Always a pleasure to help.
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@Malcyb I use an iPhone, fully updated etc but have the same issue with the app as you had with android - it sees the battery but won’t connect. Reinstalling the app and re starting the phone makes no difference. I gave LiFOS a call & they couldn’t help! Frustrating as without this I can’t monitor battery charge as easily as they promote.
TBH the app is the only thing that’s boosted my confidence in the battery, given the CBE only tells me voltage which is next to useless. I’m sure you’ve done this already but even with the iOS version of the app, I found that it was pretty flaky connecting and it would take a few attempts selecting it (unlike most Bluetooth devices) to actually get anything to display. I’ll try the app on my wife’s iPhone and see what happens.
I think I might know what the problem is? I tried my wife’s iPhone 6S, the app worked fine, however when I was installing the app I noticed someone had posted a review saying it didn’t work in dark mode. Sure enough, when I turned on dark mode, all the text vanished, its white on white. So change it to light mode in the display settings menu and see what happens.
Don’t think it’s compatible with all lithium batteries but is with mine, see further back in the thread
https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/231bdcf7/files/uploaded/Lifos 68 Brochure final.pdf
I’ve not looked into this much more over recent weeks, but fairly sure that all the issues I had were when SOC was very low, and at the time I didn’t have the app I never realised. I’m hoping that so long as I heed LiFOS’s advice to not let SOC fall much below 30% (the app alerts you at that point) I shouldn’t have the problem again.
I’ve sort of read through the thread & one thing springs to mind. What’s the OC voltage of your solar panel? If it’s too high it will fry your Ctek
Martin7ski
New Member
Just experienced a similar battery shutdown problem with my 68ah Lifos (v1) battery, but this was happening when the battery approached 50% DOD. The problem was with the batteries management system. I contacted the guys at LIFOS and they couldn’t be more helpful. Within days they had sent me a replacement (V2) battery. All seems to be working as it should now. Hope you’ve got the problem sorted.
(To restart the faulty v1 battery I had to connect any external power source direct to the battery terminals fo a matter of seconds. I used my 40 watt folding PV panel to do this)
(To restart the faulty v1 battery I had to connect any external power source direct to the battery terminals fo a matter of seconds. I used my 40 watt folding PV panel to do this)
My issue manifested itself before I was aware of the app so I had no idea what what the SOC was when it was shutting down, the only visual indication I had was the voltage meter which only dropped off when the SOC was evidently very low. We haven’t been camping much this year (obviously) however in the testing I’ve done the shutdown only occurred at very low percentage SOC, way below the recommended 30% minimum. So I’ve accepted the behaviour and just watch out for the SOC reaching 30%. I found LIFOS very responsive to emails however not terribly clued up (apparently) to the need to reconnect an external power source for a few seconds.
What is your “40 watt folding PV panel”? If there was a way of doing this which didn’t require a mains connection it would be handy.
Martin7ski
New Member
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you Malcyb. It’s a 40 watt PV Logic panel. Interestingly, PV Logic and LIFOS are branches of the same company, so one piece of equipment is designed to work seamlessly with the other. This was clarified after I contacted LIFOS asking them if the 17.5 volt output coming from my PV Logic panels control unit would damage the LIFOS lithium battery in any way.
It’s good information to know .
Hope this helps
It’s good information to know .
Hope this helps
Martin7ski
New Member
I also sit this panel opened up on the dash board, plug it into the cigarette lighter and used it to trickle charge the vans starter battery.....
