Roamer Lithium Battery 230Ah Seatbase

[marchie]

The battery is sitting inside the M/Home, fully installed, but not getting a great deal of daily work [with the exception of running the water pump during the water tank sterilisation and the water heater descaling about 10 days ago]. The new MPPT 100/30 Controller is working like a dream and seems less inclined to throttle the solar harvest as the predecessor 75/15 seemed to do.

The Roamer BMS is far more sensitive than the predecessor KS Energy 120Ah Lithium, and yesterday, it flagged up an 'Undercharge' Alarm, because the battery temperature fell to 4 degrees, despite being in an inside battery box under the nearside habitation sofa, so not getting lots of draughts from the Cab. Roamer tell me that the Alarm [Code UTC1] will reset/disappear when the temperature warms up and tha Battery temperature rises above 5 degrees Celsius. The M/Home is parked outside in an on street parking bay, directly opposite the Firth of Forth, which is 100m away, and a wee bit breezy during Winter ...

Has anyone else had the 'Brass Monkies' Alarm, and would it be wise to leave the gas heating on at a Frost Stat setting or similar, say 8 or 9 degrees?

Steve

 

[TJBi]

The battery is sitting inside the M/Home, fully installed, but not getting a great deal of daily work [with the exception of running the water pump during the water tank sterilisation and the water heater descaling about 10 days ago]. The new MPPT 100/30 Controller is working like a dream and seems less inclined to throttle the solar harvest as the predecessor 75/15 seemed to do.

The Roamer BMS is far more sensitive than the predecessor KS Energy 120Ah Lithium, and yesterday, it flagged up an 'Undercharge' Alarm, because the battery temperature fell to 4 degrees, despite being in an inside battery box under the nearside habitation sofa, so not getting lots of draughts from the Cab. Roamer tell me that the Alarm [Code UTC1] will reset/disappear when the temperature warms up and tha Battery temperature rises above 5 degrees Celsius. The M/Home is parked outside in an on street parking bay, directly opposite the Firth of Forth, which is 100m away, and a wee bit breezy during Winter ...

Has anyone else had the 'Brass Monkies' Alarm, and would it be wise to leave the gas heating on at a Frost Stat setting or similar, say 8 or 9 degrees?

Steve

I don't have the same brand of LiFePO4, so no "brass monkeys" alarm, but the BMS is configured to prevent charging if the temperature is too low. I have certainly encountered situations during prolonged spells of very cold weather when the habitation batteries have lost a small amount of charge due to continuing to trickle-charge the engine battery while not being charged themselves, but nothing to worry about in the slightest, as they have quickly come back up to full charge when the temperature has risen. You're somewhat further north than I, so perhaps more of a concern for you as there may be longer durations of cold weather. Was the alarm triggered by a low state of charge or simply the temperature?

 

[nabsim]

If you aren’t intending to use it Steve then ignore it. Just remember to check in advance of using the van that the battery is 5degrees or more. Saying that I don’t suppose it will matter with that battery as it will probably reduce and charge low enough to warm battery but not overcharge (you can still charge below 5C at lower rates) in fact it’s probably one that starts the heaters automatically.

I have had my completely dumb lifepo4 now over 4 years and if mine drop below 5C I just put the heating on but that’s with me living in the van. If it’s parked up I wouldn’t worry till you are approaching minus twent C

 

[marchie]

I don't have the same brand of LiFePO4, so no "brass monkeys" alarm, but the BMS is configured to prevent charging if the temperature is too low. I have certainly encountered situations during prolonged spells of very cold weather when the habitation batteries have lost a small amount of charge due to continuing to trickle-charge the engine battery while not being charged themselves, but nothing to worry about in the slightest, as they have quickly come back up to full charge when the temperature has risen. You're somewhat further north than I, so perhaps more of a concern for you as there may be longer durations of cold weather. Was the alarm triggered by a low state of charge or simply the temperature?

