Lithium Battery dead on site

[Ejaydee]

I am at the Shepton Show and my leisure battery (lithium) has just cut out dead. I am guessing the BMS has switched it off to protect the battery.

As it is so late and I have vans close around me I do not want to wake everyone up by starting the engine to put some charge into it. In the morning assuming the engine starts and I run it at a fast tickover (2000 rev???) will the system reset itself or will there be some sort of procedure I need to go through?

This is a complete unknown for me as I have never had it happen before, and to be perfectly honest, I had never considered it as a “what if scenario”. The usual red flashing light on the dash is still working so I am assuming the starter battery will still have a charge in it. Everything else has shut down. Any advice will be welcome.

 

[Bustup15]

What is the brand of battery?

 

[L' Hobo]

Don't panic, the starter battery should be on a separate system.
Brush your teeth, keep warm and sort it out in daylight.
Great that you should think of others, so people don't!
Goodnight!

 

[Ejaydee]

What is the brand of battery?

Can’t remember, but fitted by Vanbitz a couple of years ago.

 

[Jim]

Sounds normal for a depleted battery . ‘It’ll switch on when you put a charge across it tomorrow

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[DBK]

I am at the Shepton Show and my leisure battery (lithium) has just cut out dead. I am guessing the BMS has switched it off to protect the battery.

As it is so late and I have vans close around me I do not want to wake everyone up by starting the engine to put some charge into it. In the morning assuming the engine starts and I run it at a fast tickover (2000 rev???) will the system reset itself or will there be some sort of procedure I need to go through?

This is a complete unknown for me as I have never had it happen before, and to be perfectly honest, I had never considered it as a “what if scenario”. The usual red flashing light on the dash is still working so I am assuming the starter battery will still have a charge in it. Everything else has shut down. Any advice will be welcome.

Do you have any sort of meter which shows the voltage or state of charge?

 

[Ejaydee]

I have pulled on my Two Bare Feet robe to make sure I keep warm, and will try to get some zzzzz’s. Thanks for the responses.

PS turning off my phone for now to make sure I have plenty of battery if needed!

 

[RowleyBirkinQC]

Can’t remember, but fitted by Vanbitz a couple of years ago.

Sterling Power?

Lithium Batteries 12V Leisure Battery (5 Year Warranty)

AL series LiFePO4 - Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries. Spec list Charge Discharge Part No Ah Capacity Charge V Current (A) (max) Current (A) (max) Bluetooth heater Series limit Dimensions (cm) LWH Weight (Kg) Battery Terminal AL1220 20Ah <14.4V 20A 40A no no 48V 19 x 7.7 x 18.7 2 M5 5mm AL1260...

sterling-power.com

 

[Jev88]

Can you select engine battery just for tonight?

 

[LithiumConvert]

Good Morning

I have Sterling Power lithium batteries and they do switch off like that if run down completely.

They will come back on when they see a charge.

I assume you have a B2B which should do the job. It is also possible that they are on when you wake up if you have solar panel(s) and the sun is shining.

Hope you had a good night's sleep

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Cush]

What charging systems are installed. Solar? B2b?
Do you have an app that lets you see overall battery voltage and individual cell voltage levels. Hopefully just depleted and will recharge

 

[Ejaydee]

Hope you had a good night's sleep

Thank you, I have definitely had better . The kettle is on so a hot cuppa will help! I will walk the dog and feed her, then see if my neighbours are awake.

 

[Ejaydee]

What charging systems are installed. Solar? B2b?
Do you have an app that lets you see overall battery voltage and individual cell voltage levels. Hopefully just depleted and will recharge

Yes solar and B2B and yes I have a Victron app but at the moment it has no data I guess because the BMS closed down the battery and bluetooth.

 

[Cush]

Guessing with recent weather the energy in from the solar hasn’t kept up with usage. B2b should get it where you need

 

[Ejaydee]

Guessing with recent weather the energy in from the solar hasn’t kept up with usage. B2b should get it where you need

Yes absolutely, but I could kick myself because usually I closely monitor the battery during the day, but last night I got distracted doing some work on the laptop and I forgot I had the TV on in the background which obviously sucked loads of energy . I have two house batteries at home, so it is usually second nature for me to the app for them open and checking regularly, and when in the van, I normally do the same……until yesterday . Lesson learnt the hard way.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[MisterB]

I wonder if some sort of alarm could be designed to warn about low battery levels, before you get complete shutdown? Some sort of buzzer (that you can switch off!) that operates at a set voltage .....??

