Please advise. Battery app shows 11 per cent. Solar controller shows battery at 75 per cent, charging at 12.7

[Karin]

We are brand new Ollie II owners and our maiden voyage was to the Oliver Rally a week ago! We have the most beefed up battery package our $$$ could buy, expecting to boondock frequently.  All went well with full hookups at Lake Guntersville and we are making our way home via some Harvest Hosts without hookups.  Two times our batteries have been depleted in the middle of the night, without AC, fridge or water pump on.  We do charge our phones, run the fan on low, and run CPAP machines while sleeping.  Surely  these would not draw the batteries down to zero in the middle of the night, right?  This morning, after a couple hours of sunshine, The Lithium App says both of our batteries are at 11% each but the Solar Charge Controller says our batteries are charged to 75%!  and 12.7V
Any usage of electricity sends the controller back into the RED and flashing!  😱

Again, we are newbies so how might we be draining our batteries so quickly?

[Trainman]

I have never had any upgrade batteries in our trailer, only the stock factory deep cycle ones that come with the trailer. All being said, our batteries have always lasted through the night running the MaxFan and possibly some other 12v item without the batteries discharging to a low level that things quit working. I'm sure you will get your answers soon on this forum as many are hovering over there computer as I speak.

trainman

[SeaDawg]

@Karin, I  will split off your question so that it gets the attention it deserves.

I don't have your system, but I'd guess from your post that your problem isn't rapid depletion, but that it's not charging properly or sufficiently from the solar alone. How long has it been since you left Lake Guntersville? Did your lithium app show 100 per cent when you left?

[John E Davies]

The percent State of Charge (SOC) can be a little deceptive, it isn’t an absolute condition, it is the result of the little computer chip doing all sorts of calculations about charge and discharge rates. My Victron smart bus system actually has a calibration button to “Set SOC to 100%”, for example when it reads say 98% but the charge rate has dropped down to zero. Where I am getting is, don’t rely too much on that figure. OTH I would tend to believe the lithium battery results rather than the solar monitor one. Fully charged resting voltage (no load) should be around 13.5 to 13.6. Your 12.7 volts means a dead battery bank.

Do you have a generator? You need one, in this case you should connect it and charge that way for at least three hours. Your tow vehicle doesn’t do anything, Oliver leaves that charge wire disconnected for the lithium packages, and your solar may just not have had enough actual sun exposure. What has the weather been like? The 75% SOC Zamp solar figure sounds very bogus to me.You need to read and understand more about how your lithiums work, they are completely different form the typical lead acid battery in your truck.

From an article linked below:

Your voltmeter shows not just the condition of the battery but the voltage of what is charging it, for example in full sunlight at full charge my battery voltage is around 14.4. That shows the result of the current coming in from the panels, which operate at a higher voltage than the batteries, otherwise nothing would happen (no current would flow). If the sun goes behind a tree, the panel voltage drops and what you see is the resting battery voltage. Without any major loads it should be about 13.2 to 13.4. Your 12.7 volts represents a dead battery. The battery voltage typical changes very little as it discharges, then it quickly tanks at the bottom. If you have a lthium battery powered drill, you see that when it works fine up to the very end, then it just dies.

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/6629-how-to-find-happiness-with-lifepo4-lithium-ion-batteries-solacity-article/

I think you are not getting nearly enough sun exposure, plus maybe there is an issue with your Zamp controller. This is a prime example of why we carry generators. If you do not have one, get one 😬

Good luck.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[ScubaRx]

I would also dump the mediocre Zamp PWM solar controller and get a shunt based MPPT system. Victron would be an excellent choice. This will be the standard for the 2023 Oliver’s. 

[CnC]

3 hours ago, Karin said:

We are brand new Ollie II owners and our maiden voyage was to the Oliver Rally a week ago! We have the most beefed up battery package our $$$ could buy, expecting to boondock frequently.  All went well with full hookups at Lake Guntersville and we are making our way home via some Harvest Hosts without hookups.  Two times our batteries have been depleted in the middle of the night, without AC, fridge or water pump on.  We do charge our phones, run the fan on low, and run CPAP machines while sleeping.  Surely  these would not draw the batteries down to zero in the middle of the night, right?  This morning, after a couple hours of sunshine, The Lithium App says both of our batteries are at 11% each but the Solar Charge Controller says our batteries are charged to 75%!  and 12.7V
Any usage of electricity sends the controller back into the RED and flashing!  😱

Again, we are newbies so how might we be draining our batteries so quickly?

Karin,

John told you correctly and most likely you are not getting a full charge on the lithiums from just the solar panels.

If you add up the wattage for those items you'll see CPAPs can be pretty energy thirsty over a sleep period.  I'm assuming the inverter is running and that, along with the parasitic draws occurring  all the time... like your smoke & LP monitors discharge additional amounts.

Like ScubaRx said, a shunt answers all you questions about battery useage.

Charlie.

