Charge Profiles for Renogy 200ah lifepo4 w/bluetooth

[Frozen North]

I have 2 of these batteries in parallel and an MT50 attached to the Epever 4215BN charge controller. No lithium profile other than "user" so I asked Renogy for specifics and they didnt give me anything other than a charging limit of 14.4v. I know to have the temp compensation at zero but don't know about equalize or float or boost settings. Can anyone suggest some for these batteries. Thanks.

 

[A.Justice]

These are my personal settings, that I have found to be effective, and should not be taken as professional advice.

I charge to 14.1v (you can do 14.4v if you want, I just figured the slightly lower voltage is a little bit easier on my cells), float at 13.35. I don't use boost or equalizing.

IIRC, boost and equalizing settings are for lead acid batteries, and temp compensation is pretty minimal with LiFePO4's, so leaving it on zero is fine for now.

 

[Frozen North]

Ok I will start with that thanks!

 

[mitchofcanada]

Many of my research has come to the conclusion to set the float just below the Absorption setting.
This way your panels will be charging batteries as you use them. keeping topped at at 90-95%. and say if you use the power for 3-5hrs.
Solar will not be charging the batteries up until you hit the Float Threshhold of 13.35 (80%)

The charger is Waiting for batteries to get to 13.35V 80% to start charging you could potentially be losing out on 20% of your amp hours.

Depending if you have a MMPT connected to the shunt to activate the Solar is another question.

Also Under load Voltage sensing vs Rest Voltage Sensing can greatly determine when the MMPT actually kicks in.

Ideally if the sun is out, as soon as I start drawing power I want my solar to be used. Not my batteries. That way i have 100ah Capacity when the sun is down.

 

[A.Justice]

Many of my research has come to the conclusion to set the float just below the Absorption setting.

That's true if your goal is to use 100% of the power inside of your cells, but that's not always the case.

This way your panels will be charging batteries as you use them. keeping topped at at 90-95%. and say if you use the power for 3-5hrs.
Solar will not be charging the batteries up until you hit the Float Threshhold of 13.35 (80%)

The charger is Waiting for batteries to get to 13.35V 80% to start charging you could potentially be losing out on 20% of your amp hours.

That's why I do it. I don't want my cells held near a full state of charge. I definitely lose out on a small bit of capacity, but my system was designed to account for that, and I'm hoping the cells will thank me 10 years down the road.

Also, for my specific cells, they drop to ~13.4v almost immediately after charging, and ~13.3 as soon as they are under load. The SCC kicks on pretty much as soon as I start really using my pack with the float where it is. Realistically, it only prevents me from charging the top 10% or so on days where I'm only using a very small load.

 

[mitchofcanada]

In my Climate i almost always want 100% going into the evening as I need to use heating pads to keep the battery warm right now until about mid may. I have temp BMV but no internal charging pads. I just put a 35watt heating pad under that kicks on at 6am for 2 hrs before the sun is about to hit.

I guess it depends on your sun zone you are in. I am Alberta/Calgary and we get frequent overcast days so i need to hold onto my charge. Probly down road I will install a dc-dc for my van when traveling but with 600 watt on roof ive yet to be caught short on power. (40v panels, series, helps on overcast days)

 

[mitchofcanada]

I was 14.4V Bulk/Absorb and 13.8 Charged.
It settled at 13.4V.
So I will be charging to 13.4V to keep at 90%

 

[Frozen North]

