LiFePo battery upgrade - What charger? (2018 BC)

[bkitchens]

I got the batteries for the Black Friday price. Call them and ask for a break...

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by cptdzl

I do believe the Renogy prices where for cyber Monday only. I also just checked Amazon and the pricing is a penny short of $900. I just looked at Renogy's web site and the "smart" version is sold out .....

Hi

There were a variety of sales running at the end of November. The Renogy web site had a range of discounts running depending on the day. The best were on Cyber Monday, if you bought a pile of stuff *and* could get it shipped .... Amazon beat the Renogy web site prices on the 100AH battery for a couple of hours Monday afternoon.

One would *guess* that Renogy will have other ~10% off sales on and off in the coming months. I doubt any of this stuff will go near half price for another year.

Bob

[rowiebowie]

Thanks, Bob. I thought I was tracking the Renogy prices pretty closely, but things were changing fast last week and I missed the Amazon Cyber Monday deal.

For anyone interested in the Renogy battery pricing (for their "classic" 100Ah, not their new "smart" battery) you can track their prices at this thread:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f448...de-201761.html

[bkitchens]

Thanks. I am looking at the XC2000 with a critical eye on where it would fit. There is not a lot of space in the BC. 2000W is as big as I can go with the 2 battery bank.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by bkitchens

Thanks. I am looking at the XC2000 with a critical eye on where it would fit. There is not a lot of space in the BC. 2000W is as big as I can go with the 2 battery bank.

Hi

2KW is 16.7A at 120V. 3KW is 25A. At 100% efficiency, that would come out to 167A and 250A at 12V into the inverter. Most 100AH lithium BMS setups are going to limit at 100A continuous. Their surge numbers (30 seconds maybe) *should* be higher than that.

If you want to run at 100% load full time, then indeed 2 batteries aren't quite enough for a 3KW unit. As long as you stay at more moderate loads or only "go high" for short periods, the 3KW would be fine.

Indeed the inverters are never 100% efficient. The battery may be at 13.5V rather than 12V. There *will* be drop in the wires. All of that will make the final math a bit more messy.

Bob

[rowiebowie]

In my case the Renogy 2000W & 3000W inverter chargers share the same case size. So it was an easy decision to pay the $200 premium and get the 3000W just in case I added more battery capacity and demands in the future. But in reality, I'll probably never exceed the demands of the 1200W draw of the "700W" microwave or a 1500W hair dryer (which is getting near the max of two 100Ah batteries.)

[Sport 16 STL]

For those of us who are self installers WFCO now has a lithium charger that appears to be an easy install.
WF-8950L2-MBA is the model number if you are replacing a WFCO charger.
They also have another model that works for replacement of any model.

[Nodintree]

Here is my set up. Would have gone all Victron, but I wanted to retain as much space as possible. I back feed into the trailer’s electrical

[bkitchens]

Is the inverter pictured connected to the “house” wiring for distribution to all the plugs or is the AC power only available from the plugs on the unit? Nice mounting. I’m not sure if the inverter would make it too hard for me to get back in and work in the battery compartment.

[bkitchens]

This was my solution for the Solar controller.

[bkitchens]

What did you use to convert from RJ45 to RJ12 for the remote display? ....or did you run the RJ12 wire? I mounted the shunt in the battery box but I am waiting for adapter cables from Amazon.

[Nodintree]

I used these i got from amazon

[bkitchens]

Originally Posted by Nodintree

I used these i got from amazon

I have not been able to find stock cables to convert from the RJ12 plugs on the shunt and remote display to the CAT5 (RJ12) cable pre-routed in the trailer. Did you make your cables?

[Garfish]

Like some more dry camp days and less weight on tongue. Have 400 watts solar, another 100 suitcase that connects to roof panels, 30/100 Victron MPPT, Victron 712 and golf cart batteries. If I don’t want to increase OEM inverter, I can just drop in Battle Borns and replace converter with PD Wildcat, yes?

