DIY LIFEPO4 Power for Ham Radio Update

Hello operators.

I thought I’d share a couple of updates with you on the 10Ah version of the DIY lithium iron phosphate power project.

Heatshrink

I finally found an adequate heat shrink from suppliers in Germany (shop.lipopower.de) and 300mm wide, transparent film from an ebay seller. Both shops have various sizes. You remember I specifically wanted a clear heat shrink,  so that I could show-off what’s inside. Why build something if nobody can see what you’ve done!? 😉

The heat shrink is really easy to work with, doesn’t require much heat, and can be easily formed or fitted around corners.

QRO BMS

For those operators who wanted to have a QRO BMS for emcomm or  high power field communications, I found the new BMS recommended by our friends at (shop.lipopower.de) It’s a Best Tech board in the 60A range. 

Of course even a 20A BMS would have been fine, but I chose this one because I have other DIY projects coming up in the spring of 2018, adding 20Ah, 40Ah, and larger LiFePO4 Solar Generator class packs to our field communications arsenal.

Wire update

This is more of a reminder for those of you who are going with a the QRO option.  update the wire to your build accordingly.  two small wire becomes a fuse, when enough current is applied. Here is a wire gauge calculator from Powerwerx that’s useful in this case

Adding fuses

 Finally I’m going to add fuses to the plus and minus sides of the battery. Nothing has happened but I think it promotes the right safety methodology when showing people these DIY projects on the channel.

I didn’t case you’re viewing this blog post before having actually read or seen the series, here’s the playlist for the Portable Off-Grid Power for Ham Radio:

73
Julian oh8stn

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