Voiding warranty (probably).

[Short_Shot]

Battery is finally in its case.

I stuck 3 temperature sensors under it near the heating pads because they're cheaper than the time required to take it apart and put a new one in if it ever fails.



The victron battery sense was put into the side approximately halfway up the battery to use its temperature sensor.

The 104F snap disk cutoff switches are on either end at the bottom where it will be the hottest with the heaters on.





Slid right into the case with a bit of persuasive mass (my fat ass pushing it down).



It looks to be pretty close to the 25% compression on the poron that I planned for. About 1/16" on either end from 1/4 foam.


Just waiting on the lid before I button up the heating circuit. Think I might drop it all into the camper now though.

 

[Short_Shot]

It's all in place and everything works. Battery isn't connected yet though.

I even solved the huge voltage drop I was getting when my diesel heater starts up.



All the loose wires are for the bms and heaters and I'll get to that tomorrow. Hopefully.

 

[Short_Shot]

Wfco converter was climbing up to 16v with no battery connected.

Bad news if there is a fault but might be relatively normal behavior. The instant a light or anything was turned on it dropped back to 13.6.

Odd.

So for the time being I have my battery hooked up with the bms and will be keeping an eye on this thing just to make sure the issue only occurs with no battery/load.

 

[chrisski]

Wfco converter was climbing up to 16v with no battery connected.

Do. You think this needs a battery to regulate output?

16 volt is equalization Voltages. I hear some 12 volt appliances don’t like this, like the CO2 detectors. If my voltage goes that high its only for equalization and I pull all the DC circuit breakers.

 

[chrisski]

I even solved the huge voltage drop I was getting when my diesel heater starts up.

What fuxed it? Wiring, larger sized battery pack?

 

[Short_Shot]

What fuxed it? Wiring, larger sized battery pack?

Wire sizing included with them is like 16 awg or so and they pull over 10a at startup.

Now it has 10awg all the way from the battery to within about 6 inches of the main board.

Was dropping as low as 10v before and is now no lower than 12.2

 

[Short_Shot]

Do. You think this needs a battery to regulate output?

16 volt is equalization Voltages. I hear some 12 volt appliances don’t like this, like the CO2 detectors. If my voltage goes that high its only for equalization and I pull all the DC circuit breakers.

Seems to be the case. I shoved the bms in and connected the lithium and it came back down to 13.5 and started charging the battery. My GPS tracker is reporting 13.968v right now though.

These converters should not perform equalization at all.

As long as it stays under 14.2 once it's back to full charge I don't need to be concerned I'd think.

 

[Short_Shot]

I've got wood.

 

[Short_Shot]

Well. Aside from the heating circuit here she is all buttoned up.

There's of course another lid over everything.

The best part is this 4a is a pretty normal constant load with my roof fan, lights, and cooler. Might get to 6 or 7a if my gf and myself are charging phones at the same time.

I'm still salty that I got shorted a bunch of capacity though.

 

[Short_Shot]

So. Given the known voltage drop on the trailer connection 12v power pin I figured I'd simply test the matter with my shiny new lithium battery. Worst case I pop a fuse right?

My battery was at 96% or so and I started the truck. Wound up pulling 11a pretty much right out of the gate. No doubt this will be much worse with deeper DoD.

I think I'll buy a 15a fuse for this and try it out tomorrow after I've drawn it down a bit more tonight (actually using the camper) and if it blows then I'll just pull it out and disable that output entirely, or put a switched relay on it.

 

[Short_Shot]

Great job overall making that fit in the space you had available!


I'm very interested in an update down the road on how these work out for you.

Been just under a year, but they have been outside the whole time. Thus far no issues and I have used them for a few projects now.
Also happy to report that my 240AH of battery will run everything I need for an entire 3 day weekend without any solar input.