Eco Tree 100 ah Lithium with bluetooth, install.

[Ditcha]

First outing is St George,s bash Jim, you could use a double pole mcb to kill the solar get one for a few quid

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

First outing is St George,s bash Jim, you could use a double pole mcb to kill the solar get one for a few quid

We are on that as well,see you there
In your set up you had a big isolator switch for your solar. Is that what you use it for to turn the solar off to prevent the lithium battery from fully charging when the van is not being used?

 

[Ditcha]

We are on that as well,see you there
In your set up you had a big isolator switch for your solar. Is that what you use it for to turn the solar off to prevent the lithium battery from fully charging when the van is not being used?

Yeah that's right, but my victron smart solar mppt also has the ability in the Bluetooth app (victron connect) to turn the charge off as well

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Hi Hoovie
just for info re the lithium standby situation.I checked the battery SOC this morning and it was 97%, charging status at 2.2 amps( dull morning here) the battery went into standby mode on the display so I plugged the TV in.Showed a momentary discharging and charging amps increased slightly to 2.6.,display showed as charging and at 98%SOC displayed the standby mode.tv unaffected.

The display shifts between standby and charging status @98% soc, with a charge current up to 1.5amps with the tv on which draws around 2.6amps.The mppt controller indicated a fluctuation between 0.6 to 3.6amps .and at the lower amps the display shows a discharge momentarily.No interference with the tv.

 

[Hoovie]

The key thing will be when there is no charger available, but I would expect (hope!) the battery will be there and ready to take any load called on it (within 100 Amps!).

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[Lenny HB]

Thank Lenny will check the controllers for that AES out ,is it just a case of connecting to the S= terminal directly.? My fridge is a dometic RMS8501 series but manual switch over.not sure where that terminal is currently

I don't think it will work unless it's an AES fridge. The Votronic controller switches in ½ hr block so as not to flatten the batteries the fridge does ½ hr 12v then swaps to gas & ½ hr later back to 12v. Also the fridge needs a permanent 12v supply.

Just had a look at the install manual, it's not clear, I did notice it's a caravan fridge not a motorhome specific fridge.

The S+ will be in the main connection block, the problem I can see is without AES when the signal from the controller turns off the fridge won't switch to gas, & when it sees an AES signal the gas won't turn off.
Only way to find out is to temporarily connect it up, the S+ just needs 12v for it to work.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

There is no charger connected just the solar .I don't think my van charger will be of much use to the lithium battery ,it's supposed to be a 20amp charger but obviously geared for AGM/Pb.as it will only put 1 amp into the lithium as it sees the voltage at 13.5 as a fully charged battery no matter what the soc of the lithium is. Oaktree did recommend a different charger and another funster advised there was a lithium charger that just replaces the standard van one.We may go down that route at some stage but we will see how we fare in the sunshine as we are not on EHU that much anyway so will be reliant on Solar and alternator charging between meets.
Thats something else to check when we are on the road.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

I don't think it will work unless it's an AES fridge. The Votronic controller switches in ½ hr block so as not to flatten the batteries the fridge does ½ hr 12v then swaps to gas & ½ hr later back to 12v. Also the fridge needs a permanent 12v supply.

Just had a look at the install manual, it's not clear, I did notice it's a caravan fridge not a motorhome specific fridge.

The S+ will be in the main connection block, the problem I can see is without AES when the signal from the controller turns off the fridge won't switch to gas.

View attachment 600668

Thanks Lenny, I checked the fridge this morning and there is an s+ terminal but it's positioned between the vents and not readily accessible unless I disconnect the gas and pull the fridge back into the van.I don't really want to do that and disturb all the seals. I see your point re the gas coming back on after the 12 v switches off.

I managed to obtain a reasonable photo with the phone in the gap between the vents. There Is a connection on the s+ terminal so will check out the manual to see where that goes..
Thanks for the info.

 

[Hoovie]

when I say "charger" I am including solar in that they may be called "controllers" but they are still battery chargers.
It sounds like it is not a lot of use from your description and I would agree with Oaktree it shoudl be replaced if it cannot be reprogrammed from the current settings

