'21 Boondock XL not holding a charge overnight after one outing - SmartShunt not helping

packetjunkie

I have a new '21 Boondock XL with the dealer installed "DynaThrust" 24DC3 battery.

On our first outing we had no issues with going overnight and still having power in the morning, this was running an Alpicool C30 and normal usage of lights.

Wanting to understand more about my battery usage as we did more outings, I added a SmartShunt after this first weekend and we just had out second weekend out. Each morning we woke up, the battery was full on dead.

I am having difficulty understanding the utility and usefulness of the SmartShunt, but more frustrated by the lack of power in the morning. In the morning the unit has no power, so when I add a charge, it comes back online but the historical data is empty. There is no retention of data like when the battery died or how it's usage over time was graphed. With it plugged into home power, it starts back up saying 100% capacity.

When I got home I've been running tests each night - full charged battery, synchronized app, NOTHING turned on in the trailer, very little draw in the hours before bed. In the evening with less than a couple of amps draw, I see that there is well over a day of estimated time left (30+ hours).

But by morning, no power and no history is available.

Battery capacity - 82Ah
Charged voltage - 13.2 (default)
Discharge floor - 50% (default)
Charge efficiency factor - 95% (default)

Under history, I see Deepest discharge -22Ah, cumulative Ah drawn -123Ah (I've recharged the battery probably 10 times since purchase). Charged energy - 1.6kWh, discharged energy 1.4kWh.

I haven't even been able to test a night with the Alpicool C30 plugged in. I'm going to run the test during the day when I can keep an eye on the discharge, but that it's not even going 10 hours with no load is an obvious problem.

Is this a bad battery and I need to contact the dealer? Because at this point it seems like that or the only other thing is the SmartShunt is somehow causing this issue (although I dont know how it could).

Yes, it's wired up correctly - no, nothing else is on (amp draw is less than 3amp). How can I get more utility from the SmartShunt in understanding what's going on? At this point, it seems to be a pretty worthless device since I get nothing from it.

MrGGBrown

Assuming everything is wired correctly as you say, there are really only 2 possibilities. You either have a bad battery that doesn't have the full stated capacity, or you have a draw that's using all the battery capacity. You mention a 3amp draw, but hopefully that's just a peak, short-term draw. You only have about 41Ah of available capacity. If you divide that by 3 amps, that's just under 14 hours usable.
If your steady-state draw is much less than that 3 amps, and everything is wired correctly, I'd suggest you have a bad battery. Even new, they can be bad.

JamesDow

Just got back camping with a 100ah lithium battery. (Renogy) Each night I averaged about 8.5% drawdown of my scope of charge overnight. That is only using my nocold refrigerator. (No fan, water pump, lights, television, audio)

packetjunkie

If we only get 50% of usage from a battery (41Ah from a 82Ah battery), then these numbers are going to get much worse when I actually use power in the trailer. As I said, the first weekend we went all night with a fridge setup and regular use, but the second weekend we couldn't. The only difference being adding the SmartShunt - and only two weeks between trips.

I'm leaning towards a bad battery as well, unfortunately - but probably the easiest part to "fix".

100ah - does that mean you only get 50ah of available capacity?

MrGGBrown

With a standard lead-acid battery, you're only supposed to use it to about 50%. You can certainly go beyond that, but you start to damage the battery when you do. So the "real" capacity is only roughly 50% of the stated capacity.

With newer technology lithium batteries, like James (and I) has, you can use the full 100% capacity of the battery without damaging it. That gives you roughly twice the capacity, plus a little more because it has a higher Amp-Hour rating. The downside to lithium batteries is that they are extremely expensive compared to lead-acid.

It seems unlikely to me the SmartShunt is causing your problem, but I'm not familiar with all available versions. I have the Renogy shunt-based monitor and it uses almost no power, even with the LCD display on all the time. I can come back after several days and the monitor still shows 100% capacity if nothing else is on.

You didn't mention anything about solar charging. If you want to get by with a standard lead-acid battery, you can use solar to recharge it and it will probably meet your needs, assuming you don't camp in highly treed campgrounds where the sun is significantly blocked.

packetjunkie

I just did a recharge and it's showing a -1.28A draw/-16W with 1d19h of time remaining. Again, with nothing turned on. 100%, 12.81V. I guess we will see how it goes into the evening.

