new house battery setup will have 200AH lithium battery in circuit with both a dc to dc charger (engine battery connected) and a solar charger. Both the dc charger and solar controller have lithium charging profiles. That's a total charging capacity of 25A (dc charger) + 35A (solar). With the motor running and full sun will the battery accept the full 60A if it is capable
Gday
I am looking seriously at Lithium for the first time as the costs come down. I only have small alternators (outboards) on my cat but I am a little concerned about the lithiums turning totally off when fully or over charged and alternator issues.
How are you dealing with the non solar charging for your lithiums?
cheers
Phil
Select to expand quoteKankama said..
Gday
I am looking seriously at Lithium for the first time as the costs come down. I only have small alternators (outboards) on my cat but I am a little concerned about the lithiums turning totally off when fully or over charged and alternator issues.
How are you dealing with the non solar charging for your lithiums?
cheers
Phil
I'm using a dc to dc charger which sits in between the start battery and the lithium battery. So no direct connection between alternator and lithium. The charger has smarts in it which would prevent issues you mention hopefully.
Select to expand quotekeensailor said..
new house battery setup will have 200AH lithium battery in circuit with both a dc to dc charger (engine battery connected) and a solar charger. Both the dc charger and solar controller have lithium charging profiles. That's a total charging capacity of 25A (dc charger) + 35A (solar). With the motor running and full sun will the battery accept the full 60A if it is capable
Check your BMS specs for you charging current - you should be right though. In the second vid that Kankama posted in July (www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Sailing/General/Lithium-batteries?page=1#4) Will is charging his at over 125a. The specs for my BMS say it will accept a continuous charge current of 250a.Select to expand quoteKankama said..
Gday
I am looking seriously at Lithium for the first time as the costs come down. I only have small alternators (outboards) on my cat but I am a little concerned about the lithiums turning totally off when fully or over charged and alternator issues.
How are you dealing with the non solar charging for your lithiums?
cheers
Phil
As keensailor said a DC to DC charger will sort this out. I know I sound like a broken record but I cannot praise this Ozzy made Dual Input Multi-stage 12V In-vehicle Battery Charger BCDC1250D from Redarc enough!! (I have no affiliation with this company) I purchased this after Jode5 recommended going the DC>DC charging way. They have "the smarts" & know how to get the maximum out of your system!! You can change the charge profile for lithium.
Phil, since your post re Lithium Batteries in July (www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Sailing/General/Lithium-batteries?page=1#4) I bit the bullet & decided to go lithium.
I am waiting for 8 x VariCore 3.2V lifepo4 batteries to arrive from China - this will give me 560Ah (2P4S = Two Parallel Cells / Four Series Cells).
The other "stuff" that I need, to convert from AGM to Lithium, is turning up:
>Daly BMS LiFePO4 4S 12V250A Common port with Balance, UART, Bluetooth
>14.6V 40A Charger For Lithium Iron (LiFePO4) Battery
>Victron Smart Battery Protect 12/24V-220A - I don't really need this, after more research, but I think I will use it anyway for my inverter.
>Sterling Power 12V or 24V - Alternator Protection Device
All this is still cheaper than replacing my 780Ah AGMs & I'm getting more usable Ah's
Select to expand quoteKankama said..
......... but I am a little concerned about the lithiums turning totally off when fully or over charged and alternator issues.
cheers
Phil
Phil, I bought one of these for this reason - top right in pic^ Cheap insurance!
Sterling Power 12V or 24V - Alternator Protection Device $117.74
A Must Have Device for LiFePO4 Battery Installations!
The Sterling Power Alternator Protection Device (APD) is designed and intended to protect a 12V or 24V alternator (select the 24V model from the drop-down menu) from an alternator output/B+ terminal open circuit. We call this a "load dump". A load dump on the alternator circuit can be caused by turning a battery switch through the OFF position, or between bank 1/2/BOTH of the switch, if the switch wipes are worn. It only takes fractions of a second to blow the alternator diodes when alternator B+ gets open circuited.
With the growth of drop-in LiFePO4 batteries, the Sterling Power Alternator Protection Device is really a critical piece of gear. These sealed internal BMS systems can open the battery circuit without any advanced warning. The Sterling Power Alternator Protection Device clamps or prevents damaging voltage transients that would otherwise blow the alternator diodes or damage equipment on the DC bus when the voltage transient occurs.
Cheers
Larry
Select to expand quotekeensailor said..
new house battery setup will have 200AH lithium battery in circuit with both a dc to dc charger (engine battery connected) and a solar charger. Both the dc charger and solar controller have lithium charging profiles. That's a total charging capacity of 25A (dc charger) + 35A (solar). With the motor running and full sun will the battery accept the full 60A if it is capable
The great thing about this forum group is the amount of correct and good advice given, unlike the crap you get on Facebook which I will no longer even comment on.
In regard to your battery taking the full 60amps, in theory it will, but there a quite a number of things including losses, cable sizes and sun that will effect the amount of charge that will go into the battery, though the charge rate will still be considerable.
