Truck with Cirrus 620 recharges Battle Born lithium battery?

johnVT

Hi folks, 
Cirrus 620 here with Battle Born lithium upgrade. I noted in the 620 manual that the truck will recharge the house battery while underway in the non-upgraded battery setup. Does it also do so in the BB upgrade? If so where can I monitor input while my truck is running?
Thanks in advance! 

pthomas745

If you have the Victron app, you should be able to see if any charging is taking place. There are so many variables in "charging from the vehicle alternator" that the only way to know is by testing with a multimeter or examining the Victron app.  You might get "some" charging, but probably not a "full" charge on a lithium.  

AnOldUR

In either case, the best way to monitor battery charging is with a shunt. Does the Battle Born upgrade include a shunt?

johnVT

AnOldUR said:

In either case, the best way to monitor battery charging is with a shunt. Does the Battle Born upgrade include a shunt?

Thanks. Yes, it comes with the Victron SmartShunt. I’ll pull it up and see if it reads any voltage when I’ve got the engine running. 

johnVT

pthomas745 said:

If you have the Victron app, you should be able to see if any charging is taking place. There are so many variables in "charging from the vehicle alternator" that the only way to know is by testing with a multimeter or examining the Victron app.  You might get "some" charging, but probably not a "full" charge on a lithium.  

Thanks. I’ll check the SmartShunt app when I get the engine running next. 

db_cooper

I'm curious to see what you find with the truck running.  We don't have the factory lithium, but have a 230ah LiTime.  I wasn't getting much charging as far as I could tell, so I've disabled the battery monitoring system (BMS) on our F350 using forscan.  The BMS was limiting the voltage as it's programmed to only charge the truck battery to 80%, and voltage output drops almost immediately going down the road. 

With it turned off, I'm now getting 14.4 at the battery while it's running.  I haven't had a chance to draw down the battery and go for a drive yet to see how many amps per hour I'm putting back in, but due to the small wires in the trailer plug, I'm only expecting 4-5 amps at best. 

Disabling the BMS does have it's own drawbacks as far as remote start, and automatic updates.  Upside is truck battery gets a full charge, and the smart systems don't drain the battery while it's parked, which is most of the time.