Lithium experienced Georgia

[Newcruiser311]

So I have a boat on lake Lanier in North Georgia. We will be moving the boat to the Tennessee river to cruise the great loop. We are currently updating our systems and looking to convert to a lithium house bank. I realize this will require different charging, alternators, etc... I am trying to find a contractor to work with. Unfortunately there isnt a big market for those type systems inland. I was wondering if anybody could recommend someone local or a contractor who may do traveling installs. Thanks.

[john61ct]

I'd contact Bruce @ OceanPlanet.

He may have a trusted sparkie he could walk it through.

You know you're talking thousands right?

[Newcruiser311]

Several thousands I would guess. What do you mean by "trusted sparkle he could walk it through".?

[rgleason]

Marine Electrician.

[Newcruiser311]

Oh, sparkie....lol... I thought it said SPARKLE.
Ya, i am having trouble finding many local that even want to mess with it

[djmarchand]

Originally Posted by rgleason

Marine Electrician.

There probably isn't one marine electrician out of a hundred, maybe a thousand that I would trust to set up a lithium battery system. I doubt if you will find one in Georgia. And I doubt that anyone outside smart enough to set one up would travel for a one off job.

Why lithium? Save money? Well, I doubt it. Be on the bleeding edge of technology? Well, then research it and do it yourself.

Otherwise, stick with tried and true FLA batteries.


David

[john61ct]

Can also try Victron & Mastervolt.

Lithionics might give you someone other than Bruce.

Of course bringing your boat to Maine is an option, but getting cold already 8-)

[Newcruiser311]

Ya, not many options on a inland lake. My just have to wait till I get it moved to the ICW. Just dont want to stomach the extra weight of additional LA or AGM banks but that may be a better route.

[john61ct]

Yes heading along the east coast should be at least a few.

Was a good outfit between VA and DE but can't find it in my KB.

Pretty sure got them from Bruce anyway, he's def the one to start with.

If **you* * have a bright spark you trust nearby, might be worth their while to go to Bruce for an informal training, you help cover expenses.

Then they come back and install with Bruce consulting remotely, Facetime etc these days. . .

[a64pilot]

What kind of Boat, and what is it that your trying to gain with LFP?
I ask, cause to be frank unless your willing to learn a LOT and install it yourself, it’s not likely it will be successful, most likely you would spend a lot more money, and go through a lot of stress fooling with the batteries until you got them right, you would end up an LFP expert even though that was not the intent.
It’s not yet a system that can be installed and forgotten about.
If especially your a power boat that will be running engines very often doing the great loop, there is very little advantage to them.

You would be most likely better served spending those thousands on nice Marinas and taking your Lady out to eat more often, renting cars and exploring etc.

There just aren’t any drop in solutions yet, and any custom one will almost certainly require quite a bit of knowledge to manage.

[Newcruiser311]

That's what I am starting to think a64pilot. The bottom line is we wanted to be able to watch TV at anchor as well as cook and use my CPAP while I sleep without worrying about the batteries going dead. Perhaps I need to just get a bigger bank and stick with what I got. I would love to get some FIREFLYs but nobody ever has them in stock.

[a64pilot]

We watch too much TV ourselves, we have a TV satellite antenna. We also both use CPAP’s. You want a CPAP that is native 12V, ours plug into a cigarette lighter plug, and don’t use the humidifier, that uses way more power than the CPAP, and you don’t need it on a boat anyway. Being 12V means no inverter and wall transformer of course.

A decent sized lead bank and a Honda generator is your friend if you don’t have a built in one, especially if you don’t have a lot of Solar.

If you don’t already get a Balmar 614 or similar alternator controller and a good three stage shorepower Charger.
I’m assuming your trip is to last a year or so, or are you moving aboard permanently? That has a lot to do with your DC power system, for a year or so it’s OK to just go with a Honda and alternators, short cycle your bank and “murder” it, way cheaper to do that than to spend $5K to $10K revamping your whole DC power system if your moving off the boat after a year.

[Newcruiser311]

What size lead bank would you consider decent? Currently have a 185ah FLA. We do have a kohler generator built in. I just dont want it running all night while sleeping. Our boat is not very fuel effecient so i am really trying to cut back as much as possible on wasted use. We will be running several hours a day so having a good alternator and batteries that have good charge acceptance is important to us.

[a64pilot]

We have an IP 38, a sailboat. I have a large as in 14 cu Ft fridge / freezer that all by itself will draw about 100 AH per 24 hr day.
Add it all up and we will go through over 200 AH in a 24 day.
I say this because you need an AH counting battery monitor and use it to determine your usage, then you can size a bank according to that usage. Until you know how much you use, it’s just a guess, and if you guess, best to guess high, cause having too much bank doesn’t hurt.
Remember if you have a 500 AH bank, only half or 250 is usable.

We have a 660 AH bank and 1000 W of Solar. The Solar all by itself will get us by. However a generator is needed occasionally to fully recharge the bank, something that you don’t likely need to do.

I assume your a power boat and no Solar.

If I were you, I’d first try to determine how many AH you use on a 24 period and I’d try to size my bank at twice that size at least.
No matter what kind of battery you have, you have to generate the power to use, a battery is of course just a storage medium.
I’d expect you to have to run your generator a couple of times a day for two to three hours at a time, if you cook electrically, well your running it then of course, cause cooking electrically off of batteries is foolish unless you have monstrous batteries and Solar.

Now money wise, you can buy GC2 golf cart batteries for close to $1 an AH, add in a couple of hundred dollars for tie downs, boxes and cables etc and your about a grand plus or minus, most likely.
They are heavy, but the difference in weight is likely no more than having two guests with you at most and unless you have a small boat, two people just don’t make much difference.

Most that don’t watch much TV and don’t have a CPAP etc get by fine with 400 AH or so of a bank, but depending on your refrigeration etc, your likely going to need more.