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mcarter View Drop Down
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Joined: 07 Apr 2016
Location: Greenbrier, TN
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Posts: 3419 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Battery & wiring
    Posted: 23 Sep 2020 at 6:20pm
One appears to be ground and one appears to be a positive, could they be for your solar wiring at rear of trailer? Even a suitcase requires a hook point at you trailer. Are these wires attached to your solar attach point at rear of trailer? Is your electric jack working?
Mike Carter
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EchoGale View Drop Down
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Joined: 10 Mar 2019
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Posts: 461 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Sep 2020 at 5:49pm
Sorry for being confusing.  

No, the solar is just a suitcase portable panel. It's just that before I got that and tried boon docking I left batteries alone (was learning other things). Now I am learning batteries. But this is just the two 12 volt batteries wired in parallel (I believe). I just don't know what these "extra" wires are. Have they become disconnected from somewhere?  A ground wire maybe?
Julie
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mcarter View Drop Down
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Posts: 3419 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Sep 2020 at 5:38pm
Is your solar hooked up and working? The wires resemble solar, but I can't be sure, hard to tell from a picture.
Mike Carter
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Posts: 461 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Sep 2020 at 3:06pm

hi Folks,

My solar panel project this summer has meant I've learned a lot about my batteries but not enough yet.  These are both 12 volt (the batteries are new(er) but they replicate with came with the camper). Can someone please tell me what these two loose wires are and, as unlikely a possibility as that seems, are they supposed to be loose?
Julie
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Sep 2020 at 5:40pm
Glad to hear its working now.

Re the cold temperatures, its not that the batteries are frozen in some obvious way its that lithium batteries can't accept a charge when the are at cold temperatures. So, if you camp in sub-freezing weather you can have problems. Your batteries may be self-protected from that by their battery management system, you might want to check the specs for the BMS and see.

Sounds like your solar charge controller can be reset for lithium batteries, just be aware that the WFCO charger in your rPod is not set up for them. They have another version that is. If you want to also charge from your tow vehicle you will probably need a dc dc converter for that. 
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Psychokitsune View Drop Down
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Posts: 17 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Sep 2020 at 3:53pm
Everything is working! Thank you for the informative answers. Looks like it was me just being dumb for the wiring.

Also, I mainly boondock in temperate climates so I dont normally have to deal with frozen batteries. I have also configured the charge controller set for lithium batteries.
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Sep 2020 at 7:31am
Ah, mystery solved!  So one of your new batteries was getting slowly charged from solar and never getting discharged, the other was getting charged from the rPod charger and getting discharged by the trailer loads. Its only a coincidence that they both wound up at 90%.

So, you can connect the two smaller gauge wires from the solar kit to the same two battery terminals as the larger wires which lead to the charger/panel.  Again, be sure of your polarity buy using your voltmeter first. That plus the two parallel battery connectors should get you going. 

Next question: 

All three charging sources: solar, rPod charger, and tow vehicle charging (if you want to be able to do that while driving or boondocking) need to be configured for charging Li batteries. This is very important to be sure you are getting proper charging but most importantly, keep you safe from fires and explosions. Have you looked into that yet?

And one last thing, never attempt to charge Li batteries when they are below freezing. That can also cause severe damage or fires. For that reason many folks, depending on what your climate and camping patterns are like, mount their Li batteries in the heated space rather than the standard battery location. 
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Psychokitsune View Drop Down
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Posts: 17 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Sep 2020 at 7:24pm
Thank you very much! That was all very helpful. And yes, I do have a solar rig set up. I will get back to you tomorrow with the results.

Also, my batteries have a built in voltmeter, on/off switch, and LED screen so that's how I'm able to tell. It makes life a lot easier.
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offgrid View Drop Down
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Sep 2020 at 7:18pm
Originally posted by Psychokitsune



I believe it is the standard wiring, thank you for explaining about the discharge. To answer your questions:

1. Yes they are both 12v
2. Because I put both on at under 70% and both have charged to 90%
3. I bought the batteries as is. Might have mis-spoke when I talked about wiring there.
4. I have a volt meter that does dc and ac . I also have higher gage wire

So if you have the standard rpod wiring then the mystery is how did the battery connected to the solar port get charged? Do you have a solar kit connected? If not then it shouldn't be getting charged or discharged, because there should not be anything connected to those wires. Where are you seeing the 90% state of charge reading?

I should have maybe been more clear on the multimeter. Pretty much all multimeters will measure both ac and dc voltage. I was talking about measuring dc current,which is more unusual. That would tell you how much charging and discharging you are getting. 

In any case, you have the meter you have. The two smaller gauge wires are the ones that go to the solar port. Assuming there is no solar connected, disconnect them from that battery and measure the dc voltage on them. Should be zero. If so set them aside. 

Get two battery cables, one red and one black. Minimum gauge should be 6, 2 gauge or 1/0 is better. Connect + to + and - to - of your two batteries. 

Then connect the heavier gauge - cable on the rPod to the - of one battery and the + to the + of the other battery. Verify with your meter first which is + and which is - before connecting. You can plug in the rPod and turn on the charger to be sure, but then shut it down again while connecting.

The reason for attaching + to one battery and - to the other is to better balance current flow between them.

One last question, the standard WFCO charger in the rPod is not designed for lithium batteries. If you overcharge Li batteries you can start a fire. So, you need to be sure that you have a safe system there, either by changing the standard WFCO for a LI charger or being sure that the batteries themselves are internally protected from overcharging.  

Also, you will not be able to effectively charge Li batteries from your tow vehicle without additional equipment. There really is a lot to converting a trailer to lithium batts and you need to understand all of that or it will at best be ineffective and at worst can be very dangerous.
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Psychokitsune View Drop Down
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Posts: 17 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Sep 2020 at 4:32pm


I believe it is the standard wiring, thank you for explaining about the discharge. To answer your questions:

1. Yes they are both 12v
2. Because I put both on at under 70% and both have charged to 90%
3. I bought the batteries as is. Might have mis-spoke when I talked about wiring there.
4. I have a volt meter that does dc and ac . I also have higher gage wire
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