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yelper avatar image
yelper asked

Did my battery just get too depleated?

screenshot-20201228-114241.pngI recently changed my AGM battery to a 102ah lithium set up in a mobile unit used for camping. The AGM only had 47ah and would not allow my 12v refrigerator to operate if I did not drive the truck every day. I thought the lithium would take care of the shortcomings of the AGM. Over Christmas I went camping and at first all was well. We run a fridge and 5 LED lights (lights only at night) we do have 6 USB ports for charging phones, etc. but not used continually. We camped two nights in a slightly shaded area. On the second night (6 days ago in the history) the fridge cut off during the night as it is designed to do when the voltage reaches 10.9 v...I assume, and the lights were dead the next morning as well. We moved locations and had sun most of the day while driving around (at least 5 hours of sun) That night (5 days ago in the history) about 8p.m. the fridge cut off again at about 10.9v but the lights stayed on. We went to bed with lights and the voltage reading showing 10.8 but the next morning no power at all. As the sun came up the panel started to collect sun as the voltage reading started to blink in a out as the volts increased. We moved yet again and drove around about 4 hours or so. At 8p.m. (4 days ago in the history)I turned the fridge off and went to bed with 11.6 showing on volt meter but by morning...again no lights. We packed up and drove home in a rainy and overcast day. The truck has been sitting in direct sun for about 9 hours each day with the fridge screenshot-20201228-114228.png on. It has not shut down and the voltage shows to be in the 13.0 -13.4 range. I attached pics of the history on the MPPT and noted those days in the above. Did I just not get enough sun? Is the battery bad perhaps? Do I need to add a dc-dc charger? Thanks for any input.

battery
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4 Answers
dbvanhorn avatar image
dbvanhorn answered ·

What brand of lithiums are you using? They should have on-board battery management circuits that would prevent damage from over-discharge by simply disconnecting. Once charging becomes available, they should come back online. Assuming a nominal 14V for the lithiums, you have about 1400WH in the batteries, but have only put a fraction of that back each day. Can you take the fridge offline for a few days and let the batteries charge back up?


I'm an EE, but not an expert in these systems. My build will start tonight, as the last parts are arriving today (YAY!) I'm using four Dakota 23AH batteries (gives me more options where to put them) with 100W solar plus an Orion 12-12 18 charger for 18A from the alternator when the vehicle is running, roughly 5 hours to full charge from that source alone. The solar is a nice plus, but I don't have space for much more solar panel area, so it's never going to be a major part of the system.



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yelper avatar image
yelper answered ·

dbvanhorn I have a Lynx battery and it does have a built in BMS. I don't really understand it all but I was thinking it was not charging to capacity. I can take the fridge offline and see if that helps. At first I worried that I'd damaged the battery but remembered the BMS. It has not gone to absorption except when I installed it initially.. It is always in Bulk. I did have the fridge offline four about 4 days before the trip but even then it never seemed to leave Bulk. Thanks for the input and good luck with your build.

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dbvanhorn avatar image dbvanhorn commented ·

Yeah,, the fact that it's staying in bulk says that you're not putting enough energy in to make up for what you're taking out. Give it a rest from the fridge and I bet all comes back to normal. Adding something like that 12-12 30 charger from the alternator would likely solve the problem, assuming you've got that much alternator capacity to spare.


Safe travels!


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Matthias Lange - DE avatar image
Matthias Lange - DE answered ·

You have a higher capacity now but you still have to recharge the power you use.

Depending on the fridge you have it will need 50-100Ah/day.
The highest solar yield I can see is 2 days ago with 380Wh -> around 30Ah.
The other days you only have 8-13Ah of solar.

If you want to stay at one place without shore power or the engine running you will need way more capacity or more solar panels.

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yelper avatar image
yelper answered ·

So should I add a DC to DC charger to get the lithium up to where it needs to be or a converter/charger?

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dbvanhorn avatar image dbvanhorn commented ·

The Orion 12-12 18 charger is what I'm using. Only works when the vehicle is running of course. Something like that, or a 110V input charger that's set up for your battery chemistry.


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