I am a portuguese subscriber. I follow your channel at least one or 2 years ago. Apart from the learning about electrical stuff its so good to see you reinventing yourself after the breakup. It was the worst part of my life and sent me down forever...good to see you were able to do much better than me. Keep on the amazing work
I'm sorry to hear about that. Mine was not a surprise and had been coming for years. So I think I handled it well because I had years to prepare. But thanks for your support and kind words!
Having done something very similar before, Drill a couple of small holes in the bottom of the bucket you're keeping your battery in for draining. Condensation happens and will surprise you one day, at least it did me, with a nearly half full bucket of water. Cheers and thanks for sharing your journey.
I am sure most viwers of this type of channels ( like myself) are not beginners and probably has done this simple setup a few times...We are nerds and watch everything..No need to excuse for not doing "how to"- videos. 😊
Yeah, for sure. Have you talked to Ahsan? He is the owner. Great dude. Trying to do it right, like I am, with honesty and only top shelf products. Its an uphill battle. He was one of the ones that helped to open my eyes up to the Grade B flood several years go. They have some pretty eye opening videos on their YT channel that not many people see, unfortunately.
Yeah, same. I was disconnecting it altogether when I left the property when I first got the trailer because of the lead acid battery. But even the 12V 100Ah lithium discharged somehow. I've never been able to measure a draw on the battery while I've been there. It really mystifies me.
So I don’t know if this is why you battery discharges but I learned that while I leave my trailer for a few days with the gas refrigerator running I learned that the controls for the refrigerator were runoff the 12v system and that would draw done the house battery. It might be why your battery is discharging if your doing the same while your away.
I immediately wondered about the fridge too. It's the most significant power draw I can think of although even that shouldn't be much in gas mode. I'd probably cut all the other breakers and measure power draw for a while. I guess there's also a chance the battery is self discharging but I bet he would have noticed.
Good idea! I don't use my fridge in my camper, though. At least not to this point. I have an Iceco fridge that I have been using since I know the energy consumption and the freezer works much better. The freezer portion of those RV fridges are pretty poor and too small.
i have used an old harbor freight 15w panel and a small pwm controller connected to my trailer batteries when it is sitting to keep the batteries topped up as it sits unused. been working for three years so far.
It started out as a lead acid battery (came with the trailer when I bought it early this year). That quickly died. Then I started using the MillerTech 12V 100Ah battery you saw in the video. I never saw that below 80% until I came back one weekend and it was 0%. I still have no idea what happened. It worked fine for weeks and then within a 3 day period it went to 0.
Hypothetical Question: If you plugged 30 Amp Shore Power or generator into RV with this setup, what would need to be disconnected on a temporary basis?
Nothing, actually. I have tested it thoroughly (please note, I can't say this for surety for all trailers/RV's). The converter charger in the trailer is the stock unit, which is only compatible with lead acid. So when I plug in to shore power (via generator or my big solar panel array), the converter charger will only try to charge the lithium battery if it is within a normal voltage range for lead acid. That means the SFK lithium battery would have to be ~50% full or less for the converter charger to try to do anything. Worst case, the converter charger is providing some current AND the solar charge controller is providing some current and they both continue to assist until the converter charger drops off at some point when the voltage exceeds whatever voltage is programmed for it to float charge a lead acid. You can have two chargers charging one battery at the same time. It won't hurt anything. It isn't the most efficient thing in the world, perhaps, and it may confuse the heck out of both chargers but it can work in a crude manner. As I mentioned in the video, if this works until spring, I'll do a more permanent, polished installation and I'll sort out that issue. But it isn't a big deal for now.
He mentioned the size of the battery being 3 times that of the old one. The parasitic draw would be even less of a problem with the larger battery. He had everything so he used it. No purchases.
Yes, like SkunkPresant said, the 300Ah battery gives me an even better chance of not returning to my property to find that the battery is empty. Combined with the 100W panel giving 200-300Wh (hopefully) of power each day, it should be a bulletproof setup. SHOULD. I'll use the MillerTech battery for something else. It is smaller and lighter so I could put it in a pole mounted enclosure or somewhere that the SFK would be impractical.
I am a portuguese subscriber. I follow your channel at least one or 2 years ago. Apart from the learning about electrical stuff its so good to see you reinventing yourself after the breakup. It was the worst part of my life and sent me down forever...good to see you were able to do much better than me.
Keep on the amazing work
I'm sorry to hear about that. Mine was not a surprise and had been coming for years. So I think I handled it well because I had years to prepare. But thanks for your support and kind words!
