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Post by lycan0011 on May 6, 2019 23:20:13 GMT
I purchased during the GoFundMe phase of the Lycan project. I picked up the product from the warehouse when it was ready. I'm now testing the limits (yes, I've had it a while without doing anything other that checking for full charge monthly.)
I started with a 100% charge and plugged my Ryobi battery chargers into the A/C port. All worked well until I drained the Lycan down to 22%. At that point the A/C output switched off. I have some USB lights plugged in to continue the draw-down. The alert icon is on showing that the low capacity limit was reached.
Here's my question: Why is the indicator showing that I still have about 25% storage remaining if I can use any of it for A/C power? According to my measurements I've only pulled 17aH out so far. That should leave 7aH in storage, right?
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Post by Admin on May 6, 2019 23:41:24 GMT
I purchased during the GoFundMe phase of the Lycan project. I picked up the product from the warehouse when it was ready. I'm now testing the limits (yes, I've had it a while without doing anything other that checking for full charge monthly.) I started with a 100% charge and plugged my Ryobi battery chargers into the A/C port. All worked well until I drained the Lycan down to 22%. At that point the A/C output switched off. I have some USB lights plugged in to continue the draw-down. The alert icon is on showing that the low capacity limit was reached. Here's my question: Why is the indicator showing that I still have about 25% storage remaining if I can use any of it for A/C power? According to my measurements I've only pulled 17aH out so far. That should leave 7aH in storage, right? Remembering the Lycan utilizes a 48V 24Ah battery, there might be a need for some recalculating. How much do those battery chargers pull? -Renogy Team
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Post by lycan0011 on May 7, 2019 13:34:24 GMT
The charger says 120volts x 50 watts. I wasn't able to find an actual Amps number so a bit of math to figure that one out. Instead, I'll put a Kill-a-watt meter on it after recharging the Lycan and get a good measurement.
But the question is more about why the Lycan unit shows 22% remaining and won't run A/C?
Next, I plugged USB lights into the USB ports on the Lycan to the drain-down. The unit went down to 21%, and then just went to 0 and powered itself off. Pressing the power button, it would turn on, show 0% remaining, and power itself off.
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Post by lycan0011 on May 7, 2019 13:35:54 GMT
...and I see a typo in my original reply "storage remaining if I CAN use any of it for A/C power?" should have said "storage remaining if I CANNOT use any of it for A/C power?"
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Post by tattoo on May 7, 2019 13:49:36 GMT
Is there any reason your trying to kill the battery in your Lycan??
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Post by bupkis on May 7, 2019 14:51:54 GMT
lycan0011, what you are asking is what are the cutoff parameters? it is voltage of batt or some other 'thing'.
you will likely need to cycle the battery many times to get a better idea. or admin can explain their battery management system.
I don't know how they can display a % as a Li battery generally has a flat voltage discharge till it crashes.
amphr counters are not so accurate either.
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Post by lycan0011 on May 9, 2019 0:27:35 GMT
Thank you for the responses. This thread was prompted because I wanted to run a full test of the unit and then thought it came up short.
I'm not a 'prepper' per se. Just being prepared. Monday was a practical equipment test, part 1 - How Low Can You Go? Answer=22% according to Lycan. My original plan was to pull down to 4% since that is where my phone powers itself off.
On Monday, when it shut down at 22%, I started thinking about what it might mean and that I might be caught short & surprised (in a not-so-happy way) during a power outage. Since there isn't much information about this topic, I pressed forward and plugged in a couple of USB-powered lights to see how far the DC side could continue. Maybe A/C had a limit but D/C could keep on running? Well, it never went below 20% without completely shutting down.
I would be worried about 'killing the battery' if it was a different chemistry. But, LiFeP04 is supposed to be okay to run to "zero".
Today is practical equipment test part 2 - How Much Do Those Panels Really Put Out? Answer= 3x100watts(mfg claimed - if you live on the equator) on a cloudy day turns out about 100watts. That has translated into 60% charge after 9 hours. The math gets fuzzy due to the clouds thinning periodically. Overall, I'm happy with this. I know that on a sunny day I'll be getting about 200watts from them. I haven't had the "kit" ready for that test until recently. The cabling didn't even get warm today, but, the length of the run from panel to Lycan could be costing me some of the possible wattage.
My next steps are to re-run the same tests and see if the BMS becomes smarter about capacity.
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