This past week I’ve been working on setting up the Battery monitor and color control panel so that everything’s reads the same but I’m not there yet so i inadvertently let the batteries drain. the battery monitor read 10.8v with 100% SOC, color control read 10.9v with 100% SOC and Voltmeter on the batteries reads 10.9v, starkpower app says 10.9v with 0% SOC. about an hour later with just the ceiling lights on the Starkpower app read all 0's and everything went dead. the batteries wouldn't take a charge from either the Redarc 1240d or the Victron Multiplus inverter/charger via shore power, matter of fact the multiplus charger wont even turn on. it worked before but that was when the batteries had some juice. im guessing the batteries are in some type of low voltage protection mode, if so is there a reset procedure or something?
Starkpower Lifepo4 Batteries Not Responding
- Thread starter Bravo30
- Start date
luthj
Engineer In Residence
I would guess you need to apply a charging voltage to trigger the bms to reconnect. Most smart chargers will not work unless they see a battery. Solution, put a lead acid battery in parallel with the lithium. Jumper cables should be acceptable. This will convince the charger there is a battery present. Once the charger starts its thing, the lithium bms should close the disconnect.
DiploStrat
Expedition Leader
If that doesn’t work, contact Stark Power. (Remember, a charged batter is also a battery charger.) I recharged a Stark Power battery that was said to have been so low that the BMS had shut down. Barring total failure somewhere, it should be possible to recover.
Letting your LFP drop to such a low point the BMS LVD kicks in is very foolish if longevity is your goal.
Not saying you should necessarily keep to 50% floor as many do with lead,
but there is still a drastic hit to lifetime cycles going above 70-80% DoD.
Of course if only occasional weekend use, calendar aging may be the greater factor, but I would still use LVDs on loads to try to never get near the BMS cutoff, that is supposed to be a final line of defense, not part of routine operations.
Not saying you should necessarily keep to 50% floor as many do with lead,
but there is still a drastic hit to lifetime cycles going above 70-80% DoD.
Of course if only occasional weekend use, calendar aging may be the greater factor, but I would still use LVDs on loads to try to never get near the BMS cutoff, that is supposed to be a final line of defense, not part of routine operations.
i got caught up in following the SOC and not the actual voltage. that wont happen again.
dwh
Tail-End Charlie
Lot of smart chargers have reverse polarity protection. They usually need the battery to have at least two volts so they can figure out if pos/neg is hooked up right. If they can't figure it out (battery just too dead), they won't even attempt to charge.
The suggestion to hook up a second battery is a good one. It's a common trick. Hook the charger to the dead battery and hookup the second battery to the dead battery with jumper cables. Turn on the charger. The smart charger will see 2v+ and decide the polarity is correct and go into charge mode. Then unhook the second battery.
Probably, after you let it sit on the charger a while the battery will absorb enough power to wake up.
The suggestion to hook up a second battery is a good one. It's a common trick. Hook the charger to the dead battery and hookup the second battery to the dead battery with jumper cables. Turn on the charger. The smart charger will see 2v+ and decide the polarity is correct and go into charge mode. Then unhook the second battery.
Probably, after you let it sit on the charger a while the battery will absorb enough power to wake up.
i just spoke with Victron USA, if your batteries are below 8-9v the inverter or charger will not work even if your hooked up to shore power. the inverter relies on there being power present in the batteries for the transfer switch to operate. He didnt have an exact number on hand for the low voltage so i would go with 9v to be safe or call.
i still havent gotten a hold of starkpower
i still havent gotten a hold of starkpower
not answering their phone or emails.
''Your request has been received.
StarkPower is undergoing changes. We hope to have this completed soon. These changes should result in StarkPower being a stronger partner for you. Please note if your are ordering our BigRig product we are unable to take orders at this time. If you have any questions we can be reached at 1-800-587-9940 9am to 5pm EST.
To add additional comments, reply to this email.''
''Your request has been received.
StarkPower is undergoing changes. We hope to have this completed soon. These changes should result in StarkPower being a stronger partner for you. Please note if your are ordering our BigRig product we are unable to take orders at this time. If you have any questions we can be reached at 1-800-587-9940 9am to 5pm EST.
To add additional comments, reply to this email.''
dwh
Tail-End Charlie
Size doesn't matter.
There's no real load on the second battery, it's just there so the charger can see enough voltage to check polarity. You could use a motorcycle battery or just run some jumper cables from any handy car.
I should have mentioned that while some smart chargers can do the polarity check down as low as two volts (both of my Stanleys are like that), some need to see a higher voltage, like six or nine or even ten volts. Just depends on the charger.
luthj
Engineer In Residence
Yep, Size is not important in this situation. Even a tiny 5AH battery would be enough. Larger batteries will work equally well. There may be a brief surge of current once the BMS reconnects the battery, but it will be brief and moderate. I would avoid using tiny wires (less than 10 gauge) if you have 50-100AH battery, just because the wires might get a bit warm.
luthj
Engineer In Residence
I dug through an old notebook back from when I first got the batteries and I wrote down "10v cut off" and that's about when they cut off so, yes, everything on the battery side is working fine