DIY: Voltphreaks Lithium Battery installation into M3 E92

See my post (#69). I added pics of my DIY mount. MK1 in pics. I think I will modify it to reduct the weight - MK2 in the works

My mount base is a high tech cellulose fiber and resin composite

Fancy way of saying duct tape?

roastbeef wrote

i tried the rs-20, and unfortunately, i was plagued with problems. this battery would have been great since it is priced right, but i had a hell of a time getting the oem cables to hookup to the supplied SAE posts.
worked fine and i was happy until a few days later when the car would randomly not have any power. i was at the track when i started having problems with the car cutting power for a second and upshifting all the way to 7th gear.
they are a stand-up company with great customer service, but i don't think our car's battery management system likes these batteries.
my posts were too small for the oem cable, but mine did unscrew and i modified their SAE posts with a longer bolt to secure them as the original posts do from the factory.

Interesting.... I'll update once I get my rebuilt KW CS back

roastbeef wrote

i tried the rs-20, and unfortunately, i was plagued with problems. this battery would have been great since it is priced right, but i had a hell of a time getting the oem cables to hookup to the supplied SAE posts.
worked fine and i was happy until a few days later when the car would randomly not have any power. i was at the track when i started having problems with the car cutting power for a second and upshifting all the way to 7th gear.
they are a stand-up company with great customer service, but i don't think our car's battery management system likes these batteries.
my posts were too small for the oem cable, but mine did unscrew and i modified their SAE posts with a longer bolt to secure them as the original posts do from the factory.

Pretty sure I know the reason for your rs-20 problems.

I haven't confirmed what rs-20 uses for their BMS isolation.
but I expect that its based on electronic switching.

I was conversing with Tony at VPH and he confirmed that VPH use an electrical contactor for isolation switching in their BMS.

Contactor/relays provide absolute circuit isolation whereas electronic isolation is prone to current leakage.

We used to see this in the PLC control panels that we built.
Some brands of PLC output triacs would still fire an LED circuit indicator even when switched off.
We used to add relays to provide absolute isolation.

This also explains the added cost of the VPH batteries.


I just placed an order
Thanks guys for all the info here in this thread!!

inTgr8r wrote

Pretty sure I know the reason for your rs-20 problems.

I haven't confirmed what rs-20 uses for their BMS isolation.
but I expect that its based on electronic switching.

I was conversing with Tony at VPH and he confirmed that VPH use an electrical contactor for isolation switching in their BMS.

Contactor/relays provide absolute circuit isolation whereas electronic isolation is prone to current leakage.

We used to see this in the PLC control panels that we built.
Some brands of PLC output triacs would still fire an LED circuit indicator even when switched off.
We used to add relays to provide absolute isolation.

This also explains the added cost of the VPH batteries.


I just placed an order
Thanks guys for all the info here in this thread!!

when i picked up my voltphreaks battery, i had a brief talk with the owner (i think it was, can't remember) and he mentioned something like that and although i understood what we was explaining, i didn't remember enough of it to repeat it.

inTgr8r wrote

Pretty sure I know the reason for your rs-20 problems.

I haven't confirmed what rs-20 uses for their BMS isolation.
but I expect that its based on electronic switching.

I was conversing with Tony at VPH and he confirmed that VPH use an electrical contactor for isolation switching in their BMS.

Contactor/relays provide absolute circuit isolation whereas electronic isolation is prone to current leakage.

We used to see this in the PLC control panels that we built.
Some brands of PLC output triacs would still fire an LED circuit indicator even when switched off.
We used to add relays to provide absolute isolation.

This also explains the added cost of the VPH batteries.


I just placed an order
Thanks guys for all the info here in this thread!!

Well I have been driving around for a week now with the RS-20 and I dont notice anything off. 3 days at 90ah charging and so far 4 days coded to 40ah charging.

Will report back at end off month. Also have a track day coming up this month.

eternallx wrote

Well I have been driving around for a week now with the RS-20 and I dont notice anything off. 3 days at 90ah charging and so far 4 days coded to 40ah charging.

