109 replies to this topic

[Lineman]

That's terrible! On the Victron, how many "cycles" (full discharges to below 50%) did you do on these batteries?

The monitor indicates zero full cycles, max draw of 44 amp hours on two 75 amp hour batteries. However I relied on the factory monitor my first summer of camping so it is hard to say exactly what happened during that time.

It would be nice to know some how if these batteries are part of a bad batch like WS has pointed out, of if it is something I did to shorten the life. I often leave it plugged in while the camper is stored in the garage and I know my IQ4 goes into float and holds the batteries at 13.6v, but I wonder if this contributed to the short life? I have always left my boat trolling motor batteries plugged in will no ill effects, but none of them where AGM.

Now I just have to decide if lithium is worth the cost.

[Vic Harder]

The monitor indicates zero full cycles, max draw of 44 amp hours on two 75 amp hour batteries. However I relied on the factory monitor my first summer of camping so it is hard to say exactly what happened during that time.

It would be nice to know some how if these batteries are part of a bad batch like WS has pointed out, of if it is something I did to shorten the life. I often leave it plugged in while the camper is stored in the garage and I know my IQ4 goes into float and holds the batteries at 13.6v, but I wonder if this contributed to the short life? I have always left my boat trolling motor batteries plugged in will no ill effects, but none of them where AGM.

Now I just have to decide if lithium is worth the cost.

zero full cycles is "good" for battery life, bad for economics.  I have the same on mine (well, ONE full cycle, but that was a test run I did on purpose) and thus feel I have too much battery for my usage pattern.  Batteries are supposed to last hundreds if not thousands of cycles.  See the chart for my batteries -- on this pdf -- for example

 

http://www.rollsbatt...s/S6-275AGM.pdf

 

At 50% discharge, I should get over 1500 cycles.  With a generous 50 camping nights a year (by my standards) that is 30 years of camping on the same batteries.  That said, they will also age, but still... waaaay more than the 2-5 years some folks are seeing here.  I suspect the short battery life stories we see here are because of inadequate monitoring tools, as well as poor charger configuration for the batteries supplied.

 

To your point, 13.6 volts on float should be good for your system.

[Rdy2Roam]

I may have missed it but did Craig find out if there was an "IOTA smart charger with IQ4 in your camper? "
 
[background=#f7

f7f7]Phil[/background]

Not sure if I'm responding to this right but I have the zamp controller and that's it. Will replace it with one of the ones there suggesting. Been very busy lately and haven't had time to mess with it. Still learning! I noticed the few times I've went in the camper in the afternoon the fan was running behind the controler at least it sounds like a fan.

[Wallowa]

Not sure if I'm responding to this right but I have the zamp controller and that's it. Will replace it with one of the ones there suggesting. Been very busy lately and haven't had time to mess with it. Still learning! I noticed the few times I've went in the camper in the afternoon the fan was running behind the controler at least it sounds like a fan.

 

 

If you have a FWC and can plug into 110/120 you have the IOTA and most likely with either an integrated or plug in IQ4...that fan is the cooling fan on the IOTA....Zamp controller is for solar charging of battery[s]; IOTA for 110/120 charging of batteries.  The monitor function of the Zamp controller show the voltage and amp levels at various phases of discharge or charging cycles.

 

Of course I am new at this and could be wrong!

 

Phil

[FoxenTec]

Thank you Phil (Wallowa) for the comments on the actual watts being used.  Sounds correct and I won't worry about it anymore!

 

One other question I have is, when the display monitor shows pv in the display and say 19.5 watts, I understand the pv is referring to the solar panels but is the reason I only see 19.5 from two 100 watt panels is that the current draw necessary to support the load and batteries is only 19.5 watts?

 

Thank you,

[rando]

Correct - once the batteries are fully charged and the solar controller has gone into float mode, it is just supplying the power to what ever loads are running plus a small efficiency factor. 

[Wallowa]

Correct - once the batteries are fully charged and the solar controller has gone into float mode, it is just supplying the power to what ever loads are running plus a small efficiency factor. 

 

 

An FYI..I believe it will stay in float mode for seven days when in "storage", then run through a complete cycle until returning to float mode again...supposedly to reduce plate build up...

 

But I could be, and too frequently am, wrong...

 

Phil

Edited by Wallowa, 30 July 2018 - 03:32 AM.

[radarcontact]

Wanted to post this addendum to this voltage thread, as it seems to have 'generated' (groan)  a lot of interest.

