Lithionics 130A Battery & 3000w Inverter System

[Jason Essary]

Lithionics Technical Service Bulletin

Note: This only applies to campers that have a 3000w inverter AND the 130ah batteries. 

Information was released recently regarding potential for internal battery BMS damage. This is a rare case as certain things would have to fall in place in order for the situation to have an opportunity to potentially occur. 

Lithionics has found that under certain conditions if your 3000w inverter is left on, which many people do, and your batteries are turned off, by you or the BMS, and you were not connected to shore power, and you turn a single battery on by itself; the entire load from the inverter for in-rush capacitance would hit the single battery which was not designed to handle that much load. So to help ensure that you do not accidentally damage one of your Lithionics batteries we have released a technical bulletin for a restart/reboot process to eliminate this small potential for error. For more information regarding the proper Restart/Reboot sequence, please see the attached technical service bulletin.

Q&A

Do I have to do this every time I use my camper?

              - No, this is only done if the batteries have been turned off.

Do I have to follow the restart process if I am aware of the situation and plan to turn on all the batteries at once?

              - Yes, Lithionics recommends following this procedure to ensure that the batteries are brought back online safely.

Why do I have to do all the steps with the inverter?

              - If the inverter loses 12v power as it does when you trip the inverter breaker then it must be powered on properly to load the communication software to the remote display. Failure to do this will cause an Error 20 condition and the remote display will not function.

Additional Notes:

I recommend that the inverter is NEVER left on. Make sure that you understand that the Xantrex Freedom 3000 is an Inverter and a charger all-in-one. When you connect to shore power it will automatically power up as the incoming 120v power runs through it to power your microwave, receptacles and A/C. Since the power automatically runs through it there is no need to turn it on or off. However when you are not connected to shore power aka a 120v power source, then you must manually turn the inverter side on and/or off as needed. On the Xantrex Remote display there is a round button with the power symbol next to it. This button is to power the inverter side only. The only time I recommend having this power button ON is when you are NOT connected to shore power and you want to utilize the microwave, receptacles and/or A/C. The reason for this is that if it is left powered on and you are connected to shore power but the onboard surge protector sees an issue with the incoming shore power, it will shut it off. When this happens the inverter can pick up the load within seconds and you may never know that you have lost incoming shore power. This may sound great and you may think why wouldn't I want it to pick it up and keep supplying the power to my microwave, receptacles and A/C. Well, if you are unaware of this power changeover to the inverter you may keep letting the A/C run and keep working on a laptop that is plugged into the receptacle for power and a few hours later ,unbeknownst to you, your batteries shut off because they have become depleted. If on the other hand you lost the incoming shore power and were aware of the situation then you have the decision to inspect and determine the reason for the failure and/or make an informed decision to switch to inverter/battery power and manage how much you use to ensure you do not deplete your batteries.

 

 

 

lithionics-proper-boot-sequence.pdf