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Old 11-19-2021, 07:21 AM   #41
Daryles
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I did not pull the 12v wire pin on my 7 way cable.
(see link to write up above).
 
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Old 11-19-2021, 09:22 AM   #42
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Derek,

I am still a year or so away from the transition. If I don't plan to add a DC to DC charger but use solar and genny to recharge do I need to disconnect the charge wire in the 7 pin connector to prevent alternator damage?
There are a few variables related to that question however my short answer is that in your scenario which aligns with our setup I would disconnect the pin in the 7 way. There just is no need for it with the other forms of charging you will have which are regulated why risk the potential alternator damage? Realizing that some folks have left it connected with no damage, not all TV’s come with a voltage sensing alternator. I just don’t have a need when I can charge driving down the road with 2600 watts on the roof or a 6500 Onan running in the gen compartment.
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Old 11-19-2021, 12:29 PM   #43
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First, you do not need to do anything to your 7 pin connector. That merely supplies a trickle charge, as mentioned above it provided around 7 amps at 12v. There are several different ways to do DC to DC charging. One is the Renogy system and their website will guide you to sizing. We have the BIM smart charger. It turns current flow to the battery on for 15 minutes and off for 15 minutes. I can get about 40 amps per hour of driving. So, with two 100ah batteries, five hours of driving would recharge you from zero. You will not regret lithium batteries. They are much lighter, maintain voltage as they discharge, and recharge faster than lead acid/AGM batteries. If you don’t already have one, spend the money on a good battery monitor like the Victron. YMMV, JMHO.
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Old 11-19-2021, 05:52 PM   #44
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Assimilating a charging source which cannot be controlled by the BMS is never a good thing. BMS's can fail. A BIM (battery isolation manager) while only a timed relay is the bare minimum I would recommend to anyone. The BIM has no regard for nor knowledge of CCL or CVL. That being said different strokes for different folks.
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Old 11-20-2021, 08:50 AM   #45
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I have been researching the dc to dc charges seems the 2 most popular are the victron and renogy. renogy spells it out pretty good on the fusing size and wire size but victron is harder to understand that is for me . i like the idea of the bluetooth but is it worth the extra money? wire size i believe by the chart i need 4 guage either one . the renogy says for fusing 60 amp and a 50amp.
looking at a 40 amp renogy and a 30 amp victron charger. any opinions on either one?
thx

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Old 11-22-2021, 07:25 PM   #46
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well i got my lion batteries today yanked out the old batteries and put in the lithiums. went inside pulled the cover off the fuse panel to change to the lithium setting and guess what no switch to change it. i was going by my model number pd4575k18ls8 which it says has a switch to change to lithium now to figure out what to do, everything i read says i will only get 80% charge by not haveing the 14.4 volt bulk charge. really do not want to buy a new charger i will call progressive tomorrow and see what they say. i think i read a post by darrel about the mode button but cannot find anything about it

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Old 11-22-2021, 07:26 PM   #47
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Al,

Do you have solar to top them off?
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Old 11-22-2021, 07:44 PM   #48
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no solar i have a inverter generator. not sure but either way i dont think i can get a 100% charge. i think i read about using the mode button to manually get the 14.4 voltage for a few hours then it reverts back to 13.6 but i am not real sure of this. whole idea of this whole project was to get enough ah to last the nite.
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Old 11-22-2021, 09:05 PM   #49
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ahdmeyer View Post
no solar i have a inverter generator. not sure but either way i dont think i can get a 100% charge. i think i read about using the mode button to manually get the 14.4 voltage for a few hours then it reverts back to 13.6 but i am not real sure of this. whole idea of this whole project was to get enough ah to last the nite.
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You can manually selected "Boost Mode" (charges at 14.4V) using the button. A solid green LED indicates "Boost Mode"

Here are a couple of links to previous discussions.
https://www.montanaowners.com/forums...ad.php?t=69366
https://www.montanaowners.com/forums...ad.php?t=84158

I found these, and others, by Searching (use the big brown search box near the top of every page) using the search words "boost mode led". I added "daryl" to the search and got no hits so I don't think he was the one you remember.

What is curious is if you have a PD4575 it should have the Lithium switch.


Source: https://www.progressivedyn.com/rv/po...s/4500-series/
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Old 11-22-2021, 09:12 PM   #50
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Here is a link to the specs on the PD4575K18LS8 (I have that one).
In the write up it details the operation of the Charge Wizzard.

