MY 12v lifepo4 1000k axpert has been great so far, until that is Eskom has stage 6 going quite often now.

Nighttime is where my problem is. After 4 hr eskom loadshedd that batterys are just about dead. It seems the max they draw is 20amp from the grid, so i think this is the bottle neck that restricts the amount of juice to recharge the battery in time before the next load shed.

Are there any clever ideas to up the amperage? We cant afford another 12v battery at the moment (this would be ideal).

I guess we could install a bunch of aqara zigbee pir sensor to turn our outside lights on only when presence is detect. This could save energy in the battery so it doesnt get so low.

21 minutes ago, sunset1 said:

MY 12v lifepo4 1000k axpert has been great so far, until that is Eskom has stage 6 going quite often now.

Nighttime is where my problem is. After 4 hr eskom loadshedd that batterys are just about dead. It seems the max they draw is 20amp from the grid, so i think this is the bottle neck that restricts the amount of juice to recharge the battery in time before the next load shed.

Are there any clever ideas to up the amperage? We cant afford another 12v battery at the moment (this would be ideal).

I guess we could install a bunch of aqara zigbee pir sensor to turn our outside lights on only when presence is detect. This could save energy in the battery so it doesnt get so low.

There are three settings specific to this:

1. Max Charge Current

2. Max SC charge current

3. Charging Source priorities

 

For example, I have mine set as Max 30A and Max AC at 10A, meaning it when there is no load shedding, max pull 10A from Utility, But if you as example have both these set at 10A, and up only the AC one, it will NOT push through more than 10A as your Max Charge is still on 10A.

So in the settings,

02 - Max Charging Current - From all sources

 

11 - Max AC Charge Current - Has to be equal or lower than setting 02

 

16 - Source Charge - What charges your batteries

CSO - If Solar goes awol, Utility will charge as per setting in 11 max

CUt - Utility will charge as per setting 11 max, when Utility goes awol Solar will charge the battery at Setting 02 max

SNU - Solar and Utility share as per setting 02, but Utility cant charge more than what is in setting 11

OSO - Only Solar will charge as per setting 02

 

 

My suggestion for you is to check what the normal current charge for your batteries are, if this is 50A for example, then you can change the Max AC to 50A and Max Charge to 50A as well.

 

What are your settings for these currently, 02, 11 and 16?

Edited May 12, 20233 yr by Eurard

You didn't say what specific 12V 1KVA Axpert you have, but most of these have a max 20A AC charger.  It seems you are already on that setting.  The only way to boost charging would be to connect an external lithium battery charger and have both chargers run in parallel.  All voltage settings would need to be matched for this.  Lithium chargers are not that common and you would likely need to buy a Victor charger for 3K, such as these:

https://www.sustainable.co.za/collections/battery-chargers/products/victron-blue-smart-ip65-12-10-10a-12v-battery-charger-with-dc-connector

https://www.sustainable.co.za/collections/battery-chargers/products/victron-blue-smart-ip22-12-20-20a-12v-battery-charger 

BTW, adding an extra battery would most likely not help much, as your charging current seems to be the bottle-neck. 

Except if you are a night worker or night-owl, I find it odd that you run out of capacity at night.  It sounds as if you have very powerful flood lights.  Are they all LED?  Can't you reduce the power rating of these?  This might be the cheapest option.
 

5 hours ago, Modina said:

You didn't say what specific 12V 1KVA Axpert you have, but most of these have a max 20A AC charger.  It seems you are already on that setting.  The only way to boost charging would be to connect an external lithium battery charger and have both chargers run in parallel.  All voltage settings would need to be matched for this.  Lithium chargers are not that common and you would likely need to buy a Victor charger for 3K, such as these:

https://www.sustainable.co.za/collections/battery-chargers/products/victron-blue-smart-ip65-12-10-10a-12v-battery-charger-with-dc-connector

https://www.sustainable.co.za/collections/battery-chargers/products/victron-blue-smart-ip22-12-20-20a-12v-battery-charger 

BTW, adding an extra battery would most likely not help much, as your charging current seems to be the bottle-neck. 

Except if you are a night worker or night-owl, I find it odd that you run out of capacity at night.  It sounds as if you have very powerful flood lights.  Are they all LED?  Can't you reduce the power rating of these?  This might be the cheapest option.
 

Thanks. 

3k is quite a bit but maybe there are cheaper. 

It's better in the day because of solar. 

 

1 hour ago, sunset1 said:

It's better in the day because of solar. 

Oh that makes sense.  I wasn't aware that you had solar panels on this inverter.
If you find a cheaper lithium charger with at least 10A let me know... I am all ears.  😄

Higher levels load shedding is forcing some to start managing there  setup .

See what is not necessary to run in longer loading shedding and switching of or looking for more efficient solution .

If your float lights are draining the power then try get lower Wats lights or connect your float lights to non essential line (Eskom)  and run normal lights outside from inverter so there's at least lighting out side .