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Battery Wiring
My bus came with 5 Lifeline batteries from Monaco wired in parallel 12v. When I bought it it had 4 Lifeline in it, somewhere some one removed 1, It was always good for me with 4. After getting the LiTime LifePO4 Batteries they have been really good,Have not dry camped yet that will be the test. I’ve seen a couple different ways to wire up. I’ve always did as these pics draw off either ends Positive off far end and negative off near end, so charging and drawing has to travel all the way through all the batteries. I’ve seen in some pictures about using a bus bar and having positive coming off each battery and maybe all grounds.Is that better?? My drawing matches the picture
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10 Replies
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Art, what you have in the picture is a parallel battery connection. In your post you mention wiring in Series which is negative to positive to increase the Voltage. Yes Bus bars are the best.
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I know that, It was just a slip you can see on drawings it is parallel Oops
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Thanks for fixing that.
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Anybody have any thoughts on this question??
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If at all possible, tie all positives and all negatives to a heavy bus bar for pos and neg. Use equal length cables to tie to the bus bar.
This is the preferred method when wiring LiPoFe to minimize imbalance between batteries.
Yeah, yeah, I know the internal BMS is “supposed” to take care of that. But you asked.
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Art, what question? do we like bus bars? Yes we do. With that said, are they necessary? no, but there are a lot of things we do to these busses that is not necessary. I wish i had a chart that would graph my risk with a column for necessary and cost. LOL
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Found a really good Video on wiring parallel with bus bars, Did a charging test and a discharge test last thing he said was 3 batteries was a good idea 4 batteries was a must
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Wired with Bus Bars in Parallel
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Tested today batteries SOC 100 percent resting volts 13.4 .Started today after I got it all back together, Ran all lights and Aqua Hot for around 2 hours and checked battery app and using 4.5 amps and 1 battery was discharging and 3 were in stand by mode, At this point I turned on front and rear the old rope lights around ceiling and windows (Non Led) and then looked at app and all 4 batteries were discharging all around 35 amps, Next I plugged in a electric heater, Now I have a electric heater-rope lights all led’s Aqua hot till it shut off and now using total 160amps capacity left 1078 amp hours ran like this for around 2 hours, Shut everything off replaced a small 4/0 cable from knife switch to a shunt was getting a little warm, Turned everything back on for another hour and a half overall using 160 amps, Never thought about testing with a electric heater it pulls some amps. Then looked at app SOC battery #1 75percent #2 79percent #3 77percent #4 81percent all 13.2v Not a bad test way better then before. The gap seems to be closing on SOC. Shut everything off no charge or usage will it balance on it’s own tonight??
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I’m no battery/electrical expert, but there is a battery management system in place for these, isn’t there? That would balance the state of charge between the packs. In the case for lithiums, it’s even more critically important for longevity. LiFePO4 batteries have, or are supposed to have, built-in protection circuits to prevent over/under-charge conditions.
Keeping the lithiums as close to human-comfy temperatures yields best performance and life, IMHO. While I do not yet have a Prevost (still hunting for the perfect one for me), the move to lithiums is on a want-to-do once I get a bus. Thanks for sharing the info!
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