I have a 400w solar panel array that was feeding two lead acid, 12 V 100 amp hour batteries in parallel through this charger controller:
EPEVER MPPT Charge Controller 40A 12V/24V Upgrade Tracer4210AN + Remote Meter MT50 Monitor + RTS for Solar Panel Charge Controller Regulator with LCD
The system is used to run some small appliances on the farm, primarily a 100w water cooler and some battery/phone chargers.
I decided to upgrade the battery to a larger capacity, lithium Iron Phosphate, 200 Amp Hour, Expert Power battery:
ExpertPower 12V 200Ah Lithium LiFePO4 Deep Cycle Rechargeable Battery | 2500-7000 Life Cycles & 10-Year Lifetime | Built-in BMS
so that I could run some larger loads overnight.
I hooked the new battery up to the system on Saturday morning, and left it charging Saturday and Sunday. Panels were pushing 14-20 volts, depending on the clouds, etc. The inverter was turned off, so there was no load on the battery.
I came back Monday morning the battery was charged to 14.1 V according to the multimeter and display panels.
When I turned on the inverter with no load, all of the display panels showed the battery totally drained, the alarms all went off, and all of the farm animals ran away.
No blown fuses, the panels are pushing 20V, great sun this morning.
Inverter:
Novopal 2000W Power Inverter Modified Sine Wave DC 12v to AC 110v with Big LCD Display (Peak 4000W)
Do I need to charge the battery longer at home using an AC charger, then hook it up to the system?
I am not sure about it because the battery shows 14 V when there is no load.
I took the big battery off the system and put the two SLA batteries back on and everything is running just fine.
Any suggestions from the internet?
EPEVER MPPT Charge Controller 40A 12V/24V Upgrade Tracer4210AN + Remote Meter MT50 Monitor + RTS for Solar Panel Charge Controller Regulator with LCD
The system is used to run some small appliances on the farm, primarily a 100w water cooler and some battery/phone chargers.
I decided to upgrade the battery to a larger capacity, lithium Iron Phosphate, 200 Amp Hour, Expert Power battery:
ExpertPower 12V 200Ah Lithium LiFePO4 Deep Cycle Rechargeable Battery | 2500-7000 Life Cycles & 10-Year Lifetime | Built-in BMS
so that I could run some larger loads overnight.
I hooked the new battery up to the system on Saturday morning, and left it charging Saturday and Sunday. Panels were pushing 14-20 volts, depending on the clouds, etc. The inverter was turned off, so there was no load on the battery.
I came back Monday morning the battery was charged to 14.1 V according to the multimeter and display panels.
When I turned on the inverter with no load, all of the display panels showed the battery totally drained, the alarms all went off, and all of the farm animals ran away.
No blown fuses, the panels are pushing 20V, great sun this morning.
Inverter:
Novopal 2000W Power Inverter Modified Sine Wave DC 12v to AC 110v with Big LCD Display (Peak 4000W)
Do I need to charge the battery longer at home using an AC charger, then hook it up to the system?
I am not sure about it because the battery shows 14 V when there is no load.
I took the big battery off the system and put the two SLA batteries back on and everything is running just fine.
Any suggestions from the internet?