Nightmares With RV Lithium Batteries

[@NackDSP]

Every RV needs a battery monitor with a shunt that counts power in and out of the battery and keeps track of exactly how much power remains in the battery. I saw the shunt in this circuit but no display. Maybe the Victron has blue tooth to a phone. I bought the Victron separate monitor. It works great. It measures the current draw or charge, the voltage and estimates the amp hours remaining and how long the battery will last with the current load. Send an email or a letter to that dealer demanding a refund or replacement in a week. Phone calls are useless. The slide likely draws 200 Amps, so that likely was way too much for the typical 100 Amp battery to deliver. Two of them may have worked.

[@Lake2Lake]

I use Bluetooth to the phone see check on my batteries. I'm just planning go the the dealer is the next couple of weeks. I'll let everyone know what happens. Thanks for watching Chuck & Carie 👍

[@shanedenmark5536]

It may be a 200 amp draw (that seems really really high) but a 100 amp hour (ah) should be able to run that load for half an hour. The BMS might be a limiting factor depending on the unit.

[@trevortrevortsr2]

If you switch to Lithium you need an appropriate lithium charger for hook-up and a DC-to-DC charger from your alternator - it sounds like your installer has done half a job - 100ah is a bit small for powering the power jacks and rollouts - The BMS should not be used as a charge limiter - it's a safety device - the charger should limit its voltage to 14.6 Volts max - lithium chargers should bulk charge to this 14.6v max then have a timed absorption usually 2 hours on batteries of this size at 13.8volts - they should not be left on trickle charge - micro cycling on the upper "Knee" will stress the battery and shorten its life - unlike a lead acid the comfortable and long term storage should be half empty.

[@Lake2Lake]

Thanks for the info. Every little bit of knowledge helps.

[@TheBigfoot567]

#1. Problem. That single 100AH Lifepo4 battery is too small for those lift and slide motors to operate for very long. #2. When switching to Lifepo4 batts in an RV/trailer that's designed to have Wet cell or AGM batteries. The Lifepo4 batts will fail. You have to change/ reprogram your charge controller to work with the new battery science. These are 2 very different battery systems and do not charge anywhere near alike. Your dealer should have known this before going lithium and not replacing or reprogramming (if possible) your charge controller.

[@jimmurphy5355]

The charge voltage for lithium iron phosphate batteries are not that different than for lead acid. Close enough that a lead acid setting is good enough, if not perfect. And close enough that the lithium battery won’t be harmed. With one big caveat. Some lead acid chargers have an equalization setting that pushes the voltage extra high for a while. Generally only used occasionally. This will push a lithium battery too high - and the BMS in the battery will shut off charging. That should protect the battery, but best not to do this at all.

[@Lake2Lake]

Thanks for the advice Chuck & Carie

[@Lake2Lake]

Thanks for the heads up. Chuck & Carie

[@richeastmain4031]

The battery level lights in the rv will show full charge when plugged in to shore power since it is measuring the output voltage of the converter. It’s also not accurate with lifepo4 batteries since they maintain pretty much a constant voltage even at 50 or 25% SOC. Lead acid state of charge can be estimated by checking the voltage but that doesn’t work with lithium. When properly set up the shunt that you have there will give you a much more accurate indication of state of charge.

[@Lake2Lake]

Yes I've found that out the hard way. Chuck and Carie

[@ItsMe-rl7ex]

Just making a comment your converter is not set for lithium battery you need to make sure that it changes the battery 14.5 v or you going to have the same problem once the battery goes low. Low charge will cause the battery to go bad, it works for now you have fully charged battery, good luck.

[@Lake2Lake]

I check my Victron shunt and so far it look good. Thanks for watching Chuck & Carie 👍

[@2hotscottpro]

Most bats balance at 14.2 so 14.5 isn’t needed to get full charge and will make bat last longer .Most bats rest at 12.8 😊

[@cabracove]

@@2hotscottpro Depends, Epoch starts balancing at around 13.7.Ideal setting is 14 absorption, 13.5 float. The 460 lives around 13.3 for most of its time when not charging.

