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Post by Admin on Oct 18, 2019 22:39:31 GMT
We do not have this information available. We can not provide recommendations for this type of setup. Hey now! Maybe it was not clear that what I wanted to do is done almost exactly by a product that you just released:  What I wonder is if the Lycan battery BMS firmware can be upgraded to support the parallel operation shown for the smart battery. In that case, I would take my internal one out of the box and hook it up to the external one just like you have done in the picture. Just need a parallel XT-90 cable. And the activation switch would not be needed. Instead the Lycan communication cable would plug in there. I would like to think that this would work, but do not have a plan as to how it would as this is something we have not tested here. Therefore I can not elaborate further on the functions. As for the new battery There have been updates and this communication port does not use the XT-90 cable or its counterparts. the newer battery systems have a communication port for the purposes of a standby mode or helping with the paralleling (communicating) and cell balancing for. |
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Post by mediadogg on Nov 5, 2019 16:28:36 GMT
Another quick question for Admin: Is there an approved external charger for the Lycan Battery Pack? Right now, the only way to charge it is with the Lycan itself, so the notion of having a library of charged batteries does not work, because there is no way to charge the spare while using the main. You can only charge the one you are using.
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Post by Admin on Nov 6, 2019 20:29:35 GMT
Another quick question for Admin: Is there an approved external charger for the Lycan Battery Pack? Right now, the only way to charge it is with the Lycan itself, so the notion of having a library of charged batteries does not work, because there is no way to charge the spare while using the main. You can only charge the one you are using. At this time we do not have an approved external charger for these batteries. The specification is too narrow for 3rd party 48V LFP chargers: |
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Post by mediadogg on Jan 9, 2020 21:19:22 GMT
Another quick question for Admin: Is there an approved external charger for the Lycan Battery Pack? Right now, the only way to charge it is with the Lycan itself, so the notion of having a library of charged batteries does not work, because there is no way to charge the spare while using the main. You can only charge the one you are using. At this time we do not have an approved external charger for these batteries. The specification is too narrow for 3rd party 48V LFP chargers: Today, I got such good sun that my internal Lycan battery filled up and so I switched to the external spare. But it will not charge. Perhaps the BMS is in "sleep mode." My new Renogy Rover wakes up its 50AH battery after cloudy days, but the Lycan does not seem to be able to wake up the external battery. What to do now? I have tried various scenarios of disconnecting cables and powering the unit off and on. The internal battery (A) continues to take a charge from both solar and AC, but when I switch to battery (B), no charging occurs. |
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Post by Admin on Jan 10, 2020 0:38:57 GMT
At this time we do not have an approved external charger for these batteries. The specification is too narrow for 3rd party 48V LFP chargers: Today, I got such good sun that my internal Lycan battery filled up and so I switched to the external spare. But it will not charge. Perhaps the BMS is in "sleep mode." My new Renogy Rover wakes up its 50AH battery after cloudy days, but the Lycan does not seem to be able to wake up the external battery. What to do now? I have tried various scenarios of disconnecting cables and powering the unit off and on. The internal battery (A) continues to take a charge from both solar and AC, but when I switch to battery (B), no charging occurs. When connecting to the external battery (B), are you using both the RJ45 cable and the XT90 cable to connect from the Lycan to the external battery, and are those connections securely connected? Also, what are the electrical specs of the panels you have connected to the PV/CIG input port? -Renogy Team |
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Post by mediadogg on Jan 10, 2020 19:26:45 GMT
