Randyretired

I am not familiar with the BMS in that battery but every BMS I have seen will shut down at low voltage in any cell and the battery overall. That is a basic BMS function. A few BMS's will not restart automatically and some solar charge controllers will not restart if the BMS has shut down and manual intervention is required. That isn't likely but something to keep in the back of your mind. It is best to set the low voltage shut-off on the inverter above the BMS cutoff.

There are some YouTube videos on how to setup Magnum inverter/chargers. The one I remember was for Battle Born but I believe the process is the same except for your battery requirements. I don't have a Magnum inverter and my batteries are diy so my settings are different. It looked like the settings in the inverter are custom and then user defined.

Yes that is normal. LFP batteries have a very flat voltage from around 90% charged to 10% charged at around 13v to 13.3v. By the time these batteries read 12v there isn't a lot of charge left. When fully charged the voltage will spike up to around 13.4v at rest, not 12.8v like lead acid. Using voltage as a measurement of state of charge on these batteries doesn't work very well.

I think you will really like the batteries. So much more efficient charging it is like adding 20% to the solar panels. These also are better at providing heavy loads with out the losses normally encountered.

Cataract surgery is quite common and pretty simple. The results can be spectacular.

That is interesting. I have 1400 ah at 12v diy batteries. The cell manufacturers specifically lists charging above freezing only. Just a note there are a variety of different diy batteries.

I don't use it to pull heavy stuff. I have a HDT for that. It is chipped, new exhaust and turbo so it meets my needs as a PU and small trailer hauler. 1999 but only 100,000 miles. I also need the 4x4. I think my use is what many others want it for and the fuel economy is great. I bought it new and so far none of the problems you mentioned.

He just said macular degeneration. So far he said just one eye.

This is interesting. The eye doctor said I have the beginning of this in my left eye. I guess for now we are watching it progress until treatments are necessary.

A lot of us have our batteries in storage compartments or inside. I would protect them some way.

Many just disconnect the LFP batteries. The self discharge is very low and these should be fine all winter. These batteries are best stored about 50% SOC. Heaters would of course use power and need charging to keep up. If you are relying on solar it would need to keep up and if you get snow that could be a problem. If you want to heat the batteries for travel to allow charging some use tank heaters under the batteries. Many of these already have a thermostat. You could add a switch to turn it off when not needed. That way you could heat for travel and disconnect for winter.

I fused the lead to existing 12v loads. I also fused at the bus bar to protect all of the wires on it instead of near the connected circuits. Specifically the charge controller. If the wires are short and safe it probably doesn't matter.

That is a good question but virtually all of the cells I have seen are rated 3,000 to 5,000 cycles before the capacity drops to 80%. A cycle is defined as fully charged to fully discharged. It is also believed that partial cycles can be added up to make a complete cycle. Such as 50% plus 50% cycles equal one full cycle. In any case 3,000 cycles @ 1 every day is a lot of years! And 80% is still useful. The BMS is another point that could fail but being solid state unless abused one would think it would last. These cells have been around for years now and while there are some failures it is rare so I think it is worth the risk. The $900 battery such as Battle Born does have the warranty though.

There are conflicting messages about adding parallel LFP batteries even from different manufactures. From what I have read I believe it will work especially with the light draws typically seen in RV and solar. It is a fact that these batteries connected in parallel will self balance by voltage.To that end I have ordered some new cells to assemble a battery addition to our 5er. These new cells are different size and manufacturer than the existing batteries but won't be here for another month (slow boat from China). I will report back how well it works. This will bring our batteries to 1400ah @ 12v.

If that is your preferred way I don't believe it matters. However it is done one connection is hot. Either at the batteries, switch or fuse and caution is the needed. On edit one could just remove the ground terminal at the battery. With the switch first the switch isn't fuse protected and that is why many prefer the fuse first. Switch failures are not a problem from my experience.

I don't believe it matters. In each case there is only a small amount of wire left connected to the circuit when the disconnect is opened. Surely you could look to see if it is serviceable before connecting the fuse.

Yes, I should have been clearer. Both Dish (Hughes Net) and Starlink are location specific. Hughes Net does have a portable option but it has a significant equipment cost and then the service cost. Slow and each plan has a limited amount of data. I will try to get away from Hughes Net at our mountain property.

It has been a couple of years but when I inquired about Dish internet it was location specific. In our location it was provided by Hughes Net. I ended up with Hughes Net but direct with them. I will be looking into Starlink this summer. Hughes Net is slow, unresponsive and expensive in my opinion.

I don't bobtail much but the couple of times I did it was 12mpg. 2001 ISX.

As you stated the problem with LFP batteries is charging below freezing will destroy them. The batteries will still provide power in freezing temps. For storage most just disconnect the batteries. These batteries store best when not fully charged or completely discharged and the self discharge is low. I keep my batteries around 50% in storage which for a 12v battery is around 13.1v. I am not familiar with the batteries you are looking at but be aware that charging below freezing can quickly degrade or destroy a LFP battery. My batteries are self assembled and have a BMS that stops charging below freezing.

The Ford 7.3 diesel seems to be sought after. I have a 99 F250 with the 7.3 diesel and I have had a number of people approach me to buy it. I am happy with it for my use so I will keep it.

I used to tilt when panels were so expensive and the panels were small (100 watts). Now that the panels are bigger the thought of wind storms catching the panels is to scary. Even with the small ones I put them down when high winds were forecast. Also getting on the roof is tougher now.

I started years ago making my own mounts. Angle aluminum to attach to the roof and flat and or aluminum up to the side of the panel. Then bolted through the side of the panel. The aluminum angle on the roof can be as long as necessary, with as many bolts as necessary to meet the needs. Lots of Dicor. On the larger panels I also use 3 mounts per side. At least on the leading edge. The final bolt placement for the middle mounts are fabricated on the roof to meet the curve. Mounting the large panels by myself is difficult. I use equipment to lift the panels up but moving the panel into position without tearing the roof is challenging. 500 watt panels would seem to require 2 or more people and even then it won't be easy.

That system has probably served you well. There are some newer products available today and the cost for things like panels have come down. When I bought my first solar panel for my RV in 1988 the cost per watt was very high. I have been using used panels lately that cost pennies on the dollar compared to then. The higher voltage panels and charge controllers capable of handling that voltage greatly decreases wire cost. Lithium batteries are often used now. While still expensive these last a little longer and more of the capacity can be used. Lithium batteries are less sensitive to SOC and are more efficient. Most of the Off Grid systems use 48v now. We have 2,000 watts of solar on our 5er and when we are at our mountain property we plug into another 1,700 watts for a total of 3,700 watts. We will have 1400 ah at 12v of lithium batteries when I finish adding the new batteries. I assemble the batteries from cells to save. For our new place we are planning on a 20,000 watt solar array and 46,000 watts of battery storage. It will also have solar hotwater infloor heat with propane backup.

Comparing an off grid system with a grid tie system is apples to oranges. For one the 3 power walls would likely not make it through the night you charge one EV. And your mileage is less than average. The grid as a backup is essentially a storage battery to carry your power through the high power days. I am not going to calculate the figures for this but I can say with certainty that Vladimir's numbers are closer than yours for solar power. With the generator you can make it work but it will run a lot of hours to cover all of your needs.