Renogy inverter/charger not working on shore

[jaytee]

I have a '15 Roadtrek Adventurous TS came with a 3000w Renogy inverter charger R-INVT-PCL1-30111S and agm batteries. I removed all agms, dropped in a Battleborn GC3 and added a victron smart shunt. First test, discharged fine ran the AC for an hour until the inverter started beeping low voltage. I then stopped the A/C and plugged in shore power (30amp) and it doesn't appear to be charging. Looking at the Victorn smartshunt app it shows 26% battery SOC and plugged into shore for 30 minutes did nothing to increase that. The other odd thing is when it's plugged into shore the LED lights pulse in the RV.

Other pertinent facts:

* inverter LCD shows the 120v arrow pointing to battery as expected
* I did configure the battery setting in the inverter to "b-L" as instructed in user manual

 

[time2roll]

Can battery setting be switched back to AGM for testing? Would be fine for 20 minutes to see it that setting still works.

 

[jaytee]

Can battery setting be switched back to AGM for testing? Would be fine for 20 minutes to see it that setting still works.

That's a great question I didn't think of. Yes, I'll give that a try.

 

[Batvette]

Im guessing that your smart charger and smart BMS (in the GC3) have decided to get stupid with each other.
The battery wont accept a charge because the BMS has shut off both charge and discharge functions. The smart charger will not output the voltage the GC3s BMS needs to see to reopen and accept charging, until it sees that there is a chargeable load i.e; the GC3. Not sure what the shunt would do to further put a barrier between the two.
AFAIK and the way my system works, at least between my redarc 50a dc dc charger and DIY lifepo4 battery, is youve got to start the engine and run a jumper cable of sufficient voltage (a charging level voltage, say 13v+ at least) injected into the circuit at the GC3 terminals. In your case you may or may not want to have that charger connected, my redarc doesnt seem to mind.
Once that voltage is at that point in the circuit, the GC3 should open up for normal operation, allowing it to accept charging. The charger will also resume normal operation since its fooled into thinking that 13v+ is a battery to be charged.
The solution to this long term is do not allow the GC3 to shut down due to cell or pack undervoltage. Or if you choose to, keep on hand a way to inject that voltage when necessary to jolt these device back to life. I carry a long 2 conductor cable with anderson plugs I can hook up, fused, to my start battery, with alligator clips on the other end.
IMO the inverter was not malfunctioning at any point.

 

[jaytee]

Im guessing that your smart charger and smart BMS (in the GC3) have decided to get stupid with each other.
The battery wont accept a charge because the BMS has shut off both charge and discharge functions. The smart charger will not output the voltage the GC3s BMS needs to see to reopen and accept charging, until it sees that there is a chargeable load i.e; the GC3. Not sure what the shunt would do to further put a barrier between the two.
AFAIK and the way my system works, at least between my redarc 50a dc dc charger and DIY lifepo4 battery, is youve got to start the engine and run a jumper cable of sufficient voltage (a charging level voltage, say 13v+ at least) injected into the circuit at the GC3 terminals. In your case you may or may not want to have that charger connected, my redarc doesnt seem to mind.
Once that voltage is at that point in the circuit, the GC3 should open up for normal operation, allowing it to accept charging. The charger will also resume normal operation since its fooled into thinking that 13v+ is a battery to be charged.
The solution to this long term is do not allow the GC3 to shut down due to cell or pack undervoltage. Or if you choose to, keep on hand a way to inject that voltage when necessary to jolt these device back to life. I carry a long 2 conductor cable with anderson plugs I can hook up, fused, to my start battery, with alligator clips on the other end.
IMO the inverter was not malfunctioning at any point.

Excellent insight. Battleborn thinks the same. I bought a Victron IP65 smart charger to try to get the battery to wake up but I think it's toast. Charger thinks it's at > 13.5V yet as soon as I unplug it from charging it's down to 10.5V. I've tried using the reconditioning option as well on the victron charger no dice. Looks like an RMA back to BB.

