Quote:
Originally Posted by hemiallen
Sorry for all the questions, but I don't have other resources for asking this, so far.
I did another draw down test, dropping my now 400Ah BB lithiums down to 75% -13.43v.
PD 4575A charger, factory Montana 4 gauge wire. Stared using my generator and finished with shore power, no difference seen in charging rate.
Started Charging at 51.59Amps as measured on Victron smart shunt and tapered down as batteries recharged.
I have 400Ah of Battleborn Lifepo4 that I need to recharge using my Honda 2000I generator. The trailer has a PD4575A converter, and I ran my battery bank down to 75 percent / 13.43V. Recharging the bank started with 51.59A at 13.43v ( total loss was -102.6 Ah) and gradually reduced Amps while increasing volts using my victron smart shunt measuring battery status. After 2 hours it was 13.62V and 39.38A ( -12.7Ah) and after 2 hours 45 minutes it was fully recharged at 14.55V, 0.76A and 0.0Ah loss.
This seems longer to top off than the advantage of Li batteries should take, all I want is to maximize recharging times when boondocking. It seems AC recharging isn't a readily found component for a decent price , and my 300W solar isn't as useful as my generator for where we camp.
Is there any way to get a faster recharge out of my 2000I generator, which running puts out an advertised 1800w? I wish to maximize my recharge time with this generator, but am willing to get a higher output generator if I can find an AC-DC charging system for times when I want a fast recharge, knowing this reduces the life of the batteries. BB states a suggested 50A / per battery so I could go as high as 200A, but realize that probably needs more AC watts than I care to take with me when boondocking. The largest I have found is a Victron 120A inverter-charger, but I only need the charging system.
My current thoughts are: plan to drop my batteries to a lower state of charge than I did in this test, and just run the generator a few hours a day to recharge some of the loss, and when I get the bank low enough either recharge longer, go find shore power for a day to recharge to 100%, then continue boondocking.
I am used to boondocking with L-A batteries, so maybe I just need to learn it's ok to drop to ~20% capacity before recharging them some? It is hard for an old dog to learn new ways , maybe the above is the route I should take....?
Thank you very much
Allen
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I have 600AH of BB LiFePO4 and 6x180W solar panels. I also carry a pair of Honda EU2000I's hooked up in parallel with the factory cable. This gives me close to a 30A service. My inverter charger is a 3,000W 120A charger. The gennys have no problem charging at full power since 120A at 12V is roughly 12A at 120V. One genny would work but just in case I want to run 2 AC units I bought the pair. One of the things I did different from you is remove/disconnect the built in converter. It is a POS. You say you don't need an inverter, so just buy a Victron charger. I don't see any that come close to 120A but maybe I missed something. I don't understand why you need 400AH of Lithium if you don't use an inverter.
I have my Victron 3,000W inverter charger set to charge at 180A (120 shore/genny plus 60 from solar) I have never let the batteries get that low, but in theory I could recharge from almost 0 to 100% on genny alone in 5 hours, 3.5 hrs with full sun at a high angle.