Optimzing Battery Charging on the Victron MPPT Solar Charge controller using Victron's Smart Sense

[BBL]

45 minutes ago, SeaDawg said:

It would be super nice if lithium controllers gave you the choice to charge only to a certain per centage in storage

Lithionics batteries have ON/OFF switches so you can turn the battery itself OFF for storage.  I think that is a nice feature and it's good when you want to do work around the battery.  

BL

[MAX Burner]

1 hour ago, Brian and Brandelyne said:

Lithionics batteries have ON/OFF switches so you can turn the battery itself OFF for storage.  I think that is a nice feature and it's good when you want to do work around the battery.  

Concur, 100%.  

I'm thinking, as a "Battle Born Guy", that one would achieve the same effect by having a master battery cut-off switch inside the battery compartment, labeled accordingly, specifically for first responders in the case of a fire and the need for securing electrical power to the rig.

[SeaDawg]

2 hours ago, Brian and Brandelyne said:

Lithionics batteries have ON/OFF switches so you can turn the battery itself OFF for storage.  I think that is a nice feature and it's good when you want to do work around the battery.  

BL

That's true, and degradation/depletion is extremely minimal, with lithium ion in storage.

I'm thinking of people like me (still on agm) who leave the fan on low, and both vents open somewhat, to circulate air. My FanTasic fan uses .5 amps on low, thermostatic regulated, so not constant, and we've narrowed our ghost draw to less than .4 amps, so solar keeps our agms up, just fine. But, agm batteries like being 100 per cent,,and lithium don't.

Since we don't have lithium batteries on the boat, either,  I've not checked to see if we can adjust charging level for storage. 

Wete it me, I'd like to be able to leave the minimal draw of a fan, on low, and ghost draw active,  and not deplete my lithium batteries.  

Just my (probably off the wall) thoughts.

 

[NCeagle]

8 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

That's true, and degradation/depletion is extremely minimal, with lithium ion in storage.

I'm thinking of people like me (still on agm) who leave the fan on low, and both vents open somewhat, to circulate air. My FanTasic fan uses .5 amps on low, thermostatic regulated, so not constant, and we've narrowed our ghost draw to less than .4 amps, so solar keeps our agms up, just fine. But, agm batteries like being 100 per cent,,and lithium don't.

Since we don't have lithium batteries on the boat, either,  I've not checked to see if we can adjust charging level for storage. 

Wete it me, I'd like to be able to leave the minimal draw of a fan, on low, and ghost draw active,  and not deplete my lithium batteries.  

Just my (probably off the wall) thoughts.

 

My "ghost" draw is around 1.7 amps (refrigerator, radio, CO detector, Natures Head fan, ...), so about 40 amp hours per day (10% of my Lithium capacity).  I also don't want to turn everything off for storage and I don't want to keep my Lithiums at 100% or even 90% while sitting in my storage garage, so in this scenario I set my Xantrex to "float" my Lithiums at 13.2v which is about 50% SoC.  What eventually happens is the battery settles to "standby" with net zero current at 13.2v and the Xantrex uses only the power necessary to keep the batteries at 13.2v - thus passing enough power through the battery to satisfy whatever battery draw is present.

[mossemi]

I’m feeling kind of primitive with my battery maintenance schedule.  My Ollie is plugged into a 20 amp circuit while in storage and I turn the battery charging breaker off when the batteries reaches 100%.  Then I wait for Victron's VRM service to send me an email letting me know that the batteries have reached 35% SOC and I trudge 25ˋ up the hill in the snow and turn the breaker back on until the batteries again reach 100%.😂  And then I repeat the sequence.  I have thought about incorporating a relay to automatically shutting off the breaker and maybe that’s a future project.  We all have to figure out what works for our non camping lifestyle!

Mossey

 

[topgun2]

12 minutes ago, mossemi said:

I trudge 25ˋ up the hill in the snow

Really?😁

[rich.dev]

@Brian and Brandelyne Brian, did you leave the charge controller “low temperature cut-off” at the default of 41°F (5°C) or did you change it?

[BBL]

1 hour ago, rich.dev said:

Brian, did you leave the charge controller “low temperature cut-off” at the default of 41°F (5°C) or did you change it?

Rich - on my charger that setting is "Disabled" but if I go to turn it on, the 41 degrees shows up. This is how Oliver set it up and they got the settings from Lithionics. I am assuming it is that way because the batteries have a built in battery heater.  The battery spec says the heater will shut off when temperature reaches 40 degrees.

I am ok with these settings, they make sense to me.

Regards,

BL