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  1. bruceb58

    LiFePO Batteries ???

    I am pulling it once the new 50A DC to DC is delivered I just ordered. Yes...flex panels suck. I tried to talk my brother out of his. Besides life, they also get hot because there is no cooling so their output is reduced. Less of a problem for you since you are near the water
  2. bruceb58

    LiFePO Batteries ???

    I have the Mercathode system and they get their power directly from the battery so that I can turn off my battery and still have power to it. Same applies to my bilge pump. On Cobalts, battery disconnect is outside the engine bay so boats with power hatches don't have your issue. Seems...
  3. bruceb58

    LiFePO Batteries ???

    Are your Mercathodes on the engine battery or house? Do you turn your battery switches off when you leave the boat?
  4. bruceb58

    LiFePO Batteries ???

    This is an option for a dual output solar controller. Epever is not a bad brand. I actually use one for keeping my truck topped off when sitting. One output which is high current is for lithium or lead acid and the 1A output is for lead acid only. I could not find a spec for the trickle charge...
  5. bruceb58

    LiFePO Batteries ???

    That's interesting about the trickle charger of the starter battery. It would have to charge it out its normal DC to DC input. Yes..the input of a DC to DC converter can be lower than the output. That's the beauty of a DC to DC converter and why I use one to charge from my vehicle to my travel...
  6. bruceb58

    LiFePO Batteries ???

    That is incorrect. It only has one output. The outputs of two solar controllers can be put in parallel...not the inputs. Some controllers may get turned off once they sense the output voltage of the other.
  7. bruceb58

    LiFePO Batteries ???

    The reason you lose 30% with a PWM is because the max charge current you can get is the max current that the panel can put out. An MPPT can in theory get 100%. Let's say you have a 100W panel that has the specs 20Vmpp and 5Ampp. With the PWM, the most power will be 5A x charge voltage which...
  8. bruceb58

    LiFePO Batteries ???

    You may actually want to just put a cheap solar controller to keep the AGM batteries charged. Put a DC to DC converter between the AGM and the lithium but keep the turn on voltage high enough so that the DC to DC only comes on when the engine is running. Lithiums do not care how fully charged...
  9. bruceb58

    LiFePO Batteries ???

    That's better. However, I would skip both isolators. Just put an ACR between the two AGM batteries. Run the output of the DC to DC converter to just one of the batteries. Basically, once it gets fully charged enough that the voltage hits the ACR trigger voltage, then the two batteries will...
  10. bruceb58

    LiFePO Batteries ???

    You can't run two different solar controllers off one panel, especially MPPT controllers.
  11. bruceb58

    LiFePO Batteries ???

    Won't matter for the DC to DC converter to lithium...one bit. It's the whole reason you use a DC to DC converter. Personally, I would ditch the 2 alt/3 battery isolator and just have each engine charge it's own battery with a manual switch and/or and ACR to combine if needed. Never really...
  12. bruceb58

    LiFePO Batteries ???

    The AGM battery will be supplying voltage to the DC to DC converter until: 1) The DC to DC converter detects that the alternator isn't operating...voltage below setpoint. 2) The LiFePO4 battery gets fully charged which is around 14.2V to 14.4V 12.8V is not the LiFePO4 battery voltage. Lithium...
  13. bruceb58

    LiFePO Batteries ???

    The alternator output has very little ripple...50mV is typical. The DC to DC converter does not care about that. It also doesn't need a battery to dampen voltage. Many DC to DC converters are driven straight off alternators. However, it needs to be a smart alternator to be used without a...
  14. bruceb58

    LiFePO Batteries ???

    Since you are worried about the temps of the batteries, you should be equally worried about the temps of the equipment that is charging them and the inverter. All should be operating in an environment less than 140F. Also, the batteries should be as close to the inverter as possible so if you...
  15. bruceb58

    LiFePO Batteries ???

    LiFePO4 is a Lithium Ion battery. There are many subtypes of lithiun Ion batteries....one of which is LiFePO4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery Go to the Battleborn battery site...one of the pioneers of drop in LiFePO4 batteries. The home page even calls them lithium Ion...
  16. bruceb58

    LiFePO Batteries ???

    EDIT: I forgot that the Renogy unit does have circuitry that detects when the alternator is charging. Was thinking of the stand alone Renogy DC to DC converters.
  17. bruceb58

    LiFePO Batteries ???

    Another BTW... ...When I am not using my trailer, I store them at around 60% state of charge. They self discharge very little and would self discharge even less if I disconnect the Victron MPPT which draws around 25mA. I bought the Victron IP43 50A charger which also supplies my trailer when I...
  18. bruceb58

    LiFePO Batteries ???

    The Epoch are better built than any of these other cheap batteries. There are some videos that show how they are built. They also have heaters if you chose to use them for cold weather charging. For example, until recently, LiTime didn't have cold weather protection in their BMS so you could...
  19. bruceb58

    LiFePO Batteries ???

    A lot safer than lead acid batteries under the bed.
  20. bruceb58

    Maybe my turn for new boat time

    Let me know...can print it in a rubbery type material too.
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