Intermittent Charging

Basil48192
Basil48192 Member Posts: 441
in Battery/Electrical & Solar

This is an update and clarification to a post that I made last year regarding my 2021 T@B 320S, with two, 100AH Lithium Batteries.

I have noticed this year that my batteries (again) stop charging, intermittently.

Intermittently, my battery level starts dropping (slowly, due to normal phantom draw), even when plugged into shore power. So, I assume the batteries are not being replenished by the charging system.

I removed and checked all of the fuses in the system. They were all fine.

After reinstalling the fuses in the battery compartment, the system started charging again! The charge reached 100% and held for a week or so.

Today, I see the charge level dropping again so I assume it is not charging, even though I haven't moved the camper or touched the wiring.

Does anyone know which wires or fuses might contribute to this condition? I assume it would be one of the 30A fuses (or wires) circled in red below. The last fuse I touched was the small (3A) inline fuse supplying power to my Victron shunt (yellow circle). This doesn't make sense to me, but my electrical knowledge is very limited.

I'm not sure, but the issue seems to have started about the same time that I installed new LiTime batteries. I'm guessing I may have a bad connection somewhere near the batteries…but I'm not sure which wire it might be.

Sorry for the long post, but any help would, again, be very much appreciated.

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Comments

  • Gomers2
    Gomers2 Member Posts: 169

    Could you post a picture of the victron smartshunt and the associated wiring? (I assume that is what you are using to judge the battery level).

  • Basil48192
    Basil48192 Member Posts: 441
  • Grumpy_G
    Grumpy_G Member Posts: 784

    Please describe your "charging system". Are you using the standard converter or the LiFePo capable model ? Is there any solar charging happening during the day ?

    Generally speaking the standard WFCO converter puts out 14.4V in bulk mode which is enough to charge a LiFePo battery. However it drops to 13.6V (absorption) after 4 hours and even lower to 13.2V (float) after almost two days. 13.2V is lower than a fully charged LiFePo battery so at this point the battery will start to draw down a bit.

  • Basil48192
    Basil48192 Member Posts: 441

    @Gomers2 . Yes, I am using the Victron Smart Shunt. It's in the upper right hand corner of the photo above, but I'll try to get a better view showing the wiring. The device to the left of it is just a negative buss bar.

  • Basil48192
    Basil48192 Member Posts: 441

    @Grumpy_G . I am using the original, standard 'lead-acid' converter. I have the original, factory 105W, roof-mounted solar panel which is contributing to the charging….though it doesn't get a lot of sun this time of year. I also have a 200W suitcase solar panel with its own controller (seen in the photo above). However, I usually only connect that when I'm camping.

    I did suspect that it was a function of the original converter. However, left un-checked, my batteries dropped very low (down to about 20%) because I assumed they were charging.

    Thank you for your help!

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