Will report back at end off month. Also have a track day coming up this month.

Early update.

As roastbeef said the RS-20 doesnt work for the M3.

I tired to bed in my brakes last night and the ABS was malfunctioning cause me to lock up along with an abs error on the iDrive.
Swapped back to the OEM battery and the brakes bedded in without issue.

eternallx wrote

eternallx wrote

Well I have been driving around for a week now with the RS-20 and I dont notice anything off. 3 days at 90ah charging and so far 4 days coded to 40ah charging.

Will report back at end off month. Also have a track day coming up this month.

Early update.

As roastbeef said the RS-20 doesnt work for the M3.

I tired to bed in my brakes last night and the ABS was malfunctioning cause me to lock up along with an abs error on the iDrive.
Swapped back to the OEM battery and the brakes bedded in without issue.

Did you speak with antigravity? Just got one of there battery. Wondering if it is shutting off on high voltage. Noticed the m3 was charging at 14.8 volts. Was hoping that would change once registered at lower ah.

Any updates

tlrid3r wrote

Did you speak with antigravity? Just got one of there battery. Wondering if it is shutting off on high voltage. Noticed the m3 was charging at 14.8 volts. Was hoping that would change once registered at lower ah.

Any updates

I didnt speak with Anti Gravity since am not the only one with issues I just ditched it.

eternallx wrote

tlrid3r wrote

Did you speak with antigravity? Just got one of there battery. Wondering if it is shutting off on high voltage. Noticed the m3 was charging at 14.8 volts. Was hoping that would change once registered at lower ah.

Any updates

I didnt speak with Anti Gravity since am not the only one with issues I just ditched it.

I spoke with them before purchasing and I explained I would use it on the e9x m3. They mentioned it will work. I purchase the ATX30-rs. Which is the new series but very similar to the rs-20/30. Installed it yesterday and car started fine. Didn't run much since the brakes a getting refreshed for track. I'll report back. Crossing my figure. Or else I have to purchase a voltphreaks.

tlrid3r wrote

I spoke with them before purchasing and I explained I would use it on the e9x m3. They mentioned it will work. I purchase the ATX30-rs. Which is the new series but very similar to the rs-20/30. Installed it yesterday and car started fine. Didn't run much since the brakes a getting refreshed for track. I'll report back. Crossing my figure. Or else I have to purchase a voltphreaks.

I hope their newer models works! $400 for the ATX30-RS is a huge savings over voltphreaks:thumsup: Let us know

tlrid3r wrote

I spoke with them before purchasing and I explained I would use it on the e9x m3. They mentioned it will work. I purchase the ATX30-rs. Which is the new series but very similar to the rs-20/30. Installed it yesterday and car started fine. Didn't run much since the brakes a getting refreshed for track. I'll report back. Crossing my figure. Or else I have to purchase a voltphreaks.

i hope it works for you. i was very excited about the rs20 i tried, but i just don't think our cars liked the battery management system. i have to say, they are a stand up company with good customer service. i hope whatever the issue was gets squared away because dropping one of these into our cars as opposed to an oem replacement is a really good value, whether someone tracks or not.

roll around with your rear seats popped so you can get into the trunk easily if you come back to the car and it suddenly doesn't have power. my car was perfect for three days and only started acting weird at the track. you may want to consider bringing your oem battery to the track with you in case you need to change it out... if i understood what i have previously learned about these cars correctly, the alternator and electrical system runs differently when you're pushing the car (track conditions). i suspect it may have something to do with the problems i had.

roastbeef wrote

tlrid3r wrote

I spoke with them before purchasing and I explained I would use it on the e9x m3. They mentioned it will work. I purchase the ATX30-rs. Which is the new series but very similar to the rs-20/30. Installed it yesterday and car started fine. Didn't run much since the brakes a getting refreshed for track. I'll report back. Crossing my figure. Or else I have to purchase a voltphreaks.

i hope it works for you. i was very excited about the rs20 i tried, but i just don't think our cars liked the battery management system. i have to say, they are a stand up company with good customer service. i hope whatever the issue was gets squared away because dropping one of these into our cars as opposed to an oem replacement is a really good value, whether someone tracks or not.

roll around with your rear seats popped so you can get into the trunk easily if you come back to the car and it suddenly doesn't have power. my car was perfect for three days and only started acting weird at the track. you may want to consider bringing your oem battery to the track with you in case you need to change it out... if i understood what i have previously learned about these cars correctly, the alternator and electrical system runs differently when you're pushing the car (track conditions). i suspect it may have something to do with the problems i had.

