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- Jul 15, 2012
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- 2,178
Hi Grant,
Any progress on this topic? I am also looking into this option from the same seller.
My current concerns are:
Using it as a leisure battery and charging it not only with solar but also with the alternator. I believe the alternator puts out to much current for the packs. Also I read that these batteries don't care to be fully loaded, so to be safe it might be better to always set all the load levels a bit lower to increase longevity. When you would charge them via the alternator I also read that as they can charge so fast it might put a big strain on the alternator, making it push at 100 % for to long which would then lead to premature failure of the alternator.
When looking at the battery price I am willing to put of the money. Not sure if I would spend the money for a BMS (250 EUR on a 600 EUR battery in my case). However I do get a bit worried when I look at the additionals to install to have it work. When looking at the Victron website I see so many required installs to make this work that all these extras easily add up to more then the batteries cost.
I have however also seen a charger from Australia for LiFePO4 from Redarc. This charger is pricy, but turns 9 to 32 volts into 12 volts and can act as MPPT for you solar as well, which makes it a money saver in same way.
Looking forward to hear what you have done!
Unfortunately no progress yet but I am getting close to buying this:
https://www.ev-power.eu/en/By-Brand....html?cur=1&listtype=search&searchparam=yacht
I've bought a 140amp alternator and would love to be able to charge these at 100amp (.5c) or 80amp as a minimum. I'm unsure what voltage I will get by the time it reaches the rear of my trailer where the batteries will be so to regulate this and to be able to control the amperage going in i've purchased two of these:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1200W-20...-OUT-12-70V-/272387871223?hash=item3f6b9511f7
It says these can be run in parallel to increase amperage so if this works i'll put more of these in to get the desired amps.
I think the BMS is the critical component for such an expensive battery, especially as the one in the system linked above is able to have relays to that will disconnect the charge and discharge circuits separately.
I have seen the redarc controller but it's max charge current was only 30amp so it negates for me the biggest advantage of lithium which is it's super fast charging ability.