Emergency ? Help

[Wandererrr]

You need a charger to wake the bms up you will have to do this for each battery individually the bms has shut down for low voltage

if possible charge each battery to full capacity then hook them back up after verification of correct voltage which should be over 13 volts once they settle out

Would a charger like this work? And do you think it’d be okay to run it off of the car battery or would that be too much?
Also do I have to take apart the whole wiring setup for this or is there any way to avoid that whole process?

 

[rodrick]

You have to have a charger that will produce power even if the target battery is near 0 volts a lot of the new smart chargers will not charge a battery below a certain voltage

take either the pos or neg cable off each battery before charging you want each battery isolated

I have used a nurse battery between the target battery and the charger to recover agm battery that has dropped to low by hooking the 2 batteries together and putting the charger on the nurse battery then the newer smart charger should work

double check everything before making connections!

 

[Solarcabin Channel]

Your pics show you have a Renogy Rover controller that has a battery BMS wake up feature installed.

As long as everything is connected correctly as soon as the sun gets up high so your solar panels are producing more than 14 volts it should restart the battery BMS so they will charge.

If that is not working then you probably need more help and could be other issues with the system.

 

[rodrick]

I wouldn’t count on that feature to wake up 3 batteries in protect mode

 

[Solarcabin Channel]

I wouldn’t count on that feature to wake up 3 batteries in protect mode

Start with the simplest solution first.

This is obviously an inexperienced person that did not set up that system and trying to explain how to disconnect and tear apart that system to get it running is probably beyond their scope and could be dangerous.

 

[Crowz]

Your going to need to charge each battery individually to wake them up. Take the negative cable off each battery thus separating them. Then charge each battery to wake it up and keep charging till full. After a battery is "full" again move onto the next one. After all 3 are back awake and charged you can reconnect the removed cables.

 

[Supervstech]

Step one.

Please describe how you obtained these batteries, and how they are setup.

 

[Bob B]

Here is a video about the batteries ..... I'm not sure most of the video will help much .... One concern would be whether or not it is necessary to use the activation switch to get them going again.
But ... There is a support phone number at the end of the video. I would try giving them a call and see if they can walk you thru getting the system restarted.

Your batteries are at a VERY low level, and could be damaged if they remain this low for too long.

The good news is that once you get this resolved you are going to know a lot more about your system and be better prepared for future issues.

 

[12vDC]

Prior to installing solar - each time I ran my two parallel Renogys down from the fulltime cooler, I was able to reactivate the BMS by either activating the charger on my inverter/charger powered from my garage or by my DC-DC charger by simply starting the engine. I have never taken a direct action to wake the BMS on my dead Renogys. I think a burst of high voltage will do the trick?

Because I have solar and the batteries have never since shut down on Low Voltage, I cannot say if a solar controller will wake the BMS. Judging from above comments - probably not.

 

[Wandererrr]

Prior to installing solar - each time I ran my two parallel Renogys down from the fulltime cooler, I was able to reactivate the BMS by either activating the charger on my inverter/charger powered from my garage or by my DC-DC charger by simply starting the engine. I have never taken a direct action to wake the BMS on my dead Renogys. I think a burst of high voltage will do the trick?

Because I have solar and the batteries have never since shut down on Low Voltage, I cannot say if a solar controller will wake the BMS. Judging from above comments - probably not.

Not intending to be rude, I appreciate all the help, but I'm confused on what the conclusion is here. Could you possibly elaborate?

 

[12vDC]

Not intending to be rude, I appreciate all the help, but I'm confused on what the conclusion is here. Could you possibly elaborate?

Apologize if I did not get the whole picture. But if youre still trying to wake your BMS, and dont know how, as others have elaborated you should try putting them on a charger to bump start them. I would try individually as posted above.

 

[featherlite]

As a friendly reminder, below are photos of what happens when a finger wearing a metal ring shorts an automotive battery. I suspect the consequences would be worse with Lifepo4 battery.
I post these photos to encourage the OP to recognize possible limitations in skill set when working on an electrical system.

 

[mikefitz]

The picture is from while I had the negative wire disconnected.

a number of issues shown in the picture.

No main fuse or breaker shown near the battery positive, for a 1500 inverter need to be 150 amp class t or MRBF.
The 40 amp breaker shown, ( in the controller panel feed) are not very reliable especially the cable clamping.

