the pad with the largest hole (labeled 'CM')
    • Solder the wire on the opposite end of the board
    • The ring terminal that is mounted on a short red wire (labeled 'B+' on the PCB) is not used: cut the wire or isolate the terminal.
Negative board preparation with odd number of cells
Negative end board preparation with odd number of cells.
  • Assign the negative end Cell Board to the most negative cell (even though the board can handle 2 cells, it will only be used for 1 cell)
    • The negative end Cell Board will be mounted on the same side of as the bank's most negative terminal (on the opposite side as all the other boards)
  • Orient the negative end Cell Board properly DO NOT CONNECT BACKWARDS!
    • The ring terminal that is mounted directly to the Cell Board (labeled 'B-' on the PCB) goes to the negative terminal of the cell
    • The ring terminal that is mounted on a long yellow wire (labeled 'BM' on the PCB) goes to the positive terminal of the cell
  • Place the negative end Cell Board on the most negative terminal of its cell
    • Remove the nut from the cell's terminal, keeping the power connection in place
    • Place the 'B-' ring terminal (mounted directly to the Cell Board) on the negative terminal stud
    • Put the nut back in and secure it
  • Connect the Cell Board to the positive terminal of its cell (on the opposite side of the cell)
    • Remove the nut from the positive terminal of that cell, keeping the power connection in place
    • Place the 'BM' ring terminal (mounted on the long yellow wire) onto that terminal stud
    • Put the nut back in and secure it
Negative board with odd number of cells
Cell boards mounted on large cylindrical cells (odd number of cells): positive side (left), negative end (right)
back to topCell Board communication wires installation

In betweem each pair of adjacent Cell Boards, the orange wire from the most negative of the 2 Cell Boards is connected to the splice at the end of the gray wire from the most postive of the 2 Cell Boards.

Even number of cell boards anchor
  1. Point the gray wire towards the negative terminal of the cell
  2. Route the orange wire along the power bus bar between cells, and then to the gray wire in the adjacent Cell Board
  3. If the orange wire is too long, cut it shorter, so that it ends at the splice on the gray wire
  4. Strip the end of the orange wire 0.4" (1 cm)
  5. Insert the orange wire in an open slot in the splice at the end of the gray wire, push all the way in
  6. If required, secure the orange wire in place (use wire ties; do not twist it around the red wire or the bus bar)

In particularly noisy installations, you may need to use shielded cable; Before using this solution, first follow the noise abatement procedures, which usually are sufficient to eliminate problems due to noise pick-up, without the need for shielded cable

Bank wiring example
Cut and strip orange wire (left) and instert in splice (right).
Odd number of cell boards anchor

Proceed as above, except for the negative end Cell Board

  • Use the wire you added to the negative end cell board to connect to the splice at the end of the gray wire in the adjacent cell board
Bank wiring example for last odd cell
Communication wire for negative end cell board, odd number of cells.
back to topCommunications harness installation
  1. Install the the controller in its final position
  2. Prepare the communication harness for this bank
  3. Plug the communication harness to the controller in one of the 'BANK' sockets:
    • Start from the socket labeled 'BANK 0' for the most positive bank, then use the next available socket: 'BANK 1', 'BANK 2', etc
    • If using multiple batteries in parallel, see the banking page
  4. Connect the communication harness to the Cell Boards in that bank:
    • If using plugs:
      • Plug the connector with red and black wires to the plug marked 'C+', on the Positive End Cell Board
      • Plug the connector with white and green wires to the plug marked 'C-', on the Negative End Cell Board
    • If not using plugs:
      • Positive End Cell Board: solder the red and black wires to the 2 pads in the corner: red to the round pad, black to the square pad (in the corner)
      • Negative End Cell Board: solder the white and green wires to the 2 pads in the corner:white to the round pad, green to the square pad (in the corner)
back to topCompletion.

Repeat with the remaining banks

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