[RE-wrenches] New Lithium Batteries on Sunny Island System

[Jim Gowdy]

Thanks for the information.  I emailed both SMA and Midnight and we'll see
what they say.

On Tue, Nov 25, 2025 at 7:08 PM William Miller via RE-wrenches <
re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:

> I just left the temp sensor dangling in mid air. This way the Sunny Island
> at least could react to ambient temperature.
>
>
> William Miller
> Miller Solar.com
> 805-438-5600
> www.millersolar.com
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 25, 2025 at 6:10 PM Jerry Shafer <jerrysgarage01 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> William, Wrenches,
>> I have done several over the past couple years, the only issue I had, I
>> needed to build a resister that mimiced the BTSas 75 degrees, because the
>> SI.s will brop and raise max voltage according to the temp, this must be
>> changed to prevent this as the battery BMS will or at least should do that
>> anyway. Now I dont know about your batteries and I would suggest that you
>> look at the battery cables sizes, I looked at a system that had these so
>> called hight output batteries with # 8 plug in cables, worked very poorly
>> just a FYI
>> Fun times
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 25, 2025 at 9:42 AM William Miller via RE-wrenches <
>> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Jim:
>>>
>>> I haven’t tried lithium batteries with a traditional charge controller
>>> yet.  All of the equipment you list was designed for lead acid.  The
>>> narrower voltage range of the lithium may confuse the charge controller.
>>> Same with the AGS triggering.
>>>
>>> I know if you call SMA for tech support they may hang up on you when you
>>> tell them there are lithium batteries.
>>>
>>> It may work right away or you may spend a lot of time making it kind of
>>> work. I hope you can make the client understand this is an experiment. Tech
>>> support from the battery manufacturer may not be great being a Chinese
>>> company.
>>>
>>> These days I pair lithium only with inverters designed for them.
>>>
>>> Good luck.
>>>
>>> William Miller
>>> Miller Solar.com
>>> 805-438-5600
>>> www.millersolar.com
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Nov 25, 2025 at 7:33 AM Jim Gowdy via RE-wrenches <
>>> re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hello All,
>>>>      I have a client that just got some lithium batteries and they have
>>>> a sunny island inverter with a Midnight Charge controller.  I've heard and
>>>> experienced integrating Lithium batteries into a Sunny Island inverter is
>>>> challenging and could create problems.  Has anyone had experience with
>>>> these batteries or installing lithium batteries with these components?
>>>> Below are some details about the system so far.....
>>>>
>>>> System:
>>>> 48v
>>>>
>>>> NEW BATTERY:
>>>> China Aviation Lithium Battery CO.
>>>> model: CA180F
>>>> nominal voltage: 3.2v
>>>> rated capacity: 180Ah
>>>> rated energy: 576Wh
>>>>
>>>> Inverter:
>>>> Sunny Island
>>>> model: SI 4548-US-10
>>>>
>>>> CHARGE CONTROLLER:
>>>> Midnight Solar Classic 150
>>>>
>>>> SOLAR ARRAY:
>>>> N/A....it was dark when I was at the site so I couldn't take any notes
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Jim with Gowdy Electric
>>>> Cambria, Ca 93428
>>>> business  805 927 2630
>>>> cell  805 975 5279
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-- 
Jim with Gowdy Electric
Cambria, Ca 93428
business  805 927 2630
cell  805 975 5279
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