Made the switch to LiFePO4

[craig333]

My eight year old Vmax AGM batteries have dropped the resting voltage down to 12.2. Still had no issues last trip but since I had the Lithium sitting on the shelf (sat for maybe two years? and still had 13.2v) so I might as well get to it. I really hate when the heater won't fire up. I'd forgotten just how heavy those agm's were. Lucky I didn't throw out my back Simple installation. The new batt is a hair smaller than the old ones so it slipped right in. I managed to reconnect the wiring without catching anything on fire.

I reprogrammed the Trimetric as best I could after an appropriate amount of googling. Hopefully its pretty close.

Now I have to decide what to do with the old batteries. Hoping to think of a project for them. Nice to get some storage back.

 

[Vic Harder]

Hey Craig, good on you for making the switch. With Trimetric gear! Mind posting your settings here and what your battery manufacturer recommends for their batteries? Could help folks here with older gear.

 

[drumwood]

Yes, I second that! I see the switch to lithium (SOK seems the best option) in my near future. I’m hoping to stay with my Trimetric controller and monitor.

 

[buckland]

For a project...I took my two old AGM's and an old 90 W panel and set them up in garage. (panel outside). I can use then for charging stuff when I lose power from snowstorms etc. Or also charge my E-bike battery. "Use it up wear it out make it do or do without!"

 

[CPT Davenport]

For a project...I took my two old AGM's and an old 90 W panel and set them up in garage. (panel outside). I can use then for charging stuff when I lose power from snowstorms etc. Or also charge my E-bike battery. "Use it up wear it out make it do or do without!"

Same here! I have two 150ah AGM's from my other camper hooked up in the garage with 200w of solar and an inverter. I charge all of my power tools and lawn equipment batteries. It also makes a great power bank when we lose power

 

[craig333]

I'll get the settings for you. The battery is a used Valence. From what I understand they were used in large corporate installations and replaced on a schedule regardless of how much life they had left. Unfortunately I don't have much info on them so I'm just going by what I see most Li batts using. It was a deal Will Prowse mentioned on youtube.

I think it was four hundred I paid for it. 138ah. Kind of wish I'd of picked up two but one should be plenty for my needs.

The trimetric isn't what I'd use on a new system but it should work just fine for this.

 

[craig333]

My settings are the result of Bogarts recommendations, battle born and other suppliers and user recommendations along with my own guesses. Subject to change if it doesn't seem to work well.

P1=14.4
P2=2.0
P3=130
P4=A
P5=Off
P6=Off
P7=L3
P8=15
P9=Off
P10=98
P11=Sh.L
P12=On
P13=11.5
P14=.3
P15=13.2
P16=13.6
P17=12
P18=13.3
P19=FAC
P20=Off
P21=Off
P22=Off

It has a little light on the battery which has always shown green and had 13.2v on install. Just driving to the dog park and back a few times it showed 14.4v charging which got me to thinking it wasn't as fully charged as I'd assumed. I plugged it in to the IOTA (still on the agm dongle, I'll order up the lithium one shortly) and after about five hours it came down to 13.4.

 

[drumwood]

Thanks for the settings

 

[PaulT]

I’ll check my settings. I, also, am running an SC-2030 system with my Battleborns. I didn’t go with Victron equipment as I already had the Trimetric gear for my AGM batteries which could work for LiFePO4, also.

When I looked into making the switch, I learned that, while excellent gear for most, Victron is RF noisy for hams running HF radios. I contacted AMSOLAR, where I bought the Trimetric, and Bogart to get updated settings suitable for LiFePO4 batteries.

For hams, boondocking means getting out into an area of low noise interference in addition to the attractions we all enjoy.

Paul

 

[craig333]

I wish Bogart would update the trimetric. Bluetooth would be nice as well as just a purely aesthetic upgrade.
My elmer uses a controller made by a fellow ham that's supposed to have no rfi issues. I don't think he markets beyond the ham community.

I'm also pretty sure that the reason a lot of people get poor battery life is either they don't have a programmable controller or a failure to find the right settings. Not quite plug and play yet.