Purely temperature; that's what confused me, with the Solar Panel pushing out a charge but the Roamer BMS reporting, or recording an Alarm [silent]. I've just checked the Battery via Bluetooth and its temperature is showing 5 degrees and the earlier Alarm has cleared. The Battery is charging in gloomy skies on Bulk and has reached 13.7v, [with the AMT12 set to trickle charge the Vehicle Battery for 9 seconds in every 10 seconds], so the Roamer appears happy enough

The Roamer BMS is far more sophisticated than that of the predecessor Battery, and I have a lot of learning to do. It's disconcerting to have the Temperature reported as an 'Alarm', when it appears to be more of an 'Alert'; also, to keep the User Manual below the length of 'War and Peace', there is virtually no eplanatory text of the implications of the Alarm notifications. A comment 'UTC Alarm indicates Battery Temperature below 5 Degrees C; Alarm will clear when Battery Temperature returns to 5 Degrees; if you need charging to resume, switch on Van heating to raise the internal vehicle temperature', rather like the Truma Frost Valve Manual, would have been useful!

I'm still delighted with the Roamer and am certain that it will have enough 'oomph' to meet the demands of electric bed raising/lowering and Remoska operation via the Inverter, and still have capacity to keep the ebike batteries topped up daily. The predecessor Lithium wasn't powerful enough and the choice was bed/lighting OR bike batteries, so making the latter an alternate day process, with a greater recharge requirement than the more modest daily top up

Steve

 

[nabsim]

With the little amps from flat panels this time of year Steve I would expect it was still charging the battery with the alarm on. Without checking I may be wrong but from memory I think I am ok charging at 10 A per battery between 5 and 0C. I would expect a smart bms to do the same.

Look at the history on your mppt and see it it did charge

Then again not having a smart battery they may not do as I think they do. I hope they do as I don’t like missing out on solar lol

 

[wildebus]

Steve,
The message from Neil - copied below - I would say is spot on

If you aren’t intending to use it Steve then ignore it. Just remember to check in advance of using the van that the battery is 5degrees or more. Saying that I don’t suppose it will matter with that battery as it will probably reduce and charge low enough to warm battery but not overcharge (you can still charge below 5C at lower rates) in fact it’s probably one that starts the heaters automatically.

I have had my completely dumb lifepo4 now over 4 years and if mine drop below 5C I just put the heating on but that’s with me living in the van. If it’s parked up I wouldn’t worry till you are approaching minus twent C

If you aren't using it for say 2 weeks - as a number plucked from air - then it doesn't really matter if it is not charging as it is also not really discharging to any noticable level (just the AMT pulsing away which will not be significant to a battery of your capacity I would say).
As the battery is within the living space - and the hot air venting tubes are also inside the battery box - as soon as the heating starts up, you will get the battery warming it - and the chances are if it is that cold you will want to turn the heating on a bit before hand anyway for yourself! (if it is too cold for a battery, it will be too cold for a human )

What you *could* do if you really feel the need is poke a few little holes in the heating tube which is in front of the battery so when the heating is on, that space will warm up a little faster? (bit like the small heasting tubes routed in the front seats which have had acupuncture)

Now you say it is "far more sensitive than the predecessor KS Energy 120Ah Lithium"? I would not be surprised given what we saw with your KS battery in other ways that the low temp check just was not operational!

You're somewhat further north than I, so perhaps more of a concern for you as there may be longer durations of cold weather. Was the alarm triggered by a low state of charge or simply the temperature?

Steve is further north than I am (70 miles?) and I have seen the inside of my Motorhome staying below 5C for weeks and weeks continuously (think a couple of years ago it was 7 weeks under 5C?) so that could be no charging if not used and in storage, so it can be a real potential issue in some circumstances (as I have heated batteries, it matters not in my case, but shows why a heated battery can be a benefit even when located inside the van)

 

[nabsim]

Do these smart bms not allow any charging once it drops below 5C then David?

 

[wildebus]

Do these smart bms not allow any charging once it drops below 5C then David?

I think it is usually incorporated into the more advanced BMSes that control internal heaters.
Steves battery has "Low Temperature Protection" rather than any kind of heating function.

