BattleBorn lithium

AustinHealey

Have just finished installing a BattleBorn 100 amp hour lithium battery in a 2020 TAG boondock. TOW vehicle is a 2020 Chevy Colorado Duramax diesel. Installed a battery monitor with shunt. After installing the shunt for the battery monitor and hooking all the negative ground wires (charger, solar charger, and ground on the TAG) to one side of the shunt and a negative battery cable to the other side of the shunt as prescribed I found my Colorado would tell me my trailer brakes were not working. Since the only thing I had changed was the ground, I figured out which white wire in the make up box under the tongue of the trailer was the trailer brake ground and connected it directly to the negative terminal of the battery. Colorado says trailer brakes are working again. The factory brake controller is very sensitive to any change in the ground. Now trailer brakes are working and battery monitor is working. So far I have drained the Battleborn Battery from 100am hours down to 67 amp hours using the norcold fridge only. Not sure what I am doing wrong but the convertor puts no juice into the battery when plugged into shore power according to the battery monitor/shunt. Also, my Colorado puts no energy into the Lithium batter when driving down the road. The Victron IP65 15 amp charger I bought with the battery will charge at the full 15 amps until reaching the adsorption level of 14.4 volts when plugged into shore power. So, although I have a battery that lasts a lot longer, with my current set up it seems I can only charge it with solar, shore power, or perhaps generator. Tow vehicle and onboard TAG convertor do not appear to charge it when battery is depleted to 67 percent. Maybe they will if discharged further. Others on this forum seem to have better luck with the Lion Energy batteries. So I suggest a word of caution before you get over enthusiastic like me and plunge headlong into a lithium battery set up. The higher voltage of the Batlleborn lithium battery is maintained until it is close to fully discharged, and as such it does not trigger the alternator to charge it nor the TAG convertor.

JamesDow

I found that my T@G converter would charge my Renogy 100ah to around 84%. When I have the battery switch ON and my norcold running, I can get up to 94.6%. My tow vehicle seems to add around 11% per 200 miles of highway travel. I have yet to get my battery up to 100%. I may try this week with solar (Renogy 100 watt suitcase) as it sits in the driveway. I am really not concerned about getting up to 100% as I understand, the longentivity of the battery would like a range between 85-25%. I will be heading out for around 45 days in July. That should be a good test of boondocking battery life. I am thinking of adding a cutoff switch on my tow vehicle (TV) battery. If I find I have enough battery (scope of charge), I will turn off TV charging to protect my alternator. (Especially if I find my self in prolonged stop and go traffic)

LuckyJ

@AustinHealey sory to go to a basic question, but you did not metionnend the answer any where, is your battery switch in the 'on" position? It needs to be in order for the batttery to charge from the Tv or the TD converter. But it must be since you can use the battery to power the trailer.

rich67

So this may seem even more rudimentary: I just picked up my lithium 100ah battery, and am going to be doing the swap on my Tag this weekend. I see a lot of people running battery monitors; I have one but it's the one that plugs into my 12v DC socket. I also have the factory solar. Is this a simple swap out? Can I just ditch the old Interstate battery and hook up the lithium and be on my way? I understand that my solar charge controller will handle the switch without any need for upgrading.
Also, since I am new to the world of lithium, I want to care for it as best I can in the off season. I plan on disconnecting it when it's not being used for long periods of time by turning the switch off. Can I use my Battery Tender to trickle charge it while it sits? Or is that primarily for lead-acid batteries?
Lots of questions on a hijacked thread, I know. But thanks in advance.

beaky

yes

JamesDow

To simplifies things - No need to use Battery Tender to trickle charge. Lithium does not discharge as does wet lead acid batteries. A float charge would be ok, but likely not needed.

The plug in battery monitor (12v DC socket) measures volts. Lead acid batteries drop in voltage as they discharge, lithium does not, so that method will not really work very well. I do not know which brand battery you have. ("Turning switch off" - sounds like Renogy)

I do not have a recommendation on a battery monitor. I use the Renogy monitor specifically designed and matched to my smart battery. (<$50)

Lots of good information out on the web to be found.

https://www.powerstream.com/li.htm

Frequently Asked Questions on Converting to Lithium Charging

https://www.progressivedyn.com/frequently-asked-questions-on-converting-to-lithium-charging/

MrGGBrown

Installing a shunt-based battery monitor is definitely a good bit of work, but I would highly recommend one if you're willing to do that work. Having a definite readout of the current battery capacity, and knowing without any doubt when the battery is discharging or charging are both very helpful. I'd almost being willing to say I appreciate the battery monitor more than the LiFePo battery I installed. That said, I'm also very a happy with our Lion Energy battery. We just got back from another week-long trip and the experience was the same. 100% charge can be achieved via either shore power or TV charging thru the stock T@G charge controller. I feel somewhat fortunate (and basically lucky) with my battery choice, as I think I'm the first to install the Lion Energy in a T@G - at least the first who has reported.

AustinHealey

The battery cutoff switch is on when towing and still no charge from Tow Vehicle. Could be the truck - 2020 Colorado ZR2 with smart alternator. Truck will provide enough juice to trailer to power fridge when battery cutoff switch if off. I think I will charge the trailer lithium batter with the victron batterey charger I have (has a lithium setting) and then turn the battery cutoff switch off while driving to prevent the higher voltage of the lithium battery from discharging back to the TV battery. Will post my results .

JamesDow

My setup has an inline fuse between the tow vehicle and trailer. It blew once and stopped charging untill I found and fixed it. Just added a waterproof switch on the 12 volt charging line. Gives hands-on control over the charging process. I also got to 100% state of charge in 2 hours with my 100 watt Renogy solar suitcase. (No electrical accessories on) Was only able to get to 94.9% while actually camping with refrigerator on and charging phones and usb power banks. The one nice thing with the Renogy Smart battery is no need to install a shunt based monitor. The $60 Renogy Monitor connects (plugs in) with a simple RJ45 communication port. Same cable type used with computers to connect to router, printers, etc. Communication is direct to the Battery Management System built in and enclosed within the BMS. (Most lithium batteries have some sort of incased BMS, but without the communication port.)

My Voyager charge controller attached to my solar suitcase also reads out battery charge information.

Sharon_is_SAM

@AustinHealey - the break away brakes require the battery switch to be turned on while towing. In the event of a TV-Trailer disconnect, the electric brakes will use the TaG battery to stop the trailer.

Somemedic

Any idea how long I can stop with the trailer turned on and not run down the battery in my TV to the point it won't start?

Everytime I stop I disconnect the 7pin. I leave the trailer on so the Norcold stays on but I'm paranoid if I'm in a rest stop or restaurant for more than an hour I'm coming back to a Tundra that aint gonna fire up.

MrGGBrown

The answer really depends on the state of the 2 batteries. If you have nothing in the circuit to prevent current flow, whichever battery is the higher voltage will flow power to the other battery. I installed a LiFePo battery which has a higher charged voltage than the standard lead-acid battery in our TV. I can see on our Renogy battery monitor the outgoing current flowing to the TV battery when the T@G battery is fully charged and the TV isn't running.

JamesDow

I would not worry for an hour or two stop. If you know you T@G battery is very very low then disconnect. Otherwise enjoy your stop. Overnight, then disconnect.