Best Of
Re: battery not charging on shore power & still being drawn down
There is no reason that someone should have to go through so many hoops for the WFCO converter to work. These units should have a dedicated switch to change the battery charging profile. Charge a bit more and make these units work correctly. There isn’t any good reason that there should be so many difficulties with these converters.GregR said:In trying to be proactive before I switch out my AGM batteries for a lithium battery, I contacted WFCO trying to get a jumper. Here is WFCO's response:"The jumper is not a requirement to use your auto detect, it is more of a last resort. the install of the converter will play a part in the auto detect functioning correctly; in most cases it works just fine.
Check the size of your inline fuse and make sure it is a 60amp fuse.
Then you need to allow the converter the time to detect the battery. If you have any external chargers or solar you will want to disable these during the detection stage. Drain your lithium batteries down to 10-20% and then plug into shore allowing the converter to charge the battery back to full; towards the end of the charge cycle you will see the green LED change to a blue LED indicating the lithium charge mode."
So, is it how nuCamp initially wires the trailer? Is it the 50A inline fuse (or maybe the 40A circuit breaker) that causes the auto-detect issue?
Re: Hygrometer for Battery Testing
2 6V batteries at $170 each x 2 = $340.00 $340 divided by 115ah usable capacity = $2.96 per ah.
1 300ah Renogy at $850.00 divided by 295ah usable capacity = $2.88 per ah.
1 300ah Renogy at $850.00 divided by 295ah usable capacity = $2.88 per ah.
Re: Hygrometer for Battery Testing
Two 6CatDaddy said:
My 320S has two, 6V, US2200 XC2, deep-cycle (not AGM) batteries in series. They're rated for 230Ah each. If I only discharge to 50% SOC, that gives me 230Ah of capacity.
6V times 230Ah = 1380 watts
1380 watts times 2 = 2760 watts
2760 watts divided by 12V = 230Ah
50% of 230Ah = 115Ah
None of that says you won't get a few day of boondocking from 115Ah.
Re: Lithium Battery High @ 80 amps. Later this will go away.
You are actively charging. That is the voltage and amps for charging, not drawing. You are looking at the Victron inverter/charger screen.
Re: Hygrometer for Battery Testing
If you have a propane fridge or you mostly camp with hookups I don't think there's a really big need to switch to lithium unless you have some other sizable power need (CPAP?)ScottG said:Ha. I've camped quite nicely for a decade on single group 31 FLA batteries. And I have both a hygrometer and a refractometer that allow me to monitor batter health and aging.We're a dwindling (and possibly stubborn) cohort. I'll probably replace my battery in the next year or two. Maybe I'll drink the lithium ion kool-aid then. Maybe not. :-)
For those of us with 12v fridges and infrequent shore power, its not so much "drinking the kool-aid" as it is "facing the music."
Horses for courses, and all that.
Re: Wet Subfloor in 2016 TAB CS Camper
I would start with resealing the wheel wells.
https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/6393/maintenance-notices
https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/6393/maintenance-notices
Re: Dual MPPT
Victron MPPT chargers are pretty sophisticated devices. I have two installed, and I have never encountered any problems with the chargers fighting each other. The MPPTs, shunt, and inverter all communicate without issue.CatDaddy said:This really surprises me. I'm an electrical engineer that has designed MPPT hardware. It is much easier and less expensive to add a second channel than to make trackers that communicate with each other to avoid fighting each other. It's almost like capitalism isn't working...AnOldUR said:You can network the controllers, so they act as one. It's easier and cheaper to add a second.
Re: How low should I take my voltage?
I'm a bit surprised that your camper came with a "stock" lead acid battery. If there is any question, have a look, take a picture, and we can help.
Your dealer doesn't know "anything" about batteries if that is the answer he gave you.
The balancing act on any battery type is "how much power to use to get the most cycles from the battery". The kicker for a battery is: no matter how well you treat it, the "calendar aging" of the battery is unavoidable. Even if you never dropped a lead acid battery to the 70-80 percent range shown in the chart above...it still will not be a viable battery after 5-6 years. So: to get the most out of the battery, use the power you need, try to avoid going too far below that "50 percent" level. If you do, get the charge level back up as quickly as you can.
The absolutely fastest way to kill a battery is to leave it in a low state of charge for a long period of time. Even a 1 year old battery left in a low state that continues to "self-discharge" will completely "sulfate" and fail.
So, that is the dilemma: to get the most out of your battery...you should use the available amp hours, within reason, of course. This may take a bit of planning if boondocking to balance your usage with what you might expect for solar input, etc. Monitoring the battery is really the key to get those 5 years you might expect from a lead acid battery.
Victron has some very odd names for what they call ordinary deep cycle lead acid batteries. Most of those settings that Victron has for lead acid charging are very much the same, so I wouldn't worry about them too much.
Re: How low should I take my voltage?
First off, please confirm you have a Standard Lead-Acid (AGM or not) Battery [dealer installed] or the yr-2023 factory installed OPTIONAL Li-ion package.
Lead-Acid and Li-Ion have very different useful voltage/charge output profiles.
Generally, Lead-Acid Batteries are only usable for half their rated Amp Hours capacity.
For example; 70AHr Deep Cycle will become useless after 35AHr of energy is drawn out and the 'measured' voltage will be in 11'ish to 12.2'ish range.
A 70AHr Li-Ion battery would still generate 12.5+ volts after 60AHr of energy drain.
The 'serivce guy' may have assumed the trailer was Li-Ion.
Best Practice is never to fully drain any battery below 12.2'ish volts
Lead-Acid and Li-Ion have very different useful voltage/charge output profiles.
Generally, Lead-Acid Batteries are only usable for half their rated Amp Hours capacity.
For example; 70AHr Deep Cycle will become useless after 35AHr of energy is drawn out and the 'measured' voltage will be in 11'ish to 12.2'ish range.
A 70AHr Li-Ion battery would still generate 12.5+ volts after 60AHr of energy drain.
The 'serivce guy' may have assumed the trailer was Li-Ion.
Best Practice is never to fully drain any battery below 12.2'ish volts
When Shore-power is available (like in your driveway) use it.
You can enjoy the trailer and battery will be charged and ready for your next trip.
You can enjoy the trailer and battery will be charged and ready for your next trip.
Re: Dual MPPT
You can network the controllers, so they act as one. It's easier and cheaper to add a second.