Lithium battery

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   I bought an SOK battery with a Victron BMV-712 battery monitor with the shunt.   I installed it in the empty space under the bench in the front of my 2013 r-pod 177.   It charges fine with the shore power, but does not charge on from the alternator.   I haven't had time to troubleshoot that yet.   That said, the conversion was not difficult.  I have a solar panel I've purchased, but I don't have a charge controller for it.   I'm not sure how much of a priority it is for me to get the alternator charging working. 

Before I changed to this battery I did drain my tow vehicle battery by forgetting to unplug it while boondocking one night.   I know you can buy a 12v solenoid to fix that but I haven't prioritized that for now.  

Honestly, having the Victron monitor is really nice to know exactly what state my battery is in and what the draw on it is at any given time, on top of the fact that it just holds so much more power.   I can check that on my phone.   I haven't had problems using the battery in winter.  Obviously you can't charge below freezing.  With the battery inside that's not a problem unless it is awfully cold.  SOK batteries have a handle and you can pull it, which I do.  It stays in my house when I'm not using it.  They weigh half as much as a lead acid battery.  

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0ttr Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 01 Aug 2016 Online Status: Offline Posts: 21	Post Options Post Reply Quote 0ttr Report Post Quote Reply Topic: Lithium battery Posted: 16 Feb 2022 at 7:34pm
	I bought an SOK battery with a Victron BMV-712 battery monitor with the shunt. I installed it in the empty space under the bench in the front of my 2013 r-pod 177. It charges fine with the shore power, but does not charge on from the alternator. I haven't had time to troubleshoot that yet. That said, the conversion was not difficult. I have a solar panel I've purchased, but I don't have a charge controller for it. I'm not sure how much of a priority it is for me to get the alternator charging working. Before I changed to this battery I did drain my tow vehicle battery by forgetting to unplug it while boondocking one night. I know you can buy a 12v solenoid to fix that but I haven't prioritized that for now. Honestly, having the Victron monitor is really nice to know exactly what state my battery is in and what the draw on it is at any given time, on top of the fact that it just holds so much more power. I can check that on my phone. I haven't had problems using the battery in winter. Obviously you can't charge below freezing. With the battery inside that's not a problem unless it is awfully cold. SOK batteries have a handle and you can pull it, which I do. It stays in my house when I'm not using it. They weigh half as much as a lead acid battery.

StephenH Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List podders Helping podders - pHp Joined: 29 Nov 2015 Location: Wake Forest, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6288	Post Options Post Reply Quote StephenH Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 16 Feb 2022 at 8:11pm
	Hello OTTR, You will not be able to get it charging from the alternator. The alternator is set for lead-acid batteries and will not output the higher voltage needed to charge the LiFePO4 battery. What you need is a DC to DC charger. The alternator will power the DC to DC charger which can be set to boost the voltage and charge the LiFePO4 battery. You may wish to read my mods topic to see what I did and the various discussion about it. See the link in my signature if you do. I also installed an isolation solenoid to prevent that from happening. That is in the mods topic as well. I hope this information will help you. If you only have one panel, then a simple, inexpensive PWM controller will likely be sufficient. I have a renogy 100W folding suitcase. It came with a controller. So far, it has worked well when there is bright sunshine.
	StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS

TheBum Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 26 Feb 2016 Location: Texas Online Status: Offline Posts: 1407	Post Options Post Reply Quote TheBum Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 18 Feb 2022 at 10:58am
	Power from the TV will charge a lithium battery with a built-in battery management system to a certain extent. It won't fully charge because the voltage isn't high enough. I'm in the process of installing a Battle Born 100Ah battery in my 196 after I let my GC2s get a little low on water and they weren't performing as well as I thought they should. I'm tired of having to monitor cell water levels, so I made the jump to lithium. I went with Battle Born because they were reasonable compared to other options and they're assembled in the US (Nevada). I'm swapping the innards of my WFCO converter with a PD-4655LI.
	Alan 2022 R-Pod 196 "RaptoRPod" 2022 Ram 1500 Lone Star 4x4 Three cats

StephenH Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List podders Helping podders - pHp Joined: 29 Nov 2015 Location: Wake Forest, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6288	Post Options Post Reply Quote StephenH Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 18 Feb 2022 at 1:13pm
	Charging systems in tow vehicles are not the same as when it was a simple voltage regulator. To get better mileage, the charging systems in new vehicles also use a charge control system that is barely adequate to charge the vehicle's battery fully, let alone trying to charge a LiFePO4 battery. I found when we first got our LiFePO4 battery and tried to use it with the Frontier's charging system that I would end up with less charge than when I started. One overnight stay and then driving several hours the next day and the battery ended up even lower in charge. I think the LIFePO4 battery's charge was fooling the Frontier's charge system into thinking the truck's battery was charged when in reality, the LiFePO4 battery was feeding back into the truck. That is the reason I say that you need a DC to DC charger if you intend to run the LiFePO4 battery. Of course, if your tow vehicle is an older one that uses a simple voltage regulator, you might be okay. However, any recent vehicle is likely to have issues. I also recommend a battery isolation solenoid to keep the trailer's battery isolated from the tow vehicle's battery when stopped, even if you don't disconnect.
	StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS