Lithium battery going f

The manuals that accompany the Nuevo do not make it clear that the EC700 (which you have) constantly drains the leisure battery which will flatten it very quickly if it is not being charged by either the PX300 connected to an EHU, the alternator when the vehicle is being driven or in the summer months a solar panel (which you do not have).  The simple answer is to turn the EC700 off whenever the Nuevo is out of use which is what I do despite having a solar panel and access to an EHU.  The alternative of leaving the PX300 on connected to an EHU is wasteful of electricity.

A downside of turning the EC700 off it that the habitation step won't work so, unless you have very long legs, its best to deploy the step before turning the EC700 off and remember to turn the EC700 back on before driving.  The tracker will continue to work with the EC700 off but the levels download function on AS Monitor and I believe the SMS/e-mail vehicle alerts will not work.  It is still possible to see 6 hourly snapshots of the leisure battery voltage under locate but not the vehicle battery voltage.

Battery voltage doesn't drop by 80% because the battery's SOC has dropped from 100% to 20%.

Caraman wrote:A downside of turning the EC700 off it that the habitation step won't work so, unless you have very long legs, its best to deploy the step before turning the EC700 off and remember to turn the EC700 back on before driving.  The tracker will continue to work with the EC700 off but the levels download function on AS Monitor and I believe the SMS/e-mail vehicle alerts will not work.  It is still possible to see 6 hourly snapshots of the leisure battery voltage under locate but not the vehicle battery voltage.

Just remembered, a further consequence of turning off the EC700 is that the Truma CP, even though it is off, loses its time settings and defaults to gas as its power source.  For some reason when the EC700 is turned back on, the Truma CP also comes on which shows up an error code until the EC700 CP power button is turned on or the Truma CP is turned off.

Bigplumbs wrote:Sometimes this high tech means of controlling stuff is more hassle than it is worth me thinks

You are dead right but it seems to me that if your'e buying a new or nearly new motorhome (or caravan probably) you have little choice but to accept the high tech with all its foibles.

We had exactly the same problem with voltage dropped  0.9v and rose again to 11.5v overnight on our 2021 Kingham and did not trigger an alert. After several phone calls to Sargent they decided the lithium battery was faulty. I was never happy with the battery as it had no charge in it when it arrived at the dealer. Auto-Sleepers then sent a smaller replacement, that had to go back, they then sent the correct one, that would not charge, eventually the correct one was delivered and so far no problem.

We bought our Nuevo in May 2021 (new)

We ordered the van and found out by accident that it would be fitted with a air conditioner and no room for the solar panel, when I said that I did not want a ac but did want a solar panel they were in time to do my bidding.

(I would have cancelled the order if they couldn't do that) 

I have left the EC700 on all through the winter and the batteries 1 lead and 1 Lithium have stayed charged, when on two occasions the Lithium dropped to 11.6 v I just took the van for a decent run and the batteries then held for a few weeks. we recently went on a four day trip three weeks ago and they haven't dropped below 12.7 v since and at the moment both are showing 13.3 v.
we do get a fair amount of sunshine on the panel.
Pete

v8oholic wrote:

Caraman wrote:

Caraman wrote:A downside of turning the EC700 off it that the habitation step won't work so, unless you have very long legs, its best to deploy the step before turning the EC700 off and remember to turn the EC700 back on before driving.  The tracker will continue to work with the EC700 off but the levels download function on AS Monitor and I believe the SMS/e-mail vehicle alerts will not work.  It is still possible to see 6 hourly snapshots of the leisure battery voltage under locate but not the vehicle battery voltage.

Just remembered, a further consequence of turning off the EC700 is that the Truma CP, even though it is off, loses its time settings and defaults to gas as its power source.  For some reason when the EC700 is turned back on, the Truma CP also comes on which shows up an error code until the EC700 CP power button is turned on or the Truma CP is turned off.

Could be Whale on a 2021 van perhaps. When I had mine powered off in December/January the screen flickered like crazy when powered back on, then worked fine after a couple of minutes. Raising that issue with Marquis was a waste of time, not interested in the slightest. In future I will leave the EC700 switched on, and just switch on the mains supply to the EHU remotely (it’s on a smart plug) if the leisure battery is getting low. Won’t be necessary now until probably November though, solar is keeping it topped up.

I had forgotten the OP probably has a Whale heating system which I don't know about.  

I had a flickering EC700 CP screen when turning the EC700 back on for the first time a couple of months ago after I fitted the Votronic.  The flickering quickly corrected itself and so far hasn't reoccurred.  I wont raise it as a warranty issue with A-S or Sargent as I associate it with the regulator I fitted.

I turned into a bit of a voltage checker with the original Sargent solar setup in Jan last year when I routinely started to turn the EC700 off when the van was out of use.  This confirmed that the VB stayed charged indefinitely as all the solar charge went to it and the LB was good for 3 months without charge.  If I thought the LB could do with a bit of a charge, I connected to the EHU and turned the PX300 on for a few hours but I didn't turn the greedy EC700 back on as there was no point.  All my Votronic voltage checks to date indicate that both batteries will now stay charged indefinitely with the EC700 off.  I suspect that soon like you the Votronic will be able to keep the LB charged with the EC700 on but I don't intend to do this as the constant charge and discharge cycles, although not very deep, will shorten the battery life.

I was told that I wouldn't need solar as the Lithium would last longer without help, but I really needed the panel to keep the vehicle battery charged throughout the winter months.

Apparently, if you turn the EC700 off all the charge goes to the vehicle battery but of course it means you can't use the step and as I have mobility issues this would mean I could only get in and out through the cab (I have steps fitted here and they are the best thing that I have ever had fitted) (for my situation)  
Pete

breakaleg wrote:I was told that I wouldn't need solar as the Lithium would last longer without help, but I really needed the panel to keep the vehicle battery charged throughout the winter months.

Apparently, if you turn the EC700 off all the charge goes to the vehicle battery but of course it means you can't use the step and as I have mobility issues this would mean I could only get in and out through the cab (I have steps fitted here and they are the best thing that I have ever had fitted) (for my situation)  
Pete

The step can be deployed before the EC700 is turned off.  This leaves the step permanently out until the EC700 is turned back on for use.  On my drive at home the step is always out with the EC700 off.

I'm no expert on lithium batteries but I think they are able to be discharged much more fully and frequently than lead acid batteries without degrading the battery and their self-discharge is also much less.  So when the vehicle is out of use with the EC700 turned off, the lithium LB will be fine without charge for very much longer than a lead acid battery.

Hi Caraman,
We park on the road and I feel every kid and drunk would possibly jump on the step or sit on it to eat their chips. .lol

Yes the lithium has held it's charge pretty well all through the winter so far, 11.6 v being the lowest so far and with a bit of sunshine it has soon recovered. 

Pete

I’m not up to date with Lithium but found this explained things a bit more. I can’t say if every fact is 100% correct but I’m a little bit wiser now!
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Regarding the step, I’m actually in the process of bypassing my EC500 at the moment so that the step can be operated independently. I got fed up having to turn the Sargent on every time I needed the step.