how to set up my bank to desired ah's

[PaulCrawhorn]

Originally Posted by mitiempo

I suggest the op contact Lythbattery for the cells. They are a major Calb distributor with prices that cannot be beat.

What is the depth of your experience with this company? First hand, or trusted referrals?

Over how long a time period?

[mitiempo]

Originally Posted by PaulCrawhorn

What is the depth of your experience with this company? First hand, or trusted referrals?

Over how long a time period?

3 orders over the last year. Excellent service and prices about half or less than US retailers. They are a major distributor for Calb. All cells grade A and matched. All test over rated capacity and after top balancing remain in balance.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by mitiempo

The op is much better with individual 3.2 volt cells in 3P4S configuration.

Drop in batteries should not be on a boat - fine for an RV.

I suggest the op contact Lythbattery for the cells. They are a major Calb distributor with prices that cannot be beat.

Lythbattery.com

Rita Sun is the sales manager.

Less than half the price of the same cells from any retailer.

Really?

https://dakotalithium.com/2020/02/15...on-a-sailboat/

[mitiempo]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Really?

https://dakotalithium.com/2020/02/15...on-a-sailboat/

I would not install lithium batteries on a boat without a configurable BMS. Not an internal BMS that only protects from over and under voltage.

If it matters ABYC requires this as well.

The only so-called drop in battery that complies is Lithionics.

[captianjuan]

from what I gather, those winstons are pretty good and they go up to 1000ah.

Originally Posted by StuM

Probably prismatic cells something like this:





https://www.evworks.com.au/winston-400ah-lifepo4-cells




You won't get 400Ah out of a cylindrical cell

[captianjuan]

Now we're talking. thanks bud. ill drop them a line. what amp hour did you go with?

Originally Posted by mitiempo

The op is much better with individual 3.2 volt cells in 3P4S configuration.

Drop in batteries should not be on a boat - fine for an RV.

I suggest the op contact Lythbattery for the cells. They are a major Calb distributor with prices that cannot be beat.

Lythbattery.com

Rita Sun is the sales manager.

Less than half the price of the same cells from any retailer.

[captianjuan]

so from wh at I gather, those drop in units are a problem because they have shitty BMS and don't link up well together.and they are just 3v cells wired in parallel anyway. at least if I do it myself ill have absolute control over my system and be able to choose a high quality BMS. plus, yes, I like learning and tinkering with that sort of thing.

Originally Posted by thomm225

Probably would depend on space available and how much weight you can handle and if you want all at once.

You could buy 3-300 ah batteries and that might be enough if you haven't figured your usage yet

The 300 ah Life PO4 in photo is $1169 @ 75 lbs

The 400 ah Life PO4 is $1799 @ 86 lbs

These look a lot easier than trying to do it with 3.2 volt cells

https://www.amazon.com/Ampere-Time-P...xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

https://www.amazon.com/Ampere-Time-L...dDbGljaz10cnVl

[mitiempo]

Originally Posted by captianjuan

Now we're talking. thanks bud. ill drop them a line. what amp hour did you go with?

8 Calb CA180 cells in 2P4S configuration. The cells are nominal 180 AH but all measure over 200 AH. So total bank 400 AH @ 12.8 volts.

The cells I would purchase are Calb, Sinopoly, or Winston. On a boat I would only have plastic cased cells, not aluminum cased cells.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by captianjuan

so from wh at I gather, those drop in units are a problem because they have shitty BMS and don't link up well together.and they are just 3v cells wired in parallel anyway. at least if I do it myself ill have absolute control over my system and be able to choose a high quality BMS. plus, yes, I like learning and tinkering with that sort of thing.

Okay but I thought you were the guy that didn't know a lot about this area.

So if you are going to do this project as a beginner you may want to be careful.

Btw, I sailed 3 hours today with autopilot, depth, and VHF/GPS/AIS on and my Victron never came out of Float mode!

My 115 watts of solar panels handled the load .......

Sometimes it's about the batteries and sometimes not

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by thomm225

....

Btw, I sailed 3 hours today with autopilot, depth, and VHF/GPS/AIS on and my Victron never came out of Float mode!

My 115 watts of solar panels handled the load .......

