Lithium Ion (has anyone considered these batteries)

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T.he I.nvisible M.an

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I know ... first thing is going be PRICE ...

Other than the price Li-Ion seem like great batteries ...

T.I.M.
 
Yeah they work good in a Tesla, too...but they are water cooled.

Lithium Ion is not the type we need....
What works for house batteries are Lithium Iron Phosphate, aka LifePo4.
Light weight and 80% discharge cycle....
different charging needs...but hey, knowledge is power, just need to learn.
Oh yeah....very expensive initial cost....but may even out over long term though.

Search the threads....there is good info already here.
 
I been converting my van for a while now, work have gotten in the way, but I got a 200 ah battery lifepo4 a year ago from elite power solutions. They have an excellent customer service. They seem to know the technical side also. I haven't gotten the chance to test or even connect the battery but it looks sleekuploadfromtaptalk1445427786627.jpg

Good thing i believe it not unhealthy for it to sit there and not be used.


Look at the cruisers forum, they have a very technical thread about lifepo4 batteries
 

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Saw where a couple of car companies are advertising 200 miles on batteries before needing a re-charge.The technology is improving fast.
 
I'm happy with the 260 Ah of LiFePO4 I have, but I still need to get a converter/charger set up for them for the rare times my solar is inadiquite. See my blog for info on my setup.
 
The charging needs of lead batteries are well known and our cars, power converters, and solar controllers are built specifically for them. You CAN closely monitor and tinker with your standard batteries to get a little more life out of them but it's optional. I can just plug stuff in and not worry about it.

It's not optional with lithium batteries yet. You have to hunt for the right chargers and protective devices and keep an eye on them.

When the time comes that lithium is plug and play I'll jump over. They're much smaller and lighter especially considering they can be drained further without damage.
 
I'll disagree, the settings needed for LiFePO4 batteries are pretty simple, it's getting a good cheap programmable converter/charger that is hard. Solar I've set at 14.0v for 1/2 hour, then float at 13.4. Converter I would set at 14.2v for 5 min, then float at 13.25. Ignore advice based on electric cars, it does not apply. At least one company is selling a converter set at 14.6v as LiFePO4, which will kill them. There is much less need for a battery monitor on LiFePO4 used as a house battery than with lead-acid, and ballancing will correct itself at low charge rates like a solar setup.
 
How do you come up with those charge times? I assume it is by monitoring your usage and trial/error. A converter, if you had one, would need to be programmed. I assume I can't just plug the batteries into my alternator and drive for 12 hours without thinking about it.

It might not be as complicated as some fear but there is still a learning curve and some problem solving involved. With lead I could just pick a few things up on Amazon and leave them connected 24/7.
 
It's about where the battery is at 95-98% charged. Don't let it get over 100%. The 13.4v float will charge the battery a little, so should not be left at that for a long time, but the sun will go down after a few hours. With a light load, the battery will drop to around 13.28v, so 13.25 should not add to the charge. These values are aproximate, some tweeking could be used for your particular setup, but that's true with any lead-acid one as well and lead-acid will change faster as the batteries age. Some of the stuff you pick up on Amazon, supposedly designed for lead-acid, will kill your batteries -- so you need to know what you are doing there as well.
 
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