maintaining starter battery

[Rlum]

Hi:

I want to trickle charge my starter battery from my lithium battery bank. Want to set up some kind of voltage regulator. Keep my starter battery around 12.8 volts without drawing my lithium down to more than 13.1 volts. The lithium does have a solar panel so it should be fine.

Any suggestions?

[@Michael]

I use an Amp-L-Start to keep my chassis battery topped off. It has a 'Lithium' mode that will only charge the chassis battery if the Lithium battery is above 13.4v and the chassis battery is discharged below a certain voltage.

It works.

[avanti]

Yes, Amp-L-Start is the weapon of choice in that application.

My problem is that my forthcoming rig has a 24VDC power system. Not sure what I am going to do. Perhaps Victron has some (probably expensive) solution.

[Rlum]

Originally Posted by @Michael

I use an Amp-L-Start to keep my chassis battery topped off. It has a 'Lithium' mode that will only charge the chassis battery if the Lithium battery is above 13.4v and the chassis battery is discharged below a certain voltage.

It works.

I may be wrong but could this product be discontinued?

[avanti]

Originally Posted by Rlum

I may be wrong but could this product be discontinued?

Uh-oh.

The manufacturer's website currently says

Unfortunately LSL Products is no longer accepting orders at this time. For questions about existing orders, please contact Support@LSLProducts.net . We apologize for any inconvenience.

That doesn't look good.

Perhaps it is supply-chain issues, but it looks like it may be worse than that.

[avanti]

There are other such devices available, such as this:
https://www.amazon.com/Xantrex-82-01...0016G8RT8?th=1

Much more expensive, though.

[Rlum]

Originally Posted by avanti

There are other such devices available, such as this:
https://www.amazon.com/Xantrex-82-01...0016G8RT8?th=1

Much more expensive, though.

Thanks, I will check out. Any recommendations?

[Rlum]

Originally Posted by avanti

There are other such devices available, such as this:
https://www.amazon.com/Xantrex-82-01...0016G8RT8?th=1

Much more expensive, though.

I read this must use similar battery and voltages? Need something which can handle lithium and agm.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by Rlum

I read this must use similar battery and voltages? Need something which can handle lithium and agm.

Hmm. Not sure. I guess the problem is the voltage threshold that it uses to decide whether the house battery is being charged. This has to be different for lithium vs lead-acid. That is the main difference between Trik-L-Start and Amp-L-Start, I think.

Another possible solution is this:
https://www.amazon.com/Orion-Tr-12-3.../dp/B07ZKG396Y

This is a full-blown B2B charger and may be programable enough to solve the problem--not certain. Starting to get pretty pricy, though.


It is a real bummer that the Amp-L-Start is no longer available. It was a great solution at a great price. eBay?

[@Michael]

Originally Posted by avanti

Another possible solution is this:
https://www.amazon.com/Orion-Tr-12-3.../dp/B07ZKG396Y

This is a full-blown B2B charger and may be programable enough to solve the problem--not certain. Starting to get pretty pricy, though.

Victron makes an 18A version of that B2B also, priced quite a bit lower. It looks to me like you can set the source side to only charge when voltage is above a certain threshold, user settable (Input Voltage Lockout feature), and the 'Engine Shutdown detection' feature has thresholds also, so could be set to only charge when source voltage is above a certain value.

They also make 24/12 volt versions.

Too bad about the amp-l-start.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by @Michael

They also make 24/12 volt versions.

Ah. Good find.
Looks like this is what I need:
https://www.amazon.com/Victron-Energ.../dp/B085G72RQ2

[andrewtschneider]

I have a device from RENOGY that charges my coach battery from the solar cell and maintains a charge on the starter battery. I own a Sprinter 3500 2014 van. I replaced the isolation relay under the drivers seat with this. I also added a blue tooth transmitter so I could monitor the performance. it has been working great for the past two years. My only complaint is the somewhat dated iPhone monitoring app.

This what I bought

https://www.renogy.com/dcc50s-12v-50...ger-with-mppt/

[@Michael]

Originally Posted by andrewtschneider

I have a device from RENOGY that charges my coach battery from the solar cell and maintains a charge on the starter battery. .....
https://www.renogy.com/dcc50s-12v-50...ger-with-mppt/

An interesting device. The only downside I see is that the max solar voltage is only 25v, so you can't run solar panels in series.

[Rlum]

Originally Posted by andrewtschneider

I have a device from RENOGY that charges my coach battery from the solar cell and maintains a charge on the starter battery. I own a Sprinter 3500 2014 van. I replaced the isolation relay under the drivers seat with this. I also added a blue tooth transmitter so I could monitor the performance. it has been working great for the past two years. My only complaint is the somewhat dated iPhone monitoring app.

This what I bought

https://www.renogy.com/dcc50s-12v-50...ger-with-mppt/

After some thinking and head scratching. I think I may have come up with a feasible solution. Purchased a 50 watt solar panel on ebay. Waiting for a Victron(mppt) smart controller. Will connect directly to my chassis battery via fuses. I believe there is enough sun most days to trickle charge the battery. I store in the Southern California sun. My lithium almost always receive some charge daily unless it rains? Cost is less than the small Victron DC to DC charger. Hope it works.

[andrewtschneider]

There is something to be said for keeping it simple. Your solution gets the job done.

I faced a similar issue attempting to upgrade from a 750 watt inverter to a 2000 watt one for a microwave. With the house battery under the hood the existing wires could only supply 60. Amps to the back of the RV. My keep it simple solution was to add a small 50 amp hour 12 volt batter to the back of the van next to the inverter, and use the existing 60 amp circuit to charge the battery, via a dc-dc charger. I just needed enough AC to run the microwave for 10 minutes. Not fancy but gets the job done.

[avanti]

According to the folks at the Sprinter Forum, the guy who built and sold the Trik-L-Start line of products recently died, so it looks like it is gone forever. Shame.

The consensus seems to be that the best available alternative is the Victron stuff:

https://www.victronenergy.com/dc-dc-...t#pd-nav-image

What is good is that they have both 12V and 24V versions and are lithium friendly.

[eric1514]

Originally Posted by avanti

According to the folks at the Sprinter Forum, the guy who built and sold the Trik-L-Start line of products recently died, so it looks like it is gone forever. Shame...

That is a shame. He built good and useful products and sold them at a reasonable price. I spoke with him once and he was very helpful. RIP.