Fitting a Fogstar LifePo battery in stages help/ advice requested

[wuzzlewood]

All,

I have a knackered Liesure battery, not sure if Bailey will replace it again under warranty and not sure if I would want one anyway!

I have had issues with smart alternator and lack of Bailey fitted B2B.

I have now fitted a Sterling BBS1230 B2B with combined MTTP solar controller. I have at present 100w solar panel.

I was thinking of doing the following in stages.

1 fit Fogstar 105ah battery immediately as I need a new Liesure battery NOW.

2 use it in the very short term with the Sterling unit as it has a lithium profile!

3 in a couple of months when the boss agrees the spend, fit more solar. Probably two more 100w panels in series as the Sterling unit is a max of 360w input.

4 lastly fit a new mains charger, leaving the old BCA one to act as a transformer when on hook up only! New charger, probably Victron will have a lithium profile.

5 fit an inverter to run the coffee maker, microwave and hair drier ( all only occasionally)!

Initiallly I will rely on the b2b charging the Fogstar plus I can switch on the BCA charger in an emergency. Not the optimum profile for maximum charge etc but good enough in the short term????

This way I keep the cost to manageable chunks and solve my immediate problem of a knackered Liesure battery!

 

[Lenny HB]

Sounds Ok apart from two things.

Solar panels are best wired in parallel on a Motorhome & also the Sterling unit is only suitable for panels wired in parallel as the max input voltage is 31v.

A single 105ah Fogstar will not run a coffee maker max discharge current is 100 amps.
You will need 2 x 105ah or one 230 ah.

 

[MisterB]

That's pretty much what I did, bits at a time ...I would go for the biggest lithium you can afford, even if it means putting everything else off for a while. You can make savings by picking up pre loved inverters, solar and mppt's etc from time to time on Facebook, gumtree, eBay and here but you don't see many pre loved lithiums. I did just that, kept waiting and when a bargain came up I jumped on them if I could.

 

[wuzzlewood]

Sounds Ok apart from two things.

Solar panels are best wired in parallel on a Motorhome & also the Sterling unit is only suitable for panels wired in parallel as the max input voltage is 31v.

A single 105ah Fogstar will not run a coffee maker max discharge current is 100 amps.
You will need 2 x 105ah or one 230 ah.

Thank you, perhaps I need to add a stage 4.5 where I add another Fogstar!

Thanks again

 

[Al n Val]

if it were me i’d fit as large a battery you can fit in and afford, that way no need to replace later on

I’ve just replaced my 2 x 90ah Super B’s with 2 x 280Ah Fogstar Drift batteries last week and so far they are brilliant

Imo a single 105ah will not be enough

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[The Artilleryman]

Being a Bailey you are limited by the battery height of 190mm, so that limits your choice.

As for 4. not going to work. Easiest thing to do is new charger with LiFePO4 profile, connected to battery. Disconnect mains from BCA PS306 (but leave in place).

 

[wuzzlewood]

Being a Bailey you are limited by the battery height of 190mm, so that limits your choice.

As for 4. not going to work. Easiest thing to do is new charger with LiFePO4 profile, connected to battery. Disconnect mains from BCA PS306 (but leave in place).

Yes and no! The lithium battery doesn’t need to be gas tight so I can remove the battery box lid and allow expansion into the under floor locker currently used as our wine cellar!

I plan to make a new “lid” for it so as to protect from shorting out on battery terminals etc but it doesn’t have to seal around the battery!

Thanks anyway
Steve

 

[Jays2]

I am just in the process of fitting 5 x 200 watt solar panels on our van.
I am also using a MPPT controller from Sterling Power.
The Panels are in series as this will increase the voltage and lower the current .
Without checking, after a look today, the controller can take 135 volts Which will be approximately below 8 amp.
It kicks out 50 Amp.

 

[Raul]

I am just in the process of fitting 5 x 200 watt solar panels on our van.
I am also using a MPPT controller from Sterling Power.
The Panels are in series as this will increase the voltage and lower the current .
Without checking, after a look today, the controller can take 135 volts Which will be approximately below 8 amp.
It kicks out 50 Amp.

What controller do you have?

 

[Lenny HB]

I am just in the process of fitting 5 x 200 watt solar panels on our van.
I am also using a MPPT controller from Sterling Power.
The Panels are in series as this will increase the voltage and lower the current .
Without checking, after a look today, the controller can take 135 volts Which will be approximately below 8 amp.
It kicks out 50 Amp.

The problem with them in series, shade on one panel you will lose all your output also the gain from putting them is series compared to parallel is miniscule
Far better in parallel on a Motorhome, if one panel is in shade you still get output from the rest

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[NRM]

Before spending money to upgrade devices to have a lithium profile email Fogstar as you may find that lead acid settings will work well with their batteries; theoretically a very slight loss in performance.
In my case having given them the charging profiles for each setting on my solar controller, B2B, and mains charger, they recommended the lead acid, lithium, and gel settings respectively, despite in each case a lithium profile being available.

