LiFePO4 DIY ESS

Kit Building Documentation

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Skills required

You have to be able to use a screwdriver, wrench, cutter, drill, soldering iron, crimping tool, have basic
knowledge of grid AC power and electricity in general.

Disclaimer

In this documentation I provide the information on how to build a DIY Energy Storage System exactly
like the one I created. You have to be aware of the danger dealing with grid AC power and with
batteries and take all the necessary precautions.
I can not be held responsible for anything you would do wrong during the build and the use of this
system.
You have to comply with the electrical code in your country.

Low Voltage Pack, but Very High Power Cells : Your Safety First !
Please be very careful while handling the LiFePO4 battery cells !
ALWAYS REMOVE YOUR RING(s), METALLIC WATCH and WRIST BAND(s), use only insulated
tools, because the power available in each cell is incredible each cell can put out 2000W (!!) alone and you could BURN very badly or even LOOSE your finger(s) or your hand if there was a short
circuit passing close or through them.

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Building the ESS

Summary
An ESS is an Energy Storage System and its purpose is to store excess energy, not used in your
home, and use it when necessary.
It is composed of a Wattson energy monitor, a LiFePO4 battery pack, several grid tie inverters, several
chargers, a control board, cables.
The initial storage capacity of the ESS is 5kWh, charge power 550W (6 Chargers), discharge power
1760W (8 Grid Tie Inverters, GTI), but all these can be increased by increments of 5kWh, 92W, 220W,
by doubling the number of CALB CA180FI cells, adding another charger, adding another GTI.
For example, you could build easily an ESS with a storage capacity of the ESS is 10kWh, charge
power 1000W (11 chargers), discharge power 2640W (12 GTIs), with DC cables resized to handle
more current. It is very flexible and can be adapted to your solar and/or wind generation, and home AC
loads to cover.

Wattson Energy Monitor

Before building the ESS, the very first step is to install Wattson (Wattson Solar Plus): For this part,
please refer to the documentation that comes with it and its online knowledge base if necessary, but it
is quite simple. Maker's website: http://www.energeno.com

Wattson comes with an online portal called Wattson Anywhere (still in beta as I write this document),
logging your data and displaying Power & Energy graphs in real time and keeps all the history too.
To measure Total Generation (solar / wind + ESS) you will need an additional Sensor Clip (that will be
positonned onto the ESS live wire) and additional Transmitter, paired with your Wattson Display, that
will add up to the already measured Inverter Generation values. Wattson needs to know the Total
Genration.
This great energy monitor reads the Power Used in house, and the Power Generated by your solar
or/and wind or/and ESS system(s). From these two, it will determine the Net Power Used or Net

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Usage and indicate it with big red digits on its front panel it can also show Usage and Generated
Power -, but also by color codings on the back of the unit; We will use these color codings as inputs to
the ESS Arduino board which will determine, using my program, what to do (ie: close a charger relay,
switch from Charger Mode to GTI mode, or open a GTI relay, etc...), adjusting power stored into or
pushed out from the ESS every 3 seconds.
Set your Wattson transmitter to send information every 3 seconds (see Wattson user manual). Always
leave your Wattson on setting DISPLAY COLOURS & NUMBERS, and it is good to make it display Net
Power, but that can be changed by tilting it to display Used Power or Generated Power to check.
For that we need to open the back cover of the Wattson unit, unscrewing the 4 screws hidden behind
the rubber pads