Reading all your posts, it seems you have unfortunately taken on a system installed by others and have, due to inexperience, attempted to use far more power than generated, thus depleting the batteries.

running for about a week with 100% battery continuously according to the charge controller.

The battery state reading on the Renogy solar controller is very inaccurate, you need a battery monitor to accurately show SOC.

200w of solar panels

This is not enough to run a fridge and totally useless for the other high power AC consumers . If your location is New England you wont be getting much solar at this time of the year.

Its has not been discussed, but you need additional charging for your batteries, from the vehicle alternator via a B2Bcharger, from shore power, from much more solar, ( as much as will fit on the roof), from a petrol, propane or diesel generator set with suitable AC to DC charger.

Until you redesign your electrical system opt for diesel or propane heating and cooking and a generator for electrical power

Renogy batteries are not too bad but have unusual protection features that can cause issues. Renogy products like solar controllers and inverters are not very reliable.

Disconnect the all the cables that make up your battery bank and attempt to 'wake up' each in turn.

try one of the following in turn until you have a result ( the result would be to see an increase in battery volts and the ability to power a small 12v load)
1) connect the Renogy solar controller to the battery, switch on the panel breaker, (assumes you have some sun).
2) connect a dumb battery 12v AC battery charger
3) using jump leads connect to the vehicle 12v starter battery ( confirm its 12v, some vehicles use 24 volts).

Good luck with solving your issues, there are many helpful guys on this forum prepared to help but its difficult to carry our system diagnosis remotely. You can help by giving as mush information as possible, pictures, diagram, equipment types and model .

if its any consolation I have encountered many situations where newcomers to RV and Boat 'living' face issues similar to yours. Eventually all is sorted, expectations may have to re-evaluated and compromises made.


Mike

 

[Solarcabin Channel]

I have PMd him directly to see f I can help since I use similar equipment and a small system.

Go easy on people guys and you may not be aware of a person's background story as to why they are living with just a small system,

 

[Wandererrr]

I ended up jump starting each of the batteries and then charging them a tiny bit thanks to help from Solar Cabin Channel. But when the sun came out they only got up to like 86% according to the charge controller even though the voltage says 12.8v like it always has. And the charge controller has continued to say they haven't charged to 100%. I'm going to set up a monitor soon. But, the real problem,
The past few days I've been extremely weary about using any power until I set up a monitor, but everything I've used has drained the battery crazy fast. Like the charge controller says that both the battery percentage and voltage gets low. Even during the daytime with bright sunlight. Including the mini fridge which the previous owner powered 24/7 with the same solar panels and two less batteries.
So whats going on? Why are they draining so fast? And why won't the charge controller say they're up to 100%?

 

[Johneb]

Inverter likely is discharging the battery.
For SURE disconnect it.

200W is negligable for a 300Ah bank, and a 3000W inverter can drain a 3000Ah bank rapidly.

 

[Bob B]

I ended up jump starting each of the batteries and then charging them a tiny bit thanks to help from Solar Cabin Channel. But when the sun came out they only got up to like 86% according to the charge controller even though the voltage says 12.8v like it always has. And the charge controller has continued to say they haven't charged to 100%. I'm going to set up a monitor soon. But, the real problem,
The past few days I've been extremely weary about using any power until I set up a monitor, but everything I've used has drained the battery crazy fast. Like the charge controller says that both the battery percentage and voltage gets low. Even during the daytime with bright sunlight. Including the mini fridge which the previous owner powered 24/7 with the same solar panels and two less batteries.
So whats going on? Why are they draining so fast? And why won't the charge controller say they're up to 100%?

12.8V for a LiFe battery is a low SOC .... it is not 86% .... Hence, it discharges very quickly. You don't have enough charge capacity.

Voltage is not a very good indicator of SOC for LiFe, but here is a chart of resting voltage that will give you a ballpark.

 

[Supervstech]

Pm me your info, i can call and assist properly.

 

[Wandererrr]

I replaced the 3000w modified sine wave inverter with the 1500w pure sine wave inverter the previous owner used. Shouldn't that have fixed the problem? Now the only difference between my setup and theirs is that I have 3 batteries and they had 1.

 

[Supervstech]

What are the charge settings?