Sometimes it's about the batteries and sometimes not

While your conclusion is valid, please note that your loads are small compared to most cruisers who have refrigeration, and that many monohulls can't support the area required to increase solar input accordingly.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by captianjuan

so from wh at I gather, those drop in units are a problem because they have shitty BMS and don't link up well together.and they are just 3v cells wired in parallel anyway. at least if I do it myself ill have absolute control over my system and be able to choose a high quality BMS. plus, yes, I like learning and tinkering with that sort of thing.

Have you not read this?
https://marinehowto.com/drop-in-life...ated-consumer/

[captianjuan]

I didn't know much, and I still have a long way to go, but I've been researching every day since I made this post. I am in the research and learning phase, soon to be followed by the buying and then installing phase. I certainly will be careful. I am putting together systems on this boat that will require a lot of power generation, so it will def be about the batteries. at this point im really just needing to decide if I should buy 300-400ah or grab some of the 700ah winstons that have been recommended to me so as to build my 1400ah bank.

Originally Posted by thomm225

Okay but I thought you were the guy that didn't know a lot about this area.

So if you are going to do this project as a beginner you may want to be careful.

Btw, I sailed 3 hours today with autopilot, depth, and VHF/GPS/AIS on and my Victron never came out of Float mode!

My 115 watts of solar panels handled the load .......

Sometimes it's about the batteries and sometimes not

[gamayun]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

Have you not read this?
https://marinehowto.com/drop-in-life...ated-consumer/

That's great. Thanks for the link! Sounds like Rod is on the road to recovery.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

While your conclusion is valid, please note that your loads are small compared to most cruisers who have refrigeration, and that many monohulls can't support the area required to increase solar input accordingly.

Yep, I have the right batteries (two 220 ah GC2 Golf Cart Batteries) and solar at this time for my boat, but I only have 27' x 8' at the very widest part of the boat to find places for my solar panels without buying some sort of framing.

So I have an old 65 watt panel facing straight up on the aft Lazarette and a 50 watt panel facing the horizon.......in other words not a lot.

I've been trying different setups, batteries, and controllers for 10 years starting off with a 15 watt panel attached to my old diesel starter battery and a 12 volt 90 ah so-called deep cycle battery in parallel

Now with the Victron MPPT Controller totally charging those GC2 Batteries fully plus maybe suppling a tiny bit more power to the batteries out of those panels the controller stayed in Float mode the entire short 3 hour sail and it was pretty windy so the autopilot was running a lot especially during the downwind return trip.

I'm betting next time I sail over the weekend I'll have more power than ever in the AM after running AC fans, depth, lights at times, laptop, charging the phone, etc overnight at anchor.

I didn't have the inverter on at all yesterday nor did I have the computer on or phone charging.

With this new setup (the Victron and GC2 Batteries) I haven't rearranged the panels for better angles to the Sun or added my 20 watt panels. I might face the 50 watt panel toward the better horizon and retie but that's about it.

Not like before with my 12 volt 90 ah batteries in Parallel and PWM controls plus two 20 watt panels hooked up direct to the batteries.

You can always find places for more panels though but you just can't leave them hooked up all the time.

Sean D' had I believe 600 watts worth of solar panels on his Bristol 27

[Catapault]

Originally Posted by captianjuan

I didn't know much, and I still have a long way to go, but I've been researching every day since I made this post. I am in the research and learning phase, soon to be followed by the buying and then installing phase. I certainly will be careful. I am putting together systems on this boat that will require a lot of power generation, so it will def be about the batteries. at this point im really just needing to decide if I should buy 300-400ah or grab some of the 700ah winstons that have been recommended to me so as to build my 1400ah bank.

As a general rule, I belive fewer cells is better. Less connections etc.

All that said, I'm personally looking to go 3P4S using 400AH Winston Cells.

This is for several reasons.
1. I can only do 4 cells now to get started (baby steps), but I can expand it later to 8 or 12 cells, and it will fit with correct orientation for interconnects.

2. Space in my battery bay. I can't fit 8 x 700ah winstons in a decent configuration, and 4 x 1000ah will require some serious modification. (and can't afford atm anyway).

About the only concern I have is overall current draw on the single interconnects using 400AH cells. The larger cells have 2 (on the 700ah), and even 3 (on the 1000) interconnects per cell, where as going 3P4S its still only 1 between each 3P cell pack.

I havn't found numbers on the max current on the Winston Cell interconnects as yet to see if it will all be ok at the 400amp expected max draw.