To be able to read the color codings we have to solder small wires at these specific locations on the
back of Wattson's PCB. I used a computer mouse wire - a working one, otherwise the cable might be
broken somewhere - to do this, the length is good, cable is flexible, and it ends with a USB port that
will make a proper connection to the Control Board later.
Turn Wattson OFF by depressing the top button until its says Goodbye and shuts off; Unplug its
power adapter too.
Disassemble the USB mouse and cut the wires clos the its PCB or cut off the mouse from its cable -,
strip of the sheath on 10cm, and strip 5mm of cable on each wire: use the White wire for blue LED
(D20), Green wire for Green LED (D15), Red wire for Red LED (D10), and Brown wire for
Negative/ground (See picture below). The black wire is NOT USED and is NOT connected to anything
on my picture. Note: Use whatever color the wires are with your mouse as they could be different from
what I had, just make sure you can trace them and find their ending on the USB female port later (use
an Ohmmeter for that).
Using a small soldering iron, or lowering the temperature if you can, solder quickly to avoid damaging
the PCB: apply a little bit of solder on each hole, then on your stripped wire, then solder them together
putting a little pressure on top of the wire ending, do this as quickly to avoid overheating the PCB.
Make a not with the cable, to avoid any damage to these solders if the cable is pulled, leaving extra
length inside not to put any strain on the wires, drill a little hole at the bottom of the lid, pass the cable
through it leaving the not inside, and close Wattson back lid. (See other picture below PCB one)

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Label the wire 'NOT A USB CABLE !!' with a piece of red tape close to the USB port, this way you will
not connect it to a computer or a power adpater by mistake not a good idea for your Wattson ! Plug the USB port into the female USB port.
Turn Wattson ON by depressing the top button until its says Hello and readings appear on the front
display. Using a voltmeter, check the voltages off the colors Blue (White cable), Green (Green Cable)
and Red (Red cable) wires with the voltmeter COM on the Brown one and make sure you identify
them clearly this is crucial -.

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Battery pack
The 5kWh battery pack is composed of 8 CALB CA180FI cells the best LiFePO4 cells available as I
write this document -, wired in series.
Before using these cells, please take some time to read Jack Rickards documentation on them at this
address: http://media3.ev-tv.me/cellcare.pdf
Very Important: These cells have to be bottom balanced before any use. This is crucial and if
you do not follow instructions on this part or use any third party BMS on the cells, you will end
up damaging or destroying them, and potentially cause a fire.
To perform bottom balancing, drain each cell to 2.75V using a big resistor or use my bottom balancer
on each cell individually and repeat the process after a rest period of 12 hours until all the cells show a
voltage of 2.75V after 24 hours of rest.
Clean and remove the invisible corrosion on the cells terminals using an extra fine sandpaper sheet.
Wire all the cells in series using the copper straps and bolts, making sure the bolts are screwed tightly
all the way and that the strap flat part is in good contact with the cell terminal.
In the middle of the pack wire the Blue Sea DC breaker / switch.
Check the pack voltage, it should be exactly 2.75V x 8 = 22V.
Cover the battery pack using the plastic cover that come with the Muji drawer or an inverted big
plastic tray - to avoid any short circuit with metal objects and leave the DC breaker on 0 / OFF.

Control Board:
The ESS Control Board is the central management unit of the system where the instrumentation, the
controls are, where all cables come and go, and also where you can monitor the state of the battery
pack.
It is composed of an Arduino board flashed with the program I developed, AC breakers, 2 Tyco Kilovac
contactors, 16 relays, a switch, a pushbutton, connectors, wires, 24V to 5V DC-DC converter, a board,

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screws, and a plastic cover.

Positioning the components

Take the board and start positioning the items on it to see how they will fit.

Measure and mark the position of each item with a pencil and double check that all the items fit in their
markings; For each components, here are the x & y coordinates, starting from the left bottom corner of
the board positioned in landscape, or more simple positioning indications: (See picture below)

AC terminal blocks: distance of 2 cm from the top

AC cords holders: holes at 1cm from the top (do not drill them)

AC Relays: distance of 1cm under the AC terminal blocks

DC cables holders: holes at 1cm from the left, 1cm from the bottom for lower end

Charger side DC bolt (4cm long, M6): 1.5cm ,10cm

Tyco Kilovac contactor on charger side (back): 11cm, 9cm, for the front hole, cylinder
side 4.5cm from the left, economizer on the top right