 

I finally straightened out all my charging issues.  My original AGM batteries went bad after about 2.5 years, and I thought it was probably the Zamp controller overcharging them.   Could have been other factors as well, including not-so-great AGM batteries to begin with, but I'll never know for sure.  Replaced charge controller with Blue Sky SB3000i, and am adding Blue Sky's battery monitor.  Everything so far is working good.  Having more programming options on the Blue Sky controller is much better, IMO, than the fully automatic Zamp controller.  Also added a battery temperature sensor, and getting ready to install another 100W solar panel to assist with my 160W panel on my roof.  I went from 170ah AGMs to 230ah wet cells, and I need more power to recharge the batteries when I'm off the grid.

 

I did have one glitch a couple days ago, and wanted to mention it in case anyone else runs into the same issue.  Initially, after I installed the new Blue Sky controller, everything worked fine.  A few days ago I installed the battery temp sensor with truck outside, and batteries charging via my panels.  When doing so I disconnected temporarily my positive terminal connections at the battery.  Reconnected everything, put the camper in the garage and plugged it into shore power, went to bed.  Keep in mind my batteries, at this point, are at float charge, 13.5V.  Batteries fully charged.   Next day looked inside at the controller and the voltage was 14.7V - bulk charge.  For well over 10 hours.   Left it alone for awhile, stayed  right at 14.7V, high.  Batteries boiling.  Disconnected shore power (I have an Iota w/IQ4 converter) and put truck outside....charging almost immediately dropped to 14.5V (my absorption set level in the Blue Sky controller), and then eventually to 13.5, my float charge set point.  So, everything's fine with my solar controller....what about the Iota?  Put it back in garage, plug it in, go to bed.  Next morning 14.7 AGAIN, all night.   Looked online and there's a fault mode with the Iota if it senses a short circuit.  When I also read my Blue Sky manual, it specifically states that if you disconnect the positive battery terminals, you MUST DISCONNECT THE PV (solar panel) POWER INPUT FIRST, otherwise you may cause a short circuit.  Must be what happened, because I reset the Iota, and everything is fine now.  So, just in case anyone else out there gets stuck in high voltage/bulk charge mode when plugging into shore power, the reason may be that the Iota had a fault.  To reset the Iota is simple...you unplug from shore power, disconnect your positive battery terminal for at least 30 sec, plug in shore power, then reconnect positive terminal.  Plugging into shore power before reconnecting prevents arcing.   Also, the Iota converters are preset for Bulk = 14.7-14.8, Absorption = 14.2, Float = 13.5-13.6.  Bulk can be up to 225 min/voltage set point, Absorption 480 min/voltage set point.  

Edited by radarcontact, 06 August 2018 - 11:36 PM.

[smlobx]

Radar I am on a similar path as you. I have just received the Blue SkyController but have yet to install it.
Can I ask which batteries you went with?

[radarcontact]

We have a CarQuest Auto Parts store here in Jackson, and I bought two 6V flooded wet cells this time, and connected them in series.  I had AGMs connected in parallel last time.  Decided to try older technology LOL.  More maintenance, you have to check water every so often, but the cost is cheap enough that I thought I'd go that route.  My battery compartment is vented to the rest of the camper, so I'm not overly concerned about gas issues.  I may install a computer fan in the compartment in the future, but right now everything is working great.   Here's a pic of my batteries:

Radar I am on a similar path as you. I have just received the Blue SkyController but have yet to install it.
Can I ask which batteries you went with?

 

https://shop.advance...0-12/11151702-P

 

 

The CarQuest batteries I have are Deep Cycle golf cart batteries....part # is G110-12.  They're a GC2 battery made by East Penn Battery Mfg. in Pennsylvania.  Sometimes the batteries are labeled Deka.  Probably the most common golf cart battery around - many auto stores, Walmart, etc., get these and relabel them slightly, but they're the same battery.   These are 230ah - I gained 60ah over the old AGMs.   FYI two of these fit my battery compartment perfectly.  The old AGMs were type 24 batteries, and GC2 batteries are the same size.  If you don't want to go w/maintaining wet cells, there's some 6V AGM GC2 batteries out there you can get, same size, like this one:

 

https://www.wholesal...-6v-agm-battery

 

Price difference is about double that of the flooded wet cell GC2 - but no maintenance.  Glad to help if you have any other questions.

 

BTW, I also installed Blue Sky's battery monitor, the IPN ProRemote.  It has even more ways of controlling and monitoring your batteries.  There's a feature on it that does Absorption charging by measuring the amount of current going into your batteries, vs. time, and switches to float when the charge current drops to around 1.5A per 100ah - much more accurate than, say, absorption charging for 2 hours every time.  You may need more or less time.  Measuring charge current narrows it down.  You can change that figure and just about every other one from the IPN.  Works flawlessly with the Blue Sky controller.  

Edited by radarcontact, 08 August 2018 - 01:57 PM.