Lithium charging

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Marie-Claire

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Adria matrix supreme
Hello all, I fitted 2 x renogy 100ah lithium , last December and upto now have had no issues, the % of charge between the van display and the app have been very similar. They are charged by nordelectra ne287 charger. Last week after it had been stood a few weeks we were away and the adria display was showing 13.2v and 100% charged but the bluetooth to the renogy app was in the low 30s %. We are away again on boxing day so put the van on ehu last night to fully charge the batteries on the app they were showing 29 and 32% . After 12 hours they are now showing 52 and 54% but appear to have stopped charging as the current flowing into the van is around zero. Is there a fault or some way to reset the batteries to take them upto 100 %
 
What voltage is on the charger leads/battery terminals whilst the charger is switched on? If only 13.2-13.8v (float ish voltage) it will take a long time....

Any lights flashing/on?
 
Across the 2 batteries is showing 13.67v whilst on charge , cant see any flashing lights
 
Marie-Claire said:
Across the 2 batteries is showing 13.67v whilst on charge , cant see any flashing lights
Click to expand...

That's float voltage, charge voltage should be between about 14.2 - 14.4v.
Float voltage normally means the battery is fully charged.
Have you got the charger set to lithium ?
 
OK - Ought to be an LED on though - If its been on charge overnight it should be on float Green Led?

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This is what is showing on the app for each battery

Screenshot_20231223-095529_DC Home.jpg Screenshot_20231223-095509_DC Home.jpg
 
The charger doesnt have a seperate lithium setting , I had a chat with fog star before I fitted these(they didnt have any in stock) they said the gel setting would be fine which was backed up by the adria dealers tech guy when I asked them the same
 
Mmm - 13.8 appears to be the float charge of the ne287 if set to Lithium - I would reset the charger and see if it goes through the charge profile of 14.6v bulk/absorption, and drops to float again in 1/2hour or so.
 
Will have to get the books out and see how to reset the charger
 
Marie-Claire said:
The charger doesnt have a seperate lithium setting , I had a chat with fog star before I fitted these(they didnt have any in stock) they said the gel setting would be fine which was backed up by the adria dealers tech guy when I asked them the same
Click to expand...
And this is why companies advertising lithiums as "drop in direct replacements to lead acid" is just marketing BS.
You will never get the best out of a lithium without the correct charge profile.
I've just fitted 2 x 105AH Fogstar Drift lithiums.
Fogstar told me they were drop in's and lead acid charge profiles would be fine.
They are correct in a way as the BMS will protect the battery from any charging it doesn't like but you won't get the best out of the batteries ie they may never reach 100% SOC.
Fortunately my main charging sources, B2B and solar, have lithium profiles.
My onboard charger, a 3 stage Sargent PX300, only has a lead acid profile and that will not fully charge the batteries.
However I only go on EHU once a year, to check my 240v side is working, and as I am on EHU it doesn't matter that my onboard charger won't charge the batteries to 100%.
 
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Apologies guys it's the 237 charger 14.4v charge and 13.8 float, I have the manual but cant see any reset feature , would turning everything off disconnecting ehu and removing battery terminals have a reset effect?. The batteries have never reached 100% but normally have been around 98/99
 
Marie-Claire said:
Apologies guys it's the 237 charger 14.4v charge and 13.8 float, I have the manual but cant see any reset feature , would turning everything off disconnecting ehu and removing battery terminals have a reset effect?. The batteries have never reached 100% but normally have been around 98/99
Click to expand...
Unplug from EHU, turn some electric items on to drain the batteries a little, turn items off, plug EHU back in and see what it will charge to.
 
Marie-Claire said:
The charger doesnt have a seperate lithium setting , I had a chat with fog star before I fitted these(they didnt have any in stock) they said the gel setting would be fine which was backed up by the adria dealers tech guy when I asked them the same
Click to expand...
The batteries will never get a full charge on the Gel setting, drop in replacement is marketing BS. For Lithium you need the correct mains & Sola chargers and a B2B, no point in spending money on Lithium and then not charging them properly.
Marie-Claire said:
Will have to get the books out and see how to reset the charger
Click to expand...
Just turn the mains off and on (leave if off for a few mins).
 
I very much doubt your van display panel will be able to display the state of charge of Lithium accurately.

Battery BMS's are well known for playing up what you need to do is fit a Shunt either a Victron Smart Shunt or a Victron BMV712 then you will get accurate results.

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Lenny HB said:
The batteries will never get a full charge on the Gel setting, drop in replacement is marketing BS. For Lithium you need the correct mains & Sola chargers and a B2B, no point in spending money on Lithium and then not charging them properly.

Just turn the mains off and on (leave if off for a few mins).
Click to expand...
Agreed, lithiums are not cheap, why spend the cash on them then not charge them properly to get the best out of them.
Also Fogstar, and other companies that advertise their lithiums as drop ins, are relying on the BMS to protect the battery.
IMO the BMS should be the last line of battery protection not the only protection.
 
headlight said:
Agreed, lithiums are not cheap, why spend the cash on them then not charge them properly to get the best out of them.
Also Fogstar, and other companies that advertise their lithiums as drop ins, are relying on the BMS to protect the battery.
IMO the BMS should be the last line of battery protection not the only protection.
Click to expand...
How many times have I said that on here? :giggle:
 
We've got renogy 100Ah on both our vehicles and have come across an issue where the app wasn't giving a good reading. The advice was to delete and re-install the app.

Having said that, the renogy batteries are definitely not a drop in replacement. We charge ours through solar and the 50am DC-DC charger from renogy. If I want to charge from mains power I hook up a renogy 10amp charger with and anderson plug connector. I took the original mains charger off the Chausson completely as it didn't have a lithium profile (was only good for lead acid)

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peterc10 said:
How cold is it where the motorhome is situated? The battery's BMS may have switched charging off if it is close to zero degrees.
Click to expand...
That model cuts off at 0 and recovers at 5 apparently (warnings given at 7 and 10)
 
I bought Dc to dc charger from Renogy and it failed within two weeks. Had a terrible time trying to get a refund. No UK service centres. Had me jumping through hoops until they eventually issued a refund. They are an awful company to deal with. Having said that my Renogy inverter has been faultless.
 
So I have disconnected ehu and the batteries from the charger, also deleted the app ,. Reinstalled the app connected batteries back up and reconnected ehu. The app now states 1 battery at 100% and 1 at 52.4%. The van display says 100%. I am thinking it's the app giving a incorrect reading and the batteries are charged hence the voltage being at 13.67 float
 
Marie-Claire said:
So I have disconnected ehu and the batteries from the charger, also deleted the app ,. Reinstalled the app connected batteries back up and reconnected ehu. The app now states 1 battery at 100% and 1 at 52.4%. The van display says 100%. I am thinking it's the app giving a incorrect reading and the batteries are charged hence the voltage being at 13.67 float
Click to expand...
Unlike lead acids it is difficult to determine SOC of lithium just by voltage and I wouldn't take to much notice of your van display.
It will show the batteries as 100% at about 12.7-12.9v as its set up for lead acids where as 12.7-12.9v is not a fully charged lithium.
I don't rely on my van panel display or the app, I use a Victron smart shunt to know what's going on.
How many charge cycles do the batteries have on them as the app can take around 6 charge cycles to properly sync.
Also the app can have problems detecting and therefore reducing SOC values if the draw on the batteries is low, such as the parasitic drain when the van is not being used.
This can make the app drift out of sync with the real SOC.
As Lenny has said the only really reliable way to know is to fit a shunt.
 
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Installed a year and away about 12 weeks this year so sufficient charge cycles

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