[ScubaRx]

Karin, we’re currently on the road. I’m assuming you have the 630 Ah LiPo4 batteries. We upgraded our 7 year old AGM’s last year to 3x100 amp hour Battle Born lithiums. Last night we ran two CPAPs and two fans for about 8-10 hours. We used 45 amps overnight. It’s now 1320 hours and we are back to 100%.  
 

I would contact you by phone, but your profile has not been completed. 
 

 

[Galway Girl]

If you have Lithionics Batteries, please check that the batteries are actually turned on (Blue lights and switch should be on the top of the batteries).
I've heard of some cases where one or more of the the Lithionics batteries weren't turned on at all...and as a result the owners were only using 1 battery out of a bank of 2 or 3 Lithionics  depending upon the battery package you have.

Also there is a service note out you should check out :

 

 

[Karin]

6 hours ago, Trainman said:

I have never had any upgrade batteries in our trailer, only the stock factory deep cycle ones that come with the trailer. All being said, our batteries have always lasted through the night running the MaxFan and possibly some other 12v item without the batteries discharging to a low level that things quit working. I'm sure you will get your answers soon on this forum as many are hovering over there computer as I speak.

trainman

Thank you trainman! I’m reading all the replies now!

[mossemi]

2 hours ago, Galway Girl said:

If you have Lithionics Batteries, please check that the batteries are actually turned on (Blue lights and switch should be on the top of the batteries).

Would the battery on/off state show on the app like the picture below?  Does the picture below show the status of 1 battery or a battery bank?  Or would the app show on even if only 1 of 2 or 3 batteries is on?  I do not have Lithionics batteries, but I am trying to understand them a little better?

Mossey

[Karin]

3 hours ago, ScubaRx said:

Karin, we’re currently on the road. I’m assuming you have the 630 Ah LiPo4 batteries. We upgraded our 7 year old AGM’s last year to 3x100 amp hour Battle Born lithiums. Last night we ran two CPAPs and two fans for about 8-10 hours. We used 45 amps overnight. It’s now 1320 hours and we are back to 100%.  
 

I would contact you by phone, but your profile has not been completed. 
 

 

Thank you ScubaRX.  I’m going to the profile to add phone numbers now!  Thank you

[Karin]

3 hours ago, ScubaRx said:

Karin, we’re currently on the road. I’m assuming you have the 630 Ah LiPo4 batteries. We upgraded our 7 year old AGM’s last year to 3x100 amp hour Battle Born lithiums. Last night we ran two CPAPs and two fans for about 8-10 hours. We used 45 amps overnight. It’s now 1320 hours and we are back to 100%.  
 

I would contact you by phone, but your profile has not been completed. 
 

 

 

2 hours ago, Galway Girl said:

If you have Lithionics Batteries, please check that the batteries are actually turned on (Blue lights and switch should be on the top of the batteries).
I've heard of some cases where one or more of the the Lithionics batteries weren't turned on at all...and as a result the owners were only using 1 battery out of a bank of 2 or 3 Lithionics  depending upon the battery package you have.

Also there is a service note out you should check out :

 

 

Thank you Galway Girl!

[Galway Girl]

36 minutes ago, mossemi said:

Would the battery on/off state show on the app like the picture below?  Does the picture below show the status of 1 battery or a battery bank?  Or would the app show on even if only 1 of 2 or 3 batteries is on?  I do not have Lithionics batteries, but I am trying to understand them a little better?

Mossemi:

In the Lithionics app you see each battery as it's own entity.  
They have a specific SN and you can rename them ...like Battery 1, Battery 2 or Front/Rear etc.
In the Lithionics app then you  see each battery on or off and it's specific details.

Folks with 3 Lithionics battery configurations have 3 different battery screens available to look at the details.
For the Platinum Package with 2 of the 315AH batteries you see 2 screens.

In our case we also installed a Victron Smart Shunt on the negative side of the bank of 2 batteries.
This way we monitor the total of both batteries.
(To do that we're using 2 bluetooth based apps,  one from Lithionics and one from Victron.)

CS

[SteveCr]

Open the Lithionics App....here is the initial screen showing three batteries in my case. If you don't have all batteries showing....make sure they are on and then tap the discover button shown below. Tap on each battery to see the specifics as you show in your attachment.

By the way your screen shot is showing 95 amp load....which seems alot if you have more that one battery. Boondocking....my AC will pull 28 amps each battery.

[SteveCr]

We just completed a five week trip from NC to Grand Canyon, Grand Teton and Yellowstone....mostly boondocking. Running the fan or furnace at night we would use about 10% SOC which would easily recharge with clear weather. When we got to Yellowstone, I had to use the generator on the forth or fifth day  because it was overcast & snowing every day (lost a little SOC every day until SOC got to 50%...and with 19 degree temps we did not want to chance the furnace fan operation). 

Another setting to consider is the inverter battery low voltage cut off. From the factory, mine would not let me deplete batteries below 70%....then I learned how to change that setting.

