Mecer Inverter

[Katjie]

What lithium battery can I use in a SOL-I-BB-M1 - having the following specs: Mecer 1kW 12V pure sinewave Inverter with 1x 100Ah deep cycle gel battery.
Has anyone done the swop.

 

[TheChamp]

Any 12V lithium, I think most people here use the Hubble S100 or 120.

 

[Katjie]

Thank you for your reply. Will you have to make any changes to the charge or discharge settings?

 

[TheChamp]

Thank you for your reply. Will you have to make any changes to the charge or discharge settings? View attachment 1472439

Firstly you will need to make sure the lithium replacement will fit in there.

Changing the charge settings will depend on what the inverter is capable of, not too familiar with that model.

 

[Katjie]

Thanks.
Perhaps there is someone else on the forum who might be able to add some information.

 

[Katjie]

See the attached specification sheet

 

[Pineapple Smurf]

Basically any "Drop in lead acid replacement" lithium battery will work
The BMS (Battery Management System) inside the battery will take care of the charging of the actual lithium cells

 

[Katjie]

Basically any "Drop in lead acid replacement" lithium battery will work
The BMS (Battery Management System) inside the battery will take care of the charging of the actual lithium cells

 

[Pineapple Smurf]

ie The lead acid battery charger inside the inverter will charge your lithium battery through the BMS

 

[Katjie]

ie The lead acid battery charger inside the inverter will charge your lithium battery through the BMS

The battery currently inside the unit is a 12V 100AH deep cycle gel battery.

 

[Pineapple Smurf]

The battery currently inside the unit is a 12V 100AH deep cycle gel battery.

Yup, piece of rubbish
Will last 150 - 300 cycles if you hammer the inverter hard during load shedding
The Revov batteries are pretty good, will get over 2000 full cycles from it.

REVOV 100Ah 12.8V 12V Lithium-ion (LiFePO4) Battery - FIRST LIFE / 1.280kWh - GeeWiz

REVOV 100Ah 12.8V 12V Lithium-ion (LiFePO4) Battery - FIRST LIFE / 1.280kWh for sale online at the Best Prices! Door to Door and Overnight Delivery

www.geewiz.co.za

 

[WebDirect]

Has anyone done the upgrade to Lithium in this model inverter and can they confirm it works and no changes are needed to the system settings?

 

[RedViking]

Has anyone done the upgrade to Lithium in this model inverter and can they confirm it works and no changes are needed to the system settings?

I don't see why there will be any issues with compatibility. Just don't run the lithiums down to too low voltage. I don't think a lithium battery will fit though, so that might be an issue. Unless you can find a battery with the same dimensions.

 

[Jarrod]

Has anyone done the upgrade to Lithium in this model inverter and can they confirm it works and no changes are needed to the system settings?

I have done it with a lifepo4wer battery. It's too big to fit inside so I removed the handles off the trolley and placed the battery ontop of the trolley. I dont move my trolley around so no hassle with it falling over. Had to extend the cables but its not longer than 1meter. Voltage when charging steps up to max 14.4v and floats at 13.8v (Cant change any settings as far as i know) So far really happy with it .

Obviously I removed the gel battery
Been running for the last 3weeks no problems. The inverter does start beeping at about 11.7v (low voltage) and restarts at 11.5v if I remember (checked when the gel battery was in). I dont pull a lot of wattage +/- 250w per hour and where I stay load shedding is max 2 hours at a time.

 

[leon.davibe]

See the attached specification sheet
View attachment 1472607

You have to change nothing

Except keep in mind this inverter can only charge back
In 4 hrs about 0.5kwh

So though you have a 1.28kwh battery if you use any of the extra capacity, it will take extra hours to charge back ie 10hrs from empty to full on a 100ah lithium



You can add a solar panel to help with that as the charge rate of solar can be up to 3x as fast and naturally will keep the battery from running down while the sun is shining

 

[leon.davibe]

The voltage of lifep04 cells means that batteries built from lithium lifep04 cells match lead acid perfectly
The float voltage of lead acid devices ie 13.6v means a cell voltage of 3.4v per cell which fits perfect


ie you can go out and buy any lifep04 battery and drop it in to any device that used a lead acid battery

edit: forgot one exception when it comes to 48v (though all talk about 48v batteries generically ie referring to 48v and 51.2v nominal batteries as 48v batteries)

batteries you have to make sure to buy a 16s battery ie 51.2v nominal voltage, some manufacturers make 15s batteries that is a 48v

while 4x 12.8v (though we talk generically 12v again) lead acids is 51.2 which the 16s matches perfectly
so in that inverter you would have to set voltages different if 15s like the pylontech /some shoto models

Irrespective if the lithium lifep04 listing states drop in replacement or not

The only caveat is with the lithium you have to make sure that the bms amps is able to supply your load
ie the rule of thumb tends to be to have a bms that can supply at 1c
a 100ah battery tends to have a bms that can meet 100a load


Thus the alarm size battery that is 7ah tends to have a 7a bms which is a problem for UPSs
You can however look for a high drain item that has a bms that can meet the load


That is the top side now the bottom
If the ups/inverter is designed to switch off at the 50% mark of a lead acid ie 12v ish
It is perfect as you would be very close to empty on a lithium so would not lose capacity


If the device switches of at 10v ie totally flat also not a problem as the bms will switch of the battery to protect the cells
Though spec sheets of lifep04 state they can be used down to 2.5v meaning the 10v shutdown would be a totally flat shutdown


Which a person should avoid for convenience
As dependant on inverter/ups
You may have to jump start the bms


ie if the bms switches off the battery it waits until it sees charge voltage
And some ups/inverters want to see battery present before they charge
Hence why you have to put some power on the battery for the bms to see the charge connect the cells and for the inverter to do the same


A manual shutdown before you hit this point removes this slept

 

[charlescheng]

Hi

i have fitted a FW 12-100 into the mecer 1kw.
It still busy charging... Almost 3 hours. Dont know how long it will take to recharge...

If it works - then i am going to connect the other 2 new battery into the mecer 2kw trolley.

 

[wingnut771]

Hi

i have fitted a FW 12-100 into the mecer 1kw.
It still busy charging... Almost 3 hours. Dont know how long it will take to recharge...

If it works - then i am going to connect the other 2 new battery into the mecer 2kw trolley.

Depends on the SOC the battery was when you started. They normally ship with about 50% so about 5 hours at 10A.

 

[charlescheng]

Depends on the SOC the battery was when you started. They normally ship with about 50% so about 5 hours at 10A.

Thanks you for the info - Ye - cause my load shedding is kicking in in the next 90min... Hopefully it will be fully charged by then..

 

[wingnut771]

Thanks you for the info - Ye - cause my load shedding is kicking in in the next 90min... Hopefully it will be fully charged by then..

1 x 100Ah LFP is like having a 300Ah LA, so I'm sure you'll be fine. Which inverter is this?