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Well here's an update on our travels using the drop in 100ah Bluetooth lithium battery from Ecotree.
3 weeks off grid ,Newark bash,Hereford for a few days and a week at Stratford.
On leaving Hereford where we had been off grid for 4 nights we were at 80% SOC. ( It has been partially sunny so our 299 w of solar had kept the battery topped up).travelling over to Stratford I assumed that the alternator would top up the lithium battery from its 80 % but on checking the charging input it was actually showing a slight discharge to no charge We had the fridge on battery so assumed that was where the power was going.Ti check this we put the fridge on gas and checked the charging rate. It was only +2..6 v going into the lithium..Not a lot but it was not taking loads of amps out of the alternator, so no danger of burning that out as some sceptics were warning about.
On our arrival at Stratford the SOC was still around 80 % . (We also had a battery master from the lithium to 2 isolated lead batteries ,which were a back up.)
It was a sunny day and from lunchtime to 6 oclockish the battery had reached a Soc of around 90%.
After a night of TV the battery was down to 75 % but by late afternoon was up to 100 % from solar input.
We ran on lithium all week at Stratford and at the end of the week was 95- 100 % .on our return we started at 80 % ( morning )and on reaching home after a 3 hr drive it was still 80 % as we kept the fridge on battery.
By early evening at home it increased to 100% ,on the drive from solar.
So far I am happy with the lithium and from installing it in March ,it has recorded 5 cycles.
I will invest in a b2 b charger to take advantage of any charging on travel between meets ,but so far have not really needed it.
Our next venture is 9 days off grid then to the Thetford bash,So will see how that goes

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[rupert]

I have just fitted 150ah lithium, coupled to one 110ah LA with isolation switch, to disconnect the lithium when it reaches required SOC I'm watching this config closely. only done 5 cycles thus far..
I just tried disconnecting my B To B to see what the charge rate would be, this turned out to be around 55 amps.
So I'm thinking maybe Jim you need to check your alternator output as it seems rather low

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

I have just fitted 150ah lithium, coupled to one 110ah LA with isolation switch, to disconnect the lithium when it reaches required SOC I'm watching this config closely. only done 5 cycles thus far..
I just tried disconnecting my B To B to see what the charge rate would be, this turned out to be around 55 amps.
So I'm thinking maybe Jim you need to check your alternator output as it seems rather low

Thanks,I intend to do that as I thought it should be much higher than the few amps ,we have noticed ,but that was only monitored off the lithium battery BMS .I assumed because the lithium was always showing 13.4 v that the "system" was showing the battery as fully charged.
We are on a run Sunday ,to the east coast( 9 days off grid) so will monitor the soc then but currently sat on the drive with solar on its 100 %.The starter battery is new so that shouldn't be taking that much draw from the alternator either.
I just need to get hold of a clamp meter to check the alternator output.

 

[rupert]

trouble is, if your battery is always full your not gonna see any alternator action, as your batteries are not calling for any power. try pulling the solar fuse and run battery down a bit. then you'll see on bluetooth how many amps are going into lithium. I'm using my B to B to limit alternator charge into lithium, as I'm told lithium will take whatever the alternator will give,
thus burnout alternator. although in practice I'm not finding that to be so. but I am still monitoring it

 

[paddymcc]

trouble is, if your battery is always full your not gonna see any alternator action, as your batteries are not calling for any power. try pulling the solar fuse and run battery down a bit. then you'll see on bluetooth how many amps are going into lithium. I'm using my B to B to limit alternator charge into lithium, as I'm told lithium will take whatever the alternator will give,
thus burnout alternator. although in practice I'm not finding that to be so. but I am still monitoring it

Likewise I have fitted a switch on the D+ signal to the B2B so that I can turn it off when I am happy with the SOC of the hab battery. It's easily accessible whilst driving so can change the setting on route. At this time of year I'm finding that solar is doing fine at topping up.

 

[WildBunch]

On sunny days I have been manually turning our large gas thirsty fridge from gas to battery once the SOC is over 80% & turn back once down to 65%. I have a warning sign to remind me it's on battery. This seems to work fine.

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[Jimbohorlicks]

On sunny days I have been manually turning our large gas thirsty fridge from gas to battery once the SOC is over 80% & turn back once down to 65%. I have a warning sign to remind me it's on battery. This seems to work fine.

Due to potential gas shortages ,I was looking to try that with my fridge but it's not an auto fridge ,but will run from the alternator when the engine is running,as it's supposed to do.
What I need to figure out is how to switch it to the hab battery without having to remove the fridge to do it.
Currently off grid and soc is 100% with TV on so the solar is keeping everything topped up.

 

[The Wino]

Whilst I think it's a really good idea to use excess solar to reduce gas use I suspect its unlikely to be a big enough gas saving to repay the cost of solar and battery cost.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Whilst I think it's a really good idea to use excess solar to reduce gas use I suspect its unlikely to be a big enough gas saving to repay the cost of solar and battery cost.

I was really thinking of using the excess solar we have rather than see it wasted. My lithium battery has just started to showcase discharge from the 100% soc it was on at 5 oclock and we have had the TV on since then.its now just dropped to 99% because the sun is going down.

And it's only discharging at -1.9 /2.0 a
So I could have had the fridge on 12v for a few hours this afternoon