How long can you dry camp with a stock non lithium battery?

pthomas745

In the picture of your battery, there are two 30 amp fuses in the fuse holders.  One set of wires go to the trailer from the battery.  The other set of wires go from the solar controller to the battery.  You could take time to sort out which set of wires is which, but..that might take some time.  So, pull them both. 

The fuse in the picture above of the solar controller is for the cables in from the solar panels, correct.  You want all the power to be removed from the controller.

This is how the manual explains how to connect the controller:

Connection order electrical connections:
1. Connect the battery: allow the solar charger to automatically recognise the system voltage (wait 10 seconds).
2. It is recommended to verify system voltage: use VictronConnect or an external control display.
3. Connect the PV.

So, put the battery fuses back in first after the battery is connected.  Have a look at the Victron app and see if it is telling you anything.  (It should at least read the voltage of the battery).

"Connect the PV" means put the fuse back in from the panels to the controller.

MPuyot

Darn - connected the new battery, put in the fuses at battery, and nothing.  Victron does not even show my camper on the list.  I then put in the fuses at solar controller and my Victron app does now show my camper, but says my battery is at 0 volts and “off”.   Hummm, the Listing guys say in their instructions that (1) the battery will arrive with 30%~50% charge, but (2) they also say to fully charge it before installing.  I didn’t have a way to do the 2nd step but figured it should have enough to install and then just connect the trailer to fully charge. Could it be the battery really arrive completely discharged?  I can’t even connect to the LiTime Bluetooth app as it says no battery found.  If it’s simply a discharged battery, is it ok to just plug in my trailer?  I show a photo of the installl - pretty simple but maybe I got something wrong.  Or, is there ON button to turn battery, since the Victron says the battery is off.  Note I tried checking it with the trailer switch both on and off.  Would appreciate some adice as I seem to be dead in the water currently.  

pthomas745

Plug in the trailer, and see if things will start charging.

MPuyot

yeah, that is what I'm thinking too.  I'll go to my son's house, as he has a 50AMP charging plug for his EV (I'll use the 50-to-30A dogbone I just bought, along with my surge protector.  Should be ok to just leave the trailer hitched to my tow vehicle, right (maybe just disconnect the 7-pin plug)?  Should I take out the fuse at the solar charger, and should I leave the battery switch in the tub on OFF?    Fingers crossed.

AnOldUR

The battery switch has to be on for charging from shore power. There's no need to isolate the solar or tow vehicle, but it wouldn't hurt either. Easy enough to unplug the 7-pin and turn off solar charging in the Victron app. Also, no need to plug into a 30 amp source. You can use a 120V outlet at your home with a 30 amp to 15 amp adapter to attempt to charge your battery. If the battery is completely dead, you may need a lithium compatible charger like the NOCO Genius to jump start it.

MPuyot

thanks for letting me know the switch needs to be on.   On the charger, wouldn't connecting to the 50A with dogbone be better (faster to full charge)?   I can do either one.  I noticed monitoring the Victron (before I took the fuse out again) that the battery started going to about 1.7v, but fluctuated.   Note sure why, as I had the charge not enabled from the solar panels.   Humm, very confusing.   Hopefully dont need to jump start it - dont understand why LiTIme would ship a completely dead battery, but they do want one to charge before use (guess they figure we all have a portable charger lying around).  We are in the process of moving so all our tools are in storage - thought it was the ideal time to get the trailer and travel a little while the new house is being built.  Didnt expect to need a charger, or multimeter, or ____.   Anyhow, I am hopeful its just a discharged battery and a couple hours on that 50A will do the trick.  I plan to not connect the fuse to the solar controller so it doesn't get lose in all this (per pthomas745's advise).  Will check it after two hours to see if its charged.  Will get to all this later today.  Thanks everyone for helping me through this.   Cheers, Mike

pthomas745

You only have a 30 amp trailer.  Note all the fuses associated with the battery are all...30 amp.  What dogbone specifically do you have?  You should be able to use it to simply plug into your home outlet, if that is convenient.

This might not be a "depleted" battery, at all.  The Victron units are simply all over the place when installing a new battery.  This is why...yes...a multimeter will always be a useful tool.

What does the KiB meter in the trailer say?  (If it still has a battery meter?) 

AnOldUR

MPuyot said:

On the charger, wouldn't connecting to the 50A with dogbone be better (faster to full charge)?

No. Shore power charging time is controlled by the WFCO converter in your trailer. Edit to add that the WFCO does not charge at a high rate.