Tyco Kilovac contactor on the GTI side (front): 4cm, 1.5cm, for the front hole, cylinder
side 1.5cm from the left, economizer on the right

Voltmeter: 8cm, 0.3cm, for its lower left corner

Main switch: 16cm, 0cm, on the border of the bottom of the board

Pushbutton: 17.5cm, 0cm, on the border of the bottom of the board

24V to 5V DC-DC converter: 18.5cm, 0.5cm, for its lower left corner

Arduino board: 21.5cm, 4.5cm, for its lower left corner

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AC breakers: at the very bottom right corner, leaving 0.3cm on the bottom and the
right side

GTI Mode and Charger Mode Relays: in the middle between the Arduino board and
the AC breakers

Start screwing the AC terminal blocks at the top of the board, the will be hosting all the 6 chargers and
8 GTIs AC power cords wires, so for each device we have 3 terminals, from left to right, one for
Neutral, one for Earth, one for Line.
Drill wooden AC cords holders starting from the 5 mm from the side on both sides and every 3 cm or
so in between. Position them on top of the AC terminal blocks. You will screw them in position using
2.5mm 12mm long small wood screws when the AC cords will be connected to the terminal blocks.
Same for DC cables holders, position them on the left of the board.
Position and glue the 0.5cm rubber feet / pads to all corners on the Board to elevate it.
Drill a 6mm hole for the M6 Negative Charger Side bolt and push it up from underneath, screwing it
upside down, using a washer and a nut, and tighten firmly.
Screw the Tyco Kilovac contactor on charger side (back) using two 3mm diameter 2cm long wide head
wood screws.
Do the same for the Tyco Kilovac contactor on the GTI side (front).
Using a 1.5mm stripped copper cable, make the little custom bar, with curved ends, that will hold
down the Voltmeter using two 2.5mm small wood screws. The bar passes under the Voltmeter and
through its sides lower plastic spring blades.
Screw the AC breakers plastic base using 4 wood screws and position the AC breakers on the DIN
rail.

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Wiring the components

Cut 1m of the the 0.5mm black & red double cable, split the two wires on 20cm, strip them on 1cm ,
and solder 2 8mm small lugs on each wire; On the other side, split on 3cm, strip 1cm, and apply
solder. The side with lugs will go the battery pack terminals and the other side will go to the Control
Board 24V DC input terminal block, at the bottom left corner of the Control Board.
Screw a red wire to this terminal, solder the other end wire to the 2A small glass fuse holder screwed
next to it, and cut another one to continue and screw it on the Voltmeter terminal 5; Screw the black
wire to the other 24V DC input terminal, and screw the other end directly on the Voltmeter terminal 8.
From these 2 Voltmeter terminals, bring red and black wires to the terminals 1 and 2 to power it: 5->1,
8->2 (respect polarities !).
Put a 2A small glass fuse in its holder and test the Voltmeter voltage reading after screwing the wires
to the battery pack terminals (black on negative, red on positive), and switching the DC breaker on 1 /
ON: You should see the Voltmeter display the battery pack voltage. Now it is time to configure it.

Warning: The Voltmeter has to be configured to display voltage in the proper format, and to activate
and deactivate the 2 relays that will control the battery pack charge and discharge limits. If you do not
do this step carefully, you risk to charge or discharge your battery pack too much and damage it or
cause a fire.
Understanding the Relays wiring on the JLD 5740 Voltmeter
This is the back of the JLD 5740 Voltmeter

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We use terminals 1 & 2 to power the Voltmeter, prolongating battery pack voltage from reading
terminals 5 & 8.
Terminals 11 & 12 get the red wire from the GTI Mode Arduino Relay and the red wire to the GTI Side
Tyco Kilovac Contactor. Relay J2 will open when pack voltage reaches its 24V lower limit while
discharging, showing a bottom red LED on the panel.
Terminals 14 & 15 get the red wire from the Charger Mode Arduino Relay and the red wire to the
Charger Side Tyco Kilovac Contactor. Relay J1 will open when pack pack voltage reaches its 28V
upper limit while charging, showing a top red LED on the panel.

