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Lithiumate™ Manual

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Install - prismatic cell board

Installation and wiring instructions for Cell Boards for prismatic cells

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

A DAMAGED CELL BOARD MAY DRAIN ITS CELL!

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 pass along this info to you:

back to topCell Boards installation
Prismatic installation animation
Previous - Stop - Play - Next - Enlarge
Steps in mounting 5 cell boards on a 5S2P battery using 40 Ah Thundersky cells.
  1. Connect all the cells together, with straps, cables or bus bars
  2. Identify a bank of cells: see the banking page
  3. Prepare a Cell Board for each cell in series in that bank
    • Prepare 1 Positive End Cell Board for the most positive cell in the bank
    • Prepare 1 Negative End Cell Board for the most negative cell in the bank
    • Prepare n-2 mid-bank Cell Boards for the the rest of the cells in the bank, where n is the number of cells in series in the bank
  4. 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
    • The ring terminal that is mounted on a red wire (labeled 'B+' on the PCB) goes to the positive terminal
    • The electronic components go towards the cell, the LED towards you
  5. Place a Cell Board on the negative terminal of its cell
    • Remove the bolt from the cell's negative terminal, keeping the power connection in place
    • Place the 'B-' ring terminal (mounted directly to the Cell Board) on top of the power connection on the negative terminal
    • Put the bolt back in and secure it
  6. Connect the Cell Board to the positive terminal
    • Touch that terminal with the 'B+' ring terminal (mounted on the red wire)
    • The LED will blink twice, and do so 3 times in a row
    • 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 if 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 bolt from a cell's positive terminal, keeping the power connection in place
    • Place the 'B+' ring terminal (mounted on the red wire) on top of the power connection on the positive terminal
    • Put the bolt back in and secure it
  7. Repeat with the other cells in a bank
back to topCell Board communication wires installation
Rev C Cell Boards anchor

In between 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.

  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 for Rev C Cell Boards
Cut and strip orange wire (left) and instert in splice (right).
Rev B Cell Boards anchor
  1. Measure and cut lengths of yellow wire to connect adjacent Cell Boards
    • If longer than 2" (50 mm), route it along the red power wire, along the power bus bar, and then to the adjacent Cell Board, securing it in place (do not twist it around the red wire and the bus bar: use wire ties instead)
    • 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
  2. Strip each end of the yellow wire 1/4" (6 mm)
  3. Tin the ends of the yellow wires
  4. Tin the 'C-' and 'C+' pads on the Cell Boards, except for the 'C+' pad in the Positive End Cell Board, and the 'C-' pad in the Negative End Cell Board, and the
  5. Use a yellow wire to connect the 'C-' pad in the Positive End Cell Board to the 'C+' pad in the following (more negative) Cell Board
  6. Use a yellow wire to connect the 'C-' pad in the that second Cell Board to the 'C+' pad in the following (more negative) Cell Board
  7. Etc.
  8. Use a yellow wire to connect the 'C-' pad in the next to last Cell Board to the 'C+' pad in the Negative End Cell Board
Bank wiring example
Bank wiring example with just 3 cells
Click to enlarge
Complete bank of prismatic cells
Click to enlarge
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)
    • NOTE: the silk screen labels are swapped on rev B PCBs. The instructions above are correct.
back to topCompletion.

Repeat with the remaining banks

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