Charging a power station from my leisure battery 12V supply

[goldeneye243]

Charging my power pack today and thought I would see how it was getting on. Solar panel connected to leisure battery, 12v supply to Ecoflow River pro



Looks like I have a problem....

Any thoughts?

I've charged it before without issue - Current limited to 6A on river pro. Looks like it was fine for the first three hours...

I've unplugged and seeing if it will recover.

 

[Dellmassive]

Looks like something got switched on at 10am causing an additional load on the battery.

Ie 6A for the Ecoflow plus something else causing a large voltage sag on your battery.

Untill about 4pm where the loads were switched off.

If you had solar, it looks like it's not enough.

The battery seems to recover at 6pm.

Got some pics of the setup and batteries etc?

 

[goldeneye243]

Does look like that, but no additional load at 10am (I was at work!)

I wonder if it might be the mppt under load (I think it is a relatively cheap one...) .
Will need to take the seat off and take pics - I didn't spec the solar install (left it up to the converter...)
I unplugged the Ecoflow at about 6pm

 

[Dellmassive]

Is this the LB we are looking at?

Can you post a 7day plot from the BM2?

What capacity is the LB?. Is it a good battery?

Do you have a dc-dc charger or EHU charger?


Pics will tell us a lot.

 

[goldeneye243]

Yes leisure battery with ctek d250se from memory. 110ah and installed in 2019 (all from memory. Will have to take some pics but out tonight so can't.

 

[Dellmassive]

that looks more normal. . . (20th to 26th )

what are the charge spikes? - solar?

then it goes very bad on the 27th.


+++++++++++


for that battery voltage to drop to 9v that fast.

you either have a very bad battery ( very low SoH state of health)

or a very large load across the battery.?


++++++++++++++

 

[goldeneye243]

Agreed, seems very odd.

Charge spikes are solar. Battery has been OK to date, no problems

Nothing other than the Ecoflow plugged in...

Are there any ways to test the battery?

 

[Dellmassive]

take to halfords and ask them to test it.

or do it yourself with this:

https://amzn.to/3Sgiegf

.

 

[goldeneye243]

I checked this morning and it looks like the battery recovered to about 12.5V with the power station removed.

It is pointing to the power station being the culprit for me at the moment. I'll have to test further at the weekend...

The peak and trough at the end of the curve is the sun coming up and the solar charging starting and me plugging the power station in for a few minutes first thing this morning.

 

[Dellmassive]

Looks like the LB can't handle a 6A load/draw? (Possible poor LB)

Double check the Ecoflow car input is set to 6A, maybe try dropping to 4A.

Fully charge the LB and try again.


Fyi . A 90ah LB can only deliver 45A (50% dod)

So that battery can only deliver 6A for 6hours untill it's totally dead, and that's an AGM. If it's standard SLA it will be less hours.



.

 

[goldeneye243]

Very interesting - Thanks @Dellmassive !!!

I'll try 4A at the weekend, and hopefully get a battery tester. I might even swap out the MPPT for a Victron whilst I am at it.

Would I be better off splitting the solar panel directly into the Ecoflow before the van MPPT rather than going through the leisure battery do you think?

Edit - I found some old pictures - LB is a HANKOOK XV110 MF

mppt is an Epever Triron 2210n

 

[Dellmassive]

That battery looks to be 110Ah deep cycle... So 55ah max capacity till emtpy.

Fully charged with no other load it might be able to deliver 6A for 9hours. Or 6-7hrs with inefficienty.

.


I'd leave solar via mppt to the LB, then charge the Ecoflow from that. (Try 4A lower setting)

Get that LB tested as even the sticker on the battery says warranty void at 10.6v..... and your plot shows you had it dragged done to 9.2v.

Maybe look at fitting a twin AGM battery setup.

