Issues with new solar power system on motorhome

[rls106]

Hi, I have recently had a new 300w solar power system fitted to my motorhome controlled by a Victron 100/30 MPPT. I also had a 110ah lithium battery fitted at same time.
For about 4 weeks (good sunlight ) worked well. I am currently on a c&CC site for ten days (little sunlight). First day and night tv and lights worked fine but night before last at 10.15pm all power stopped. The following morning around 7.30am started again although Victron app showed battery voltage at 8.9 v. This climbed during the day to 11.9v with tv and lights working. At about 7.30pm last night tv wouldn’t come on and no power to charging sockets. Lights stayed on for about 10 minutes and then went off.
So far this morning no power. Victron app can’t be accessed as seems to be powered off.
Is this normal? I was led to believe by installer that even on cloudy days system would produce sufficient charge to last for days.
Any help appreciated.

 

[rls106]

I note that it's the Victron app that's showing 8.9V, not the BMS or the Ecotree app. So maybe the BMS has shut off the battery, and the Victron app, now disconnected, is showing some random voltage which is not the actual battery voltage at all.

If you get onto an EHU pitch that will get you back to 100% after a few hours. Then you can disconnect the EHU and try taking power from the battery, and watching to see if the solar is putting any power into the battery.

Not getting power with EHU either!

 

[rls106]

Do you have a compressor fridge?

Fridge running off gasl

 

[Ditcha]

Not getting power with EHU either!

Check mains fuse box breakers

 

[FrankNicklin]

Should be a small consumer unit with RCB. Make sure all the trip switches are up and the main isolator hasn't tripped.

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[autorouter]

Is the power getting through to the MH? Do the 240V sockets in the MH work OK? Are any of the mains trip switches tripped? Is the charger switched on?

 

[rls106]

Site now turned on EHU and I have power.

 

[rls106]

How will I know that the leisure battery is fully charged?

 

[Branston]

Hi, I have recently had a new 300w solar power system fitted to my motorhome controlled by a Victron 100/30 MPPT. I also had a 110ah lithium battery fitted at same time.
For about 4 weeks (good sunlight ) worked well. I am currently on a c&CC site for ten days (little sunlight). First day and night tv and lights worked fine but night before last at 10.15pm all power stopped. The following morning around 7.30am started again although Victron app showed battery voltage at 8.9 v. This climbed during the day to 11.9v with tv and lights working. At about 7.30pm last night tv wouldn’t come on and no power to charging sockets. Lights stayed on for about 10 minutes and then went off.
So far this morning no power. Victron app can’t be accessed as seems to be powered off.
Is this normal? I was led to believe by installer that even on cloudy days system would produce sufficient charge to last for days.
Any help appreciated.

 

[DBK]

How will I know that the leisure battery is fully charged?

It should be showing over 14 volts while it is being charged from a well discharged state, it should then drop to around 13.5 volts or thereabouts and not drop below that while on EHU.

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[rls106]

It should be showing over 14 volts while it is being charged from a well discharged state, it should then drop to around 13.5 volts or thereabouts and not drop below that while on EHU.

ThanksDBK, currentlu 12.98v

 

[headlight]

ThanksDBK, currentlu 12.98v

The Victron app should also show your battery as on "float" when fully charged.
A shunt might be worth fitting as that will show what you are taking out of your batteries and what you are putting into them.
If the voltages you have posted are correct I'm very surprised that your battery BMS has allowed the voltage to drop so low as as far as I know it shouldn't let the battery voltage get much below 11v volts, maybe 10.5 or 10.6v before shutting down to stop the battery being damaged.
Can you access your battery settings via the BMS app ?

 

[AdrianChen]

Looks to me like the battery BMS may well have shut down the battery, and then early in the morning the controller came back on as it got light and showed 0v/trace volts at the controllers output terminal, then as a bit of flakey sun (with cloud/shadows) came up around 8am ish a small charge started to increase the voltage (measured at the controllers output terminal?), since the 15th there has been no float stage shown on the app, so I assume the 20/30AH outputs have been less than the consumption. My 350watts was giving 0.1-0.2 amps around then, and the controller didn't show 14.5v until 12.15 with a charge from all 550watts of solar. Our batts are 460AH and were at 98% first thing with a constant drain of around 1.3amps.

Hopefully then no damage done, and all will be well after a good charge......

 

[autorouter]

How will I know that the leisure battery is fully charged?

As others have said, the voltage switching from about 14.4V (absorption) to about 13.6V (float) will tell you that.However that is simply what the charger is forcing the battery voltage to, it doesn't indicate the state of charge when the charger is switched off.

A lead-acid battery 'resting voltage ' drops from about 12.7V (full) to about 12.0V (fairly flat), and the voltage is a rough indication of the state of charge, eg 12.35V would be about 50%. However a lithium battery shows very little change in voltage as it goes from 100% full to about 20% full, so it's difficult to use voltage as a measure of the state of charge. That's why you rely on the battery BMS app, which measures the charge in and out of the battery. Or if you don't trust the app, you can install your own shunt battery monitor to keep an account of the charge into and out of the battery.