Basil48192

Just a quick update for reference.  I have a 2021 T@B 320S with two, 6 volt batteries (235 Amp/hours total).  I have the stock 105 watt solar panel on the roof and a 200 watt suitcase panel that I can move around.  
I left my home on Thursday morning with a full charge.  I boondocked for through Sunday, running my fridge continuously and intermittently running the fan, lights, pump, etc.  We were in a very shady spot, so I was only able to get good sun on my suitcase panel for a few hours per day.  It was in the mid seventies and sunny each day.  Here are my Victron Battery Monitor readings checked at mid-day for each day:
Friday:  88%
Saturday:  80%
Sunday:  75%

My most significant drop was the first day.  I'm guessing because I ran the fan a lot that day and the fridge was actually bringing all of the contents down to the set-point.  

MPuyot

Thanks all for all the help, and especially pthomas745 for handholding me over the last few days while I got it working!  Here's an update on where I am.  Recall I had a 75AH Sterling lead acid battery and I was only to get 2 days without shore power.   I bought the LiTime 100AH lithium battery and installed it.   Was supposed to ship with at least 30% charge, but it actually arrived essentially dead.  So, plugged it into the a 50A outlet using my 50-to-30A dogbone, and after about 4 hours I got to 76AH (76%).   I then unplugged, reconnected the solar charging the next day (yesterday) and say my solar got me to 99% charge.  Note the LiTime comes with a Bluetooth app, so once you have any power in it, you can monitor at the battery itself (previously I was using a cheap multimeter to confirm that I started at 1V, then quickly got to 12.5V, and now running about 13.5V or more).   Overnight, I then turned on my fridge and ceiling fan all night (about 15 hours so far, with fridge set to level 3), and ran all the interior lights for about 5 hours.   Checking the battery this morning, I'm down to low 70% level in just one night.  What I guess I dont know is how low can I go before my lights and fridge stop working?   Anyhow, its still foggy here this morning but I can start to see my solar is staring to charge so I'm curious if my solar can bring my battery back to 100% with the fridge running (guess I should be able to calculate that by checking fridge consumption verses battery charge, but dont have time this morning to work through that).   Overall though everything looks good so far.    Here's a few pics of the Victron and LiTime apps status along the way....

AnOldUR

For what it's worth, my two 100Ah LiFePO4 batteries will lose about 15% (30Ah's) of their capacity overnight running the fridge, lights, fan and maybe a couple of hours of television. What you experienced sounds about right.

Basil48192

Agreed.  Per my numbers above, I lost about 12% of my 237 AH battery (around 28 AH).  You lost 29% of your 100AH battery which equates to 29 AH.....pretty close!

MPuyot

Ok, thank you.  Helpful to cross check with others.   At what point will your system shut down a fridge due to low battery?

elbolillo

@MPuyot I generally will drop 8-10% from the evening to morning with my 400ah setup.

AnOldUR

MPuyot asked:

At what point will your system shut down a fridge due to low battery?

I have the discharge floor set at 0%, so it won't shut down until we've used all 200Ah's. The advantage of a good LiFePO4 is that you can use all of the available power. The BMS will shut the battery down at about 10V to prevent damage.

As an experiment when I first installed our LiFePO4's I fully charged the batteries then ran the AC until the BMS shut down. The shunt showed just short of 200Ah consumed. I recharged using a standalone charger and the same amount of Ah's were restored according to the shunt. This is not something I'd make a habit of doing, but it showed me the capacity of my system.

MPuyot

Awesome, thanks.  I do see the LiTime manual says the low voltage disconnect is 10.8v.  How do I determine what amp hour that corresponds to on my system?   Run it till it shuts down and then check the LiTime app?  I think it will not connect at that point.  Also, where do you set the floor to 0%.  Thx!

AnOldUR

MPuyot asked:

Also, where do you set the floor to 0%.  Thx!

You set the discharge floor in the VictronConnect SmartShunt app ...

Mickerly

The key is the type of refrigerator. The DC refrigerator will use 28amp/day on full cold. We normally set 2.5 out of 5. The phantom load is another 5 or 6 amps/day. We pack the refrigerator freezer space with frozen water bottles and only run the compressor about 6hr per day. We disconnect the battery at night and while we are away. The stock 65amp RV battery lasts a little more than 4 days.

If you have a propane refrigerator, they are designed for propane. They work on 110AC. If one uses 12v DC while towing, the refrigerator will use everything your tow vehicle can offer plus some of the trailer battery.

The key is the refrigerator.

MPuyot

Hum, I don’t have a smart shunt.  Guess another project….

AnOldUR

MPuyot said:

Hum, I don’t have a smart shunt.  Guess another project….

My batteries do not have Bluetooth capability. Perhaps someone here can say if that's a place to change settings. Or at the least, find what the default settings are?

MPuyot

Thanks all for all the great advice on my first project.   I'm feeling pretty good now that the new battery is working as it should, and that the solar is working to top it off, etc.   I do now have a used Sterling 75AH lead acid battery that appears to be working fine.  Does anyone want it?  Is there a proper disposal process for such an item?   Cheers, Mike