That was a SHOCK! Has this happened to you?

ttmott said:

Now this is the configuration we are working on for the boat I have now. This is a Lithium batter powered Inverter/Charger arrangement with automatic generator start that provides 220VAC to power some of the 220VAC equipment on the boat. The salient difference here is there is a large isolation transformer consequently the common for the entire boat is derived from the boat's ground and a secondary tap on the transformer and no need to switch the common. And, this model inverter/chargers manage two independent power sources.

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Very nice. I came across a YT channel for Solar Power and he's a huge proponent of the Lithiums. I'm so done with my flooded golf cart batteries, they just don't have the capacity I need, so I'm looking at redoing my house system with the Lithiums. Have you decided on which batteries you are going with? I'm looking at something similar to this: https://www.mobile-solarpower.com/simplified-400-watt-fewer-wires-and-alternator-charging.html

Have you thought about alternator protection? Lithiums will suck as much juice as they can, and unless you have a dedicated DC-DC charge controller in place, you can damage your alternator. The Renogy unit in the link above has that protection built in, I'm not sure about the Victron's in your diagram but assume they would.

Would love to hear your thoughts once you get it going, I have mostly what I need, but would probably change out my current solar controller with the Renogy (or Victron, not sure yet) unit and then of course shell out the big bucks for the LiFePo's.

Kevin

GnrlPatton said:

Very nice. I came across a YT channel for Solar Power and he's a huge proponent of the Lithiums. I'm so done with my flooded golf cart batteries, they just don't have the capacity I need, so I'm looking at redoing my house system with the Lithiums. Have you decided on which batteries you are going with? I'm looking at something similar to this: https://www.mobile-solarpower.com/simplified-400-watt-fewer-wires-and-alternator-charging.html

Have you thought about alternator protection? Lithiums will suck as much juice as they can, and unless you have a dedicated DC-DC charge controller in place, you can damage your alternator. The Renogy unit in the link above has that protection built in, I'm not sure about the Victron's in your diagram but assume they would.

Would love to hear your thoughts once you get it going, I have mostly what I need, but would probably change out my current solar controller with the Renogy (or Victron, not sure yet) unit and then of course shell out the big bucks for the LiFePo's.

Kevin

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Hey Kevin
I've been working with Battle Born Batteries out of LV Nevada. For this application it is important that each 100AH battery have it's own BMS so should a battery fail and the BMS trips it off line you don't loose the entire bank as would an independent common BMS.
You are right to be concerned with the alternators. In my configuration there are Balmer charge controllers and Sterling APD's that both limit the alternator output based upon temperature and protect the alternators should for some reason the entire battery bank trips off line.
I look at batteries in terms of cost per AH per life in cycles. The upfront cost of the LiFePo batteries are about 5X that of a good AGM but in lifecycle terms about 80% over the life. The usable energy density per volume and weight is about 2X that of a typical lead acid battery which is really attractive to me. Now, for a boat there is no real recovery because no one really owns a boat for 20 years. I'm doing the project for other reasons.
Tom

Thanks Tom. On the YT channel I came across (DIY Solar Power with Will Prowse), Battle Borns are at the top of his list for quality LiFePo's. Good choice going with them. Like you, I'm not in it for the recovery, I just want to make the boat workable up to my standards, the current flooded batteries just don't cut it.

Let us know how it goes, I'll do the same if I pull the trigger on it. I'm working on the design now, and figuring out which parts I'll need to replace from my current configuration, so I know how big the dent in my wallet is going to be.

Kevin