Battleborn batteries and Magnum ME-RC settings

[LarryB]

I'm just about done with my conversion to lithium batteries (2 100amp Battle Born batteries) and am trying to figure out how appropriately configure the settings on the Magnum ME-RC connected to a MS2000 inverter charger.

On the Battle Born website they have a video that says to set battery type to custom, absorption voltage to 14.4v and the float voltage to anything less than 13.6. (It's at https://battlebornbatteries.com/can-...-battery-bank/)

In the text on the same page as the video, they also say to choose the custom battery type and set the bulk charge voltage to 14.4V, the float to 13.6v or greater (which contradicts the video!) and the low voltage cutoff to 11.5v.

Then in the comments to the page someone asks about the battery type to CC/CV and Battle Born says both automatic and CC/CV will get the "desired" effect. They say if using CC/CV then:

1. Max amps will be the maximum you want the charger to supply(refer to the .5c charge rate), for your 200 AH bank it will be 100 amps.

2. Charged Volts should be 14.4 v.

3. End Charge, set this to 20 minutes per battery(40 minutes for your bank).

4. Recharge, you can set this to 13.4 volts and this will be when the bank reaches 90% SOC. If you would like the Recharge set lower you could go with 70% SOC with the voltage at 13.2v. With these settings you will not need to address the Float or equalize as they are disabled.

I am wondering which way I should go with my setup in regard to the automatic or CC/CV choice. Are there are a lot of other settings when using the CC/CV choice that I don't think are available with the automatic choice? I've seen discussion of these settings elsewhere in this forum but no one seems to talk about the automatic choice.

Can anyone point out the pros and cons of each choice? (Note that I have an older, from 2017, ME-RC Rev. 2.8 so don't have the direct Lithium battery type choice.)



Larry

[ShuttlePilot]

Greetings LarryB,


I have two BattleBorn batteries and the same ME-RC controller on a 1000 watt/50amp charging magnum inverter/charger. My ME/RC is from 2014 and dose not have the lithium preset either. I have always used the CC/CV setting as this provides the two step charger profile BattleBorn and mostly all LiFePO4 batteries specify. I have never considered using the automatic (4 stage) configuration for the lithium as it is not ideal. I also have my max amps throttled down to 30Amps not for the batteries but to help lower my transformer temp in the Magnum inverter.



- Eric

[LarryB]

Thanks Eric. It seemed to me the CC/CV choice would be better but I thought it odd that the Battle Born response indicated both were fine. I guess maybe they didn't want to scare away the rank novice by all the CC/CV choices. (I'm close enough to the rank novice end of the spectrum that I have to admit the simple automatic choice has it's attraction.)

[Charliesmom]

I have the Magnum MS2800 inverter charger and the ME-RC unit that you have. If you call Sensata Technologies at: Telephone: 425-353-8833 their technology staff will walk you through the setup if you have any questions re: settings for your LiFePO4 batteries. The technician literally talked me through the sequencing steps while I was at the ME-RC panel in the van.The inverter/charger has worked flawlessly over the last year.
BTW I have Expion 360 VPR batteries installed in the rig.

[LarryB]

Good suggestion Scott, I'm writing down that phone number. Thanks.

[wackerb]

Also, contact Battle Born customer support. With its internal BMS it probably doesn't match the standard lithium profile.

[LarryB]

I haven't spoken directly to Battle Born about the BMS and the lithium profiles but all their information suggests settings very similar to other batteries.


Just today I spoke directly with technical support at Magnum, described my system and asked for advice about settings. The Tech recommended using the custom setting under battery type and gave his recommendations for the associated settings. Below is a table showing those recommendations and my choices based on Battle Born information. I confirmed with the tech that my choices were fine. Apparently slight variations don't make a lot of difference in the results.


Under Setup

Step

Parameter

Magnum tech recommendation1

My choice

01
Search watts

--

OFF

02
Low battery cutoff (LBCO)

12v

11.5v2

03
Absorb time (Absorb Hrs.)

½ hr. per battery

1 hr.3

04
Battery Type (BatType)
Absorb Volts
Float Volts
Equalize Volts

Custom

14.4v

13.2v

14.4v5

Custom4

14.4v

13.4v2

14.4v5

05
Charge Rate (Max Charge)

100%

100%

06
VAC dropout (Dropout)

--

80v (default)

07
Power Save (PwrSave)

--

1 minute7

08
Screen Setup

--

--

09
Final Charge (Final)
Rebulk Volts

Silent

13.2v

Silent

13.4v6

10
Power Up Always (Pwr Up)

--

--

1.
1
1.Tech made only 8 setting recommendations specific to lithium. The rest aren’t
specifically relevant to lithium.

