2021 T@B 320CS-S Boondock + Battle Born LiFePO4 100Ah battery direct drop in

EricStein

A number of years ago, I purchased a Battle Born 100Ah 12V LiFePO4 Deep Cycle Battery (BB10012). My trailer (2021 T@B 320CS-S Boondock) came with a lead acid battery. I physically replaced the battery and accessed my Victron app and did my best to change settings for the new Lithium battery. It's been so long, I can't remember exactly what I changed. Also, now, for some reason, I'm not able to connect/pair to my controller via the victron app using the 000000 code, so I can't double check anything at the moment (still trying to figure this out). So far, I've had no issues with my entire system that I'm aware of. Everything seams to work well.

Question 1: Is there anything that I actually needed to change physically within the Victron MPPT 75/10 Solar controller/WFCO WF-8735-AD Power Center/Factory Solar Panel (105W)/Battle Born Battery setup for this to work (actually I know it works) so… am I damaging anything or not getting all I could be getting out of my system? I've read other discussions regarding upgrading to Lithium batteries on 2021 T@B 320S and it appears they did all kinds of upgrades to accommodate the Lithium change.

Question 2: I have historically been charging my battery while camping using the factory roof solar panel (105W) and in addition using a 100W Renogy portable panel with 20A controller on it. This has never given me any trouble. I recently introduced a 200W Renogy solar blanket instead of the 100W panel and it appears to have worked well at charging my Battle Born, but towards the end of the day I am getting a beep sound from either the WFCO power center or the RV Safe CO & Propane Gas Alarm (can't tell which it is). This beep is not periodic (not every minute or every 5… it's a little random and varies when it comes on and it's a single beep). If I unplug my 200W solar panel from external plug on trailer box up front, the beep stops. Any clue what's happening? (I recently changed out the CO & Propane sensor so it's not an end of life issue with that)

pthomas745

The Victron settings for the lithium batteries are all pretty standard. Many lithium setups have the same basic charging parameters. Battleborn has a decent page describing exactly what to change in the app to optimiize the charging from solar. For solar charging that uses the Victron solar/installed solar on the roof, this is what you would need to set up.

Victron Solar Controller Settings for Lithium batteries

For your other solar devices, and their solar controllers, each of them should be changed for lithium charging parameters. This may be a bit of a chore depending on how the newer Renogy devices display information. I have a couple of controllers that I have to use the small display screen on the unit, with multiple button presses….and if you miss one teeny button press, you need to cycle all the way back. I know some newer controllers do have various phone apps that make all this much easier.

So, for solar charging, only the solar controller settings have to be dealt with.

If you have the "Auto Detect" WFCO, that is only an issue for shore power charging. The WFCO can "auto forget" and lose the proper charging for lithium batteries, and revert to a lead acid profile. This isn't "optimum", but it will still charge the lithium battery up to about 85 percent. There are numerous threads about the Auto Detect setups, and how they are supposed to work. The Forum thread below has one of the original "complaint" threads about the WFCO, so start here. The bottom line is your properly configured solar controller can charge your lithium completely. There are a lot more on this subject.

WFCO Auto Detect Issues

For your solar controller: what error message might you be getting when trying to access the app? Have you ever put in your own password into the unit? There are ways to reset the controller and "start over", but Victron makes this pretty hard: the "reset code", or "Personal Unlock Key", is carefully hidden behind the controller, or if you are lucky, on a sticker on the side of the controller. So, what are you getting when trying to connect?