Solar charging batteries

tpenfield

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@redneck joe ,
About the LiFePO4 battery . . .

> Brand and Amp-hour rating?

> With nothing connected and no charging, are you getting any voltage reading from the battery (use a DVM to test it).

> A charger with "0Volt charging" may be needed to bring them back to life. . . it looks like the charger you have should do the "0Volt" thing.

> Don't worry about 14.3 vs. 14.6 reading while charging. . . as the battery charges up the voltage should rise (absorption phase of charging)

> Your solar capacity (20 watts) is still pretty low to bring an LFP battery up after use. You may need an MPPT controller in between the solar panel and the battery.
 

airshot

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Nope missed by about three months.
Contact the manufacturer anyway, if reputable they will help you out, even with instructions on how to fix your issue. One of the reasons I choose the brand I have, is due to service after the sale and after the warrant expired..
Some folks have said the mfgr helped them even after the warranty was up.
Worth a try anyhow !!
 

tpenfield

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Running 2 LFP batteries of different Ah ratings are 'outside' of general best practices and manufacturer recommendations. Not sure if the BMS within the batteries are going to like that. . . probably not.

A few pictures of the batteries and your set-up may help us better understand what you have.
 

tpenfield

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Are these what you got?
Screenshot 2025-10-08 at 3.33.47 PM.png
.
Screenshot 2025-10-08 at 3.36.02 PM.png
.
Picture sort of looks like 2 x the 50 Ah battery . . .

Are they both dead?
 

redneck joe

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Yes, the posts are just bolts that gets screwed in. Pics show both ways.

Dead is relative i guess, what is your definition
 

redneck joe

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OK new starting battery so moved the lead acid deep cycle up front until I want to afford new lifepo but in the interim here is what I'm doing.

Side note, I did buy two 50ah I forgot the 20 ah is for the deck lights on a solar panel. So I had two of the same hooked together.

First Pic, this is voltage to start. I do not remember it being that low when hooked together.

1760042901168.jpeg
 

redneck joe

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Here is charge rate, I checked about 30 min after beginning and was at 14.48. Two hours later the battery is at 9.65 v. Im leaving overnight. The charger is indicating filly charged then not and goes into charging mode, about every hour or so.


1760042963271.jpeg
 

redneck joe

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Here is the other battery as pulled from the boat. Much higher on the begining voltage. I'll attempt to charge in a couple days after working the first one.

1760043163839.jpeg
 
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