Victron Smart Solar and LiFePO4 battery charging

PeteS

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I'm finding it difficult to find the answer to this question, If you have the van in storage with fully charged lithium batteries when the sun comes up what stops the Smart solar going into bulk charge mode?
On FLA solar always does a bulk charge initialy as the voltage will have fallen to 12.6 ish but on Lithium the battery voltage should still be around 13.4 ish is this high enough to stop Smart solar beginning a charge cycle and just drop into float? Dont really want a lithium continually being topped up.
 
PeteS said:
I'm finding it difficult to find the answer to this question, If you have the van in storage with fully charged lithium batteries when the sun comes up what stops the Smart solar going into bulk charge mode?
On FLA solar always does a bulk charge initialy as the voltage will have fallen to 12.6 ish but on Lithium the battery voltage should still be around 13.4 ish is this high enough to stop Smart solar beginning a charge cycle and just drop into float? Dont really want a lithium continually being topped up.
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The victron unit should have been set up for your battery. It will start in bulk, then drop to absorb, then float.
 
SquirrellCook said:
The victron unit should have been set up for your battery. It will start in bulk, then drop to absorb, then float.
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As he says (y)

The chargers always but always will start up in Bulk, then move to absorption and then float (and then storage if that mode is supported). Don't worry about being in bulk for a few minutes on a fully charged battery. It's normal.
 
Ok thank you, I was curious, there is a lot of talk on Victron community about absorbtion times and moaning about fixed durations and being unnecessarily long etc but also because Lithium holds its voltage for so long how does it know its SOC and the light bulb has just gone on in my head!! and I've just realised that if the battery will take the current in bulk then it will but only to about 95% of charge, it is unlikely to make up the rest in a 2hr Absorption time.
 
PeteS said:
Ok thank you, I was curious, there is a lot of talk on Victron community about absorbtion times and moaning about fixed durations and being unnecessarily long etc but also because Lithium holds its voltage for so long how does it know its SOC and the light bulb has just gone on in my head!! and I've just realised that if the battery will take the current in bulk then it will but only to about 95% of charge, it is unlikely to make up the rest in a 2hr Absorption time.
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Just a note about the Victron Community ... there is a fair bit of misunderstanding posted there, both regarding products and replies to questions; plus older statements and answers do not reflect updates to the products and its firmware. It is a great resource but like any on-line forum, don't automatically trust what is said unless the replies come from a select few members i.e. Victron Staff.

There have been some key changes made to the MPPT in terms of being able to adjust the absorption times (originally the way the MPPTs worked, assumptions were made in the firmware regarding how long the Absorption time could be, based on the starting voltage and you were stuck with this. This resulted in some incorrect charging times and an (automatic) update to the SmartSolar MPPTs has meant this can now be adjusted to your own needs if you go into the right settings.
This update was quite a while ago now, but some historical Q&A posts on the community will pre-date this update.
 
I would hope so but I have no experience of these batteries, i have designed BMS systems in the past but I am cautious of the chinese products. I have a 150Ah battery with a Daly BMS in it, it claims to have 0C temperature cutoff as part of the BMS, I havent yet come across anyone who has succesfully tested a Daly BMS to prove it has 0C protection.
So I'm cautious :)
 
PeteS said:
I would hope so but I have no experience of these batteries, i have designed BMS systems in the past but I am cautious of the chinese products. I have a 150Ah battery with a Daly BMS in it, it claims to have 0C temperature cutoff as part of the BMS, I havent yet come across anyone who has succesfully tested a Daly BMS to prove it has 0C protection.
So I'm cautious :)
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You have probably seen this video then?


(to save people time if they just want the answer and not watch the video .... one word, two letters, starts with "N" and ends with "O")
 
Yep although I do have it in writing from the supplier that the temperature protection is in place but I'm not taking the chance, seperate temp protection for me.
 
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