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#1 buckland

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Posted 18 August 2019 - 09:26 PM

Anyone have an idea why the battery pack peaks out at 13.2 charge?
My Victron 100 20 mppt controller is set to 13.8 V for absorption

160 Watt panel in full sun doing great but battery not going over 13.2
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#2 Happyjax

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Posted 19 August 2019 - 12:49 AM

Are you using a LifeP04 charging profile?

 

LifeP04 uses constant current charging as far as I remember. I don't believe it uses absorption.....

 

Others may know more.....


Edited by Happyjax, 19 August 2019 - 12:52 AM.

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#3 photohc

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Posted 19 August 2019 - 01:48 AM

Yes, you should be using a lithium charge profile. According to the manual for the Victron 100/30, the profile is #7 on the rotary switch, however in review of the manual for the Victron 100/20, it doesn't offer an easy profile selection. You may be able to manually change the voltage levels to match what is required of the lithium battery you have using a pc connection.


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#4 Vic Harder

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Posted 19 August 2019 - 06:14 AM

Buckland is using a LiFePo4 charging profile.  He knows more than most on this forum re: these batteries.... heck, he built his own 12v battery from scratch! 

 

And correct me if I'm wrong, but this WAS working before, right?  This is a recent issue?

 

I just got a BattleBorn 100AH for my new PUMA build out.  As a newbie to LiFePo4 I have relied on rando, Craig333, buckland, PaulT and others (sorry if I missed you) who have been pioneers in this area.  

 

The stuff I know I also gleaned from Will Prowse - LINK, who is enthusiastic, knowledgeable and helpful.  Also from Battleborn's web site on using Victron gear with their batteries - LINK and from this helpful dude - .

 

I usually avoid reading comments on social media posts, but in this case there were some useful ones, and I quote:

 

Paul G - on Oct 29, 2017 at 10:09 AM - said:  Here's a quick reference so you don't need to keep replaying the video like I did.  There are only 4 changes from default (01, 02, 05 and 06) marked with a *:

01 Battery Capacity - 99AH*

02 Charged Voltage - 14.4V*

03 Tail Current - 4.0%

04 Charged Detection - 03

05 Puekert Exponent - 1.05*

06 Charge Efficiency Factor - 99%

07 Current Theshold - 0.10A

08 Time to Go Averaging Period - 03

09 Zero Current Calibration - ZERO

10 Synchronize - SYNC

11 Relay Mode - DFLT

 

And then Denis Phares added to this on June 2, 2018 at 4:449 PM

Try reducing your end charging current from 4% (as suggested in the video) to 1%.  This will allow the batteries to be topped off in the absorption stage a little bit more.  This will also allow extra time for balancing.  If the charge current is high, than [sic] 4% of the charge current my be too high for the final top off.

 

All that said, in my BMV 712 I have my Bulk/Absorption voltage set to 14.5V with a 30 minute Absorption cycle per recommendations from Battleborn, and float set to 13.5V.

 

And the 100/30 MPPT controller is set as in the notes above.

 

I also recall rando saying something about backing off from those setting to keep the battery between 10% and 90% SOC, as LiFePo4 chemistry rewards not using the full cycle of available SOC by vastly increasing the number of discharge cycles they will tolerate.  Unfortunately I don't remember the details.

 

Now, my Buckland isn't getting a the batteries to go beyond 13.2V.... I don't know, but hopefully something in the above info will be helpful!


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#5 buckland

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Posted 19 August 2019 - 11:48 AM

Not sure if I should have used the Ultimate battery thread for this I'll continue here unless told to move. 

I am perplexed. I am a novice though learning. I tend to jump into things with both feet and cause a lot of my own misery. But I have to 

have a hands on approach on to grasp concepts. That is why I decided to build my own despite the fact I was learning as I went along.

 

On a three week trip the new built battery was doing great then suddenly 12 days in started to not charge as high and the voltage drained lower and lower until I noticed that my cells were out of balance and I shut it all down and bought ice!

 

After getting home I pulled the battery. I set up an inverter on the battery and and ran a crock pot to drain the battery down to 2.9 volts in lowest cell. Then used a pack of 4 resistors to drain each cell pack down to 2.85 Volts. Then I Bottom-Balanced with the battery Management gizmo to 2.9 (as there was bounce back voltage). Then I reinstalled the battery and watched it solar recharge throughout the day... a real high sun day. It charged up to and leveled off at 13.2 Volts. Nothing was running in the camper except the propane detector.

 

I have the Victron 100 20 smart controller with a bluetooth app. Attached find two photos of the settings page and the display. I have renolgy 160 panel. 

Perhaps I should have it set up differently? Perhaps I have built a lousy battery! 

 

Either way I am glad I attempted it for the experience. If I can't get it to work I will chalk it up and save up for a Battleborn. I am sold on LiFePo4 as the only way to go.... once I get out of the hole I'm in!

 

Thanks for all suggestions. BTW the BMS monitor attached to the packs shows the four cell packs as: 3.2, 3.3, 3.3, 3.3 Volts this morning.

Attached Files


Edited by buckland, 19 August 2019 - 12:01 PM.

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#6 Vic Harder

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Posted 19 August 2019 - 09:38 PM

It can't hurt the battery to really top it up ... once.  Try setting the bulk/absorb voltage to what Battleborn recommends for theirs... 14.4V, with a 30 min absorb cycle per 100AH, and a 13.5 Float level.


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#7 buckland

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Posted 19 August 2019 - 11:22 PM

I tried this morning putting at 14V and reducing time to 30 minutes. After 8 hours of sun... it had risen to 13.45 then fell back to 13.2 at dusk. There is something amiss. Probably not the electronics but rather wiring somewhere or a drain (short)... somewhere and I hate to think where. The truck did take a lot of jolts on the trip and the battery could have been jostled (though packed well in a foam lined box) and a major wire or solder failed. This sounds like a good winter project! Not summer’s end.... so might just pull it and set it aside after draining to 11.5. For those that consider building I strongly advice you to do so. You really get a good groundwork electrical testing and that is good for a lot of camper work. If I were to start now?.... I’d do as Will does in the you tube videos .... get four cells and put them together, Boom done. Everything else is even easier. Live and learn.
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#8 rando

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Posted 20 August 2019 - 04:47 PM

If you just bottom balanced your pack, then all the cells started at almost 0% SOC, so it may take more time than you think to get them back to fully charged.    I don't remember your battery and solar specs - but assuming a 160W panel and a 100Ah battery,  it could take 2-3 days of good sun (and more days of New England 'sun')  to get 100Ah back into the battery.    What does the history display in your Victron look like?   

 

PS  I would set the equalize setting on your victron to something like 14V, just in case it accidentally gets switched on - you will get a BMS shutdown at 16.2V.


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#9 buckland

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Posted 20 August 2019 - 05:45 PM

I have seen a rise in voltage to 13.6 so far today. A few more hours of NE sun to go. Attached is a photo of Victron app history. Attached File  IMG_9095.JPG   132.2K   56 downloads
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#10 buckland

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Posted 20 August 2019 - 05:49 PM

An added note. I have a Blue Seas battery separator but I do not currently have the camper plugged into the truck thinking the separator might be confused with a lead acid battery in the truck and the LiFePo4 battery in the camper connected.
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2016 Duramax 2.8 Diesel long bed Colorado 4WD with 2011 Eagle

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