[@2hotscottpro]

⁠@@cabracovewhat bms do they use? Epoch is a newish bat.All other bats use something like 4 eve cells or equivalent per 12v bat.So what makes there chemistry different? Even Battel Born says there’s start to balance around 14.2ish+

[@cabracove]

@@2hotscottpro I don't know. Even Epoch originally expected it to balance higher. Panbo did a series of testing and found with a lower float and absorb, it would balance at lower voltage. You can charge them to 14.2 or 14.4 but for whatever reason if you set the parameters to 14 or even 13.8 there is very little loss of duration. They don't stay above 14 after the charge cycle for very long anyway. No LFP does. Mine stays around 13.3 for days when discharging. Bonus is it has more time to balance. Panbo has a ton of videos on testing the 460

[@user-zo6xg8bx4l]

My bet is that your dealer is with Camping World.

[@Lake2Lake]

Not this time, Good guess Chuck and Carie

[@carrda58]

Curious to know the brand of the defective battery.

[@Lake2Lake]

I'm still in discussions with the dealer. It sounds like they lost it. Thanks Chuck & Carie

[@jeffreyrudolph5061]

​@Lake2Lake Another customer said " If you upgrade the battery to lithium ... we got a deal ! "

[@kirklawrence4326]

Thanks for the share. We had a slightly different experience, but similar in some ways to you. We bought a new Cougar last year, never really diving in and using the solar much. This year, we did some off-grid camping and found the same issue of the controller not being set up correctly. I started at the battery manufaturer, got their recommended settings ...then got the proper settings for the Victron controller (100/30) and still had some issues. I poured over several manuals and did my best to ask questions where appropriate. After some success...we still had some charging issues. Come to find out, the Smart Shunt was getting 6v, rather than 12V...so it wouldn't show up on the Victron app. So after fixing this, I then dove back into the system, made some tweaks and it works like a champ! It just takes persistence and time. To note, our controller was defaulted at the 'lead acid'setting, so our batteries were getting about a 60% charge at best before going into float. If you have a solar system, do your best to educate yourself.

[@Lake2Lake]

Persistence pays off along with the school of hard knocks. Thanks for watching Chuck & Carie 👍

[@junkerzn7312]

It sounds like the factory 100Ah (and probably 100A rated) battery didn't have the amps to deal with the equipment, and perhaps something internal burned out from the load or due to the misconfigured settings. In anycase, good luck! LiTime is a fine brand and your new setup certainly has enough amps.

[@Lake2Lake]

Thanks for watching Chuck & Carie 👍

[@youcanthide004]

AGM chargers can be used to charge lithium batteries, however, it is not recommended because of the potential for overcharging. You must use a charger designed to be compatible with this type of battery technology. Ultimately what you end up doing is damaging the battery management system of the lithium battery. And they are incredibly sensitive and the tolerance range is very minimal. Which is why it’s super important to spend a little money and install quality equipment.

[@Lake2Lake]

My Trailer came with a compatible Lith ion Charger. It charges the batteries up to 100%. Thanks for the suggestion Chuck & Carie

[@a64738]

Did you have only 1 Lithium battery to begin with when you had problems? One battery of that size is usually only 100Ah and only able to deliver 100 Ampere which can be to little to run an electric 12v engine, you need more then one Lithium battery to run electric engines because of the low ampere limit. Lead Acid batteries of same size usually deliver 650 to 850 Ampere.

[@Lake2Lake]

I had 1 battery when I had the problems. Thanks for watching Chuck & Carie 👍

[@cabracove]

@@Lake2Lake 100 is just never gonna make it. I have a 460 for the van. Will run anything. I'm sure you need much more power than I do .600 sounds just right, and you had plenty of room too. Looks good.

