Lithionics battery? 2022 Micro Minnie FLX

[Paulmat]

I have a question that I can`t seem to figure out the answer to. I am trying to figure out if the why the 2 190w solar panels are not keeping my battery at 100%. Full sun here in south Florida minus a few days of rain.
I parked my RV with battery indication on the Li3 Battery app on my phone showing 100%. There is absolutely nothing left on to draw down the battery.
I also have the Xantrax inverter selected off. The only items I cannot turn off is the power to the AM/FM in standby mode and the blue lights that show the 5 USB charge ports powered.
I just went to check on my RV. I left the battery switch on. The Li3 Battery app shows 14.0 volts but only 14% battery life. The solar control panel shows battery voltage 14.1v. Why has the battery life been depleted by 84% if nothing is on. Solar panel control shows it has been taken 4 amps charge 1 day ago, 5 amp the day prior and I forget now what was 3 days ago.
Does any body know if the solar panels will charge the Li3 battery when it is in the off position? I would think not. Trying to figure out if I left the camper for a few days and only the fridge on, my batteries should have remained fully charged with the solar panels. This test showed the life went down after 8 days with nothing on? If I had the fridge on it would have been lower I think.

[creativepart]

I'm confident others with direct knowledge will chime in.

I don't know the specifics of the FLX models - but on my system with LFP batteries and solar, I never could leave the battery disconnect switch on for 24 hours without having dead batteries. The solar controller on my RV is wired directly to the batteries and do no go through the disconnect. So, turning the battery disconnect off does not stop my solar charge controller from charging the batteries.

But, in general, there are lots of smaller loads - loads you are not fully aware of - that will drain batteries if you do not turn the "battery switch" off.

Again, the FLX may be different and hopefully someone with a FLX will chime in.

One thing to remember about solar power - there are more hours per day without any power being generated then there are when full power is being generated. So, you're expecting your solar panels to keep your batteries charged every day, but also to recover and recharge from 15 hours of usage without solar power overnight.

[Morich]

I do not know the trailerrs but on most RV, the safety items are left on even when we turn the battery disconnect off. Those safety item WILL run most batteries down but at different speeds for different rV. Some of those drains you may have failed to notice are the safety detectors like CO and propane, maybe a gas solenoid in the propane line? Radio presets or anything with memory is often suspect.
On motorized, we get drawings where we can often look and trace out where those drains may be but the trailers are not as complex and do not get mearly as much info online.
One universal thing about batteries is that they are far trickier than most of us spot. When looking at battery voltage and seeing it that high, it is a definite clue that there is charging or has been recently as the normal battery will not hold a charge that high. On lead acid batteries, that full charged new battery will only read 12.8 at best if it has time for the chemicals to become stable!
I d o not follow thw other battery types to know what the read when full but I suspect you are actually seeing the voltage from the solar charging which is not a true reading of the battery.
Perhaps think of it as a bucket we fill? If we look at where we pour the water in, we will see it full of water, even when the bottom of the bucket may only just be covered.
The term to think about is "surface charge"!

So this would be my guess as to what you are seeing! Give it lots of slack for being a guess?
One is that the solar is 190 WATTS at peak and most rarely reacj peak, even on good days. Things like sun angle and even dirt on the panel?
So if we get 100 watt, we often have far more drain than that as two 60 bulbs are far more drain!

With the safety equipment, it is likely that 190 watts is not enough to keep things up without added charging.
The voltage readings and capacity are somewhat accurate estimates that tend to be very misleading!

[Fred 2106DS]

Originally Posted by Paulmat

I have a question that I can`t seem to figure out the answer to. I am trying to figure out if the why the 2 190w solar panels are not keeping my battery at 100%. Full sun here in south Florida minus a few days of rain.
I parked my RV with battery indication on the Li3 Battery app on my phone showing 100%. There is absolutely nothing left on to draw down the battery.
I also have the Xantrax inverter selected off. The only items I cannot turn off is the power to the AM/FM in standby mode and the blue lights that show the 5 USB charge ports powered.
I just went to check on my RV. I left the battery switch on. The Li3 Battery app shows 14.0 volts but only 14% battery life. The solar control panel shows battery voltage 14.1v. Why has the battery life been depleted by 84% if nothing is on. Solar panel control shows it has been taken 4 amps charge 1 day ago, 5 amp the day prior and I forget now what was 3 days ago.
Does any body know if the solar panels will charge the Li3 battery when it is in the off position? I would think not. Trying to figure out if I left the camper for a few days and only the fridge on, my batteries should have remained fully charged with the solar panels. This test showed the life went down after 8 days with nothing on? If I had the fridge on it would have been lower I think.

Based on your battery voltage, your app should be reading 100%. You may need to reset the battery life reading in your app. LiFePO4 Battery Voltage above 13.6 volts is considered 100% charged. The chart below is from the following page on the Footprint Hero website.

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by Morich

I do not follow thw other battery types to know what the read when full but I suspect you are actually seeing the voltage from the solar charging which is not a true reading of the battery.

As an FYI, this thread is about the FLX version of this trailer and their spec includes large Lithionics brand Lithium Iron batteries that do have high voltages as standard operation.

Fred’s chart above is appropriate for the FLX batteries.

[Marine359]

Agree with Fred,
Your SOC indicator needs to be reset.
All LiFePo4 batteries charge at 14.4-14.6v.
If you disconnect all charging sources, the voltage will drop to a resting voltage of 13.6-13.7v within an hour. This is pretty much approximately the same for all LiFePo4 batteries no matter the amphr rating.
If your LFP voltage is 14.4v when charging and 13.6v resting, it is fully charged. Normally apps allow you to “sync” SOC with 100% voltage. Don’t know your app, but look around in the settings menu, and you’ll likely find it. If you app has a memory, it should accurately retain SOC.

Phantom draws confound many folks, but they don’t have to. There are easy solutions. Look at your battery terminals. What is connected to them? If there is just one neg and one pos cable, what are they connected to on the other end. In factory configuration, some micro-mini loads bypass the battery disconnect, which is really not a battery disconnect at all. Phantoms can draw 1-5 amphr/day depending on type of equipment. Those loads include all sensors, radio presets, tongue jack and slide mechanism. It’s a primary loads disconnect. To disconnect ALL dc loads you can install another disconnect switch between battery and a bus bar, or the existing disconnect, such that no loads can reach the battery when it’s shut off. That will be a “real” battery disconnect. You can also use a manual reset circuit breaker for this purpose and use it like an I/O switch. Just make sure it matches your max battery output amperage, which is likely 300amp.

I presume you have a 12v compressor fridge. If you left it on, what was the setting in both fridge and freezer. How full was fridge and freezer. A full fridge and freezer set on eco mode will draw nominally 50ah/day in ambients of 75-80F. So if you’re not getting enough solar charge amperage to replace that loss, eventually your battery will discharge. Check your app to see how many Kw per day are entering the battery from the solar charge controllers. Then just do the math of how much is coming in vrs how much is going out. Frankly, I’m surprised your battery lasted 8 days with the fridge on. That would be a draw of 400amphrs.

Once you have a way to truly disconnect the battery, there’s no need to leave the charge controllers turned on. I advise putting a 30amp manual reset breaker between controllers and battery. Switch them off when battery is in storage.

[tim myers]

I had not heard of Lithonics batteries before, a lot of battery in a small size. I could fit two in my battery tray for 640 AH, but man are they ever proud of those things.


For what it is worth reading the OP posts, I was thinking charge reset as well.