Having done something very similar before, Drill a couple of small holes in the bottom of the bucket you're keeping your battery in for draining. Condensation happens and will surprise you one day, at least it did me, with a nearly half full bucket of water. Cheers and thanks for sharing your journey.
Nice suggestion. I'll keep an eye on it. Thanks for watching!
I am sure most viwers of this type of channels ( like myself) are not beginners and probably has done this simple setup a few times...We are nerds and watch everything..No need to excuse for not doing "how to"- videos. 😊
Point taken. Thanks for watching and supporting!
SFK batteries are sweet. High quality build, their prices are decent too! Glad you have that large battery to us in this setup.
Yeah, for sure. Have you talked to Ahsan? He is the owner. Great dude. Trying to do it right, like I am, with honesty and only top shelf products. Its an uphill battle. He was one of the ones that helped to open my eyes up to the Grade B flood several years go. They have some pretty eye opening videos on their YT channel that not many people see, unfortunately.
Excellent, I’m all about using what I have!
I had to add a battery disconnect to my system, there a parasitic draw somewhere in my system.
Yeah, same. I was disconnecting it altogether when I left the property when I first got the trailer because of the lead acid battery. But even the 12V 100Ah lithium discharged somehow. I've never been able to measure a draw on the battery while I've been there. It really mystifies me.
So I don’t know if this is why you battery discharges but I learned that while I leave my trailer for a few days with the gas refrigerator running I learned that the controls for the refrigerator were runoff the 12v system and that would draw done the house battery. It might be why your battery is discharging if your doing the same while your away.
I immediately wondered about the fridge too. It's the most significant power draw I can think of although even that shouldn't be much in gas mode. I'd probably cut all the other breakers and measure power draw for a while. I guess there's also a chance the battery is self discharging but I bet he would have noticed.
Good idea! I don't use my fridge in my camper, though. At least not to this point. I have an Iceco fridge that I have been using since I know the energy consumption and the freezer works much better. The freezer portion of those RV fridges are pretty poor and too small.
i have used an old harbor freight 15w panel and a small pwm controller connected to my trailer batteries when it is sitting to keep the batteries topped up as it sits unused. been working for three years so far.
Awesome! I'm hoping it works for me as well.
Is it Rack batteries that got drained? I believe I saw a video where someone had a rack battery system that was draining even when not in use.
It started out as a lead acid battery (came with the trailer when I bought it early this year). That quickly died. Then I started using the MillerTech 12V 100Ah battery you saw in the video. I never saw that below 80% until I came back one weekend and it was 0%. I still have no idea what happened. It worked fine for weeks and then within a 3 day period it went to 0.
Hypothetical Question: If you plugged 30 Amp Shore Power or generator into RV with this setup, what would need to be disconnected on a temporary basis?
Nothing, actually. I have tested it thoroughly (please note, I can't say this for surety for all trailers/RV's). The converter charger in the trailer is the stock unit, which is only compatible with lead acid. So when I plug in to shore power (via generator or my big solar panel array), the converter charger will only try to charge the lithium battery if it is within a normal voltage range for lead acid. That means the SFK lithium battery would have to be ~50% full or less for the converter charger to try to do anything. Worst case, the converter charger is providing some current AND the solar charge controller is providing some current and they both continue to assist until the converter charger drops off at some point when the voltage exceeds whatever voltage is programmed for it to float charge a lead acid. You can have two chargers charging one battery at the same time. It won't hurt anything. It isn't the most efficient thing in the world, perhaps, and it may confuse the heck out of both chargers but it can work in a crude manner.
As I mentioned in the video, if this works until spring, I'll do a more permanent, polished installation and I'll sort out that issue. But it isn't a big deal for now.
Ya shouldnt put a Good battery on the ground. It's power could be quickly zapped.
Not an issue with lifep04 afaik, just lead acid.
Why not just hook up the charge controller & panel to the old battery?
He mentioned the size of the battery being 3 times that of the old one. The parasitic draw would be even less of a problem with the larger battery.
He had everything so he used it. No purchases.
Yes, like SkunkPresant said, the 300Ah battery gives me an even better chance of not returning to my property to find that the battery is empty. Combined with the 100W panel giving 200-300Wh (hopefully) of power each day, it should be a bulletproof setup. SHOULD.
I'll use the MillerTech battery for something else. It is smaller and lighter so I could put it in a pole mounted enclosure or somewhere that the SFK would be impractical.