lithium battery upgrade

[bags]

I want to change out my lead acid batteries for lithium. My current setup is below.

Xantrex Freedom MS 858 inverter charger (battle horn batteries says this will charge my batteries if I set it on gel 2)

Xantrex c40 PWM solar controler

4 100 watt solar panels

4 golf 6 volt cart batteries

Below is the system I am looking at installing.

3 battle horn 100ah batteries

victron MPPT 100/50 solar controller

victron BVM 702 or 712 battery monitor

My questions is have I left any out or am I buying something I do not need? All input is sincerely appreciated.

JB

 

Edited May 25, 2021 by bags
change battery #

[Hill_Country]

Except for the solar, I put a similar setup in my fiver and I couldn't be happier.  FWIW, I bought most of my stuff from https://theinverterstore.com/ and went with AIMS batteries.  Same specs and size as the BB and much better price and warrantee.  I'm going on 3 years with them and no problems at all. When you call, ask if they have any promos and they'll knock off a few bucks.

Go lithium and you'll never go back to LA.

[Randyretired]

A Victron MPPT controller may make your existing panels a little more efficient but unless you are adding more solar that is an expensive upgrade that will only marginally increase your solar output.  You will really like the lithium batteries.  I just installed 800 ah of diy lithium for our 5er.  

[bags]

thanks Randy. That makes sense now that I think about it. JB

 

[Star Dreamer]

Don't forget that you cannot charge the lithium batteries when temperature gets below 32 degrees F. So either make sure they are in a heated bay or have a way to warm the batteries up. You can get some batteries with heaters built in. 

 

My battery bay is not heated and I am having a hard time finding heated ones that will fit so I am trying to decide if I want to move them to my basement. 

 

We were in below freezing temp in Texas early this year, do it does happen even if you try to avoid the cold. 

[Hill_Country]

I had the same concerns, but by moving the batteries from the front compartment to under the steps in the basement, I actually gained considerable space that wasn't previously being used.  Much more convenient for wiring, too.  Besides gaining the space in the front compartment, I also reconfigured the basement wall.

We moved into our fiver during the Texas freeze so the basement stayed nice and warm, but I also put cutoff switches on each battery so I can positively shutdown everything if needbe.  It was probably overkill to also install a small cube heater on a thermostat switch in the basement as I hope that was a once in a lifetime storm for Texas.

[Chad Heiser]

It appears the PWM controller has adjustable charge algorithms which would allow you to use it with the battle born batteries.  With that knowledge, I would probably start with just the batteries and the battery monitor and only upgrade the charge controller later if it didn’t do the job properly with the lithium batteries.  

As for the battery monitor, stay with either the BMV 712 or the Victron Smart Shunt.  Take the 702 off the list.  The 712 and the Smart Shunt do exactly the same thing.  They both have the same wireless connectivity through Bluetooth.  This allows you to connect your smart phone to them through an app to get all the information you would ever want to know about your batteries.  The 712 also comes with a remote display you can mount somewhere to view your battery status.  The 702 does not have Bluetooth or a wireless option.

[bags]

thanks for all the input! I really appreciate it.

[bags]

On 5/25/2021 at 11:46 AM, bags said:

3 battle horn 100ah batteries

victron MPPT 100/50 solar controller

 712 battery monitor

I had the above system installed in June to complement my old freedom combi 424 freedom inverter and 4 120 watt solar panels. The system was installed our event got canceled so the rig went back in the barn hooked up to  30 amp power. Just now got the rig out and noticed the charger is not working (inverter is) and at noon in bright sunlight in Oklahoma only getting the below reading from my smart solar ppt charge controller.

solar controler

solar 187 watts volts 15

current 12

battery

volts 13.12

current 14

state bulk

 

my battery monitor is giving me these readings (on shore power)

voltage 12.99

current 5.26power 68 watts

I contacted Dragon Fly energy (battery manufacture)yesterday to make sure all the settings and battery hookup were right and after an extensive call they determined they were and a guess that the charger had failed.

Batteries will not charge from my Inverter charger/generator or charge line from truck. I tighten all the connections, solar cables, battery connections etc. I cleaned the panels less than a week ago. I am at a complete loss. Any and all ideas are appreciated. I did check the inverter/charge to make sure the settings were correct.

Could a charger failure cause all this?

Sincerely

John Bagley

Edited October 16, 2021 by bags

[packnrat]

kinda late here, but there are "better" out there for less money than the bb company units.

as to heat. even a cheep hose warmer will keep them nice and toasty. but only if you enclose them in something with insulation. pending some things just the batteries them selves can keep up the temps, in a large ice chest, it will do the trick. pending you are not camping in Alaska in January.

but there are some out there with built in heaters.

go to u-tube search for Will Prowse.  all questions will be answered.

[Chad Heiser]

Your Victron MPPT charge controller needs a minimum of a 5 volt difference between the solar array voltage and the battery voltage before it will begin charging.  If your solar panel voltage is only 15 volts and the battery voltage is 13.12 volts, the controller won’t do anything.  There isn’t a big enough differential between the solar panel voltage and the battery voltage to make the solar controller start charging.

What are the ratings of your solar panels and how are they wired to the solar controller (parallel, series, or series/parallel)?  If you provide the complete solar panel ratings (not just wattage) I can make recommendations about them.  The complete ratings are:  Wattage, Voc, Isc, Vmp, and Imp.  Each panel should have a sticker on it that lists these ratings.

Edited February 24, 2022 by Chad Heiser