LiFePo4 charging

Thanks... I did it the hard way but learned s lot. Since bottom balancing (which I should have done at the start) all things seem to be working fine again. I figure whatever happens with this battery it was worth it. I like to have something to wrestle with or else I’d go nuts. I don’t watch TV so I have a ton of time to putter.

Question: Anyone who has a LiFePo4 battery...have you ever plugged into shore power ...I.e. the Iota 110 to DC to charge the battery? Does the charge controller (in my case Victron) manage the charge profile?

Question: Anyone who has a LiFePo4 battery...have you ever plugged into shore power ...I.e. the Iota 110 to DC to charge the battery? Does the charge controller (in my case Victron) manage the charge profile?

In my 2014 Hawk, I  have the IOTA DLS-30 with the external IQ4 module.  I ordered a IQ4-LIFEPO from Don Rowe company

It was $18 and the specs met the Battleborn specs for charging. Works as advertised.  I called Battleborn prior to orderig my  batteries to make sure that charging profiles on my solar charge controller and shore power charging were compatible with the batteries.

 

If you have an IOTA with internal IQ4, contact IOTA to see if anything can be done to switch profiles.

 

Paul

Thanks Paul... I went to the site and read their material. Not sure what to do as I am a novice at these batteries but the profile does say they float charge which I was schooled these batterie don't like.....  

https://www.donrowe....p/iq-lifepo.htm

 

But if this is a good thing the price is right to swap out the control module.  It seems to make sense to do so as the current one is strictly for AGM (?)

Battleborn's website discusses acceptable charging profiles and indicates that it is ok to float their batteries within a range of voltages.

"A float is unnecessary, since Li-ion batteries do not leak charge, but a floating voltage under 13.6V is fine."

https://battlebornba...epo4-batteries/

 

You might gain some info on your unit with the Thornwave LiFePO4 battery monitor with Bluetooth app for smartphones or iPads. I added one to my Powerbox unit with 30aH Bioenno LiFePO4 battery.  The same unit can be used on larger LiFePO4 systems by itself if charging and discharging is 60 amps or less. If higher current Thornwave sells shunts to acommodate the higher current.

 

Paul

ps. I didn't recheck if you use the Victron charger/battery monitor. In which case, you would not need the Thornwavel

Question: Anyone who has a LiFePo4 battery...have you ever plugged into shore power ...I.e. the Iota 110 to DC to charge the battery? Does the charge controller (in my case Victron) manage the charge profile?

PaulT has already spoken to your concerns, and to answer your question, No, the Victron does not manage the IOTA

Thanks Vic... I am going to order the IQ4 LiFePo for the IOTA DLS-30 and take out the other module. I can count on one hand the number of times I have used shore power in 8 years but for $18 it seems sensible to do. I won't ever be going back to AGM. 

After installing my Battleborn batteries with the IQ4-LIFEPO, and reprograming my Bogart Engineering battery monitor and solar charge controller, everything has been working well. 

 

I have one remaining power issue and finally isolated what was happening. Because I have an AGM truck battery, I did not replace the SurePower battery isolator because I did not want my LiFePO4 configured solar system charging my AGM truck battery until I better understood how it all worked in practice. I noticed that although the camper batteries had reached 99-100% at end of day, They would be down to 90-95% in the morning without anything on on the camper. I had pushed in the big chrome switch.  So where was the power going?

 

While watching the battery monitor amps reading, I noticed about  0.8 to 0.9 amps draw on the camper batteries. The only place it could be going was forward to the truck. The SurePower battery isolataor has a solenoid that consumes about 0.9 amps to keep the relay energized. I pushed my keyfob unlock button and watched the truck interior lights come on and the amps went up to about 2.5 amps. Pushing the keyfob Lock button, I saw the amps drop back down to about 0.9 amps as the interior lights went off. Checking the truck voltage showed 13.2  volts. This is after the truck had rested for more than 12 hours and 12.5 to 12.8 volts would be more appropriate. In other words, the internal truck DC power sysem is my parasitic load. My expensive LiFePO4 batteries are float charging my truck battery and powering the always on truck systems and keeping the isolator relay energized.

 

Rethinking my previous decisions, I may disconnect the truck and camper electrical systems entirely.

 

Paul

AHA! I knew it!.... this must be where my energy went too. It happened when I plugged the camper into the truck. Since bottom balancing I have since not plugged the camper into the truck...really no need. I have the Blue Sea and could switch them back and forth but for a small gain I see no reason to have to do it. (BTW I do have the Victron with bluetooth app) 

I ordered the Iota controller for the LifFePo4 .... how difficult is it to swap out the two? I have the DLS 30 with smart charger.

Thanks Vic... I am going to order the IQ4 LiFePo for the IOTA DLS-30 and take out the other module. I can count on one hand the number of times I have used shore power in 8 years but for $18 it seems sensible to do. I won't ever be going back to AGM. 

The marketing description of their LiFePo4 module describes both float and a maintenance cycle.  I don't like the sound of that.  

 

Paul, can you speak to what the IOTA actually does with that module in it?