Or just upgrade to a 100ah lifepo4. (Which has the capacity to charge a Ecoflow River pro twice as they about 1200Wh capacity)

 

[Dellmassive]

If you want big power and capacity. Look at the Roamer 230sb.

Roamer LiFePO4 Gen2 230Ah Seatbase battery -- "How I Done It" --

Roamer LiFePO4 Gen2 230Ah Seatbase battery -- "How I Done It" -- Its a Lithium LifePo4, its got massive capacity @ 230Ah, its got massive discharge performance 250A/500A, its Bluetooth, its a Roamer !!, its exciting . . . . . its coming soon - the full test . . . . ...

www.t6forum.com

.

 

[Dellmassive]

Other lithium battery here...

Lithium LifePo4 12v Batteries - Time For An Upgrade?

Lithium Batteries are the future, (keep checking back for the latest news/edits) ************************************************** Dellmassive`s -- "how I Done It" -- Thread ************************************************** Kit List And Stuff -- How I Done It & What I Use --...

www.t6forum.com

.

 

[goldeneye243]

I'll need to have a proper look under the seat and see what space I have got (not a lot from memory!)

Would I be best off with a new MPPT charge controller if I got a lifePo4 battery? Would I need to change anything with the CTEK?

Sorry - So many questions!!

Edit -

Would a

Victron Energy Smartsolar MPPT 100|15

And a

12V 100AH POWEROAD BASE LOW HEIGHT LITHIUM LIFEPO4 BATTERY PRLR100D

Be a good easy replacement?

12V 100AH POWEROAD BASE LOW HEIGHT LITHIUM LIFEPO4 BATTERY PRLR100D - Alpha Batteries

Poweroad - Time to go Lithium

www.alpha-batteries.co.uk

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Victron-controller-Bluetooth-15-100/dp/B075NQH3QW/ref=sr_1_26?crid=SQWWPEPYT7M3&keywords=Victron+SmartSolar+MPPT&qid=1658930092&sprefix=victron+smartsolar+mppt%2Caps%2C67&sr=8-26

 

[Dellmassive]

Would I be best off with a new MPPT charge controller if I got a lifePo4 battery? Would I need to change anything with the CTEK?

- yes i would get a 75/15 or a 100/15 for solar, get the BT version.

https://amzn.to/3PydjoZ

- the CTEK250se has a lifpo4 profile so thats all good.

12V 100AH POWEROAD BASE LOW HEIGHT LITHIUM LIFEPO4 BATTERY PRLR100D

Be a good easy replacement?

- yes thats a good battery.

i have two of the LOW TEMP versions.

Low temperature lithium battery

Mid March 2021 was the last I see..

www.t6forum.com

.

 

[Dellmassive]

All the other stuff here:

Dellmassive’s "How I Done It" blogs.

-- Dellmassive`s -- "How I Done It" -- thread -- ************************************************** Dellmassive`s -- "how I Done It" -- Thread ************************************************** Kit List And Stuff -- How I Done It & What I Use --...

www.t6forum.com

.

 

[goldeneye243]

- yes i would get a 75/15 or a 100/15 for solar, get the BT version.

https://amzn.to/3PydjoZ

- the CTEK250se has a lifpo4 profile so thats all good.



- yes thats a good battery.

i have two of the LOW TEMP versions.

Low temperature lithium battery

Mid March 2021 was the last I see..

www.t6forum.com

.

I really appreciate your input Dellmassive!!

All ordered!

Hopefully easy to fit - The only thing that I am not totally clear on is changing the profile on the CTEK - I think it is as simple as connecting the black cable to a permanent 12v - Would that be best going straight to the leisure battery terminal?

 

[Pauly]

The black cable to set charge profile/voltage goes to negative not 12v so you can just connect it to the negative post on the front of the unit

 

[goldeneye243]

The black cable to set charge profile/voltage goes to negative not 12v so you can just connect it to the negative post on the front of the unit

Thanks @Pauly - The manual seems to say +12v for Lithium-ion though?