 

[rls106]

I had the tv on 12v and now battery voltage dropped to 11.89v. Turned everything apart from aerial booster using 12v off to see if voltage increases.
I’m trying various BMS apps but none so far have linked with my device.

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[cyberyacht]

I've got 300W solar and 2x 120AH lithiums. Last week away for six nights plus grey days and the solar didn't keep up with the demand of pump, tv and lights. Even the drive home (16A from alternator) didn't catch up on usage while away. Time for a B2B methinks. Didn't even think about using the inverter.

 

[Lenny HB]

I had the tv on 12v and now battery voltage dropped to 11.89v. Turned everything apart from aerial booster using 12v off to see if voltage increases.
I’m trying various BMS apps but none so far have linked with my device.

No way that should happen with a lithium battery, they hold a nearly constant voltage until nearly flat.
It is either not getting charged properly or its duff.
If the voltage on the battery has been getting down below 10v there is only one place for it and that's the bin.

You need to check the voltage at the battery with a multimeter you can get one at your nearest DIY store for less than a tenner.

 

[treblid]

I had the tv on 12v and now battery voltage dropped to 11.89v.

Assuming you are still on electric hook up, what voltage was the battery before you turned the TV on? The Victron MPPT will show you the battery voltage.

Depending on your EHU chargers capability, you could still be in bulk charging phase and the TV has stolen some of the current.

 

[AdrianChen]

If you have an EcoTree Lithium battery with Bluetooth their app should work. Some Ecotree batteries do not have bluetooth, and therefore the app will not connect - The 110AH is available with or without. What output battery charger do you have? Hopefully you will get some charge overnight from that assuming the heating/water etc are off or running on gas......

No way that should happen with a lithium battery, they hold a nearly constant voltage until nearly flat.
It is either not getting charged properly or its duff.
If the voltage on the battery has been getting down below 10v there is only one place for it and that's the bin.

You need to check the voltage at the battery with a multimeter you can get one at your nearest DIY store for less than a tenner.

View attachment 825019

Ecotrees' own chart is more or less exactly as per Lenny HB post, except that it has an entry for 10.5v that says "Turns off (LVD)" Apparently LVD is Low Voltage Disconnect.

The app is available using this QR code (Dont have bluetooth so can't help with how the app works see attached file):

 

[rls106]

I don’t think charger working on EHU. Voltage now reduced to 10.89v after increasing to nearly 13v during day. I’m running tv on 240v, fridge on gas, no need for heating. LED lights very sparingly and not even charging phone or iPad.
The battery is about 4 weeks old. I think I need to revisit installer when I get back home.

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[rls106]

Battery has just shut down again!

 

[Lenny HB]

I think that battery nerd replacing don't let them fob you off.

 

[AdrianChen]

Does seem its not getting much charge into the battery, installer needs to sort it out for you. Did the charger work before the new battery was put in?

 

[MisterB]

Hopefully it's now fully charged overnight, if not, are there any settings on the charger that you can see relating to the type of battery it's trying to charge?

 

[rls106]

Not charged at all overnight. Voltage 7.97 and not come on yet. Not sure where the charger is or even looks like. It seems either that’s broken or the battery is duff. Never had a problem before.

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[headlight]

rls106 can you contact Ecotree and check whether your battery has Bluetooth ?

 

[AdrianChen]

Not charged at all overnight. Voltage 7.97 and not come on yet. Not sure where the charger is or even looks like. It seems either that’s broken or the battery is duff. Never had a problem before.

What a pain!

Do you get any charging from the engine/alternator when the engine is running? - Would expect to see the battery voltage climb a bit on the Victron app if you have a split charge relay, or B2B charger (which would be best practice to have/install with a lithium battery)?

But it would help to find any EHU battery charger, because if the charger were working I would expect to see 13.5/14.5v on your Victron app.

We are due to get a little more sun today so I hope you do too.

 

[rls106]

rls106 can you contact Ecotree and check whether your battery has Bluetooth ?

Sadly not as I haven’t been able to charge phone which is now dead. I tried the app but can’t trace any devices so I assume not Bluetooth plus the installer never mentioned that.

What a pain!

Do you get any charging from the engine/alternator when the engine is running? - Would expect to see the battery voltage climb a bit on the Victron app if you have a split charge relay, or B2B charger (which would be best practice to have/install with a lithium battery)?

But it would help to find any EHU battery charger, because if the charger were working I would expect to see 13.5/14.5v on your Victron app.

We are due to get a little more sun today so I hope you do too.

Not tried running engine. I’ll give that a go soon.

 

[AdrianChen]

Sadly not as I haven’t been able to charge phone which is now dead. I tried the app but can’t trace any devices so I assume not Bluetooth plus the installer never mentioned that.

Not tried running engine. I’ll give that a go soon.

Can you get the site office to charge your phone or let you call the installer - They should remember what kit you have, and give better advice....

 

[rls106]

Engine running power working. Victron now showing 12.08v. So increased by 4v in little under 5 minutes! Can this be right?

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[Lenny HB]

Engine running power working. Victron now showing 12.08v. So increased by 4v in little under 5 minutes! Can this be right?

That is the charging voltage you are seeing not the battery voltage.