 

[Batvette]

Does that GC3 have control over the BMS (through app or serial port or usb?) Or are all settings only by factory?
Just wondering what the BMS is looking for to reset after cell or pack undervoltage. There are both time and voltage requirements.
If youve been in contact with BB I guess I would assume theyll explore that route before the expense of an RMA return.
However lifepo4 batteries have such potential for disaster they may not be willing to have you do much troubleshooting for them if youre not a trained professional. So (and Im not sure having no experience with their tech dept) to release themselves from liability they might have a policy of quick and easy RMAs, so any disaster doesnt fall upon their battery. In other words they arent responsible if you burn the thing down because they were not giving you instructions how to fix it in situ, and they wont be responsible if you burn it down after you get it back because they shipped you back a battery they checked as good. Even if it didnt really need to go back to them at all.
Its cheaper for them to pay for random RMA returns than damages in lawsuits for people learning to troubleshoot mobile electrical systems.
Where it hurts you possibly is the downtime for your rig.
In BBs defense a lot of folks have no business fixing complex RV systems and they usually dont want to anyway.
Just some observations about what goes on between tech departments and end users. Getting it fixed quick takes a back seat to product liability lawsuits especially in light of all the other mfrs equipment in your rig that are out of BBs control.
BTW it shouldnt really matter what profile the charger is on, at least for troubleshooting purposes now. Though you wouldnt want reconditioning. All profiles should offer enough output to initially charge the GC3, where profiles come into play is in the upper SOC.

 

[Batvette]

Reading your last post again, are you verifying with a multimeter that victron smart charger has 13.5 volts at its output terminals? Im not familiar with that exact model but no smart charger should. Nothing you can do with any smart charger will wake up that battery until you introduce at least 13v to its inputs, regardless of what any indicators say on the charger.
I havent seen every charger under the sun but have never seen a smart charger initiate output without voltage on its terminals.
(I have heard of a few smart chargers specifically designed to give a brief force charge to fully dead batteries, if the victron is one please disregard)
The only way to give either of these devices what they need to function, barring any malfunction, is introducing a dumb voltage between them. Old manual chargers can do this, or take it off the starting battery with the engine running if youve got no other way. A long piece of lamp cord or speaker wire will suffice but for gods sake get the polarity right.

 

[jaytee]

Yes the smart charger did show 14.4volts during absorb (Bluetooth app interface) and also tested with multimeter. And then 13.5v during storage

 

[Batvette]

Yes the smart charger did show 14.4volts during absorb (Bluetooth app interface) and also tested with multimeter. And then 13.5v during storage

Okay then must be a malfunctioning component.
On the GC3, any control over the BMS?
The JBD on my DIY pack uses an app with a ton of monitors, controls and historical data in graphs. If yours is controllable might be a setting in parameters that can be manipulated to force a wake up? Maybe another user familiar with these can chime in? Maybe I will refer to BBs website.

 

[jaytee]

I don’t see any ports for interfacing. And as you suggested BB support didn’t offer any instructions on doing that.

 

[Batvette]

I don’t see any ports for interfacing. And as you suggested BB support didn’t offer any instructions on doing that.

Bingo. Downloaded the manual from their site. If there were user controls theyd mention it.
Theyve got a way to interface with it, we obviously dont want to attempt it since its in warranty. Nice battery BTW.

 

[Batvette]

Thats also a gorgeous rig you have if its like the examples I just looked up out of curiousity. Currently in San Diego what Ive been doing calls for a minivan to stay low key, but in another place and time that would be nice.
(They used to not care but a few months ago they started cracking down hard core on any RVs in the beach and bay areas. Even those of upstanding tourists parked legally during non prohibited hours. If youre in a parking lot during its closed hours, instant ticket and theyre done filling it out before you see them or get a chance to move. All because the Mayor was blasted by local media for letting the homeless situation- including those living in RVs- get out of hand.)
And tourism is our #1 industry. This city shoots itself in the foot at every turn.

 

[jaytee]

Thanks! We love it esp because where we live it is practical compared to bigger rigs. Once I get the gc3 back lemme know if you’d be interested in looking it over for me?