Does this look like a Li-Ion battery pack that is dying ?

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waxequestrian asked Apr 9, '24

Does this look like a Li-Ion battery pack that is dying ?

hi.

I recently bought a van with plenty of victron kit , 420w solar on MPPT, BMV 712, ip22/30(3) , a large li-ion pack (3.3kwh) etc in.

after a few days had a problem where the li-ion battery was flat . tried to recharge, will not bulk charge via IP22 hook up , straight into absorption mode. Went through a few threads on here about IP22 firmware updates (which i had just done) and a suggestion to get a charge in via manual setting for 8hrs ABSORPTION mode - doing that i managed to get it up to about 70 % after a week or so of hook up ,

system is holding a charge when doing nothing and even creeps up a little each day via solar.

But last night, in the dark, running off just the Li-ion battery pack with no solar , when stuck a couple of lights on , i could see the charge and hours left dropping off dramatically in a few minutes -

below is screen recording showing BMV ,

at 5s i turned on a couple of roof lights (22w)

you can see the voltage and time remaining drop off quickly

about 3:30 , when at 11.97v , i switched the lights off and you can watch it rise back up again

to me that looks like a battery that won't hold it's charge

does that look like the (unfortunately really expensive and quite hard to access) Li-Ion battery pack is baked or can these things be reconditioned / repaired ?

(not sure of manufacturer of battery pack just that on the receipt when installed in 2021 says Lithium Ion battery pack 3.3.kwh - i don't think it's victron blue type as no sign of it via bluetooth in the victron app)

thanks in advance

BMV Battery Monitor bluesmart ip22

li-ion-usage-2-lights-on-20240408-223314562.mp4 (1.6 MiB)

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Michelle Konzack commented · Apr 09 at 05:52 PM

It seems, you have something between 240Ah and 250Ah of batteries.

But, how many do you have exactly?

1x240Ah or 2x 120Ah or 3x 80Ah?

If you have 3 batteries in parallel, then the -67Ah and the 12V it would look like as 2 of the batteries are disconnected and you run only on one battery which is nearly empty.

Maybe as Alexandra sayed, the fuses of two batteries are broken

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waxequestrian Michelle Konzack commented · Apr 10 at 07:48 AM

hi Michelle. thanks for your reply.. A problem i have at the moment is that i don't know what the battery pack looks like. ( recently bought the van off someone who had the conversion done professionally about 3 years ago. )

All i do know is that it has a 'lithium ion battery pack capable of 3.3kwh' and it cost about £800 -

This 'battery pack' is installed in the cab above the driver's seat, for some reason whoever did the woodwork panelling then decided to 'box it in' with a wooden fascia with 3 vent holes.cut in it-

Behind those holes i can see what looks like a casing with three vent holes (about 10cm diameter each) and through the casing vent holes i can see what looks like some sort of metal cooling fins (fins not fans) and also some small copper piping.

( i may post up some photos to show what i mean)

also heard silent running fans going on and off from the battery pack on a warm day .

Other than that I can't really 'see' or get to it without having to cut through part of a lager wooden panel . . which has also been pinned and glued in place , and so i think i will have to try to get the panel off with force, just to try and gain any sort of access to the battery pack behind it

2 weeks ago, (a few days after i bought the van) the li-ion battery pack had drained completely and was showing 0% charge. When I then had the van on electric hook up for a while, the IP22 12/30(3) it has in it won't bulk charge it, so i had to try and get it to slowly charge in ABSORPTION mode only and only managed to get the battery to charge to 70% over a few days. because the best it could do was put in a few a/h worth of charge every 8 hours ( over the past few days it is still taking in a small charge increase from 70% to 73% from solar but mainly it is in 'float' mode - the van also has 420w of solar panels and a Victron MPPT solar charger )

Unfortunately I can't keep the van behind my house on hook up all the time due to space issues/ neighbours parking space, etc

So i think the 'missing 67 hours' are because i did not manage to get the battery charge up to 100% from hook up. due to not having enough time to do so. i think the battery may charge up more than that if i could leave it on hook up doing absorption -

I also see that the IP22 charger manual also states that if it won't go into 'BULK' mode it is a sign that the battery may have 'reached the end of it's useful life' :(

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Answer 1 · 2024-04-09T12:25:38Z

Alexandra answered · Apr 09 at 12:25 PM

@waxequestrian

There are definitely AH missing. 67 of them.

The battery is at 12v but I am sure that it charges up to at least 14v. Or 13.8v?

One of two possible things could be happening. So start simple.

1. Blown fuse to the battery

2. It is possible the cells have vented. In which case they are dead.

Only way to really know is crack open the install, check it. Sometimes the smell is a giveaway....

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waxequestrian commented · Apr 10 at 07:53 AM

Thanks Alexandra- i think the 'missing 67 AH' are because i only had time to get the battery charged up to 70% (please see my reply to Michelle's comment) . At present I am not even sure where i would find the fuses to the battery. I am going to have to try getting access to the battery pack by cutting and prising off a wooden panel that is boxing it in . I may well have to take the van back to the company that did the conversion/install to get them to look at it as hopefulyl they wil have more of an idea of cabling / fuses, etc. But they are a 2.5 hour drive from where i live and their hourly labour rate is not cheap, so i am trying to first determine if the battery pack is the problem so i can then try to budget for what may need doing next......

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