AllanS
Active Member
- Oct 30, 2020
- 182
- Boat Info
- 1989 440 Aft Cabin
- Engines
- Twin Caterpiller 3208 (375 HP)
Hi, I have arranged four 280 A-hr LiFePO4 batteries into a 24V "generator" battery bank. These are wired into my main circuit panel as the generator output via a 3000W inverter to provide 120V house power. The batteries can currently be charged via solar panels (900W total) as well as from shore power. This system works very well currently, no problems to solve here.
However, my wife and I are going to be cruising the ICW for a couple months, and while the sun MAY shine frequently and we will frequent marina slips with shore power, I want some extra insurance that I can keep my LiFePO4 batteries charged for overnights when we are at anchor or on a mooring. I have been contemplating adding a couple Victron Orion 12V to 24V DC-DC converters to my house batteries/alternators to provide a third source of changing, from the engines' alternator output. I've read that these DC-DC converters sense when the input voltage (house battery) exceeds 13.8V, and then output 24+ V as output. The largest capacity outputs up to 15A, but they can be run in parallel with two or more units.
Anyone out there tried using this DC-DC converter? If so, did it work well, and how would I connect two of them in parallel, one from each alternator?
Thanks!
However, my wife and I are going to be cruising the ICW for a couple months, and while the sun MAY shine frequently and we will frequent marina slips with shore power, I want some extra insurance that I can keep my LiFePO4 batteries charged for overnights when we are at anchor or on a mooring. I have been contemplating adding a couple Victron Orion 12V to 24V DC-DC converters to my house batteries/alternators to provide a third source of changing, from the engines' alternator output. I've read that these DC-DC converters sense when the input voltage (house battery) exceeds 13.8V, and then output 24+ V as output. The largest capacity outputs up to 15A, but they can be run in parallel with two or more units.
Anyone out there tried using this DC-DC converter? If so, did it work well, and how would I connect two of them in parallel, one from each alternator?
Thanks!