Confused using lithium…….

[Ingwe]

Have had 2x110ah lithium batteries fitted together with Victron IP 22 mains charger, Victron mppt solar charger, Victron b2b charger and Victron shunt. All seemed to be working well and when we set off to Filey, the state of charge of the leisure battery was 98%. By the time we reached Filey (just over an hour) the leisure battery was reading 100%. The increase to 100% I assumed was due to the b2b charger.

As we had hookup I decided to put the IP22 mains charger into Power Supply Mode so that the battery was not being further charged by the mains. It was grey and drizzly when we arrived and the solar was reading 0 watts. I was not surprised by this. But today, before we left, it was very sunny and still the solar was showing (on the Victron connect app) 0 watts. The app also showed under ‘Solar’, that it was on Power Supply mode, which it was with regards to the mains charger.

I turned off the IP charger and thought that I might get a reading for solar (given how sunny it was) but still 0 watts. Am I interpreting this correctly?

On a previous trip in Spring, I’m sure we had the solar showing a positive reading whilst parked up and mains charger on power supply. Confused.

 

[Durham's dad]

It may be that if the batteries are fully charged the solar controller stops the flow of power to them. It happens with ours. If you switch on a high usage item when off mains you will perhaps find the solar controller gives you a reading as it's replenishing the batteries.

 

[Itsmcb]

I believe if you switch the charger to 'power supply mode' it will continue to charge your batteries since this does not disconnect the charger from the batteries but supplies a constant voltage rather than the battery specific rate. This would still keep your batteries at 100% and as mentioned above, need no current from your solar.

 

[DuxDeluxe]

It may be that if the batteries are fully charged the solar controller stops the flow of power to them. It happens with ours. If you switch on a high usage item when off mains you will perhaps find the solar controller gives you a reading as it's replenishing the batteries.

Yes, if the battery is full, the solar shows 0

 

[Itsmcb]

In any case there should be no need to alter the victron charger settings if it's set to Lithium as it will only supply what the battery needs.

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[Itsmcb]

That's a really nice set up you have, unless your using a LOT of gadgets or a big inverter regularly there should be no need to use the mains charger at all for several days.

 

[Ingwe]

That's a really nice set up you have, unless your using a LOT of gadgets or a big inverter regularly there should be no need to use the mains charger at all for several days.

Yes, that was the reason for getting the lithium batteries. We had two nights in Filey, watched over 5 hours of TV streaming a night, lights on, heating fan on low, fridge on and at end of 2nd day had used 12% of available ah.

 

[RichardB]

Have had 2x110ah lithium batteries fitted

Hi
Can I ask what make the batteries are. I have all the same victron kit and just need the get batteries - currently have 2 x 100ah lead acids and thinking for 150ah lithium or there aboutz - just want to have one battery that will fit in battery Box to free up storage space Inside where current 2nd one fits.
Ta

 

[Ingwe]

RichardB-I have 2 x Ecotree 110ah batteries both fitted under under the front passenger seat.

 

[Ingwe]

Yes, if the battery is full, the solar shows 0

Would your answer be the same if the batteries SOC was 80%?

We went away last week and had three nights on hookup put charger on power supply mode. SOC after three nights was 80% down from 100%. But still the solar was showing 0 watts, 17.10V and 0.0A.

When we were ready to leave, I unhooked, put the mains charger back into charger mode (so I don’t forget if I need to charge up whilst in storage) and got ready to set off. The solar then read 102 watts, 16.24V and 6.3A.

Still a little confused that I’m understanding everything and that it’s all working as it should.

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[Lenny HB]

We went away last week and had three nights on hookup put charger on power supply mode. SOC after three nights was 80% down from 100%. But still the solar was showing 0 watts, 17.10V and 0.0A.

With the charge on PS mode and giving out a constant voltage to the solar regulator the batteries would look fully charged as it would be seeing the voltage of the charger output.

 

[Bobby-gg]

Switch off the mains charger completely to see the solar charge