[@aliciabrowndocken4660]

I have a truck camper shell setup and I use 2 SOK 12V 206ah LiFePO4 Batteries. I have 412ah of usable LiFePO4 Batteries and I use a Victron IP22 30amp Charger when I have Hookups. I charge them at a 30amp rate and as they start to take a charge the voltage increases to 14.6 volts per the manufacturers recommendations. Both of the Batteries have a Bluetooth BMS and Heater Blankets. I'm in the process of installing a DC-DC Charger with MPPT for my 170watt Solar Panel so that I can be fully Off Grid. Right now they might still be on sale for 650ea with no shipping and no tax. You have to have a Charger with a LiFePO4 setting. Most batteries are warranted for full charge to zero charge twice a day for 7 years. That's only 5,100 Cycles. The Batteries that I buy are repairable in that the BMS and individual Cell Packs are replaceable. Like I said I have 412ah for a Chevrolet pickup truck with a Camper Shell. LiFePO4 Batteries are absolutely the way to go. You're going to love your setup.

[@BrianWaller-qe7gr]

Unless you’re charging 1 million ah lithium doesn’t take 3 days to charge. I have lithium in my car and my alternator can recharge 80 ah is less than 20 minutes at idle

[@Lake2Lake]

Maybe I need out my charging system. Thanks Chuck & Carie

[@myfastcars]

PLEASE let us know if you EVER get the dealer to replace that defective battery. That type of service sucks!

[@Lake2Lake]

I'm going to plan a trip to the dealer is a couple of weeks. I let everyone know. Thanks for watching Chuck & Carie 👍

[@kenszakacsi2310]

Me I just purchased my first RV. I just installed a 75 amp fuse at the position battery cable this will prevent a fire if there’s a shortage in the RV. So what amp fuse did you run in your Victron blue box . Cause you did not say I hope it’s not super big.

[@Lake2Lake]

I put in a 400 Amp fuse 6 inches from my positive battery terminal. Thanks Chuck & Carie

[@mcclungfarm7965]

Well you spent entirely too much money to fix a simple issue. These RV companies use wire that is too small. Most of the time the converter is too far away from the battery. Just getting the correct converter, replacing the wire and buss bars and you would have been ok. I have a 42ft Solitude and converted to lith. I had similar issues. After running the correct size wire and placing my new converter closer to my batteries my issues were solved. I ran all r slides and auto leveled my rig with no issues. I noticed it would slow down toward the end, so I did end up adding more battery after about a month. One last thing. Add a good battery disconnect that cuts all the 12v power. When your rig is just sitting the 12v lp alarm will drain your battery unless you have a solar panel (or stay connected to shore power).

[@Lake2Lake]

Thanks for the advice. Chuck & Carie

[@jasonbroom7147]

Trust, but verify. You counted on "technicians" working at an RV center. In retrospect, that really was your mistake. You knew better; LFP batteries can generally only do a 1C discharge rate, they require a different charging algorithm and there isn't really such a thing as a "drop-in" replacement for what lead-acid batteries can do. The sales people specializing in getting you to buy a new camper were blissfully unaware of these things. Caveat emptor is even more important than it used to be, due to all of the technical details of products on the market these days. Be informed or be disappointed.

[@Lake2Lake]

I have checked my converter and it does fully charge my batteries. Thanks for asking Chuck & Carie

[@gregzeng]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/b3-rhYF5gJd-i7c "19:43 DCS battery! KZbinr Sued for Reviewing this Battery?" My personal interest is replacing the gel batteries in my very heavy USA wheelchair, with lightweight Li-based batteries. The above link is a USA TESTING of these Li-based vehicle batteries. China makes all these batteries. Resellers then use various qualities & types of these batteries, depending on the reseller.

[@Lake2Lake]

Thanks for the heads up. Chuck & Carie

[@Lake2Lake]

Thanks for the heads up. Chuck & Caire