New Li Time 12v 230 ah reading 3.25 volts

[pdaddy]

Just curious if anyone else has encountered this issue with a new LiFePO4 battery seemingly dead and not charging. I went and got a multimeter and tested the battery and it's at 3.25V which seems crazy low. Almost wondering if that's "beyond repair damaged" low.

Here's some backstory for context:

Received the Li Time 230ah with BMS and Low Temp Protection. Initially tried charging it with 200w solar panel (probably needed more wattage since they said they send them mostly discharged for shipping reasons). I never tested the voltage when it arrived. Installed a new 60 am SCC that's connected to one 200w panel on my RV roof. Got everything hooked up and left it connected to shore power for 2 days. Disconnected shore power and the battery was dead. Figured my WFCO converter panel would charge the battery on shore power but it didn't.

Bought a Smart LiFePO4 25 amp battery charger to charge the battery. Hooked it up but the charger wouldn't charge the battery... it stayed in "Standby Mode". Thought maybe I had a faulty battery charger. Hooked it up to the car, and it worked no problem. So wondering if the BMS in my LiFePO4 has gone into "protection mode" and won't allow a charge?

Disconnected everything overnight. Li Time said you can reset the BMW by disconnecting everything for 30 min... that hasn't worked.

Thoughts and help appreciated.

 

[Tomthumb62]

Some BMS need a kick in the pants to wake up. Quickly tapping it in short circuit to another charged lifepo4 battery can often do it. Some lifepo4 chargers can wake up the BMS and some can’t. What does Litime say to do when the 30 minute disconnect didn’t work?

FYI, 3.25v per cell is 13v at 4S, so your battery is fine. 2.5V per cell would be completely and totally dead.

 

[pdaddy]

Some BMS need a kick in the pants to wake up. Quickly tapping it in short circuit to another charged lifepo4 battery can often do it. Some lifepo4 chargers can wake up the BMS and some can’t. What does Litime say to do when the 30 minute disconnect didn’t work?

FYI, 3.25v per cell is 13v at 4S, so your battery is fine. 2.5V per cell would be completely and totally dead.

Understood 3.25v per cell is norm. But when I'm measuring the battery using the posts on the outside, shouldn't that give me around 12v + or -?
When I measure my flooded lead acid batteries, I'm getting 12ish volts.

 

[pdaddy]

So was able to determine that the battery is in fact fully charged. I hooked everything back up to my RV and while the solar was charging, I connected the battery charger. It turned on, charged for about 30 seconds and then registered "full."

Now the problem is, when I disconnect the solar panels... there is not juice getting to the RV from the trailer. My WE RV indicator panel shows the battery has no charge and all the light go out along with the 12v fridge. Wiring issue?

 

[Tomthumb62]

Understood 3.25v per cell is norm. But when I'm measuring the battery using the posts on the outside, shouldn't that give me around 12v + or -?
When I measure my flooded lead acid batteries, I'm getting 12ish volts.

No. Lifepo4 is fully charged at 13.2-13.3v. The discharge curve is really flat, meaning that at 13.2 it could be at 98%, and at 13.0V it could be more like 15% SoC.

Lead acid is more all over the place, the discharge curve is much steeper. A lead acid at 12.9v is considered more or less fully charged but that’sa very depleted lifepo4.

 

[Tomthumb62]

So was able to determine that the battery is in fact fully charged. I hooked everything back up to my RV and while the solar was charging, I connected the battery charger. It turned on, charged for about 30 seconds and then registered "full."

Now the problem is, when I disconnect the solar panels... there is not juice getting to the RV from the trailer. My WE RV indicator panel shows the battery has no charge and all the light go out along with the 12v fridge. Wiring issue?

Something isn’t right here. It sounds like your RV is getting power direct from the solar panels. What is the voltage of the battery when the panels are connected, vs disconnected?