Voltmeter set-up

Set up Input Type using password '0089', dot, then scroll and choose code '1' for DC -20 to 100V
range, and dot to validate, end and dot to validate
Set up the Display Format using password '0036', dot, then scroll and choose 'dot' and select '2' for 2
digits, and dot to validate, end and dot to validate
Relay J1 (High Red LED) will be used for upper limit cut off (Charge in Charger Mode)
Relay J2 (Low Red LED) will be used for lower limit cut off (Discharge in GTI Mode)
Set up the upper and lower limits of each relay using password 0001, dot, then input :
AH1 = 28
AL1 = 26
AH2 = 24
AL2 = 25.5

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End and dot to Exit

Check again all these relay inputs once or twice to make sure they are correct; It is crucial !!
Close the panel lid gently without pressing too much, this will prevent any button being touched.
Once the set up of the Voltmeter is done, switch the DC breaker on 0 / OFF, for safety

Detail of the 2 Modes (Charge & GTI) relays wiring

Connect the positive red 24V wire from the Voltmeter terminal 1 to one pin (called input now) of the
Control Board main switch.
Disassemble the car 24V to USB converter to keep only the 24V-5V DC-DC converter embedded in it.
Continue from the other pin (called output now) of the main switch to the positive 24V input of the 24V5V DC-DC converter next to it.
Connect the negative black wire from the Voltmeter terminal 2 to the negative 24V input of the 24V-5V
DC-DC converter.

Plug a USB female port into the 24V-5V DC-DC converter USB male port.
Connect the 5V output pins of the 24V-5V DC-DC converter to the jack (red/+ inside, black/- outside).
The Arduino board will be powered by this jack bringing 5V through the round jack power input
connector.
Test that the 5V is available on this jack by switching on the main battery pack DC switch then the
main control board switch; Switch off both after testing.
From the main switch output pin, solder 2 red wires to bring 24V to the 2 Tyco Kilovac contactors
through the two side relays, and the Voltmeters relays:
Solder a red wire from the output of the main switch and apply solder on the other end then screw it
into the GTI Mode (front one) relay terminal. Then screw another red wire from the other terminal (right
next to it) and screw it to the Voltmeter terminal 11; On the Voltmeter terminal 12, screw the GTI Side
(front one) Tyco Kilovac contactor red wire.

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Solder a red wire from the output of the main switch and apply solder on the other end then screw it
into the Charger Mode (back one) relay terminal. Then screw another red wire from the other terminal
(right next to it) and screw it to the Voltmeter terminal 14; On the Voltmeter terminal 15, screw the
Charger Side (back one) Tyco Kilovac contactor red wire.
Screw both Kilovac black wires to any Voltmeter black wire to get the negative (terminals 8 or 2).

Arduino Board & AC Relays

Mount the Arduino Leonardo board on the Control Board with 4 small 2.5mm wood screws placing
small pieces of foam underneath to position it flat without damaging the bottom (do not screw too hard,
but very gently, it does not need to be very tight)
Take the 40 pin connector and cut it in half, solder a piece of thin stripped solid core copper wire
across all lower parts of the pins to interconnect them. Repeat for the second half. Put these two next
to each other and position a piece of wood or plastic between them to avoid short circuit, then put
some electrical tape around them to maintain them together. These pins will bring 5V to all the relays
so I will call it the 5V bus now.

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AC terminal blocks & relays

Take your time to do this part well, it is a bit difficult and needs to be done correctly.
Screw the AC terminal blocks / bars (a bar of 12 is 9.3cm) on the Control Board using small 2.5mm
wood screws, making sure each terminal block is at equal distance from its neighbor (between two
bars).
Mark with a pencil the position of each element from left to right: the Chargers: 1 to 6 for the first 6
groups of 3 terminals, draw a vertical line to separate the Chargers and GTIs, the GTIs: 1 to 8 or the
first 8 groups of 3 following terminals.
AC Color Coding are different between US and Europe, so I indicate the US color and EU color
separated by a '/' between '(' and ')'.

