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Update on the batteries in my MotorHome. Today I did a useable capacity test and I am excited! I installed eight 272ah Lishen cells - (12v - 544Ah battery) about 1-3/4 years ago. I did not do individual cell capacity tests, but after I got the battery made and installed I did a useable...

My wife… is the washer & I am the dryer… Everything else uses WAY more energy & water. 😎

Well I finished my 12v 50Ah LiFePo4 small portable battery. I will be using the battery in my Jeep and for camping. It has eight 25Ah Fortune cells from electriccarparts.com and an Overkill BMS. I started to play with the batteries with my Batrium BMS in this thread: BMS...

My solar production just NE of Little Rock AR. Kinda Cool!

Since right now you are running 2s2p - since you took out one panel from each string, you have the following choices… Go to 2s3p - you will get more power than 2s2p - yes it is not as efficient, but you will have more power. Get a different SCC - one that can handle the 3s - probably looking...

Dont think of these cells as 270 or 280Ah - think useable capacity- probably around 250 Ah. Because we probably won’t set our chargers to 100% nor discharge to 0%. So it’s about 250 useable.

Put solar panels on the roof. That way there are always there charging- side benefit the direct sun is on the panels with an air gap underneath- instead of on the roof heating the place up too hot. Wire the roof panels to its own dedicated mppt. Then have another mppt for the ground panels. The...

One of the solar issues may be your SCC (solar charge controller) wants voltage between 20 and 80v. The parallel strings may not be providing enough voltage to start the SCC’s until later. The three 200w BiFacial in series may also be an issue- with a Voc of 28.1 *3 = Voc of 84.3v. I could not...

Yes you can buy a plain inverter, but these are usually cheaper items. One issue is they probably don’t have a transfer switch built in. Here is an example of why the inverter/charger Multiplus is so cool! With my Multiplus in my MotorHome, currently I am at an RV park that has pretty bad...

In 2019 on a trip back from Alaska, my parents 4 year old NeverCold leaked all the ammonia. My dad got the Amish replacement but decided to stay with propane. We put it in- was not a hard job - but 2 people needed. When we went full-time I didn’t want our 22 year old NeverCold dying at a bad...

If you are making a 48v battery- you really should have a 48v battery and bms - not four 12v batteries in series. The four 12v’s cannot equalize their cells to other batteries. One thing I learned when running 6v GC2 lead batteries in my MotorHome (in 2s2p) is the batteries can and will get off...

Hello everyone, I have a 2000 Monaco MotorHome, I will be installing eight 272ah Lishen LiFePo4 cells making a 2p4s 12v 500Ah (useable) battery. My two largest loads are a Victron MultiPlus 12/3000 inverter/charger and the engine "Boost" if my chassis battery gets low. For the BMS I chose a...

The best bms is the one that fits your needs/goals the best. What is the criteria??? Here are some aspects: Price Communications Charging amps Discharging amps Quality Size Ability to run relays For example, about 3 years ago I was building two different batteries for my MotorHome. A small...

I would like to focus on the panels for a bit - to figure out if you have a wiring penalty going on. What we need to know is exactly what is connected to each SCC (solar charge controller). We need to know the following specs for each panel: Voc_______ Vmp_______ Imp_______ So if the 100w...

I do not but the YouTube Channel “Ambition Strikes” installed one (the electric one) run in on their system and like it. May want to look for their talking about it.

LiFePO4 is the only ones for me - when I am sleeping. I have several of the 3.7v cells and I never leave them charging at night. Probably safe… but…

Here is a tip I saw from the Jeeping world & figured I would pass it along. After you get everything exactly tight - take something like a fine Sharpie marker and put a straight line down over the nut, washers(if any) and onto the bus bar. Then you can see in a glance if the nut has started to...

On my MotorHome all the wires, air lines, etc are in split wire loom tubing. 23 years and counting and no issues with that.

My brother has had three EV’s - and loves them! The first two were Nisson Leaf’s. He got them cheap for his kids to have a car during teen years - no gas expense and the teenagers did not need massive ranges- they could go all over the area. Being used they were cheap! Think disposable for...

Here are my thoughts: The last thing you want is to lose a panel - if you think 6 is fine - use that or 8 use that. Us strangers on the internet can't see your roof. I would think it would be a good idea to put one of front and one on back - then use 3 on each side. Level does not matter -...

One other point for Victron that has not been mentioned yet. Since I started using a Victron shunt four years ago, I can think of four or five software updates (there may have been many more). Now most of those have been behind the scenes stuff or updates on stuff I don’t use. However, two...

The 290w max at 12v while correct - it is not the way to think and calculate it. The 100/20 will produce 20amps times 14.4v = 288w. So for your batteries with an absorption charge of 24v(?) you should get 20a * 24v = 480w. You believe something is lying to you (and I believe you) - both the...

The best way to connect is: You want to connect each battery up to a bus bar with equal length & size battery cables. (For example - all cables are 36” and 2 awg copper - - 5 red & 5 black). Use a very high quality bus bar. Look at the Victron PowerIn / BlueSea, etc. (make sure it is...

I like Victron- I full time in my MotorHome and have an all Victron system (except batteries). I think it is worth the brand premium for tier1 equipment. The information it gives me is great. So if/when I build an off-grid home - that’s what I will go with. Don’t just accept the plan of the...

I full-time in a 50a Motorhome. After reading your messages this is where I would look - you may need to adjust a bit after doing the energy audits… Two Multiplus II 48/5000. These will run a house with no problems. Batteries- four rack mounted 48v 100ah batteries. Look at Current Connected -...

One trick I found - before I made my big 2p4s 540ah battery for my RV, I made a small portable 50ah battery. I needed a small battery for one job - but I have found several others really good jobs for it too. The experience of making one battery really helped me when making the bigger battery...

Hello everyone, I want to add one more solar panel to an array on my MotorHome. The problem is the panels I used have been discontinued and are no longer available. Currently I have two Hightec 210w panels in series: Vmp 22.4v Impp 9.3a Voc 24.9v Isc 9.85a The closest panel match I can find...

I really like the second page of the graphs - the History section- the bar chart over the last 30 days. I usually look over the last 3 to 5 days. I look at the min and max battery voltage. Is the max consistently reaching the absorption voltage? So the battery consistently is getting full. Or...

With that run length - it might be cheaper to look at a 250v mppt and go with a 5s2p (you would need one more panel). If your low temps aren’t very low (check the math carefully here!) maybe even a 6s2p - but that’s probably over the voltage line. Going with high voltage and lower amps for...

Anderson Power Pole connects have options for all sizes. The only one I have used is a massive one that connected an electric forklift battery. I just placed an order for some 30a ones that I will be using on a small home built lithium battery. (50ah @ 12v). If ordering from Amazon - make sure...