Today, I got such good sun that my internal Lycan battery filled up and so I switched to the external spare. But it will not charge. Perhaps the BMS is in "sleep mode." My new Renogy Rover wakes up its 50AH battery after cloudy days, but the Lycan does not seem to be able to wake up the external battery. What to do now? I have tried various scenarios of disconnecting cables and powering the unit off and on. The internal battery (A) continues to take a charge from both solar and AC, but when I switch to battery (B), no charging occurs. When connecting to the external battery (B), are you using both the RJ45 cable and the XT90 cable to connect from the Lycan to the external battery, and are those connections securely connected? Also, what are the electrical specs of the panels you have connected to the PV/CIG input port? -Renogy Team I'm a little bit insulted. Do you really think I didn't check the connections? The same connections that have been working for months? And if the panels are charging the internal "A" battery, why wouldn't they charge the external "B" one, when switched over, as they have been for months? I had the battery set to "B" for several hours yesterday, but the capacity indicator never went above "0". Yes, I did recycle the power switch several times, and reinserted the PV cables and detached all other cables and switched off the AC and DC (trying to anticipate other obvious questions.) For the past few weeks, the sun has been so weak that I never got the internal battery charged, so I didn't switch over to the "B" battery. But the internal one got to 100% yesterday. In the meantime, something has happened such the external battery is not now taking a charge, which has been working for many months. I assure that the first thing I did was check the cables. I know that under charged lithium batteries can go to sleep. I was asking if that could be the problem, based on your experience with other customers using the Lycan? Internal battery charging (very cloudy day) External battery not charging (same day. couple of minutes later) Same thing happens on a sunny day. |
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Post by Admin on Jan 10, 2020 20:38:09 GMT
When connecting to the external battery (B), are you using both the RJ45 cable and the XT90 cable to connect from the Lycan to the external battery, and are those connections securely connected? Also, what are the electrical specs of the panels you have connected to the PV/CIG input port? -Renogy Team I'm a little bit insulted. Do you really think I didn't check the connections? The same connections that have been working for months? And if the panels are charging the internal "A" battery, why wouldn't they charge the external "B" one, when switched over, as they have been for months? I had the battery set to "B" for several hours yesterday, but the capacity indicator never went above "0". Yes, I did recycle the power switch several times, and reinserted the PV cables and detached all other cables and switched off the AC and DC (trying to anticipate other obvious questions.) For the past few weeks, the sun has been so weak that I never got the internal battery charged, so I didn't switch over to the "B" battery. But the internal one got to 100% yesterday. In the meantime, something has happened such the external battery is not now taking a charge, which has been working for many months. I assure that the first thing I did was check the cables. I know that under charged lithium batteries can go to sleep. I was asking if that could be the problem, based on your experience with other customers using the Lycan? Internal battery charging (very cloudy day) External battery not charging (same day. couple of minutes later) Same thing happens on a sunny day. We apologize, we were trying to rule out any possible simple causes first. The lithium batteries used for the Lycan do not have a sleep mode or lock out function like other lithium batteries. Based on our experience with testing Lycan batteries and other customers using Lycans, these batteries typically go bad when the voltage levels across all the cells within are not balanced or similar in level value. Another typical issue we encounter with these specific batteries is that sometimes the BMS firmware software version is older and not updated, especially if the battery is from our older batches of Lycan units. If all your connections and settings are good, the external battery should be taking a charge. If it is not, then your battery may be defective. -Renogy Team |
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Post by mediadogg on Jan 10, 2020 21:07:10 GMT
OK, now we are getting somewhere. One thing I did not try, that I will try tomorrow, is to test the external battery on Lycan #2. (I have two of them). If that works, I will switch it back to Lycan #1. If that doesn't solve things, I will give a call to Support for further recommendations, and try not to get annoyed when they march me through the same set of questions.  By the way, here you should be able to see the battery serial number. |
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Post by mediadogg on Jan 11, 2020 17:33:50 GMT
Well it seems like the external battery is not working with the second Lycan either. Good sun today. Battery A is charging. No evidence of charging of battery B. In fact, even when the switch is set to battery B, the PV power seems to be still charging battery A. When I switch back to battery A, its capacity level indicates higher.