As an aside, if you trust* the Low Temp Protection to do its job, then you could disable the chargers "turn off under 5C" setting and then it will provide the background demand rather than the battery alone, which will extend the discharge time.


*apparently a lot of BMSes either didn't have this protection; had it but the makers never fitted a temp sensor; or claimed to have it but lied. Pretty sure the Roamer is good on this though

 

[lizbiebrowne]

The battery is sitting inside the M/Home, fully installed, but not getting a great deal of daily work [with the exception of running the water pump during the water tank sterilisation and the water heater descaling about 10 days ago]. The new MPPT 100/30 Controller is working like a dream and seems less inclined to throttle the solar harvest as the predecessor 75/15 seemed to do.

The Roamer BMS is far more sensitive than the predecessor KS Energy 120Ah Lithium, and yesterday, it flagged up an 'Undercharge' Alarm, because the battery temperature fell to 4 degrees, despite being in an inside battery box under the nearside habitation sofa, so not getting lots of draughts from the Cab. Roamer tell me that the Alarm [Code UTC1] will reset/disappear when the temperature warms up and tha Battery temperature rises above 5 degrees Celsius. The M/Home is parked outside in an on street parking bay, directly opposite the Firth of Forth, which is 100m away, and a wee bit breezy during Winter ...

Has anyone else had the 'Brass Monkies' Alarm, and would it be wise to leave the gas heating on at a Frost Stat setting or similar, say 8 or 9 degrees?

Steve

I’m looking to add capacity to my KSEnergy 120 Ahr lithium battery. Have you got any plans for your old KSEnergy battery?

 

[wildebus]

I’m looking to add capacity to my KSEnergy 120 Ahr lithium battery. Have you got any plans for your old KSEnergy battery?

I can answer that. It has gone to a bad home where it will be abused.

 

[rambrose]

My son has a couple of Roamer under seat batteries. He had charging issues and it turned out Roamer had a duff batch of bms units.
Suggest you get in touch with Roamer to make sure yours wasn't one of them.
Roamer collected the battery, swapped the bms and returned it. Apart from the hassle of being without the battery the process was smooth (ish).
He was glad that he went for 2 batteries rather than 1 big one so they repaired 1 at a time.

 

[marchie]

My son has a couple of Roamer under seat batteries. He had charging issues and it turned out Roamer had a duff batch of bms units.
Suggest you get in touch with Roamer to make sure yours wasn't one of them.
Roamer collected the battery, swapped the bms and returned it. Apart from the hassle of being without the battery the process was smooth (ish).
He was glad that he went for 2 batteries rather than 1 big one so they repaired 1 at a time.

When was this, please? I placed my order in early January 2024 and it was delivered from stock about 3 weeks later [delayed by me because I was away in the Van]

I contacted Steve at Roamer about the Undercharge Alarm/Alert and he replied that the condition would clear when the air temperature climbed back to 5 degrees [with a wee lag for the battery to essentially defrost]. And it has done so! I'll need to check again today after outside temperatures fell just below freezing overnight but have now staggered back up to 2 degrees ...

Fortunately we will be heading back to Spain in a week or so, and a combination of daily use [with heating on when necessary] and warmer climes should avoid further alarms

Steve

 

[rambrose]

When was this, please? I placed my order in early January 2024 and it was delivered from stock about 3 weeks later [delayed by me because I was away in the Van]

I contacted Steve at Roamer about the Undercharge Alarm/Alert and he replied that the condition would clear when the air temperature climbed back to 5 degrees [with a wee lag for the battery to essentially defrost]. And it has done so! I'll need to check again today after outside temperatures fell just below freezing overnight but have now staggered back up to 2 degrees ...

Fortunately we will be heading back to Spain in a week or so, and a combination of daily use [with heating on when necessary] and warmer climes should avoid further alarms

Steve

I'm hoping they aren't sending these out still.
Batteries were purchased Oct 2022. It was a while before he got around to fitting them.
They collected the first battery August last year.
A bit disappointing they didn't proactively contact customers when the dodgy bms was identified.