I just ran the system for a week and tweaked settings on the Epever 4215BN charge controller. This is what seems to give me the best performance. I have 2 x200ah Renogy lifepo4 batteries in parallel with a 3000w inverter and 6 x 100w panels in series. After running with recommended parameters for lifepo4 ("User" battery setting on MT50) I found that with "float" set at 13.4v the charge would taper off from about 30 amps at peak hours to around 5 amps and would not charge up to 90% by the time the sun went down. I adjusted the float to 13.8v in the peak hours and set the max charge to 14.1v and voila! It jumped back up to 30+ amps charging immediately and I get 93 to 95% charge by the end of the day. I use about 20 to 25% overnight. Even on rainy days I am getting 15 amps charge all day with these settings. My Renogy bluetooth app tells me I am getting to 13.8v at 95% capacity which seems to agree with the shunt/monitor. The MT50 shows slightly higher voltages. I have left it set with float at 13.6v while I am away for a couple of weeks to see if it will go to about 98% or so. I come to the conclusion that setting "float" to 13.4v (even though lifepo4 doesn't need float) is too low to take advantage of the MPPT controller. Any thoughts?

 

[Aly_Oops]

In my Climate i almost always want 100% going into the evening as I need to use heating pads to keep the battery warm right now until about mid may. I have temp BMV but no internal charging pads. I just put a 35watt heating pad under that kicks on at 6am for 2 hrs before the sun is about to hit.

I guess it depends on your sun zone you are in. I am Alberta/Calgary and we get frequent overcast days so i need to hold onto my charge. Probly down road I will install a dc-dc for my van when traveling but with 600 watt on roof ive yet to be caught short on power. (40v panels, series, helps on overcast days)

We are in the same area and in middle of doing 2 DIY, waiting for the stuff to arrive. Also using 3 x 100 amp LIFEPO4, so thanks for your setting.

Renogy 3000w Pure Sine Wave Inverter Charger Power Inverter 12v DC to 110v AC, Two-in-One Inverter Charger Solar Inverter 12v to 110v Converter with LCD Display

Renogy Rover Elite 40A 12V/24V MPPT Solar Charge Controller,with LCD Display Compatible with Deep Cycle Sealed/AGM Gel, Flooded, Lithium-Iron Phosphate,Flooded Batteries. Shopping for another one but 60A

Renogy Flexible Solar Panel 100 Watt 12 Volt, Ultra Lightweight 100w Solar Panel 12v of Semi-Bendable Monocrystalline Cell, Solar Charger for RV Yatch Marine RV Boat Van Uneven Surfaces. If we like them and passes our test, plan on getting 3 more

Renogy 200W 12V Solar Panel Kit Foldable Monocrystalline Solar Panel Solar Suitcase with 20A Waterproof Charge Controller. For short trips using EB3A Bluetti, unit on route.

Renogy 500A Battery Monitor, High and Low Voltage Programmable Alarm, Voltage range 10V-120V and up to 500A, Compatible with 12V Lithium Sealed, Gel, Flooded Batteries

 

[Frozen North]

We are in the same area and in middle of doing 2 DIY, waiting for the stuff to arrive. Also using 3 x 100 amp LIFEPO4, so thanks for your setting.

Renogy 3000w Pure Sine Wave Inverter Charger Power Inverter 12v DC to 110v AC, Two-in-One Inverter Charger Solar Inverter 12v to 110v Converter with LCD Display

Renogy Rover Elite 40A 12V/24V MPPT Solar Charge Controller,with LCD Display Compatible with Deep Cycle Sealed/AGM Gel, Flooded, Lithium-Iron Phosphate,Flooded Batteries. Shopping for another one but 60A

Renogy Flexible Solar Panel 100 Watt 12 Volt, Ultra Lightweight 100w Solar Panel 12v of Semi-Bendable Monocrystalline Cell, Solar Charger for RV Yatch Marine RV Boat Van Uneven Surfaces. If we like them and passes our test, plan on getting 3 more

Renogy 200W 12V Solar Panel Kit Foldable Monocrystalline Solar Panel Solar Suitcase with 20A Waterproof Charge Controller. For short trips using EB3A Bluetti, unit on route.

Renogy 500A Battery Monitor, High and Low Voltage Programmable Alarm, Voltage range 10V-120V and up to 500A, Compatible with 12V Lithium Sealed, Gel, Flooded Batteries

Here are a couple of pics of my setup.