diy solar

diy solar

Recent content by jony101

  1. J

    Issues with Renogy PG 40A MPPT Controller

    Check for voltage drop, if it checks good then do what snoobler says. Otherwise you will at most get your battery to 80 percent slowly. If you want to fast charge your battery with solar, your charge voltage has to be high enough to do it. With voltage drop, you at most will be trickle charging...
  2. J

    Issues with Renogy PG 40A MPPT Controller

    On the battleborns, the full voltage is 14.4 volts, you need to measure this voltage at the battery terminals. More then likely you have "voltage drop" from the controller to the battery. (example the controller might read 14.4 volts but your battery terminals only read 13.8 volts) . Next time...
  3. J

    18650 supplemental 12v RV battery

    Yes you can use 3s li-ion to augment your trojan batteries. I have a 312ah li-ion batterybank (3s) that augments my 220ah 4s lifepo4. And previously I used a 94ah 3s li-ion pack(handbuilt with 18650) that augmented my 102ah agm battery. As long as the lead acid is charging from the solar panel...
  4. J

    EXTENDING LIFEPO4 BATTERY LIFE

    I've had my 220ah lifepo4 for 3 years, I charge everyday to 3.65 per cell. Hasn't damaged the battery, So you charging to 3.50 per cell should be good. I demand max performance from my battery, I paid for 220ah, I expect to get it thats why I charge to the max. With solar its rare I ever reach...
  5. J

    What are all the issues that effect charging current?

    voltage drop can be a wiring problem but on solar systems, it's usually the controller that reads high. Some can be calibrated to match the battery terminals. On my system I replaced the wires going to battery several time and currently use 10 gauge pure copper going to the battery (2 feet away)...
  6. J

    What are all the issues that effect charging current?

    1. voltage drop Its the only thing that I encountered when charging lithium. Mainly with solar. The controllers voltage is always higher then actual battery voltage. This results in the controller not sending max amps to the battery. I notice this with 4 different controllers I tried both pwm...
  7. J

    Could this work?

    I used those small active balancers before and they didn't do anything for my battery. Since you will be charging from the alternator I recommend the qnbbm balancers, they are more expensive in the 100 dollar range for a 4s but they work very good, I had mine on my 220ah 4s battery (which use to...
  8. J

    Is something wrong with my mppt charge controller?

    For your lifepo4 you probably have to increase the bulk voltage to 29.2 to get it to start charging. At 26.4 its reading a full battery. I don't have the renogy but on my ecoworthy 20a mppt, I notice if I set the bulk voltage too low it charges at very low amps. maybe 1 amp or less. If you have...
  9. J

    Testing Internal Resistance 280Ah cells

    Yr1035 should be good, its what I use and the readings are repeatable. If I test the cell 5 times I get about the same reading. If I have a group of cells, I test them if the reading is close to each other, its good enough for me. Example If 5 of the cells are in the mid 30's, and 1 measures in...
  10. J

    12 volt or 14 volt battery for RV?

    I have the enovate mobius, 12 of them hooked up in parallel. each is 26ah. These are use in hospitals so they are fairly safe. In 4 years of using lithium, I only encountered 1 fire, that was a lifepo4 cell. Any lithium is dangerous if overcharged or abused. With li-ion you get more amp hour...
  11. J

    Do you need to increase charge amps when adding more batteries?

    not needed, my 220ah lifepo4 is 2x 110ah batteries in parallel. I charge at same rate as before 8 to 12 amps. It does take longer but any lithium prefer to be charged at lower rates. But technically you can charge at higher rates if you really wanted to since the amps will be divided by the 2...
  12. J

    4 lead impedance meter

    I have the same model yr1035. It works excellent, anyone who build battery packs especially the 18650 need one of these IR tester. I also tested on my 16ah oddesey agm, and the IR result I got was as per specs for that battery. I already found many cells with high IR that I would normally use in...
  13. J

    12 volt or 14 volt battery for RV?

    I think the max charge for li-ion is 12.6 volts, its on mine. I have a 312ah batterybank of li-ion and has worked excellent in my van. Never had my inverter shutoff from low voltage. it runs everything my 4s lifepo4 (13.1 volt) runs, fans and lights might not be as bright or run at higher rpms...
  14. J

    Understanding MPP Solar charge settings for LifePO4 batteries

    I think there might be voltage drop from your controller to your battery. The controller might think the battery is at 52 volts, when its actually much lower. Next time compare the voltage reading on the controller to what the voltage on the battery terminals are. If the voltage on the terminals...
  15. J

    Practice run to see if i am on the right track?

    I built my 220ah 4s lifepo4 with 160x 32650 cells. I tried soldering with 3 different solder irons but was unsuccesful. The max wattage of my solder irons was 60 watts. Even after using sandpaper to scuff up the cells, the solder wouldn't stick. I had to buy a tab welder (malectrics 12 volt for...
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