Lithium Charge Limits, 75%?

[SteveJ.]

Originally Posted by Bobertgoes

It took ten days of the battery sitting at 13.4 to 13.6 volts under the solar array to reach 14.4. I checked today and it was at 14.4, yesterday was still 13.55-13.6 range, I checked it today around 10am, so all this happened in the morning partial light under trees.

Epever charge controller, Tracer.

Of course, the china software is terrible and near unuseable without step by step detailed instructions. I connected a PC to it, but could do nothing, could not fill in any boxes or set up anything. To connect pc means moving computer to where there is no internet.

Anyone use one of the MT50 Epever displays to program the controller? Reading the description it is clear it will display things, but unclear if you can program and interact with the controller.

I had some "fun" with an Epever that claimed to have Bluetooth, neither did the replacement that they sent. I wrote up a truthful review on Amazon, one star. The cajoled the living *ell out of me to remove that review, up to offering me a completely free controller.

I went with Victron SmartSolar 100/30. Sooooooo much easier to program and live with, though they are a bit proud of it. You do usually get what you pay for.

[Bobertgoes]

I did get the controller finally connected to a pc.
There is not really a lithium setting unless the "sealed" is for lithium. There is AMG and Flooded, so not sure what sealed is.
Chins battery manufacturer says no need to float charge, but there is no way to zero out the float settings, so I set the float lower to 12.7v.
SOC here is a guess as that number is based on drifting info, as any system.


I will not have a pc set up usually, but might use the MT50 to monitor it, not sure if I can make changes using the MT50 or not, the web info is so vague.

I hope this is all I need to do...

[hclarkx]

Originally Posted by Bobertgoes

It took ten days of the battery sitting at 13.4 to 13.6 volts under the solar array to reach 14.4. I checked today and it was at 14.4, yesterday was still 13.55-13.6 range, I checked it today around 10am, so all this happened in the morning partial light under trees.

Epever charge controller, Tracer.

Of course, the china software is terrible and near unuseable without step by step detailed instructions. I connected a PC to it, but could do nothing, could not fill in any boxes or set up anything. To connect pc means moving computer to where there is no internet.

Anyone use one of the MT50 Epever displays to program the controller? Reading the description it is clear it will display things, but unclear if you can program and interact with the controller.

The MT50 works well to program the controller. It does take some getting used to but after a while you will get the hang of needing to enter parameters in a certain order to get the MT50 to accept them. A trick is to scroll down and enter the parameters in reverse order. This comes close to accommodating the "less than or equal to" requirements.

I tried the PC app without much joy but that was seven years ago. I think it has been updated since then but surely not enough. I use the MT50 alone for solar settings and monitoring.

The 14.4 voltage only occurs briefly. It's easy to miss it. Some folks see 13.6 and later see 13.6 again and assume the charger stopped at 13.6V. In reality it may have hit 14.4V but the few minutes it was up there went unnoticed. There may have been multiple trips to 14.4V during the ten days of solar you mentioned (if there was good sun). Maybe likewise with the converter. Some converters designed for lead acid don't go much above 13.6V but some do. In any event, a converter will typically provide more current and make the trip to 14.4 (or something less) in just a minute or two.

Some converters do indeed sense the battery type. I have some NOCO Genius chargers that run tests on the battery to determine it's type and condition. LED lights on the NOCO units show the battery type after the start-up process. It never misses. I've used it on flooded LA, AGM, and lithium. A solar controller could easily do the same though I'm not aware of any that do (this doesn't mean there aren't any).

[Bobertgoes]

Thanks, good to know this info...
I ordered one more 100w panel and the same controller to supplement. This is all I have room for and it will hang off the back a few inches as it is, but that will help aerodynamics a bit, so no worries.

I attached to the running vehicle. I have a dc-dc controller (so not to pull too many amps from the alternator) and I only saw 9 volts on the vehicle side of the dc-dc conv. Sad. The engine was only at 1200rpm, but the vehicle voltage was showing 13.x volts, so that is quite a bit of voltage drop. I plan to run bigger wires and Anderson plug eventually.

[hclarkx]

Originally Posted by Bobertgoes

Thanks, good to know this info...
I ordered one more 100w panel and the same controller to supplement. This is all I have room for and it will hang off the back a few inches as it is, but that will help aerodynamics a bit, so no worries.

I attached to the running vehicle. I have a dc-dc controller (so not to pull too many amps from the alternator) and I only saw 9 volts on the vehicle side of the dc-dc conv. Sad. The engine was only at 1200rpm, but the vehicle voltage was showing 13.x volts, so that is quite a bit of voltage drop. I plan to run bigger wires and Anderson plug eventually.

Yes, one has to wonder what use the truck makers have in mind when they use #14 or #12 wire to the always-hot 12V pin on the 7 pin connector. Surely they aren't thinking of battery charging.

The Renogy DC-DC charger that my son has (30/60 amp) is spec'd at up to 90 amps in for 60 amps out. At first we figured that that must be due to a very low efficiency but later realized that the unit is also spec'd to function with just 8 or 9 volts at the input (I forget which). Hence we determined that the unit needs 90 amps input for 60 amps output only when the input voltage is very low. I.e., power in is 9x90 and power out is 13x60 or 810 Watts in and 780 Watts out (roughly) which is a very decent efficiency.

So, a lot of voltage drop in the wire to the back bumper means a huge current (and thus more voltage drop) so is unusable even up to the current rating of the wire (or the fuse in the truck).

My son's experience was in a motor home so running a larger wire from the alternator to the DC-DC was easy to do ... and moreover the DC-DC was placed close to the engine so that wire was short. I think if I was doing a DC-DC in my truck, the DC-DC unit would be placed in the engine compartment.

[guestPacer]

Bobertgoes, Epever has a support page below, there's some good viewing and reading. But like mentioned you can use the MT-50 which is alot more indept then using the controller and it will set pretty much everything to get you up and going. Just to mention BB Battery's posted a blog! that I read online with their battery's a tracer with a remote MT-50 and setup parameters, there are a couple things that you should lean toward your battery manufactures spec.
A youtuber (it's on their support page also) writes about going into their program by USB/RS and being mindful and stick to setting your battery bank parameters. There are some sample video's and layout of program.
Myself, just changing over to 420 ah Lithium bank from flooded. I started out with Epever Tracer ran two parallel 30 amp controllers and was going to change over to V smart controller 100/50, but at it's max with no wiggle room for amperage, so sticking with Epever tracer for now, just want to set it and periodically dive deep into app to look at data. There are some adapters that are USB to your phone or tablet (mine are USB-c) just in case you have one around.
Happy trails,

https://www.epever.com/support/softwares/

[wopachop]

Skimmed the first page and last page.
Not sure what has been discussed. But for people who own modern cordless drills. Or something like a OneWheel. You can benefit from the 80% charge the OP mentioned. This technique has been used for a long time. The biggest factor is temp. Once you learn the basics and have a foundation of understanding how to charge a lithium battery its clear temp is the key. People lie and cheat and trick the system all because temperatures allow it.

Take RC car racing. They are limited to a certain charge voltage per cell. Can you guess how they cheat? Hint: temperature