WFCO WF-8900 Lithium with 2017 Vista 31BE

[lawnarjax]

Hi all,

I am thinking of going lithium the next time I need to change out the batteries, which I believe will likely be this season. I think the down sides to the lithium are pretty small considering the overall picture.
I would like to be able to dry camp with a little more confidence in my power source. I gather from reading my manual, posts on the interwebs, and the WFCO site that the converter in my rig will in fact fully charge a lithium battery. I understand that my 45w unit might not do it as quickly as their upgraded 65w unit, but I am usually not in a hurry. I did want to get any input/feedback from someone who has experience with either set up or both.

Thank you for any insights you might have.

[bigb]

Originally Posted by lawnarjax

Hi all,

I am thinking of going lithium the next time I need to change out the batteries, which I believe will likely be this season. I think the down sides to the lithium are pretty small considering the overall picture.
I would like to be able to dry camp with a little more confidence in my power source. I gather from reading my manual, posts on the interwebs, and the WFCO site that the converter in my rig will in fact fully charge a lithium battery. I understand that my 45w unit might not do it as quickly as their upgraded 65w unit, but I am usually not in a hurry. I did want to get any input/feedback from someone who has experience with either set up or both.

Thank you for any insights you might have.

I have a 45 amp WFCO and I don't count on it for charging my Li, it is slooooooow and stays in FLA mode because it doesn't recognise the Li due to distance and wire size. Instead I use either my Victron Blue Smart charger or the alternator with a Victron DC-DC charger.

WFCO converters are not known for fast charging of Li. Wire size and distance makes a huge difference. Mine is probably a good 20 feet of #8 wire away and the WFCO won't even go inti Lithium mode. I could run #2s and it would charge a lot faster but I don't really need to depend on it so I don't bother. Most people with WFCO end up changing to a Progressive Dynamics if they need it to charge Lithium.

Whatever you decide make sure you have at least one way to charge them completely as they need occasional charging of 14.2-14.4 volts to balance the cells. You can do this with a separate charger or solar. In storage however it is not like FLA where a full charge is best, Li stores best at 50 to 80% charged depending on manufacturer.

[grsinva]

I just learned my WFCO WF-8955 (55W model) is not designed to charge LiFePO4 batteries, so I purchased a WF-8955-AD-MBA. The AD is "Auto Detect" which is supposed to automatically sense my Lithium battery and change to the correct mode. The "MBA" is the Main Board Assembly. $205 on Amazon.

[bigb]

Originally Posted by grsinva

I just learned my WFCO WF-8955 (55W model) is not designed to charge LiFePO4 batteries, so I purchased a WF-8955-AD-MBA. The AD is "Auto Detect" which is supposed to automatically sense my Lithium battery and change to the correct mode. The "MBA" is the Main Board Assembly. $205 on Amazon.

Let us know how it works. WFCO converter/chargers don't have much love in the Li world. It needs to be pretty close to the batteries, or connected with pretty fat cables, in order for auto detect to work.

[FT RV]

Not sure which unit I have but it charges my 460AH just fine. I was at 27% after install and went to plug in, it took a little over 24hrs to be 100%. The Victron DC to DC also does well. The battery is so large the lowest I've got it was 88%, small 300 watt solar system gets it back to 100% by noon the next day with all the same stuff running (inverter, water pump, music, lap top plugged in, phone, all day/night)

[Kidikarus]

Originally Posted by FT RV

Not sure which unit I have but it charges my 460AH just fine. I was at 27% after install and went to plug in, it took a little over 24hrs to be 100%. The Victron DC to DC also does well. The battery is so large the lowest I've got it was 88%, small 300 watt solar system gets it back to 100% by noon the next day with all the same stuff running (inverter, water pump, music, lap top plugged in, phone, all day/night)

Did you ever figure out if yours was the Drop-in WFCO WF-8955-AD-MBA converter charger? I get why the standard WFCO WF-8955 wasn't charging the LiFePO4 batteries, it never was going to at its voltage but I have 460ah and I was looking at the simplest swap and the drop in should be charging @14.4-6 like you need. Was curious if that was what was in your rig? Did you also end up moving up to a 2k-3k inverter with that much ah?

[FT RV]

Not sure which charger/converter it has, should be whatever it came with from the factory. It may be different as this unit came with a factory solar panel and zamp solar charge controller (also removed and replaced with victron). If I was the OP I'd hook the battery up and see what happens after its plugged in.


I can go bigger on inverter but I dont have the solar to support running the AC off it, IMO it would just drain the battery, even at 700 watts (I plan to add 2 more 190's)

[Kidikarus]

Originally Posted by FT RV

Not sure which charger/converter it has, should be whatever it came with from the factory. It may be different as this unit came with a factory solar panel and zamp solar charge controller (also removed and replaced with victron). If I was the OP I'd hook the battery up and see what happens after its plugged in.


I can go bigger on inverter but I dont have the solar to support running the AC off it, IMO it would just drain the battery, even at 700 watts (I plan to add 2 more 190's)

Looks like your came with a Progressive Dynamics Model PD9200. I will keep looking to see how people like the WF-8955-AD-MBA converter charger. Its such an easy swap out I don't really want to wire a whole new converter in. But obviously I need to know if it delivers a reliable 14.4-6. Thanks!