VOLTA POWER SYSTEM ?

[luvrbus]

Here is the deal my friends have a 58V Volta system in their RV that is not working so they have no AC.I cannot find a trouble shooting guide in their manuals and no phone support.I am getting 58v from the alternator to the storage pack lithium-ion but can only get 5 volts from the pack at the inverter and the converter do you guys think the lithium-ion batteries went bad or a problem with the electronics in the storage pack this is my 1st rodeo with the Volta and I need help and a little shy on opening the storage pack   

[TomC]

I don't understand why some go for complicated systems like this. Nothing more reliable than a Diesel generator. Battery packs can weigh as much as a generator. I saw a guy with 12 L16's-that is almost 1,400lbs of batteries! A generator weighs around 600lbs. Good Luck, TomC

[bobofthenorth]

While I 100% agree with you Tom, that doesn't really help Clifford with the problem in front of him.  I know exactly nothing about Volta's system - I had to use Google to even know what it was.  Electronic complexity causes problems that are difficult to understand precisely because we have legacy knowledge.  This may be totally irrelevant but it may not so I'll relate it anyway.  I had a "smart" charger on the boat which maintained the 48 volt thruster system off the 110 house system.  It was just 4 x 12 volt lawn tractor batteries in series with a charger.  That charger would not kick in if the batteries dropped too low.  I'm not sure what the trigger voltage on the batteries was but if we were away from the boat and I forgot to disconnect those batteries I would come back to a system that refused to charge.  The solution was to jump start the charger off the house batteries and I can't remember how I figured that out.  You may have something similar happening Clifford where an electronic "switch" needs to flip back on for some unknown reason.

As Tom says - good luck.   

[Fred Mc]

You might want to contract Juan at http://www.beginningfromthismorning.com/. He is located in Gilbert Ar. He has converted the batteries and reconfigured them, from an electric car(Nissan Leaf?) for his house batteries and from reading his blog seems to have a good understanding of them. He also has tied it into his solar and has enough solar to run 2 air conditioners off solar.

regards

Fred

[Fred Mc]

"Nothing more reliable than a Diesel generator"
We like to camp at a small(38 site) State campground.About 10 of the sites have hookups. Campground rules restrict generators to between 9AM and 9PM. You can set your watch for when generators start and stop. Now I realize there are generators that are almost undetectable noise-wise.Unfortunately no one at this campground has one. One guy had 2 generators-almost started a fight with a neighbor. What did "fast fred" call them? Noisemakers.

[Geoff]

Yes, Fast Fred called them all kinds of names, because he was too cheap to put a quiet generator in his bus.  Instead he would run an orange extension cord out his window and  ask someone with a generator to let him plug in.  His wife would stay in a motel.

[Fred Mc]

Well, I’ve never camped with fast Fred so can’ T comment on his camping habits. I can only comment on the noise generated where I camp. 

[luvrbus]

Camping is not fun when a guy with a total electric RV runs his generator for 6 hours a day so the fridge will run all night,back to movie the Volta is a good system only takes the tiny 58 v alternator 2 hours to recharge the pack,so you know Volta told me how to by pass the bad relay in the pack

[windtrader]

Clifford,


Nearly all li-ion battery cells are 3.5v nominal. 4.2v is hot off the charger. 16 in series is 56v nominal. Getting capacity up involves putting this string in parallel to increase storage amps.


There is likely bad cells in the pack. A BMS (Battery Management System) can monitor individual cells or packs made up of several cells. Most lithium battery systems have some sort of BMS and balancing feature.


Depending on how the pack is constructed you may be able to look at the actual pack construction and check cell voltages to determine where the issue is.


The other possibility is the battery pack is more damaged. This can happen if the battery pack low voltage cutoff fails and the pack gets totally run down. In that case, the whole battery pack may be ruined.


Given the pack size must be quite large to run AC units, hopefully you can contact VOLTA tech support for guides and assistance.

[luvrbus]

Clifford,


Nearly all li-ion battery cells are 3.5v nominal. 4.2v is hot off the charger. 16 in series is 56v nominal. Getting capacity up involves putting this string in parallel to increase storage amps.


There is likely bad cells in the pack. A BMS (Battery Management System) can monitor individual cells or packs made up of several cells. Most lithium battery systems have some sort of BMS and balancing feature.


Depending on how the pack is constructed you may be able to look at the actual pack construction and check cell voltages to determine where the issue is.


The other possibility is the battery pack is more damaged. This can happen if the battery pack low voltage cutoff fails and the pack gets totally run down. In that case, the whole battery pack may be ruined.


Given the pack size must be quite large to run AC units, hopefully you can contact VOLTA tech support for guides and assistance.

The pack supplied the 12v to run their AC controls and the fridge controls the AC doesn't run off the pack all is good the part was shipped to a dealer in NM on their route

[oldmansax]

Clifford. I got a guy that can help. Sent you a PM. He is running his ACs on battery for days at a time. Here is a thread on what he is doing to an old Wanderlodge:

https://www.wanderlodgeownersgroup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28126



TOM