Fogstar battery and victron charger

[RichardB]

Hi all
My 300ah Fogstar drift has just arrived
Looks a good piece of kit!
It’s at 50% charge so have connected it to my victron main charger.

Does anyone have the same Fogstar setup!
Interest to know if I just use the built in lithium profile or if I would be better using advanced settings to set voltages for absorption And bulk - the manual gives contracting settings (14.4 and 13.8) and on the online help it says 14.4 for both

Thanks

R

 

[Victor And Margaret]

Hi Richard,

Same here but we got the 280Ah version. I started it off with the default lithium setting then modified it to match the Fogstar specs as stated in their manual. It seems to be charging slightly faster but the charger is really warm. Ours is the 12 30 IP22 and from the look of things is only recommended for batteries up to 250Ah.

From what I've seen so far, I'm very impressed with the quality. Hopefully it'll get a full test next weekend.

Cheers.

Dave

 

[PhilandMena]

Did you guys have to make any changes to your Alternator ???

 

[Guigsy]

My FogStar 280Ah arrived today. I'm also going to use a Victron AC charger with it. I only got a IP22 that charges at 20 amps. When I bought it last year, I was planning to get a far smaller battery. I don't think it matters that much as when I plug in, it'll be for +12 hours at a time anyway. The only issue with having a smaller charger is it takes longer.

 

[Guigsy]

Did you guys have to make any changes to your Alternator ???

I'm fitting a Votronic B2B... when I get the time you do the installation.

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[Oldrat]

Best of luck with the upgrade


For others info- When I bought a lithium battery upgrade the guys at Roamer talked me through my settings on the phone at 8pm on a Saturday evening!

That’s service for you

 

[Gromett]

Just checking which batteries were best value and if 2 smaller ones were better than 1 bigger one.

AH​	£​	£/AH​
105​	£369.00​	£3.51​
230​	£719.99​	£3.13​
280​	£819.99​	£2.93​
300​	£929.99​	£3.10​
460​	£1,239.99​	£2.70​
560​	£1,699.00​	£3.03​

Posting in case anyone is interested.

 

[PhilandMena]

I aske this question and was told one 230 would be better than two 105 because of the BMS

 

[Gromett]

I aske this question and was told one 230 would be better than two 105 because of the BMS

Better is a word that can be used in multiple ways.
Better value.
Better current capabilities.

2 batteries in parallel each producing 200Amp to give you 400 amps might be better for your use case than the best value single 230AH producing 200Amps ?

 

[Carpmart]

My FogStar 280Ah arrived today. I'm also going to use a Victron AC charger with it. I only got a IP22 that charges at 20 amps. When I bought it last year, I was planning to get a far smaller battery. I don't think it matters that much as when I plug in, it'll be for +12 hours at a time anyway. The only issue with having a smaller charger is it takes longer.

FYI, If you do need faster charging you can use multiples of this charger and they form, in effect, one homogeneous charger, which are synchronised together.. I think you can Bluetooth together up to four of these.

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[PaulC70]

I got my 300ah too but it's sat in the box and when i asked the other week was told just to put in the van and charge it like that. I wasn't expecting it would be at 50%? So, now do i need to buy a charger before fitting or not?

 

[dpsuk999]

Just checking which batteries were best value and if 2 smaller ones were better than 1 bigger one.

AH​	£​	£/AH​
105​	£369.00​	£3.51​
230​	£719.99​	£3.13​
280​	£819.99​	£2.93​
300​	£929.99​	£3.10​
460​	£1,239.99​	£2.70​
560​	£1,699.00​	£3.03​

Posting in case anyone is interested.

Glad I went with 2x 460ah

 

[Victor And Margaret]

Did you guys have to make any changes to your Alternator ???

I thought we might have to but in the end there was no issue. There's a slight change in engine note when the b2b's charging but the alternator was fine and didn't get too hot even when the van was ticking over on the drive. The battery's fantastic, over a weekend with lights, pump, diesel heater & 500w inverter running a TV it only dropped 12%. Well chuffed!!

 

[Guigsy]

It'll be a few weekends before I get around to fitting the FogStar, B2B and AC charger. So I thought I'd quickly wire up the AC charger just to see if everything was ok. 20 amps charge immediately shown in both the Victron and FogStar apps, which was a win. Only issue was the eBay £3 fuse box I slapped in (that came with a 30A fuse) got pretty warm in the space of a few minutes. Clearly wasn't up to the job. So further testing was abandoned. In the van I've got much higher quality kit already fitted and waiting for the upgraded parts.

 

[Lenny HB]

Better is a word that can be used in multiple ways.
Better value.
Better current capabilities.

2 batteries in parallel each producing 200Amp to give you 400 amps might be better for your use case than the best value single 230AH producing 200Amps ?

When the new wagon arrives I'm going to have to spend another couple of hundred on 2 x 230 ah for that reason.

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[Lenny HB]

Hi all
My 300ah Fogstar drift has just arrived
Looks a good piece of kit!
It’s at 50% charge so have connected it to my victron main charger.

Does anyone have the same Fogstar setup!
Interest to know if I just use the built in lithium profile or if I would be better using advanced settings to set voltages for absorption And bulk - the manual gives contracting settings (14.4 and 13.8) and on the online help it says 14.4 for both

Thanks

R

Most of the Lithium experts recommend charging to 14.1v they still reach a full charge just takes a bit longer.
Worth looking at some Off-grid Garage videos.

 

[Hoovie]

Most of the Lithium experts recommend charging to 14.1v the still reach a full charge just takes a bit longer.
Worth looking at some Off-grid Garage videos.

In my Hybrid setup, I have my VSDR Lithium Controller (the interface between the Lithium and the Chargers) set to disconnect the Lithium at 14.1V. I've found at the point the voltage hits this level, the batteries have just hit the 100% charge point, so it is the ideal point as batteries are full and there is no float (which is what the Lithiums like best).
(Chargers then carry on to finish the job with the Lead).

 

[PhilandMena]

In my Hybrid setup, I have my VSDR Lithium Controller (the interface between the Lithium and the Chargers) set to disconnect the Lithium at 14.1V. I've found at the point the voltage hits this level, the batteries have just hit the 100% charge point, so it is the ideal point as batteries are full and there is no float (which is what the Lithiums like best).
(Chargers then carry on to finish the job with the Lead).

Isn't overcharging prevented via the BMS ?

 

[Raul]

In my Hybrid setup, I have my VSDR Lithium Controller (the interface between the Lithium and the Chargers) set to disconnect the Lithium at 14.1V. I've found at the point the voltage hits this level, the batteries have just hit the 100% charge point, so it is the ideal point as batteries are full and there is no float (which is what the Lithiums like best).
(Chargers then carry on to finish the job with the Lead).

And when are they going to balance? Is there a time delay on the VSDR to keep them at CV for a little while?

 

[Rozzer]

Fitted my 300ah Drift. First trip since electrics dropped out, 11.1v showing on Swift controller. Ran engine and all came back up. Contacted Fogstar who came back quickly to say battery needs to be charged on delivery to 14.1 and discharged to 40% 4-5 times before using as in manual. Can’t find that in the manual but currently we’re touring in Spain for a fortnight. Any thoughts welcome…

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