Quote:
Originally Posted by Yachts66
Still hoping to hear from someone using these alternative batteries! Anybody out there?
Regards,
Thomas
|
Thomas, feel free to ask anything you like!
I am probably one of the world leaders in
LiFePO4 battery technology having been doing this for more than 3 years already.
I have several happy customers (boat owners as well as boat builders) who are using LiFeTech LiFePO4 batteries as either a superior/more efficient replacement for lead acid batteries for house power or as an
electric motor propulsion battery (or both of the above).
Just a couple of projects ether completed or close to completion powered by LiFeTech LiFePO4 batteries include-
"Natural High Adventures"-
Natural High Adventures - Warren's Blog
This boat is powered by twin Torqeedo
Cruise 4
electric boat motors and a LiFeTech LiFePO4 battery bank.
"Xhale" was launched about 2 months ago and is also powered by twin Torqeedo motors and LiFeTech batteries.
"Room With A View" is a very well known 55ft Australian
racing catamaran and is based in the Whitsunday Islands in the Great Batteries Reef. After more than 18 months out of the
water its
electric conversion is almost complete. RWAV is the only electric boat
project I have been involved with to date which will have triple electric
propulsion motors (3x Torqeedo
Cruise 4 motors). Custom mounts have been made to fit these motors on each
hull and the centre pod
motor will drop down on rails.
The 48V 240Ah HPS series LiFeTech battery bank (as pictured) will provide power for the propulsion motors, house power via DC/DC converters and mains power via an
inverter. The LiFeTech batteries have amongst the fastest charge capability of any of the LiFePO4 battery manufacturers and the batteries when 100% discharged can be brought back to greater than 90% capacity in less than 15 minutes. Of course the power required to charge the batteries at such as fast rate is generally not available.
RWAV will have three
charging methods available.
1) A high power 2kW dedicated LiFePO4 charger for
shore power charging where available. This is the most powerful charger which can be used from
shore power.
2) A
Yanmar diesel motor driving a custom designed triple 48V 90Ah
alternator set up. The alternators have been specifically provided with regulators for optimal charging of the LiFeTech batteries.
3)
Solar panel charging
The battery bank is monitored and any errors or faults can be diagnosed by
laptop computer from inside the boat. The batteries have intelligent control and can stop and start the genset directly via the data signals provided at the battery (signals are generated at the battery for complete state of discharge and complete state of full charge. These signals can drive a relay or contactor for external automatic control). Each battery is pre-programmed in the factory with a unique ID number. The owner of the boat can communicate via his
laptop to any battery individually and can see a log of total accumulated battery charge cycles, the actual internal voltage of each cell in each battery pack to 0.01 of a volt and any errors for over charge, over discharge and over temperature. The data
cables joining each battery in the
photo are for the battery
communications so with these batteries you have
cables connecting each battery for both power as well as data.
Feel free to ask my professional advise. Asking questions costs nothing!