Hello All
I hope someone is able to advise me on my 1st post, and please correct any incorrect assumptions I have made.
I have an old Land Rover camper van which has been happily running a 123W solar panel going through a simple MorningStar PWM charge controller to 2 lead acid batteries with a total of 130Ah capacity.
Due to age and excessive discharge the batteries now need replacing.
Despite the relatively high initial cost, I rather fancy the Polinovel LiFePo4 deep cycle batteries to give me significantly more usable Ah capacity in the limited space available. They have some BMS built in, but does not include the all important charge cut-off at under 5 degrees C temperature to avoid damage.
So, I thought what might suit would be a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 75/10. Add a Smart Battery Sense to show temperature and use the VictronConnect app to set the charge to cut-off at under 5 degrees C - will this set up work OK ?
But I am worried that the User Manual says the charger won't start until the battery has 5v less than the solar panel. As the LiFePo4 battery should keep a useable 12v down to say 20% of capacity, does that mean it won't be charged until almost flat at 0% ?
Maybe I should stick with a simple PWM charge controller - but how to detect and cut-off the charge at under 5 degrees C ?
I've done loads of internet research with no solid answer to my situation, and would be very grateful for your good advice.
Many thanks - James.