 

[Jays2]

But the problem I had with the panels in parallel was the current.
the panels are let’s say 24 volts @ 200 wats let’s say 8 amp.
so 5 @ 8 amp give an input of 40 amp.
So my connection went to series.
But could go to parallel.
I take it you would have a line of female and male connectors on the cable down to the MPPT controller.

 

[Lenny HB]

But the problem I had with the panels in parallel was the current.
the panels are let’s say 24 volts @ 200 wats let’s say 8 amp.
so 5 @ 8 amp give an input of 40 amp.
So my connection went to series.
But could go to parallel.
I take it you would have a line of female and male connectors on the cable down to the MPPT controller.

You could have used two controllers.

 

[Jays2]

It can be altered in the future if we need to.
checked the panels , 19.6 volt and 10.26 amps for each.
I agree with you about the connections.
would it still work ok if, one circuit had 2 panels, and the other circuit had 3 panels.
send both pairs to the controller?
this would mean lower current on the 4 mm cable.
The wiring diagram shows the panels in series.

 

[Lenny HB]

It can be altered in the future if we need to.
checked the panels , 19.6 volt and 10.26 amps for each.
I agree with you about the connections.
would it still work ok if, one circuit had 2 panels, and the other circuit had 3 panels.
send both pairs to the controller?
this would mean lower current on the 4 mm cable.
The wiring diagram shows the panels in series.

If you are using a Victron 100/50 controller the max solar is 700 watt so you would need another controller.

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[Hoovie]

I am just in the process of fitting 5 x 200 watt solar panels on our van.
I am also using a MPPT controller from Sterling Power.
The Panels are in series as this will increase the voltage and lower the current .
Without checking, after a look today, the controller can take 135 volts Which will be approximately below 8 amp.
It kicks out 50 Amp.

I would agree with Lenny - All in series and a little shade on just one panel and you will really hurt your harvest.
But all in parallel and you are running a pretty high current on that cable.

5 is an unfortunate number to choose
if you went 4 or 6, you could have done a series/parallel combo.
That is the way I went when I had 4 panels. I later added 2 for 6 panels in total and had a parallel array of 3 + 3 IIRC.

I think I would be inclined to go the two controller route.

 

[Hoovie]

If you are using a Victron 100/50 controller the max solar is 700 watt so you would need another controller.

Just something to note... it does depend on the setup. If you have a 24V battery bank, the 100/50 would be a 1400W controller.
(I know Jays2 must have a 12V one from his posts, but others may have 24V banks and read this thread).

 

[Jays2]

It’s a Sterling Power one and will deliver 50 amp maximum output, irrespective of the input, I have been told.
The system can be changed if it does not perform as we would like it to.
It’s all a bit of an experiment, we are not fitting any gas!
But will have a portable gas burner if we have a problem.
So the system is
1000 watt of solar tilting
120 amp b2b controller
600 amp lithium
induction hob
12 volt fridge
Hot water electric ?
Heating Diesel
could fit a thermotop but it’s 5 KW so too big for the heating.
The hot water is the sticking point.
As a user we tend to move everyday.
An if we are out of power, use a site!
But we will see.

 

[Hoovie]

It’s a Sterling Power one and will deliver 50 amp maximum output, irrespective of the input, I have been told.
The system can be changed if it does not perform as we would like it to.
It’s all a bit of an experiment, we are not fitting any gas!
But will have a portable gas burner if we have a problem.
So the system is
1000 watt of solar tilting
120 amp b2b controller
600 amp lithium
induction hob
12 volt fridge
Hot water electric ?
Heating Diesel
could fit a thermotop but it’s 5 KW so too big for the heating.
The hot water is the sticking point.
As a user we tend to move everyday.
An if we are out of power, use a site!
But we will see.

I built my last camper as an all-electric setup. Used a 240V AC 2kW water heater. The type that is fitted in washrooms, and have a small tank (sometimes referred to as "tankless" for some reason. Maybe as the little tank in them is thought of as a reservoir?).
Worked very well. 10L tank with a 2kW element takes around 20 minutes to go from cold (10C approx) to hot.


P.S. your list of kit .... Think you forgot something

 

[Geistguy]

Yes and no! The lithium battery doesn’t need to be gas tight so I can remove the battery box lid and allow expansion into the under floor locker currently used as our wine cellar!

I plan to make a new “lid” for it so as to protect from shorting out on battery terminals etc but it doesn’t have to seal around the battery!

Thanks anyway
Steve

And remember that Lithium batteries can be fitted on their side. Fogstar batteries and service are very good.

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