Or perhaps one already exists? In fact it wouldn't surprise me at all if someone like Victron have it within their armoury already ...

 

[Ejaydee]

That would certainly be a helpful addition (if this experience is anything to go by), but electrics and me do not mix, other than the very basics, so I would not have clue if such a feature is possible and if it is, how I could get it done. I rely heavily on those that ‘do’ electrics and electronics for their living. I just use them, and in this case, badly .

 

[Ejaydee]

The good news (I think) is the various control panels are trying to initialise themselves with thdd we very little solar energy being produced. I will be starting the engine in a bit to see what happens.

 

[Two on Tour]

I wonder if some sort of alarm could be designed to warn about low battery levels, before you get complete shutdown? Some sort of buzzer (that you can switch off!) that operates at a set voltage .....??

Or perhaps one already exists? In fact it wouldn't surprise me at all if someone like Victron have it within their armoury already ...

When I was using a Victron Battery Protect on my system, I had it wired to a buzzer that sounded when the low battery preset was reached as you can on the green plug.

 

[Cobra]

I don’t use one so am not sure, don’t the victron shunts have a low soc alarm or notification
If they do then that might be the way to go for the future

Andy

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Ejaydee]

Everything has seemingly come back online, the only immediate issue is the sat dish (Snipe type from Falcon) decided to only half put itself back home and had lots of graunching of gears. It only stopped when I climbed up and put it home by hand. I will get hold of Falcon and get advice on that later. So far everything else seems to be working. Thank you all who responded.

I will also make some enquires regarding an alarm on the shunt, thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Kannon Fodda]

Hopefully everything is now coming back to life with the token gesture of light on the solar.

Last few days have been appalling and I expect most have very little left in their batteries. Some vans near me have been starting engines on a twice daily basis since Friday.

The Victron smartshunt does have an alarm setting. Don't know how it sounds as haven't gone that low but suspect it must be a pop up on smartphone. On the Victron App open the smartshunt, then the settings cog and alarm should be on the pull down menu.

 

[bigtwin]

Do you not have an App for the battery BMS? That will tell you what happened.

Or is your battery an early incarnation without bluetooth?

Ian

 

[Ejaydee]

On the Victron App open the smartshunt, then the settings cog and alarm should be on the pull down menu.

Thank you for this, I have found it and it was disabled, hence no alarm sounding. I have set it for 40% SOC to sound off, is that too low do you think, or ok?

 

[meanders]

Sorry to hear of your problem and rotten night Eddy. Take great care when driving after that please.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Ejaydee]

Do you not have an App for the battery BMS? That will tell you what happened.

Or is your battery an early incarnation without bluetooth?

Ian

It does have Bluetooth, and it is now working ok. I have been directed towards the built in alarm that I did not know was there, so hopefully on another occasion the alarm will go off to warn me.

 

[buzz1]

Hi
Sounds like you have it sorted .

But if you are a bit worried you could always give ash a shout at van blitz as there after sales are excellent.
Also if you get your history data back on the blue tooth .
Send a screenshot of history may be helpful ?
Good luck

 

[Kannon Fodda]

Thank you for this, I have found it and it was disabled, hence no alarm sounding. I have set it for 40% SOC to sound off, is that too low do you think, or ok?

You can discharge lithium to 20% or even less safely.

What you do want is early warning things are getting low so you stop the non essential stuff like tv and laptop whilst still having juice for basics like light and water pump. The warning setting will be personal to you and you total battery capacity and what margin that would still give you For me I've set at 10%.

 

[Kannon Fodda]

Just had a quick look at Ejaydee's settings for his shunt and solar which were somehow both horribly wrong - solar was based on agm and who knows where shunt settings came from. Hopefully they will be better now.

 

[bigtwin]

I have been directed towards the built in alarm

Those references are for the victron App and not your battery BMS App.

Unless your Victron battery’s BMS is visible on the Victron App.

Ian

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}