Monitoring Lithium Battery Level in 2023 400 with 1 battery

DaveC

Since the 1 battery 400 does not have the Victron system, how do you monitor the battery level. I understand lithium battery voltage does not accurately reflect the battery charge.  Any details on the "lithium Switch Power Converter" and solar controller?

pthomas745

What trailer do you have?  In the 400 models after 2019 or so, those trailers with installed solar came with Victron solar controllers.  The Victron connect app, with the appropriate battery settings for lithium, can display the battery voltage just fine. 

Or, a multimeter can do it.  In either case,  just make sure to read the battery voltage with the battery switch off and no charge coming into the battery.

Lithium voltage can "accurately" reflect the battery status, but the discharge "curve" is a bit steep and can be a bit confusing.

If you are talking about the "new improved" 400 with the single lithium setup, it will have the Victron solar controller.  It would not have the Victron Multiplus charger.  I'm not sure if the single setup would come with a Victron shunt, but that would be a fairly simple upgrade that you could do yourself.  The shunt's great advantage is to be able to "count" how many amp hours you have used.  For a lithium battery, it eliminates the confusion of the lithium "discharge curve". 

There are two different WFCO lithium chargers.  One has a simple switch to go from "lead acid" to lithium.  The latest ones are supposed to "automatically sense" a lithium battery.  But, there has been some issues surrounding the actual ability of the WFCO to do this. See this thread from last September.

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/16210/wfco-wf-8735-ad-lifepo4-fyi-on-annoying-auto-detect-quirk

DaveC

pthomas,
Thanks for the info.  I am picking up my 2023 400 tomorrow, will see which charger it has.  Any suggestions on what to ask the dealer if this unit has the auto sense controller?  Thanks again for the info.

bergger

As @pthomas745 mentioned your new trailer will have the Victron smart solar controller in it. That is the product they currently use. You’ll have to download the app and Bluetooth connect to the controller. That will allow you to see the current state of the batter and of the solar input and state. It’s not as good as the smart shunt but certainly gets the job done. 

DaveC

Thanks  bergger. So I can monitor the battery from the app. What info does the smart shunt add and can it be added easily.  I will report back once I have played with it. (Got to love new toys!)

dsfdogs

@DaveC Your trailer will have the WFCO-8955-AD converter. The "AD" stands for "auto-detect" meaning it's supposed to be able to determine if you have a lead acid battery or a lithium and charge correctly. It's a black box below your stove, near the floor and you can push open the door to see the fuses and circuit breakers. They will be labeled.

pthomas745

Here is the link to the Victron Connect App for your Victron solar controller.

https://www.victronenergy.com/panel-systems-remote-monitoring/victronconnect

The App with the solar controller keeps track of the solar panels activity as it charges the battery, and provides battery voltage, etc.

The Victron Shunt (there are others) gives some basic information of charge coming to the battery, but with the added attraction of counting the numbers of "amp hours" that have come out of your battery  Knowing the numbers of amp hours you have used is a better gauge of the actual "state of charge" voltage numbers of a battery.  I could (and did) live without a shunt for a few years.  I used a multimeter and made some good guesses about my battery status.  It isn't hard, just takes practice.  The shunt turned the "guesses" into actual data.

This page has a good explainer of the two separate apps: the Smart Controller app (linked above) and the "SmartBMV" which is the "shunt' app.

https://faroutride.com/victron-review/

bergger

The smart shunt very accurately measures the battery's voltage and current, in and out.  Also how much time you have left based on current real time usage.  The thing I really like is how easy it is to see how much draw an appliance, light or any electronic plugged in pulls.   Lets you know what is a power hog and what is not.  It's pretty easy to install as well.  I had NuCamp install mine but they did it wrong so after I figured that out I did it myself.  

Here is a link to a thread about my trials and tribulations figuring out what NuCamp did wrong and me getting it done correctly with the help of this forum.  The smart shunt is certainly no necessary but worth the money in my opinion.

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/10722/more-questions-than-answers/p1

Have fun picking up the trailer tomorrow.  I can remember how excited we were when we took delivery of ours.  My best piece of advice is to crawl around the trailer inside and out.  Check every drawer, light switch, electronic etc.  I'd even check the plumbing system on city water and on 12v in dry mode.  Don't let them rush you during the walk through.  Better to find any issues at the dealer vs. at home or on your first trip out.  

DaveC

Thanks to all, great info.  Does the WFCO-8955-AD converter solve the detection problems reported with the WFCO-8735-AD converter?

JamesC

I recently installed a new lithium 200ah battery from Renogy in my Tab 400 as replacement for the original AGM 6v batteries. I also installed the WFCO 8955 Lis charger. I also have a Victron BMV 700 with blue tooth. So far everything is working well. Here is a screen shot from the Victron without a load and then with a load. I’m pretty confident that I’ll be able to effectively monitor my battery performance with this app. 

 

dsfdogs

@DaveC no it doesn't solve the problem. The 8955 = 55 amps and the 8735 is 35 amps, but both are supposed to be able to auto-detect type of battery.

Tabmanic

I just got our 2023 400 and both the converter and Victron MPPT solar controller was NOT set up for the Battle Born battery. Here is a link to the WFCO converter AD video that worked for me (if the light in the back of the converter is Green, it's set to Lead acid and Blue for Lithium) and Victron MPPT setup you can get off Battle Born site it has all settings, hope this helps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pFuVnUsPz4

SLJ

Just reading voltage doesn't tell you much. I got one of these Renogy monitors I'll be installing so I have an easy way to read what's actually left in the batteries without needing my phone. https://amzn.to/3YDJE1l