https://www.etrailer.com/RV-Converte...575K18LS8.html

The mode button is the green one to the right of the flashing green light.
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Old 11-22-2021, 09:36 PM   #51
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In the Lion 1300 manual page 4
https://lionenergy.com/products/lion-safari-ut-1300
It says the max charging voltage is 14.6vdc.
With the charge wizzard in boost mode 14.4vdc (for 4 hours before automatically reverting back to normal mode) you are pretty close. Lithium batteries charge FAST. 4 hours is probably enough to get you there.
Battle Born batteries have a State of Charge chart.
Valance (mine) have a different SoC profile.
As do Flooded Lead Acid batteries.
I did not see one for Lion. There could be one out there.
If you don't already have a battery monitor I would get one. I have a Victron BMV-712. It's Bluetooth. I can check the batteries from 100' away.
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Old 11-22-2021, 09:57 PM   #52
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thanks for the replys yes the model is a pd4575k18ls8 thats what i was going by thinking i could change to lithium. it says it is good for lithum by flipping the switch. so Daryles you apparently have the same situation. same model and same batteries. do you manually change the input voltage using the mode button then and let it go for the 4 hours then it defaults back to 13.6? Iif that works for you i guess i could do the same thing. if not i was looking at a victron blue smart ip 65 to set up for a charger. i have to do something to get the batteries to close to 100% or just below otherwise i have these lion batteries that are not getting full charge. thanks for all the help guys
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Old 11-23-2021, 06:43 AM   #53
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Originally Posted by Ahdmeyer View Post
thanks for the replys yes the model is a pd4575k18ls8 thats what i was going by thinking i could change to lithium. it says it is good for lithum by flipping the switch. so Daryles you apparently have the same situation. same model and same batteries. do you manually change the input voltage using the mode button then and let it go for the 4 hours then it defaults back to 13.6? Iif that works for you i guess i could do the same thing. if not i was looking at a victron blue smart ip 65 to set up for a charger. i have to do something to get the batteries to close to 100% or just below otherwise i have these lion batteries that are not getting full charge. thanks for all the help guys
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Yup. I used the boost mode button to top off the batteries before going boondocking. Then I installed 400W of solar panels. The solar panels keep them topped off now.
This write up explains everything that I did.

https://www.montanaowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83767&highlight=charger
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Old 11-23-2021, 04:51 PM   #54
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daryles thx for all the info . i got in touch with progressive today. talked with a tec that seemed like he knew what he was doing and answered all my questions.
my converter/charger is not set up for lithiums. he said they tried to get all the clients to agree to having the ability to change to lithiums with a switch, most did not want to do it why who knows probably a dollar more. they did finaly agree to it and now they all come with the switch to change from la to li.
so i asked now what do i do? he said 3 things. 1 like daryles said use the mode button to get the higher voltage to satisify lithium charging. 2 do nothing and let them charge using the current setting of 13.6 but will not get a full charge. 3 buy a new setup for roughly $400. i asked hiim what he would do he chose 1 using the mode button, also asked about a aux charger he said he would not do it and just use the mode button, thats what i plan on doing. remove shore this morning to see how long my batteries will last, res fridge is on and a few lights.
will see how long it lasts. next thing is to get a monitor like daryles said. will let you know later how its going. again thx everyone for the input.
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Old 11-23-2021, 05:00 PM   #55
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What you will need to be cognizent of and determine how you will want to manage is that in the charge range that you will be getting by going the boost mode route you will most likely never get the voltage high enough for the BMS to balance the cells. Over time this will become and issue. Ultimately the weakest or lowest cell will limit what the battery as a whole can do. At least once a month you will want to get the charge voltage up to spec so the cells will balance. It's not an unmanagable scenario but it may make you rethink how you proceed.
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Old 11-23-2021, 06:16 PM   #56
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tec at progressive did not seem to have any concerns about using the mode button to get the 14.4 he said is needed to get the batteries completly charged. when after they have been drawn down using the mode button will apply 14.4 for 4 hrs then drop down to 13.6. this is all a learning cure for me doing it this way but seems to be ok with the tec at progressive.
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Old 11-23-2021, 07:46 PM   #57
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Until you get a battery monitor, use a multimeter (or Level Up control panel voltage reading) and the Valence SoC chart above to monitor your batteries.
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Old 11-23-2021, 08:34 PM   #58
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got it daryles, been watching it all day batteries started at 13.6 10 hrs later 13.2 had the fridge and a few lights on all day not sure of the amperage. on the lions they have a guage, still showing 80 % will see in the am what it is. i realize it is not a lot of load but just kind of a test drive. going to get a monitor soon. thx again
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Old 11-24-2021, 10:20 AM   #59
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I went with a Renogy monitor. So far I've been very happy with it. Pretty basic but I'm a bit of a Luddite so it serves me wall. Been off grid 95% of the last year and it always seemed to be pretty accurate.
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Old 11-28-2021, 08:15 AM   #60
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hi again just a follow up on lithium battery change. installed 2 lion energy 1300 they are 105 ah. load on then was the residential refridgerator, a portable fridge i carry in the bay and the kitchen main lights. pulled shore power and let them run. 24 hrs later i still had 40% battery life according to the meter taht is on the lion batteries . then pluged back into shore and ht the mode button on the progressive to start charging at 14.4 3 hours later the batteries were at 100% completly charged i do not have a battery monitor yet it is ordered but on backorder. i could not ask for anything better than what i got. i really wanted to make sure i could get through the nite and into the next day to recharge. only thing is that i did not do was have the furnace on. i know it is a big draw on the batteries. thanks everyone for the input and help. especially daryles who clued me in especially usinng the mode to increase the charging voltage.
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