MrGGBrown

You should not have a 1.28amp/16watt draw with nothing turned on. That may not be your whole problem, but definitely part of it. Does this draw still show if you turn the battery disconnect to Off? If no, then something in the trailer is drawing current that you're not aware of. If the draw remains with the battery disconnect off, then maybe the SmartShunt is somehow the problem. I'm assuming the SmartShunt is wired directly off the battery and in-line before the battery disconnect.

packetjunkie

Hi, Greg. Yes, the SS is wired directly to the battery with its small power cable.

What I know is drawing power - the stereo unit (while off, the time is still showing) and the SmartShunt. There is also some draw from the solar panels (despite being parked in garage), since that Victron device is also reporting over Bluetooth (but both SmartShunt/Solar are dead when the battery is dead).

Two hours in, I'm at 98% with the same 1.27A/-16W of draw with 1d 17h of time estimated remaining.

packetjunkie

I have to say, this SmartShunt is a questionable piece of hardware. The "Trends" that might reveal issues over time only works while you are sitting there watching it. Leave the application and come back? Gone. Look at it for an after the fact analysis, nothing to see, blank screen. For the price, I was expecting a lot more utility from this device.

I'm going to hook up a fridge and see what happens. Starting to think its just a crappy battery.

packetjunkie

The SmartShunt was reporting 90% capacity when it died - as I hooked up the Alpicool you could watch the voltage meter just drop continuously. There is a definite problem with the battery holding its charge, so I will replace it with something "better" and see about replacing the stock unit since its so new.

rich67

Not for nothing, but has anyone checked the efficiency of the Alpicool vs the Norcold? I have seen a lot of people commenting about how the cheaper 12v fridges are power hogs, and they will drain your battery in no time. I also read something that said the compressor on some Alpicool units would continuously run and not shut off, causing everything inside to freeze and zap the battery. Not bashing Alpicool here, just wondering if this may be a factor.

packetjunkie

Hi, Rich - interestingly enough, the amp draw of the Aplicool was pretty small - around 3 amps on MAX setting with the initial cool down (was 78 degrees inside chilling to 32)... I can get more data, but the draw did not seem excessive.

LuckyJ

@rich67 said:
Not for nothing, but has anyone checked the efficiency of the Alpicool vs the Norcold? I have seen a lot of people commenting about how the cheaper 12v fridges are power hogs, and they will drain your battery in no time. I also read something that said the compressor on some Alpicool units would continuously run and not shut off, causing everything inside to freeze and zap the battery. Not bashing Alpicool here, just wondering if this may be a factor.

I do not know about the alpicool, but I do not consider the norcold as a top of tye line fridge at all.

rich67

@LuckyJ said:

@rich67 said:
Not for nothing, but has anyone checked the efficiency of the Alpicool vs the Norcold? I have seen a lot of people commenting about how the cheaper 12v fridges are power hogs, and they will drain your battery in no time. I also read something that said the compressor on some Alpicool units would continuously run and not shut off, causing everything inside to freeze and zap the battery. Not bashing Alpicool here, just wondering if this may be a factor.

I do not know about the alpicool, but I do not consider the norcold as a top of tye line fridge at all.

Never said it was "top of the line".....

LuckyJ

@rich67 said:

@LuckyJ said:

@rich67 said:
Not for nothing, but has anyone checked the efficiency of the Alpicool vs the Norcold? I have seen a lot of people commenting about how the cheaper 12v fridges are power hogs, and they will drain your battery in no time. I also read something that said the compressor on some Alpicool units would continuously run and not shut off, causing everything inside to freeze and zap the battery. Not bashing Alpicool here, just wondering if this may be a factor.

I do not know about the alpicool, but I do not consider the norcold as a top of tye line fridge at all.

Never said it was "top of the line".....

Nah, no worries, simply cause you were only comparing alpicool and norcold and i kins of noticed that you were taking the norcold on the first step of the podium. 😉

JamesDow

Looks like the posted draw is 3.75 amps for the Alpicool C30 vs 4.2 amps for Norcold NRF-30. Looks like the Alpicool should be more energy efficient. A lot can depend on costruction variations, installation and ventilation provided.