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Post by Admin on Jan 13, 2020 19:56:05 GMT
Well it seems like the external battery is not working with the second Lycan either. Good sun today. Battery A is charging. No evidence of charging of battery B. In fact, even when the switch is set to battery B, the PV power seems to be still charging battery A. When I switch back to battery A, its capacity level indicates higher. If the external battery is not being charged when connected to both Lycan units, and both of the Lycan units work fine with their internal batteries and the settings are correct on both units, then your external Lycan battery may be defective, typically because of the reasons we posted in our previous reply. You may contact our customer support team for further testing and/or evaluation of your Lycan battery, however, please keep in mind that we are currently not selling individual Lycan batteries separately. -Renogy Team |
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Post by mediadogg on Jan 13, 2020 20:51:34 GMT
Well it seems like the external battery is not working with the second Lycan either. Good sun today. Battery A is charging. No evidence of charging of battery B. In fact, even when the switch is set to battery B, the PV power seems to be still charging battery A. When I switch back to battery A, its capacity level indicates higher. If the external battery is not being charged when connected to both Lycan units, and both of the Lycan units work fine with their internal batteries and the settings are correct on both units, then your external Lycan battery may be defective, typically because of the reasons we posted in our previous reply. You may contact our customer support team for further testing and/or evaluation of your Lycan battery, however, please keep in mind that we are currently not selling individual Lycan batteries separately. -Renogy Team So, you want me to keep in mind that I made a bad purchase decision? Thanks! One of the major selling points of the Lycan campaign was the idea of keeping a "library of charged external batteries". And there is no mention anywhere that sales of the external battery have been officially discontinued. What a waste of $500!!!! From the web site just today: "And with uniquely engineered with interchangeable lithium iron phosphate batteries, it is capable of providing you with continuous power." "Interchangeable LiFePO4 Battery The custom lithium iron phosphate battery allows more cycles in the life of your battery (up to 2000 cycles) Keep your battery powered for longer periods of time with no risk of battery depletion The interchangeable option allows you to keep a full extra battery on hand for reloads"  |
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Post by Admin on Jan 13, 2020 21:55:18 GMT
If the external battery is not being charged when connected to both Lycan units, and both of the Lycan units work fine with their internal batteries and the settings are correct on both units, then your external Lycan battery may be defective, typically because of the reasons we posted in our previous reply. You may contact our customer support team for further testing and/or evaluation of your Lycan battery, however, please keep in mind that we are currently not selling individual Lycan batteries separately. -Renogy Team So, you want me to keep in mind that I made a bad purchase decision? Thanks! One of the major selling points of the Lycan campaign was the idea of keeping a "library of charged external batteries". And there is no mention anywhere that sales of the external battery have been officially discontinued. What a waste of $500!!!! From the web site just today: "And with uniquely engineered with interchangeable lithium iron phosphate batteries, it is capable of providing you with continuous power." "Interchangeable LiFePO4 Battery The custom lithium iron phosphate battery allows more cycles in the life of your battery (up to 2000 cycles) Keep your battery powered for longer periods of time with no risk of battery depletion The interchangeable option allows you to keep a full extra battery on hand for reloads" View AttachmentCan you please provide us with links of where you found this information of interchangeable Lycan batteries on our website or any other listings online? We apologize if this misleading information is still on our site, it should no longer be there since we are currently not selling these batteries separately. If you contact our customer support team and they determine your battery is defective, we can offer you store credits. -Renogy Team |
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Post by mediadogg on Jan 13, 2020 22:48:33 GMT
I'm surprised you asked me to "prove it" by supplying these. Well here you go.
www.renogy.com/the-lycan-powerbox-solar-power-generator/"https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-lycan-powerbox-ready-when-you-aren-t-power-battery#/" Even more surprising is that your colleagues in Support and Customer Service never heard of this Forum. I think you need to make your management aware that, even though we give you a hard time, your efforts here are going a long way towards preserving the loyalty of customers. We are not always happy, but if we think somebody is listening, we will stick with you and keep buying stuff. So go toot your own horn a bit my friend, and let your CEO know that she is running a customer Support Portal on freeware via a non-SSL link. By the way, Customer Support will be processing a RMA return for warranty partial refund ticket# 109158. |
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Post by tattoo on Jan 14, 2020 0:13:45 GMT
Even more surprising is that your colleagues in Support and Customer Service never heard of this Forum. LOL, I'm not surprised at all........ I was on the old forum for at least a year and a half, and NO one and I mean NO Renogy person ever showed up on the old forum to answer a question......
It was a running joke when someone came on there and asked Renogy to answer a question...... We always told them best of luck.......
I was astounded when they came on there and said they were starting a new forum........ My answer was WHY? Your never here..... But I will say they have done a much better job with this one......
I really like all of my Renogy products that I bought from them and they have run flawlessly....... As far as I'm concerned they are top notch........
But there Customer service stinks......... And Customer Support is even worse.........
That's my nickle and take it as you will...........
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Post by mediadogg on Jan 14, 2020 16:10:09 GMT
Oh no, now they are trying to back out of their promise for the partial refund, and even threatening me with paying for return shipping if they test the unit and find it to be working properly. I am on the verge of dumping all my Renogy gear onto eBay and walking away from this company.
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