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by Garfish

Like some more dry camp days and less weight on tongue. Have 400 watts solar, another 100 suitcase that connects to roof panels, 30/100 Victron MPPT, Victron 712 and golf cart batteries. If I don’t want to increase OEM inverter, I can just drop in Battle Borns and replace converter with PD Wildcat, yes?

Hi

As long as your converter charger has a lithium profile, it will do the job with BB's. The 30/100 can easily be set up for just about any battery ever made. There *is* and advantage to full profile programable converter / chargers, but you do pay for that.

You do want to make very sure that the isolation between chassis and house batteries is set up properly if you go with lithium. That (generally) means that your MH will not be able to start the engine off the house batteries (if it ever had that ability in the first place .....).

Bob

[Basecamp19]

LiFePO4 batteries don't like to sit at full charge and they don't like being fully discharged. While the Battle Borns won't charge below freezing (this is good), some other brands like my ReLions don't have this protection and need to have it externally either through the chargers or a thermostatically controlled relay.
In my case I provide thermostatically controlled heat from the charging sources if they are available, leaving the batteries isolated until they are above freezing-- so as not to waste battery heat heating the batteries.

On the basecamp there is ducted heat from the furnace to the water tanks so I will be interested to see how much of the heat from there and the cabin ends up in my above-floor battery compartment with insulation below. I may put in a small 12volt fan to draw air from the cabin past the batteries.

The not sitting at full charge and not draining to the BMS threshold forms a conundrum because the Lithium batteries have little natural voltage loss without load, unlike lead acid batteries that need to be trickle charged.

I dealt with these competing demands by automatically completely isolating the batteries when the tow vehicle or shore power is providing house voltage via charge line or WFCO. Then I can use the victron 100/20 smart solar unit to control roof top charging -- it gets battery temp and voltage over bluetooth from the Victron BMV battery monitor. The BMV-712 also provides freeze disconnect via relay to the Victron 25 Amp charger from shore power and the Victron 100/30 MPPT charger that is fed either by 2 Renogy Eclipse 100W suitcase panels in series (for high voltage and less power loss over cables) or by 48v up converted from the tow vehicle alternator while driving. Having the house power provided by either the 12 volt charge line while being towed or by shore power through the stock WFCO (which is disconnected from the battery by a relay) means that the full available charge from any and all source goes to the battery and not to running house draws.

The victrons allow a shortened "absorption" charge and a tail current cut off to ensure the lithium batteries don't get overcharged and a float level that is adjustable -- if you use 13.5 volts or less you won't top of the batteries more than you may want to. I wouldn't use a charger that makes the Lithium batteries sit at 14.2 volts or more.... but that's just me being conservative.

[Basecamp19]

PS to last message--

I shouldn't be read as endorsing the ReLiOn batteries over the BattleBorns. If the BattleBorns had been not been on delayed availability I might well have bought them instead, because of their longer warranty and their use by AMSolar. ReLion provides more detailed information on the performance of their batteries over many charge cycles at different temperatures -- which I couldn't find for the BattleBorns. Also ReLion provides detailed instructions for charging their batteries down to 14 degrees F at low currents (typical of my roof top solar in the winter anyway), while BattleBorn has an internal cutoff around freezing, and while I'd want to avoid doing this unless necessary, it was something of a plus for me.

(also I'm a little offended by the BattleBorn name and the use of the US flag, which seems to imply, without apparent basis, a connection to the US Military -- the website explains it is some connection to the Nevada state motto or something)

[Nodintree]

Originally Posted by bkitchens

I have not been able to find stock cables to convert from the RJ12 plugs on the shunt and remote display to the CAT5 (RJ12) cable pre-routed in the trailer. Did you make your cables?

I used these cables - little late for a response, but I will post it for a reference

[bkitchens]

Thanks. I tested a couple of different cables from Amazon and ended up having my brother make a converter cable.

[ROBERT CROSS]

19

What is the basis for the BB's not sitting at full charge for long periods without being discharged.
I see nothing on the website and it was not mentioned when I asked CS during my research before purchase.🤔

Bob
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