Replacement batteries for 600w trolley

abudabi said:
Yeah I don't have a Ceil so missed that. Is my hypothesis correct and I'm up a creek without a paddle?
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I suspect you may have a similar problem seeing that both = 600W PSW

On the plus side the batteries are the most expensive part of the investment. Buying a better inverter could be a good investment in the long run esp if you get one that can take solar (MPPT)
 
abudabi said:
I took the plunge and bought the S-200 after I could not get the mecers.

My lead acids measures 13.6v when fully charged
S200 arrived on 13V
I put it in and after 15 mins it was on 13.25v and after 30 mins it was only at 13.26v
Front panel of inverter showed 84% at this point and the fan would still go on/off which to me indicates continued charging *shrug*
Does that mean my inverter thinks it needs to charge more whilst the battery is already at max?

I switched everything off at this point to not cause damage.
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I'm not sure on your inverter charging profiles, ie; what voltage is bulk phase (step 1) and what voltage is float phase (step 3). Judging from your earlier posts I suspect float is 13.6V which is good, and most inverters have 14.6V bulk voltage.

LFP battery has a very flat charge curve so 13.3V is in the middle of the flat curve and will sit there for a very long time while charging.

Because LFP voltage curve is different from LA, you need to ignore the inverter battery % on the front panel, only look at voltage.

Try draining the battery down to 12V, then charge it back up so the charger can go through the normal cycles. I suspect it is confused as a starting voltage of 13+ volts is a fully charged LA status, where an LFP battery can be anywhere from 30% SOC.

Here are the resting values, take note while charging these will be slightly higher:
1669960713112.png

You don't mention how many amps your charger is?
 
So after 3 bouts of loadshedding and a 12 hour charging period it's sitting on 13.52V (charging) and 13.46V (no-load). The front display is showing 100% (I know I can't trust that) and the fan is still cycling on/off.

I'm assuming when/if it reaches full capacity and switches over to float charge the fan won't cycle anymore as that's what is did before?


wingnut771 said:
I'm not sure on your inverter charging profiles, ie; what voltage is bulk phase (step 1) and what voltage is float phase (step 3). Judging from your earlier posts I suspect float is 13.6V which is good, and most inverters have 14.6V bulk voltage.

LFP battery has a very flat charge curve so 13.3V is in the middle of the flat curve and will sit there for a very long time while charging.

Because LFP voltage curve is different from LA, you need to ignore the inverter battery % on the front panel, only look at voltage.

Try draining the battery down to 12V, then charge it back up so the charger can go through the normal cycles. I suspect it is confused as a starting voltage of 13+ volts is a fully charged LA status, where an LFP battery can be anywhere from 30% SOC.

Here are the resting values, take note while charging these will be slightly higher:
View attachment 1433321

You don't mention how many amps your charger is?
Click to expand...
 
abudabi said:
So after 3 bouts of loadshedding and a 12 hour charging period it's sitting on 13.52V (charging) and 13.46V (no-load). The front display is showing 100% (I know I can't trust that) and the fan is still cycling on/off.

I'm assuming when/if it reaches full capacity and switches over to float charge the fan won't cycle anymore as that's what is did before?
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Did the fan cycle on and off when charging the LA?

In theory yes, it will eventually stop charging. A 200Ah battery is quite big for this charger so with continuous loadshedding it probably doesn’t have enough time to complete the charge cycle. How much load (watts) have you got running off it during loadshedding. Also how many amps are you charging with?
 
wingnut771 said:
Did the fan cycle on and off when charging the LA?

In theory yes, it will eventually stop charging. A 200Ah battery is quite big for this charger so with continuous loadshedding it probably doesn’t have enough time to complete the charge cycle. How much load (watts) have you got running off it during loadshedding. Also how many amps are you charging with?
Click to expand...

Last night I had about a 300Watt load but only for 1 of the 3 sessions.

I had 2 x 100AH in parallel before so the charger should be able to cope. Sorry you did ask about charging current.. I'm not sure. I don't want to blow my multimeter and I don't have a clamp meter.
 
abudabi said:
Last night I had about a 300Watt load but only for 1 of the 3 sessions.

I had 2 x 100AH in parallel before so the charger should be able to cope. Sorry you did ask about charging current.. I'm not sure. I don't want to blow my multimeter and I don't have a clamp meter.
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I’m not saying the charger can’t cope I’m just saying it might take a while.

For example, let’s assume it’s a 10amp charger. 200/10 = 20 hours of charging a flat battery. If 10A, then it’s only charging at around 200W. If your load is higher than that then it’s always trying to catch up, especially since it has not reached full charge yet.
 
Understood. I've been running it without load this morning. I think the fan on/off cycles are longer now. Measured and it's 13.84V / 13.82V

wingnut771 said:
I’m not saying the charger can’t cope I’m just saying it might take a while.

For example, let’s assume it’s a 10amp charger. 200/10 = 20 hours of charging a flat battery. If 10A, then it’s only charging at around 200W. If your load is higher than that then it’s always trying to catch up, especially since it has not reached full charge yet.
Click to expand...
 
abudabi said:
Understood. I've been running it without load this morning. I think the fan on/off cycles are longer now. Measured and it's 13.84V / 13.82V
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When you say running it without load, it shouldn't matter as when there is power it should be in bypass mode so it would be taking power from the AC wall socket to cover the load (assuming this has UPS function). If it's a straight inverter/charger with no UPS switching, then it would matter.

If you unplug it from the wall and switch it off, then plug it back in, does it come on and power up your devices?

Glad to see voltage is increasing. Keep monitoring, lets see if it goes over 14V.
 
No fan noise for the last hour or so. Charging measurement gives me 13.84V

I got a cheapy clamp meter and it's showing 0.2 Amps... so I'm guessing we're good to go and it's floating at the moment.


Thanks for all the assistance @wingnut771
 
abudabi said:
No fan noise for the last hour or so. Charging measurement gives me 13.84V

I got a cheapy clamp meter and it's showing 0.2 Amps... so I'm guessing we're good to go and it's floating at the moment.


Thanks for all the assistance @wingnut771
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No worries :)

The S-200 will serve you well and will probably last decades.
 
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