The work on the power tote continues... I call it a power tote because it is inside of a plastic tote. This protects it from short circuits. There are so many live areas on this thing that a mis-step can cause a short.
The power tote is protected with switches and fuses. Hopefully, I can avoid shorts. If there is one, it will blow a fuse. Those are cheap. Some of these parts are not.
It is being tested now. Everything is looking good, but the testing isn't over. I am taking it very slow and cautiously. The first test with the inverter was with a 23 watt fan. It went on a discharge cycle, then it was charged back up. Voltages were monitored. Watt hours calculated on the discharge/charge cycle were compared. Things lined up, so I went more aggresively with a 88 watt fan. This one was run for 30 minutes, and charged back to previous state with power requirements as expected. Full charge has not been attempted. That will be the test of the bms.
Along those lines, I disassembled the unit, and tested all the leads to the bms. All are looking good. However, upon reassembly, I noted a residual voltage on the terminals. This caused the inverter to shut off. This was bothersome until I realized the low voltage is enabling the low voltage circuitry of the inverter to kick in. It appears that is working also. Don't know what is causing the residual voltages. To check that before starting up, I am going to flip the switch a few times and check the voltage at the terminals for now on in this testing phase. It appears to happen when the voltage goes down due to current shutoff at the switch for the battery.
This inverter has a wired remote, which is nice. I rigged up something to sit it in. It will attach someone close to my recliner, which is my control position. There are no seat belts. You can call it a seat-of-the-pants type operation.
One thing is that seems like it might be bothersome. The battery is rated at 600+ watt-hrs. At the rate of discharge noted, it isn't going to do that well. Maybe it will, but now it doesn't appear to be even close to that.
One more thing. Inspection with cover off mentioned above included an inspection of all connections and wires. No sign of getting hot, or any loose connections. Looks like all components are checking out "a-ok".
That's all for now.
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