Cut small pieces of 1.5mm solid core copper wire to interconnect of these Neutral (White/Blue) and
Earth (Green/Green+Yellow) AC terminals, strip 1.5cm on both ends, and bend them to form a U
shape. Screw them tightly in every other 3 terminal, and bend the U part upwards.
Line (Black/Red) wires: There are 3 types of wires: One goes from the AC terminal to the relay
terminal, Two goes from the relay terminal to the transparent 3-wire connector, Three interconnects 2
transparent 3-wire connectors of the same group (Charger side or GTI side). For Red One, strip 1cm

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on one side and 0.5cm on the other, for Red Two strip 0.5cm on the relay terminal end and 1cm for the
transparent 3-wire connector, and for Red Three strip 1cm on both ends.
Warning: The AC wires from the Charger Side and the GTI Side should never be in contact !! There
are separate AC circuits !!

Because these are solid core 1.5mm wires and pretty rigid, do not screw the relay boards to the
Control Board because it might put too much strain on them and damage them (This happened to me
and the relay terminals unsoldered from the board)
Now that all the relays are connected, connect the beginning of each string (Chargers & GTIs) to the
AC breakers, located on the bottom right side of the Control Board.

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Connect the AC cords cables to the AC breakers top side (screw tightly), and connect Earth wire with
Earth wire of each string.
Position the additional Wattson sensor clip onto the Red/Black GTI AC wire; This will measure the ESS
Generation; Plug it into the additional Transmitter in the Generation socket (with a Sun symbol), power
it with wall power adapter provided, and pair it with your Wattson display unit; It will add up your Solar
and ESS Generations !
Mark the AC breakers with a pencil: Charger & GTI. Leave them on OFF.
Mark the AC cords with a tape and pencil 'Charger' & 'GTI Production Only !'. These cords can be
plugged into any AC outlet at home, but make sure you use the right voltage setting on your Grid Tie
Inverters ! It has to match your AC socket Voltage: 115V or 230V ! A timer can be placed on each cord
to Stop Generation for a certain timeframe and /or Force Charge during a fixed timeframe (TOU), ect.
They can also be hooked up together using an AC junction plug and plugged into the wall.
Connect the relays to the Arduino board using command green wires for the GTIs and yellow wires for
the Chargers through the 5V bus; See picture & details pin by pin below:
Warning: these are command pins so do not plug them into 0V or +5V lines on the bus, facing the
relay cable connector yellow wire

Arduino pin 0 green wire 5V bus command position 1 GTI 2 AC relay

Arduino pin 1 green wire 5V bus command position 2 GTI 3 AC relay
Arduino pin 2 green wire 5V bus command position 3 GTI 4 AC relay
Arduino pin 3 green wire 5V bus command position 4 ESC command wire
Arduino pin 4 green wire 5V bus command position 5 GTI 5 AC relay
Arduino pin 5 green wire 5V bus command position 6 GTI 6 AC relay

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Arduino pin 6 green wire 5V bus command position 7 GTI 7 AC relay

Arduino pin 7 green wire 5V bus command position 8 GTI 8 AC relay

Arduino pin 8 yellow wire 5V bus command position 9 Charger 1 AC relay

Arduino pin 9 yellow wire 5V bus command position 10 Charger 2 AC relay
Arduino pin 10 yellow wire 5V bus command position 11 Charger 3 AC relay
Arduino pin 11 yellow wire 5V bus command position 12 Charger 4 AC relay
Arduino pin 12 yellow wire 5V bus command position 13 Charger 5 AC relay
Arduino pin A3 yellow wire 5V bus command position 14 Charger 6 AC relay

Arduino pin 5V red wire 5V bus +5V position 20, Positive line (in the middle)
Arduino pin GND black wire 5V 0V/GND bus position 20, Negative line (on the left)

