Lithium Battery Bank and Starter

[Jim Hardesty]

Here is a link that I found very interesting.  He has been adding lithium batteries and upgrading so may be best to watch in chronical order. Need to scroll down to the episodes with batteries. Disclaimer, I've only watched and haven't bought or installed anything. 
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsT7_jPsZM5pFpq8RX0oxjibknM2Gz361
FWIW  I have added their way of tying the alpine butterfly to my repertoire of knots.  It's like doing a magic trick.
Jim

[waughoo]

Hi Seniorquill, I know this is an old thread but a quick question. Did you replace your alternator for an externally regulated one as part of this install?

Keelson... looked like your question got buried across the page break.  Not sure if the OP will get back to you, but what question are you looking for? 

[KeelsonGraham]

It's because I read somewhere that you need an alternator with an external regulator for a lithium setup. So, I was going to ask the OP what he did about this aspect of the install.

[waughoo]

Keelson,

If you plan to connect your alternator output directly to the house bank, you will indeed need an externally regulated alternator.  The charge profiles and acceptance rate of Lithium banks is different enough that an internally regulated alternator is incompatible.  If you are looking to get SOME alternator charging into the house bank via an alternator connected to a lead acid start battery, you could use a dc to dc charger to feed correctly configured charge profiles to a lithium house bank.  This does limit the ability to drive lots of amps from a high output alternator to those bank, but it does allow for a simpler implementation when one doesn't already have an externally regulated alt.

[KeelsonGraham]

Thank you. That's good to know. It'll certainly add a major cost to the conversion to lithium.

[senorquill]

I do not have an externally regulated alternator.

I added 2 more Lithiums for a total of 400ah in the house bank. I moved the starter battery to the aft berth. I have a DC-DC Convertor that sends power from the Alternator to the House bank if I need it. The switch for the DC-DC is on the nav station. I have 400 watts of solar power that feed into the house bank so I never have to use the DC-DC. For a back for my starter battery, I have a West Marine 120v battery charger. So if the alternator ####s out, I can still charge my starter battery using the house bank of lithiums and the inverter. That West Marine device also does a 40amp jumper function. I'll post pics of the final project, but over all it has worked great.

(You need a strong alternator to compensate for this setup, since it sends power to the Starter Batt and to the DC-DC at the same time.).

Just sail 700 miles from Destin to Stuart Florida. Heading down to West Palm Beach to cross over to The Bahamas for the season. Pics to follow.

MQ

[senorquill]

Final install pics.

4 Lithiums under the settee for 400AH of house power
AGM Starter in aft cabin above engine
West Marine Charger for pulling house bank power to the starter batt and to jump engine.
DC-DC 40amp, for charging house bank off the alternator.

I ran that initial setup for several months to find issues before going with 4 lithiums. The main issue was not being able to charge the starter battery if the alternator goes down. All my other power sources go to the litium bank, ei, Shore power, solar. The West Marine charger solves this.

MQ