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[Rob Cousins]

Just upgraded solar system on my Chausson 640. Replaced 2 x lead/acid batteries for Fogstar Drift Pro 230Ah lithium, added another 160w solar panel in parallel, changed controller to Victron Smartsolar 100/30, changed CB516 charger for Victron Smartcharger 15A and finally changed Redarc BCDC124 to lithium profile.
All seems to work on solar charging but when charger is turned on system goes into Absorption or Float mode when the battery is only 55% charged. Charger is showing that battery is at 14.43V on the app but Fogstar app is showing 13.4V. Does anything else different need to be changed on the Redarc?

 

[Kannon Fodda]

That storage voltage setting is a bit weird. If it is enabled it will be confusing stuff.

Make sure you have enabled Bluetooth ve network on shunt and controller if these are both Bluetooth enabled so they talk to each other.

Is your Victron stuff all with current firmware? Should be able to check in settings and product info.

You may need a full recharging cycle to complete before the shunt knows where full charge is. But during absorption phase often little current flows.

 

[ChrisL]

I have a Fogstar Drift 230ah but not the pro, below are my settings for the ip22 and solar. Make sure they are connected on the VE network and charging is synchronised.

 

[Dorwyn]

OMG! This to me as a no-tech, is unintelligible. But, I have replaced my truma two battery pcm solar controller with a Victron Truma solar controller. The wiring is correct. But the controller is reporting no input in the Victron app. A quick check with the meter on the solar panel terminals shows no voltage. All internal on board fuses have been checked and replaced just in case. There is a fuse in the controller which I am reluctant to pull out to check.I have no idea what is the problem. If you take out a live positive fuse, and replace that with a new fuse, will it arc as a flash so blowing the new fuse? That is the only thing I can think of as the possible cause.

 

[Rob Cousins]

Ok, I’ll go through the settings again in the morning, thanks.

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[Lenny HB]

Your charger voltages look a bit high I've set mine to 14.2 with a float of 13.5v RogerIvy recently told me Fogstar now recommend charging to 14.3.
Mine get a full charge at 14.2v so I left it at that.
. Just charge my two Fogstar 230ah up seperatly before paralleling them. They went from bulk at 45 amps and to 30 amps on absorbtion then dropped down ro less than 1 amp on float.

I using a Multiplus with 120 amp charger but I limited it to 50 amps before paralleling the batteries.

 

[ChrisL]

This is what the Fogstar app displays with the above settings. You can set your float voltage lower, mine is where it is to trigger the starter battery maintainer which cuts in at 13.6v.

 

[ChrisL]

I just noticed you have temperature compensation turned on, that will increase the voltage the ip22 puts out if the ambient temperature is lower then 25C it is not required for lithium so can be turned off.

 

[headlight]

Ok, I’ll go through the settings again in the morning, thanks.

For Victron kit Fogstar recommend 14.2v charge and 13.5v float.
I was using those settings for about 5 months with my Fogstar 230Ah and Victron kit but then noticed that the battery was only reaching 98% SOC and 224AH.
I've recently changed the settings to 14.25v charge and 13.55v float which has resulted in the battery charging to 100% SOC and 230AH again.

 

[ChrisL]

For Victron kit Fogstar recommend 14.2v charge and 13.5v float.
I was using those settings for about 5 months with my Fogstar 230Ah and Victron kit but then noticed that the battery was only reaching 98% SOC and 224AH.
I've recently changed the settings to 14.25v charge and 13.55v float which has resulted in the battery charging to 100% SOC and 230AH again.

That's interesting, did yours charge to 230ah from new? Mine is only a month old but is charging to 243ah my float setting is a little higher but it gets to that capacity at the end of the Absorbtion phase, I'm currently on hookup, individual cells are at 3.404 volts with one being at 3.403 so within .001 volts.

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[headlight]

That's interesting, did yours charge to 230ah from new? Mine is only a month old but is charging to 243ah my float setting is a little higher but it gets to that capacity at the end of the Absorbtion phase, I'm currently on hookup, individual cells are at 3.404 volts with one being at 3.403 so within .001 volts.

Yes for the first 5 months it charged to 100% and 230AH.
After 5 months and 5 cycles it dropped to 98% SOC and 224AH.
The battery is now on 7 cycles.
The cells are always within .001v and 0.002v.

 

[chaser]

Whatever happened to the days when you bought a couple of solar panels , a Chinese controller and connected to your batteries and forgot about it?

 

[ChrisL]

Yes for the first 5 months it charged to 100% and 230AH.
After 5 months and 5 cycles it dropped to 98% SOC and 224AH.
The battery is now on 7 cycles.
The cells are always within .001v and 0.002v.

Post 7 has a screen shot of my Fogstar app, I wonder if it's reporting the capacity accurately? It all works fine though so I'm happy enough.

 

[headlight]

Post 7 has a screen shot of my Fogstar app, I wonder if it's reporting the capacity accurately? It all works fine though so I'm happy enough.

I also have a Victron smart shunt and that was agreeing with the Fogstar app.
I see your battery is on 4 cycles, Fogstar say it takes 5-6 cycles for the BMS to settle down and be accurate.
Also Fogstar told me that the 230AH is actually 240AH to 245AH in reality.

 

[MichaelT]

Here are my settings for my 50a victron.

If you disable charging on the solar controller then re enable it will push it into bulk charge.

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[Lenny HB]

Whatever happened to the days when you bought a couple of solar panels , a Chinese controller and connected to your batteries and forgot about it?

No fun in that.

 

[Lenny HB]

For Victron kit Fogstar recommend 14.2v charge and 13.5v float.
I was using those settings for about 5 months with my Fogstar 230Ah and Victron kit but then noticed that the battery was only reaching 98% SOC and 224AH.
I've recently changed the settings to 14.25v charge and 13.55v float which has resulted in the battery charging to 100% SOC and 230AH again.

Fogstar are now recommending 14.3v on Victron gear, a bit close the limit for me I'll leave mine at14.2v for now I'd rather under charge than push the limit.

Also Fogstar told me that the 230AH is actually 240AH to 245AH in reality

One of mine came up at 245 ah the other at 241 ah, so I have used 480 ah on my shunt setting and set the Multiplus to a max charge rate of 90 amps, as at 120 amps the BMS will cut in and limit the charge on each battery to 50 amps, no point it stressing it.

 

[AdrianChen]

Just upgraded solar system on my Chausson 640. Replaced 2 x lead/acid batteries for Fogstar Drift Pro 230Ah lithium, added another 160w solar panel in parallel, changed controller to Victron Smartsolar 100/30, changed CB516 charger for Victron Smartcharger 15A and finally changed Redarc BCDC124 to lithium profile.
All seems to work on solar charging but when charger is turned on system goes into Absorption or Float mode when the battery is only 55% charged. Charger is showing that battery is at 14.43V on the app but Fogstar app is showing 13.4V. Does anything else different need to be changed on the Redarc?



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I think I would double check the wiring from the charger to the battery - I think it is showing its output voltage, not what's on the battery circuit, hence flipping straight to absorb.

Do you have it on a smart network with the Solar charger? if so it should be sharing the voltage.