Arduino pin A4 green wire 5V bus command position 15 GTI 1 AC relay

Arduino pin A4 (same one as GTI 1, stack them) blue wire 5V bus command position 16 GTI
Mode Relay DC relay
Arduino pin A5 blue wire 5V bus command position 17 Charger Mode Relay DC relay

Connect Wattson Color Coding Wires to the Arduino

Position the female USB port to the left of the Control Board and prolongate the 4 wires to a 4terminal block, from there screw wires of colors Blue, Green, Red, and Black from the White, Green,
Red and Brown ones. Plug these into the Arduino input pins :
Wattson Green wire Arduino Pin A0
Wattson Blue wire Arduino Pin A1

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Wattson Red wire Arduino Pin A2

Wattson Black wire Arduino Pin GND

Forced Charge Mode Pushbutton

Using an Ohmmeter, see how the pushbutton should be wired: find the normally open pins, and when
you depress it, check that there is a contact between the pins. Cut off the other pins. Then plug in
Arduino pin 13 a yellow wire, solder it to one of the pushbutton pins, solder a small red wire to the
other pin, and solder the other end of the red wire to the 5V NOT 24V ! - output of the DC-DC
converter or to the red /positive of the Arduino input jack. Position the pushbutton on the right side of
the Control Board main switch.
This Forced Charge Mode can be used to charge at night for example (low rate electricity) and re-use
the stored energy during the day (high rate electricity), or check that the Charger Side is working
properly. The charge rate can be adjusted by 92W decrements.
To switch to Forced Charge Mode, for testing or to really charge when you want to, depress the
pushbutton for 4 seconds, release, and you will start seeing the ESS go into Forced Charge Mode.
Wait until all the Chargers AC relays are switched ON. If you want to lower the charge power, depress
the pushbutton briefly, and release, you will see one Charger AC relay switch OFF, wait another 3
seconds, and repeat this procedure until you have the desired Charge regime.
To get out of Forced Charge Mode and go back to Automatic/Normal Mode, depress the pushbutton
for 4 seconds, release, and you will see all the Chargers AC relays being switched OFF, and the ESS
will adjust automatically to the new color codings from Wattson. You can also switch OFF the whole
system from the Control Board main switch and switch it back ON.

Make the DC Cables

Cut and crimp, using an hydraulic crimping tool:

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2 1.5m long 35mm2 cables with 35mm2 M8 lugs on both ends; mark one of them as red,
using red tape, red heat-shrink or use a red cable

1 1m long 35mm2 cable with 35mm2 M8 lugs on both ends; mark it red or use a red cable

1 1m long 10mm2 cable with 10mm2 M6 & M8 small lugs on each side

1 4cm long 10mm2 cable with 10mm2 M8 lugs on both ends

Connect the 1m long red cable from the Battery pack positive terminal to the back terminal of the GTI
side Tyco Kilovac Contactor (front one); On the Battery terminal, remove the previously screwed
Control Board wires, and make sure you put the big cable lug in contact with the terminal first,
because it will carry a lot of current, then place the small Control Board wire lug on top of it, then the
washer and the nut; Tighten very well the connection.

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On the Tyco Kilovac side, use the back terminal, and same thing as on the battery pack, put this big
lug directly in contact with the flat conductive part of the terminal, then put the small 4 cm cable on top
of it, and finish with the washer, lock washer and nut, tightened very well also.

Take the 1.5m red cable and connect one end to the front terminal of the GTI Side Tyco Kilovac
contactor, add the washer, lock washer, nut and tighten firmly.
Connect the other end of the small 4cm 10mm2 cable to the Charger Side Tyco Kilovac contactor,
using the front/right terminal, add the washer, lock washer, nut, and tighten firmly.
Take the 1.5m long black cable and connect it to the battery pack negative terminal, following the
same procedure used for the positive side about the big & small lugs order (!)
Once all the battery connections are made, cover the battery pack with a non conductive protection