You can use the battery app and inverter app to help gain an understanding of amps used by each appliance. We try not to use more than one "amp hungry" electric appliance at a time (Kerig, fry pan, microwave, hair dryer...etc). And I monitor where we're at on our daily "amp budget" and make consumption decisions accordingly.

It gets easier with experience and practice.

[mossemi]

@Galway Girl, @SteveCr

Thank you for the answers to my questions!  As I said, I do not have Lithionics batteries or the Xantrex Inverter/Charger so my question’s are simply for my education and the hope that I do not provide incorrect information in the future.  And the picture I posted above is a screenshot from the Lithionics website of one of their guides and not from my equipment.

Mossey 

[Karin]

17 hours ago, Galway Girl said:

Mossemi:

In the Lithionics app you see each battery as it's own entity.  
They have a specific SN and you can rename them ...like Battery 1, Battery 2 or Front/Rear etc.
In the Lithionics app then you  see each battery on or off and it's specific details.

Folks with 3 Lithionics battery configurations have 3 different battery screens available to look at the details.
For the Platinum Package with 2 of the 315AH batteries you see 2 screens.

In our case we also installed a Victron Smart Shunt on the negative side of the bank of 2 batteries.
This way we monitor the total of both batteries.
(To do that we're using 2 bluetooth based apps,  one from Lithionics and one from Victron.)

CS

We have the Platinum Package....

[mossemi]

 

3 hours ago, Karin said:

We have the Platinum Package....

Thank you!

The Platinum Package is much more descriptive and useful for troubleshooting than "battery package our $$$ could buy".  I know you all are newbie’s, but when speaking about your Ollie, please remember that there is no such thing as TMI.  To much information equals more accurate support from the forum members.

Mossey 

[LoriL]

We also just picked up our new Oliver Elite with tons of power and  lost all power during a single evening of boondocking at a Harvest Host location.  So we will clearly need a generator.  What generator recommendations do you suggest?  

We were running a CPAC, 2 watches, 2 iphones, and the fan.

[ScubaRx]

25 minutes ago, LoriL said:

We also just picked up our new Oliver Elite with tons of power and  lost all power during a single evening of boondocking at a Harvest Host location.  So we will clearly need a generator.  What generator recommendations do you suggest?  

We were running a CPAC, 2 watches, 2 iphones, and the fan.

That load should account for little more than 50 amps overnight. Something is wrong with this scenario. Hold off on that gennie until you discover what went wrong. 

[Mike and Carol]

7 minutes ago, ScubaRx said:

That load should account for little more than 50 amps overnight. Something is wrong with this scenario. Hold off on that gennie until you discover what went wrong. 

I have to agree with Steve here, something isn’t right.  Even when we had AGM’s, running the furnace, charging phones and iPads, using lights, microwave and sound system on dark winter nights we never had any issues.  Mike

[VBistro]

On 5/29/2022 at 4:38 PM, Galway Girl said:

 

In our case we also installed a Victron Smart Shunt on the negative side of the bank of 2 batteries.
This way we monitor the total of both batteries.
(To do that we're using 2 bluetooth based apps,  one from Lithionics and one from Victron.)

CS

I would love to see a pic of this install when you have a chance.  No hurry.  It's something I've been meaning to do.  The Lithionics App drives me nuts.  

Thanks!

mb

[LoriL]

We just saw these responses!  I agree something else is not right!  We have an email with questions into Oliver right now.  I will let you know what they say.

Thanks for all the help

Lori

[Rivernerd]

On 5/29/2022 at 12:22 PM, ScubaRx said:

Last night we ran two CPAPs and two fans for about 8-10 hours. We used 45 amps overnight.

I read this thread with interest, as we have an Elite II with the Lithium Pro Package on order for November delivery, and I use a CPAP machine.

I believe one way to reduce CPAP power consumption when boondocking in an Oliver would be to use a 12V DC CPAP plugged directly into a 12V outlet, rather than a 120V receptacle powered by the inverter.   Because I use a CPAP on extended wilderness river trips, I buy machines that run on 12V DC, and power them with 12V LiFePO4 batteries when on the river.  My machine draws about 1 amp per hour of usage, or about 8 amp hours on an average night. 

Those machines also come with "wall plug" adapters that convert 120V power to the DC voltage compatible with the machine, which I use when at home. 

When not connected to shore power, I plan to plug my 12V DC machine directly into one of the 12V DC "cigarette lighter" receptacles in our Oliver, rather than using the 120V "wall plug" adapter plugged into one of the 120V receptacles.  This will bypass the inverter, avoiding the power consumption required to take 12V DC from the battery bank, invert it to the 120V AC supplied at the "wall plug" in the Oliver, then back to DC for use by the CPAP machine.

[topgun2]

17 minutes ago, Rivernerd said:

This will bypass the inverter, avoiding the power consumption required to take 12V DC from the battery bank, invert it to the 120V AC supplied at the "wall plug" in the Oliver, then back to DC for use by the CPAP machine.

No question that this is true.

Simply put - it takes energy to do each of these conversions.

Bill