Yeah that's exactly what I'm trying to determine. The alternator turns off at full throttle and stops charging. It can be the bsm doesn't like that. Since at track there is many full throttle application. I hope antigravity sorted out that fact the bsm can take 14.4+ volts. Also I got a higher capacity (atx-30) maybe enough to run track with out dying. Hoping for the best. But I was reading a lot on the voltphreaks battery. I may go with that if doesn't work.

tlrid3r wrote

Yeah that's exactly what I'm trying to determine. The alternator turns off at full throttle and stops charging. It can be the bsm doesn't like that. Since at track there is many full throttle application. I hope antigravity sorted out that fact the bsm can take 14.4+ volts. Also I got a higher capacity (atx-30) maybe enough to run track with out dying. Hoping for the best. But I was reading a lot on the voltphreaks battery. I may go with that if doesn't work.

i forgot to mention, make sure you get SAE posts... the rs20 didn't come with them and you'll need them. i also had to modify the SAE posts i got from them. i just put them in a vice and drilled out the center to bolt them to the battery. not a big deal. not sure if the rs30 addresses this.

.

Meanwhile the Voltphreaks battery in my car is about to kick off year 2... no free lunch? I'm as surprised as the next person I was expecting this to be an expensive and short-lived experiment for a car that's 99% street. But I wasn't scared because I bought the correct year so I can use my key to get in the trunk if the battery's dead.

Glad that there is competition seeping into this market though, almost all cars sold new have some sort of condition-based charging now, including common performance cars like the Murderstang. Hopefully it will drive price down and we can all stop replacing lead acid batteries every 2 years, lol

Not trying to thread jack, so lets remember this is about Voltphreaks battery, but this is just a comparison for member to make a educated choice.

I created a full mounting system solution for the battery and I'm using a Antigravity ATX-30rs. So I had no trouble with mounting. I can share CAD module if anyone like to use it.

designed a holder and resigned the power distribution fuse block.
see below:
using 3D printed parts. capable of holding a 35lbs battery

IMG_1130

IMG_1131

IMG_1141


IMG_1143

IMG_1175

[url=https://flic.kr/p/25k4ghH]IMG_1180[/url

Rad

tlrid3r wrote

Not trying to thread jack, so lets remember this is about Voltphreaks battery, but this is just a comparison for member to make a educated choice.

I created a full mounting system solution for the battery and I'm using a Antigravity ATX-30rs. So I had no trouble with mounting. I can share CAD module if anyone like to use it.

designed a holder and resigned the power distribution fuse block.
see below:
using 3D printed parts. capable of holding a 35lbs battery

IMG_1130

IMG_1131

IMG_1141

This looks awesome. What's the chance you could make another setup like this and sell it?!

gbizzle wrote

tlrid3r wrote

Not trying to thread jack, so lets remember this is about Voltphreaks battery, but this is just a comparison for member to make a educated choice.

I created a full mounting system solution for the battery and I'm using a Antigravity ATX-30rs. So I had no trouble with mounting. I can share CAD module if anyone like to use it.

designed a holder and resigned the power distribution fuse block.
see below:
using 3D printed parts. capable of holding a 35lbs battery

This looks awesome. What's the chance you could make another setup like this and sell it?!

I can share the CAD drawing I made but I can't make extras. I used my works tools. With the drawings any 3D printer shop or machine shop can make them for you.

I just got my VPH-850 and Tony was an awesome resource to speak with before I ordered too! I will give the velcro strap a try before I take a dive into fabbing up a legit bracket. Does any one have dimensions of the base they could share?