Connect the GTIs to the Control Board

Lay out the 8 GTIs on two columns of 4, next to each other, starting with GTI1 on the bottom left end
ding with GTI 8 at the top right:
GTI 4

GTI 8

GTI 3

GTI 7

GTI 2

GTI 6

GTI 1

GTI 5

To do the DC wiring, use some solid core 2.5mm2 wire making small inter-connects, with M8 small
lugs soldered onto them (see pattern below), to link each Positive and each Negative GTI DC inputs.
Make 5 inter-connects in each color (5 black I used blue here - & 5 red)

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At the bottom left, GTI 1 is not connected to the other GTIs because if gets fed by the ESC (Electronic
Speed Controller) with variable voltage. All other GTIs, 2 to 8 all have their negative inputs interconnected, same for their positive inputs. The big 1.5m long 35mm2 power cables bringing the battery
pack voltage are connected to GTI 7, and from there the DC power is spread to the other GTIs (except
GTI 1). There is a bridge between the two columns on GTI 2 and GTI 6 with 2 2.5mm2 solid core
straight wires and M8 small lugs.

Wiring GTI 1 with the ESC:

Solder a M8 small lug to each of the 4 wires of the ESC, then connect the black and red to the
negative and positive terminals of GTI 5, to get the battery pack power, and the blue and yellow to the
negative and positive terminals of GTI 1. Adjust the Speed potentiometer turning clockwise all the way.
Make sure you switch the Red AC selector on each GTI to the right AC voltage of your country, 110 or
230V

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Take each AC cord coming with the GTI box, cut off the AC plug, strip the sheath on 3cm, each cable
on 5mm, apply solder and screw it tightly into one of the GTI side terminals (respecting the wires
colors of course).
Connect the AC wires to the AC terminals of the Control Board; Neutral (White) on Neutral, Earth
(Green) on Earth, and Line (Black) on Line. Tighten firmly.
Once the connections are made and tightened, lock the cables in place, screwing the wooden locks
down, blocking any movement.
Place a piece of tape on the other side (where it plugs at the back of the GTI), and mark the number of
the GTI on it (1 to 8).
Plug all the AC cords in the back of all the GTIs starting with GTI 1 at the bottom left, and finishing with
GTI 8 at the top right of the 2 columns. Use the labels on each cord to know which cord goes where.

Connect the Chargers to the Control Board

For each charger, cut off the DC plug (female one), strip the sheath on 10cm, and the wires on 1cm
each. Before anything, check the voltage using a voltmeter and plugging in the AC side to make sure
nothing changed since I used then.
Mark the Blue wire with a piece of red tape as the Positive one. Solder this wire into an M8 small lug.
Solder the Brown wire (Negative) into an M6 small lug.

Once this is done for each charger, put all the Blue, marked red, wires on the Charger Side Kilovac,
spread them to make sure all the lugs are in good contact with each other, add the washer, lock
washer, nut, and tighten firmly.

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For the Negative side, all the lugs of the Brown wires have to be mounted on the Negative bolt that is
going through the Control Board: Start with a washer, put 3 first chargers leads lugs, then the 6mm lug
end of the 1m long 10mm2 cable, then the other 3 on top, this way the current split will be equal
among them, spreading them like on the Positive side to make sure all the lugs are in good contact
with each other. Finish with a washer and 2 nuts, screwing the first one tightly , then the second one
on top of the first one, tightly too, to lock the first one in place.
Once all the DC cables are positioned, lock them in place using the wooden locks screwed into the left
side of the Control Board.

For the AC cord, cut off the AC plug, strip the sheath on 3cm, the wires on 5mm, apply solder onto
them.
Connect the AC wires to the Charger Side AC terminals of the Control Board; Neutral (Blue) on
Neutral, Line (Brown) on Line, there is not Earth on this all plastic casing chargers. Tighten firmly.

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You can put 2 chargers on one terminal to charge faster, but never on Charger 1 terminal, because it
is used to regulate up and down the charge level more precisely.
Once the connections are made and tightened, lock the cables in place, screwing the wooden locks
down, blocking any movement.

