Renogy 12V Lithium ion battery - Sargent EC160

I

Ian1966

New Member
Hi, sorry to message again about similar issue I’ve read many articles and a lot of it goes over my head lol…..but I’m looking at getting Renogy - 12V 100Ah Lithium Ion Battery w/Bluetooth.
Currently have Sargent EC160 power supply so will this be sufficient to charge the lithium battery as well as thru EHU or do I need to change / adapt anything?
Cheers
 
You can get the renogy 30a charger on offer on Amazon for £160 at the moment:

There are a few people on here that have discount codes. Possibly @Dellmassive

I don't know if you can charge the lithium battery directly from the ec160 but if you charge the van battery from the ec160 the renogy 30a charger will kick in and charge the lithium battery.
 
If adding the Renogy lifepo4 battery you will need to add a mains smart charger.

The Sargent is just a dumb power supply so won't charge the battery properly.


Have a look here at the lithium, monitoring and charge sections.


www.t6forum.com

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 www.t6forum.com

.

Hint,

Get a Victron ip22 or Ip65 charger 10-20% of your battery size plus any camper loads...

So 15-30A.

.
 
Thanks guys for replies. Really appreciate it.
I’ll have a look at the links sent. But if I get separate charger for the lithium battery I’m I correct in assuming the Sargent EC160 can still be used for the other functions ie lights / sockets etc.
Thanks again
 
Ian1966 said:
Thanks guys for replies. Really appreciate it.
I’ll have a look at the links sent. But if I get separate charger for the lithium battery I’m I correct in assuming the Sargent EC160 can still be used for the other functions ie lights / sockets etc.
Thanks again
Click to expand...
Yes
 
I'm in the same situation of wanting to keep the Sargent ec160 unit for power distribution when on hook up at a campsite but when it comes to charging the new lithium leisure battery I can see a bit of faffing about splitting the Sargent charger output to the starter battery and replacing the leisure battery charger input from the Sargent with the new Victron smart charger... where's this all even going to fit?
 
@Ian1966 Not sure how far you've got with your lithium plans but so far here I've got a Renogy B2B/MPPT combined charger and a Victron 12/30 mains smart charger plus the lifePO4 battery and a couple of 175 watt flexible solar panels to glue on the pop top.
You can probably tell that despite being a retired sparky I'm not looking forward to sorting out integrating this lot with the original converters installation especially if I add an inverter too for 230v from the leisure battery.
I can't stick with the original converters setup though as that just uses an old school split charge relay setup and with the T6 smart alternator has managed to kill two lead acid batteries since getting the van in 2019. I'll be ok when I get started but given the thickness of some of the connecting cables going by currents involved I'm going to actually have to plan the layout rather than just bollock on as normal.
 
Not to far! I wanted to obviously check about the charging of the Lithium battery. Definitely seems I need to ignore the current fitted Sargent EC160 so will follow advise/help as I’m no sparky lol.
I’m planning on travelling Europe for the month of May this year so wanted to be able to be off grid so certainly need to sort ASAP and ensure everything works lol.
 
Can I also ask why you’ve got Renogy B2B/MPPT combined charger and a Victron 12/30 mains smart charger? Do they not do the same job? Apologies if that’s dumb question lol
 
This is due to the way the VW smart alternator doesn't actually produce output voltage much of the time to reduce its load upon the engine, when it does generate electric it whacks it out above the old school 13.8 volts and cooks the leisure battery if it's not a more robust stop start type glass reinforced glass mat type, as I typed earlier my converters setup has killed two conventional £120 cheap leisure batteries so far.
So between the vans starter battery and the lithium leisure battery you need a device to limit the surges in charge voltage and tailor that erratic charging supply to a charging profile that suits the lithium battery, this is what the battery to battery B2B charger or effectively a smoothing device does.
The same also applies when charging from hookup with the 230V incoming supply again being tailored to the charging profile that the lithium battery can handle.
It all sounds like a right ball ache but the lithium batteries are like race cars compared to lead acid batteries and to take advantage of their higher power density they have to be treated likewise, my recurring nightmare is a huge mushroom cloud and smouldering crater in the driveway if I short out my LiFePo4 battery during installation!
Edit, I forgot but the MPPT part of the combined B2B charger is to introduce the incoming voltage from the two solar panels.
 
