As an alternative to Lazz's Redarc dual battery charging system, I just came across this little nifty dual battery solar charger. Has a standard MPPT charger for your main battery and trickle charges the starter. Comes in 10A and 25A versions.
www.solar4rvs.com.au/votronic-mppt-10a-duo-dual-solar-controller-marine
Select to expand quotejulesmoto said..bullrout said..
I've heard of phones, scooters,hoverboards ect catching fire from being left on the charger but I have yet to hear of a deep cycle setup in a boat or RV, off grid system with any issues with lithium, I could be wrong though
I would be amazed if there hadn't been any problems given the instances of everything else including cars which have serious runaway events. I have a friend with a Battery World franchise and he says that shops have burned to the ground because of lithium batteries. Plenty of boats burn to the waterline and I saw one from a distance while I was in the Whitsundays a couple of months ago. I was never able to ascertain the cause. As I have mentioned on here previously the YouTubers Barefoot Doctors also had a new 50-foot Leopard catamaran burn and sink but but they are prevented from commenting by insurance, manufacturer or litigation gag constraints.
I have a fairly new solar charged lithium in my trailer sailer with a smoke detector directly above it. The thing does make me nervous however and I will not sleep in the best bunk in the boat which has its fairly restricted access right above the battery compartment.
I decided I would like a temperature alarm last night and spent a while on the web looking for one. There are a number of inexpensive such alarms marketed as fridge freezer alarms although encompassing a wide enough temperature range for this purpose.
Unfortunately the loudness of the alarm is an issue which has been brought up by reviews on a number of the products. As one might expect with a product warning of a non life threatening event they seem to be a fairly gentle alarms which could be easily overlooked while sleeping or not heard by hearing impaired oldies like me if not in the cabin.
The advantages of lithium batteries apart from the potential for thermal runaway make their adoption a no-brainer.
Anyone know of a reasonably priced alarm with a screamer?
As an aside, the 'Barefoot Doctors' have recently settled their insurance claim after having been gagged for nearly 2 years. The gist of it was that while they were away from their Cat , 2 separate Marina workers went about doing different jobs on the boat, one was using lots of acetone to clean off some stuff and a large amount of fumes (heavier than air) travelled down into and along the bilge to where another worker was using something that ignited those fumes...Kaboom! The boat was beyond saving after 5mins and totally burnt to the waterline and shortly thereafter sank. Lessons?...GRP boats will burn totally unless you suppress a fire immediately, same for non-GRP boats with lots of burnable stuff inside like foam mattresses, woodwork and just about anything on a yacht these days...Stay vigilant.
As was mentioned before. A few famous brands failed on me. Last 6 years, I purchased about 5 Giant batteries. Just recently I had problem to source one in central QLD. Turned up the Holden dealership supply them.