Lay out the chargers on 2 stacks of 3, or more if you added more to charge faster.

The Control Board and ESS is now ready to be tested.

Once everything is mounted, it should look like this:

Take time to test the newly built system, over several weeks to make sure everything works as
expected, before you install it in the metal cabinet.

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Display Program log and change Threshold Values in the EEPROM (Optional)
If things are not working the way you would like to, and you need to see what is going on in the
program loaded into the Arduino board:
Connect the Arduino Leonardo to the computer.
Download Arduino's latest IDE from their website www.arduino.cc, download section.
Then launch the Serial Monitor and you should see a new window opening and displaying the program
log, with all the values and the changes detected, actions triggered, etc

Communication between the Mac and the Arduino Board set up :

- Tools / Card Type = Arduino Leonardo
- Tools / Serial Port = First in the list (USBModem for Mac, com for PC)

Program log displayed in the Series Monitor of the Arduino IDE:

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The EEPROM (Read Only Memory) of the Arduino board has been initialized with 2 threshold values:
'g4.68' + Enter : Input green threshold
'r4.72' + Enter : Input red threshold

'save' + Enter : Saves threshold values into the EEPROM

'config' + Enter : Reads the stored values from the EEPROM

You can change these values, and test the ESS with new values;

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Save them if they work for you and also make sure you test them also without the USB cable
connected the Arduino board because it is providing 5V to the board also and might change the
Wattson readings a little bit, so test using the ESS normal power supply before you validate anything.
NB: If you do not save, and restart the board, the newly input values in the EEPROM will be lost. Type
'config' + Enter to read them.
Of course you can always go back to the original values by inputing their values above, and save.

The Metal Cabinet

When everything has been working well for several days or weeks, get an IKEA PS Metal Cabinet. I
chose it because it is not expensive, should exist almost everywhere, is pretty durable, locks and looks
cool. Inside, you can put our 5kWh battery pack and all the rest of the ESS components, but there is
room for a 10kWh battery pack too if you want to upgrade it later.

Remove the right shelf and put it at the bottom right to reinforce this part where the LiFePO4 cells will
rest. You will have to bend the left corners a little for it to fit and lay flat against the bottom.
Secure the left shelf by drilling a small hole in the middle back bar and screwing a small screw to hold
it down and another one to prevent it from moving right and fall off.
Get a 12cm 24V DC brushless computer type fan and install it in the upper left corner, upfront, on the
cabinet. Mark the holes, drill them, mount it with screws, mark the round part at the edge of the blades,
and cut out this big disk of metal to have the maximum air flow.

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Get a grid for 12cm fan and mount it on the exterior to protect people from the fan blades.
To power the fan, solder black and red wires to the Control Board main switch output and the DC-DC
converter negative input, this way the fan will spin only when the ESS is ON.
The speed can be reduced by adding a PWM kit allowing potentiometer controlled fan speed or by
simply adding at 24V to 12V DC-DC converter on the line.

Moving the ESS into the Metal Cabinet

Switch OFF the entire ESS: Main switch, DC breaker, AC breakers.
Unplug the AC cords from the back of the GTIs, unplug the Wattson USB port, disconnect the DC
bales from the battery pack and disassemble it in pieces of 2 cells (otherwise too heavy to move).
Then position all the ESS components in the cabinet: Control Board on the bottom left, Chargers on
the left part of the shelf, GTIs on the right part, battery pack in the middle on the bottom right. Pass the
Chargers and GTIs AC and DC wires behind the shelf, place the ESC on the very right of the shelf,
upfront.
Re-connect all the components like they were before, and test after switching all back ON.
Make sur you leave the left side bottom air vent open (big hole) by not pushing the Control Board too
far.

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Once closed, with Wattson on top, it looks neat & clean and can be placed anywhere in your house or
apartment, the fan is quiet and the sounds of the chargers and GTIs are trapped inside the cabinet.

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