LiFePO4 Lithium Battery Installation

Here's a good article on a LiFePO4 Lithium battery system that was installed in a 1985 44' Defever and the link to their blog.

http://marazuladventures.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/diy-lithium-iron-phosphate-batteries8.pdf

Mar Azul Adventures

I'd be afraid I soon have more money in batteries than in the boat as a whole.

I fly RC planes on LiPo batteries and the cost of his bank must've been HUGE.

SomeSailor said:

I'd be afraid I soon have more money in batteries than in the boat as a whole.

I fly RC planes on LiPo batteries and the cost of his bank must've been HUGE.

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I agree, big bucks. We spent a couple weeks with Bob and Elaine this past summer when we were in Bonaire and got a good look at the systems on their boat, very impressive. I have to give Bob credit for trying something that even he says he's not sure if it's going to work as advertised.

If you go their blog, on the right hand side, there is section called Bob's Articles. There's some good stuff there.

I read through his article. I'll have to read the rest. It's fun to see people thinking outside the box. I have a friend who is a distributor for a line of lithium batteries, but a 300Ah 12V battery is just under $3000

and the cost of his bank must've been HUGE.

The saving comes from not needing a diesel heater , the melting batt set will keep the boat warm.

I'll try this post again. LiFePO4 is now by far the cheapest means of storing electrons when you consider cycle life. Not to mention nil Peukert effect, nil voltage sag under heavy loads, and almost flat discharge curve (voltage). There is a 1500 post count on a LiFePO4 on the Cruiser's Forum here LiFePO4 Batteries: Discussion Thread for Those Using Them as House Banks - Cruisers & Sailing Forums

Also Balqon has had a clearance sale and the cruiser's have snatched up all the 260 a-hr and 400 a-hr cells. There are some 700 a-hr cells remaining, but even at retail the other popular cells are much cheaper in the long run than any other battery.
Balqon - Advanced Transportation Solution

I've even grabbed some more (8) 100 a-hr cells for my electric kayak, giving it a 75 nm range.

SomeSailor said:

I read through his article. I'll have to read the rest. It's fun to see people thinking outside the box. I have a friend who is a distributor for a line of lithium batteries, but a 300Ah 12V battery is just under $3000

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Currently for a 400 a-hr 12 volt is $1032. This would replace a 650 a-hr lead acid battery bank due to 80% DOD vs 50% DOD for lead. 2000 cycles vs 500 cycles makes LiFePO4 cheaper than any other chemistry.

"2000 cycles vs 500 cycles makes LiFePO4 cheaper than any other chemistry."

As few if any boat cruisers deep discharge their batt set to 50% SOC , the life cycle of most wet batts is 7 or 8 years in normal cruising service.

Even 500 cycles is a lot of nights on the hook for most folks.

Not many folks will "save" money compared to Trojan 6v Golf carts at $90 each.

The huge advantage to a very few might be the rapid recharge IF the charging setup is strong enough to actually do it. MOST are not strong enough.

I've been a lurker here on and off for a few months, but never registered until yesterday. The article posted at the top of this thread is mine, and if anyone has any questions after reading it, I will be happy to answer if I can.

First though, a couple of points. LiFePO4 banks are not as expensive as you might think. They can be installed for somewhere near the same cost as AGM or GEL banks, and probably last longer. If and only if they live up to the cycle life specifications, the life cycle cost is similar to, or perhaps slightly less than golf carts. If you are in Europe, or other parts of the world where 2V tubular lead acid traction batteries (used in forklifts) are common, those may be worth considering for really large banks as well. But I can't help much there.

Finally, to adopt LiFePO4 today, it makes the most sense if you are both technically interested in the tinkering involved to get the installation right AND spend a minimum of 90 days a year at anchor or a mooring living aboard. This narrows the potential interest group a bit today, but I think the size of the group will grow over the next few years as LiFePO4 becomes more mature, and hopefully, even less expensive.

Bob

PS.. Thanks for getting the word out Larry!

Greetings,
Welcome aboard.

Anyone installed a lithium bank recently ?

Prices for Lithium is coming down - looking at $ 1.2/Ah. So a 300 Ah / 24V bank would be $1.2 x 300Ah x 8 = $2880.

Rolls / Surrette's price for a similar effective range of flooded or AGM's (say 500 Ah) is about $3000 according to this link:

Surrette/Rolls Batteries for off-grid & backup power systems

Searios said:

Anyone installed a lithium bank recently ? Prices for Lithium is coming down - looking at $ 1.2/Ah. So a 300 Ah / 24V bank would be $1.2 x 300Ah x 8 = $2880. Rolls / Surrette's price for a similar effective range of flooded or AGM's (say 500 Ah) is about $3000 according to this link: Surrette/Rolls Batteries for off-grid & backup power systems

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Balqon is still less than $1 per Ah on close out 700 and 1000 Ah cells. I just compared 8 Trojan FLA L16's to LFP for my neighbor and it was very close, very close.

LFP does age on the shelf some, so I would find out if these close outs were over a year old. But there are several happy users of Balqon supplied batteries on another forum.