2.Battle Born (BB) recommended this value, which was o.k. with Magnum tech.

3.BB recommends 20-30 min. per battery.

4.BB recommends this and also gives cc/cv alternative in a blog post

5.Should be equal to absorb voltage per Magnum tech (so that never goes into
equalize mode.) This is consistent with BB recommendation.

6.Magnum tech said 13.2 or equal to float volts.

7. Set by Sportsmobile I think

[LarryB]

Oops, sorry for the bad formating. Working on a new post of the table.


Larry

[LarryB]

Table with better format in attached pdf.


Larry

[porschedpm]

I don't own Batteborn batts but I do own a Magnum MSH3012RV inverter/charger and some Renogy LiFePO4 batts. When I was shopping for the Magnum, I remember seeing that Battleborn sells some of the Magnum inverter/chargers. I also remember reading at one time that prior to shipping these Magnum inverter/chargers to customers, Battleborn would set the charging parameters to match the needs of their LiFePO4 batteries. I can't find that reference any more. However, the point remains that Battleborn is familiar with the characteristics/parameters of the Magnum inverter/chargers and should be able to provide valuable assistance in fine tuning your Magnum set-up.

I pulled this off the Battleborn website: (https://battlebornbatteries.com/faq/) At the end is contact info for Battleborn. I've heard nothing but praises for their Customer Support.

"As mentioned above in the video, the battery prefers to bulk charge at 14.4 volts and float at 13.6 volts. Most standard chargers can handle these settings.

Some chargers are made for lithium, and will, in most cases, charge faster than a standard charger.


The rate of discharge is how fast you are pulling power from a battery. It’s important to take this into account as most lead acid batteries have a 20-hour rate. That means the advertised capacity in amp hours is based on the fact that you will pull the power out slowly over 20 hours. If you discharge the battery in 5 hours, you will get less energy out of the battery than you would at 20 hours.

Our LiFePO4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate) batteries will deliver their advertised power, even if you discharge them in an hour. A sealed lead acid battery discharged in an hour will give you about 40 amp-hours.


When a battery is discharged, the amount of energy taken out will determine the depth at which it was discharged.

How Do I Figure it Out?
If you have a 100 amp–hour battery and use 50 amp-hours, you have discharged the battery 50% (which means the depth of discharge is 50%).

If you took the same battery and discharged it only 20 amp–hours, or 20% of the battery, your depth of discharge will be 20%. This is an important number to keep in mind. Depending on which type of battery you are using, the number of cycles will vary based on your depth of discharge.

Most lead acid batteries experience a significantly reduced cycle life if they are discharged more than 50%. That can result in less than 300 total cycles.

Conversely, LiFePO4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate) batteries can be continually discharged to 100% and there is no long-term effect. You can expect to easily get 3000 – 5000 cycles at this depth of discharge.


This video will walk you through the required battery charging parameters and a couple chargers that we recommend.

Our charging parameters consist of the following:

Bulk/absorb = 14.2 – 14.6 V
Float = 13.6 V or lower
No equalization (or set it to 14.4 V)
No temperature compensation
Absorption time is 20 minutes per battery (if it’s an option)
12 V

Bulk/absorb 14.2 – 14.6 Volts (we usually recommend 14.4) float 13.6 Volts or lower

No equalization (or set it to 14.4 V), no temperature compensation and absorption time is 20-30 minutes per battery (if it’s an option).

24 V

Bulk/absorb 28.4 – 29.2 V (we usually recommend 28.8 V) float 27.2 V or lower

No equalization (or set it to 28.8 V), no temperature compensation and absorption time is 20 minutes per battery (if it’s an option).

To view the chargers in our Battle Born Shop, please click here.

If you need assistance with charging parameters or settings for a certain device, give us a call at (855) 292-2831 or email us at info@battlebornbatteries.com."