Sounds like a big ball ache lol certainly something wasn’t expecting when purchased the van 2 years ago!
Do you reckon there is a case for going back to Redline conversion company as I’m in same boat two batteries have been killed! Hence going down Lithium battery route. Surly them knowing the smart alternator being an issue? Or I’m I reading that wrong?
 
Funny you should mention Redline, same conversion here but probably a bit late in the day to chase them into fitting a B2B battery charger in place of their old school split charge relay that would have worked perfectly on the T5.
Actually the split charge relay system would probably have worked with the same type of leisure battery as the starter battery under the bonnet as that survives the smart alternators input, sadly Redline stuck in a conventional lead acid battery which we replaced with another cheap lead acid to repeat the process.
I'm swapping to a lithium leisure battery to kick my electric hook up dependency and to be able to run the fridge for more than two days without that hook up.
 
That’s my reason as well want to go more off grid especially as planning on Europe road trip in May. Have you estimated how much it’s all going to cost? Initial thoughts is over £1K
 
That and a bit more depending on how bonkers you go, I went and got a 230 Ah Roamer seat battery so now only have a left testicle.
Talking to @Long tall John at Busfest last year and he runs a straightforward B2B smart charger and 100Ah lithium battery and as he says can run his fridge for four days after a couple of hours driving.Slight caveat there and worth mentioning though that you do have to be driving though as letting the van tickover when parked up to charge the leisure battery won't work with smart alternators.
 
I would get the 50 amp model with Bluetooth. (£266.99)


You should be aware that if you use it with a solar panel it will only charge at 25Amps
from the alternator and 25Amps from the solar panel.

If you don’t use a solar panel, it’ll charge at a full 50 amp from the alternator. This means you will fully charge a 100Ah lithium battery in two hours of driving.

you can always add solar panels later if you feel you need them. Either on the roof or portable, and a five minute job to wire into the charger (no harder than a three pin plug). It will automatically change itself to 25A and 25A charging.
 
Stay Frosty said:
That and a bit more depending on how bonkers you go, I went and got a 230 Ah Roamer seat battery so now only have a left testicle.
Talking to @Long tall John at Busfest last year and he runs a straightforward B2B smart charger and 100Ah lithium battery and as he says can run his fridge for four days after a couple of hours driving.Slight caveat there and worth mentioning though that you do have to be driving though as letting the van tickover when parked up to charge the leisure battery won't work with smart alternators.
Click to expand...
Why won’t the B2B smart charger charge the leisure battery when the van is just parked and ticking over?
I thought they stepped up the voltage from the vehicle to charge regardless of the smart alternator output as long as the vehicle engine is running.
Confused
 
Long tall John said:
I would get the 50 amp model with Bluetooth. (£266.99)


You should be aware that if you use it with a solar panel it will only charge at 25Amps
from the alternator and 25Amps from the solar panel.

If you don’t use a solar panel, it’ll charge at a full 50 amp from the alternator. This means you will fully charge a 100Ah lithium battery in two hours of driving.

you can always add solar panels later if you feel you need them. Either on the roof or portable, and a five minute job to wire into the charger (no harder than a three pin plug). It will automatically change itself to 25A and 25A charging.
Click to expand...
That sounds pretty decent how quickly it charges back up! Wasn’t planning on solar panels as was hoping expense of lithium battery and now new charger would be enough.
 
@EAN I was still trying to describe the situation when charging via the split charge relay set up where the smart alternator will most likely not be generating an high enough voltage at tickover to actually be able to push anything into the leisure battery. The higher level voltages produced just after starting and while braking are the 18v points where the conventional lead acid leisure battery then gets cooked, as you say the B2B charger will raise and lower these large voltage swings from the smart alternator.
 
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