My AGM to Lithium conversion

StirCrazy wrote:
camping in BC is not like camping in California, becasue of the trees you might only get two hours of good sunlight a day and need to take advantage of that.

Pretty much ther same here in Idaho although I am not sure I want to ad anymore solar,to the roof or portable..One more panel to the roof next month which will make 200 watts fixed on top and I have 200 watts portable..I believe that is where I will stop with solar..

As unpopular as generators are here,they have there place for me whom never camps next to anyone..I have three quiet gen sets that I use with AC the few times I use the window AC, which allows me to top off the batteries when in use..

One of my favorite wood getting spots right up against the Wilderness sign..LOL..Very little roof solar here with portable getting more use and effectiveness..

BFL13 wrote:
Good info by itenerant1 and implied advice to other LFPers. Stay far enough above the lower knee and never mind about not using 100% capacity. Monitor!

I set mine at 12.0 or 12.1V not to worry about the knee, but rather to keep my power available above 12V at all times to make it easier on some electronics. it just happens it keeps it above the lower drop off also.

Steve

Itinerant1 wrote:

BFL13 wrote:
StirCrazy note that more solar will not save you if sky is overcast. LFP does not change need for gen as back up. Portable gen but not built in is also recovery method for LVD

So true all the extra solar does is allow you to run more items from it and give the batteries a break on the side line waiting for the coach to call them into play when needed while possible still being charged to some degree or after being charged and floating the solar is running the loads if you have enough solar to cover the loads. But when there are multiple days of poor solar or just use alot of power like I do it helps to have a backup plan for charging.

but more solar absolutly does hep asside from hat you mentioned. faster chargingwhen you do have sun. camping in BC is not like camping in California, becasue of the trees you might only get two hours of good sunlight a day and need to take advantage of that.

BFL13 wrote:
StirCrazy note that more solar will not save you if sky is overcast. LFP does not change need for gen as back up. Portable gen but not built in is also recovery method for LVD

no it won't, well actual it will becasue I still get charging in overcast, just at a way lower amount so more will help some, but if you re read what I said the switchover to LFP alone has taken me from 3 days max with out sun to 10 days, where more solar comes in is in charging when that sun does come back. I will be able to charge twice as fast. also even on normal days it would switch more of the power usage to the panels and depleat the batter even less. and finaly recover from using the furnace and lights at night will be even faster the next day so I would be at 100% capacity even faster so shorter periods of sun will be more effective to me.

so yes I don't need a Gen. I also don't need a Gen in my 5th wheel which only has GC batteries at a usable capacity of 216AH (300ish in an emergency) I have 480 watts of solar in that and in 7 years have never run out of power, mind you in the very early spring and very lait fall we will book places with power so we can run the fireplace and take the load of the propane furnace.

as far as gennys are concerned I would much rather go spend a night or two in a campground with power to recharge if it ever came to that than own a genny. I cant stand it when I am camping and some one starts one of thoes noisy things and ruins the whole experiance for everyone else. thank god campgrounds in BC are starting to limit there use even more.

Steve

About a week ago I heard a report relating to certain parts of southern Calif, where some folks with plug-in hybrids are no longer plugging them in because it was actually cheaper to buy gas which seems a very disturbing trend - is ‘California Dreaming’??

https://www.eenews.net/articles/surging-electric-bills-threaten-calif-climate-goals/

3 tons

time2roll,

If one is returning home--the charging would certainly allow maximum range to be used, as that's where the majority of charging happens. So the majority of the time nearly 100% range is quite possible.

The ionic 5 now can do 100 k (60 miles) of charging in 5 minutes, assuming the "right" charging station is available.

I see this like an electric vehicle. Almost impossible to get maximum range as it would require a charging station right as the battery is fully depleted. So while it is perfectly fine to go to zero it becomes rather inconvenient. If cutting it so close just run the generator already.

Very different from lead-acid as the user knows there is a significant toll for going down well below 50%. The only real issue with LFP it the full loss of power to go 100% discharge.

Good info by itenerant1 and implied advice to other LFPers. Stay far enough above the lower knee and never mind about not using 100% capacity. Monitor!

BFL13 wrote:
StirCrazy note that more solar will not save you if sky is overcast. LFP does not change need for gen as back up. Portable gen but not built in is also recovery method for LVD

So true all the extra solar does is allow you to run more items from it and give the batteries a break on the side line waiting for the coach to call them into play when needed while possible still being charged to some degree or after being charged and floating the solar is running the loads if you have enough solar to cover the loads. But when there are multiple days of poor solar or just use alot of power like I do it helps to have a backup plan for charging.

BFL13 wrote:

time2roll wrote:

BFL13 wrote:
Some think it is ok to zero% and experience shut off--except this LFP brand's BMS cuts off higher than that at 5%. There is a lot of confusion over how far down is zero!

The prismatic LFP cells are 2.5 volts minimum x4 = 10 volts. However the cut-off is at the cell level so it would be incredibly rare to get all to 2.5 at the same time. Some might be 2.7 -2.9 but the low cell calls it done.

Scroll down a bit for the general specs. Bulk cells on Alibaba

A pre-made battery may allow cells a little beyond the range or a little inside. That is a warranty call made by the builder.

OK, so the monitor measures SOC based on total voltage of the cells, but BMS uses lowest cell.

If not been to 100% and balanced for a while like itinerant1 operates, what is the risk the monitor will not warn in time before BMS LVD?

And that is top balancing

The risk is dependent on the quality and the cells being equal or matched to each other. When charging and nearing full or discharging nearing the bottom of capacity of cells you could possibly have a "runner" meaning one can start to climb or dive in voltage, this is were the bms comes into play protecting the cells or battery. Also, if the cells weren't properly top balanced you could have a runner in a lower state of charge compared to the other cells in the group. Some folks are anal about having every cell equal in voltage at x.xxxv level I can say since day 1 mine have been with x.04 of each other and never worried about because it's close enough for me and doesn't trip the high/ low voltage at any time even when drawing high amp current items in a low soc. I can view every cell live time while they are all in constant flux of each other.

It sounds more confusing than it is. If you were to have one of these batteries and had the proper charging device/ safe guards in place they truly are a set and forget battery/ system or atleast mine has been.