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Lithium ion batteries


Welby1965

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Could you please help me with this topic.

I am thinking of changing my battery bank from lead acid to lithium ion batteries and was wondering if you could just change out the lead acid without any other modifications or do you need to change just about everything?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated 

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1 minute ago, Welby1965 said:

Could you please help me with this topic.

I am thinking of changing my battery bank from lead acid to lithium ion batteries and was wondering if you could just change out the lead acid without any other modifications or do you need to change just about everything?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated 

No you cannot just swap the batteries. There is a huge amount of difference, even down to where to keep them cos of cold weather. Two suggestions, look at the many threads already on here about it, and secondly either forget it or get a good mortgage broker on side.

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4 minutes ago, Welby1965 said:

do you need to change just about everything?

Pretty much everything including your charging methods (alternator etc)

You cannot charge them at low temperatures (for example)

You need a Battery management system to stop you overcharging them

 

There are a number of threads if you use the search function at the top right of the screen.

Edited by Alan de Enfield
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Various factors apply,  if your alternator puts out 14 volts or less you are okay,  they don't like high charge at zero and below,  get quality batteries and if possible keep a lead acid in the system.  As others have said plenty of threads on here of people that have done it and are reaping the benefits 

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39 minutes ago, Welby1965 said:

Could you please help me with this topic.

I am thinking of changing my battery bank from lead acid to lithium ion batteries and was wondering if you could just change out the lead acid without any other modifications or do you need to change just about everything?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated 

You don't necessarily have to change anything, and it kind of depends on what you have already got, and whether you plan to buy "drop in" 12V units, or create your 12V units from 3.2V cells.

 

I bought drop in 12V units second hand, and have added a gizmo that shuts of the discharge if the voltage falls below 12.5V, (or whatever I set it to). I have also fitted a Victron BMV 712 so I can watch the voltage and Ah used quite closely, particularly when charging.

 

When I get round to it, I'll be fitting a Victron Temperature sensor, along with a couple of relays which will stop charging if the voltage gets too high, or the temp gets too low or too high.

 

The Valence batteries I bought have the facility to connect to a laptop so you can watch individual cell voltages, and about 8 internal temperature sensors in the battery, although I haven't found a way of extracting these values in order to control charge and discharge.

 

These monitorings and precautions are probably things that we ought to do with Lead Acid batteries as well. However, it is more important with Lithiums as the initial investment is so much higher. There is also a safety issue, but it has not been unknown for lead acids to explode and spray acid all over the place, so there are similarities.

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4 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

You don't necessarily have to change anything, and it kind of depends on what you have already got, and whether you plan to buy "drop in" 12V units, or create your 12V units from 3.2V cells.

 

I bought drop in 12V units second hand, and have added a gizmo that shuts of the discharge if the voltage falls below 12.5V, (or whatever I set it to). I have also fitted a Victron BMV 712 so I can watch the voltage and Ah used quite closely, particularly when charging.

 

When I get round to it, I'll be fitting a Victron Temperature sensor, along with a couple of relays which will stop charging if the voltage gets too high, or the temp gets too low or too high.

 

The Valence batteries I bought have the facility to connect to a laptop so you can watch individual cell voltages, and about 8 internal temperature sensors in the battery, although I haven't found a way of extracting these values in order to control charge and discharge.

 

These monitorings and precautions are probably things that we ought to do with Lead Acid batteries as well. However, it is more important with Lithiums as the initial investment is so much higher. There is also a safety issue, but it has not been unknown for lead acids to explode and spray acid all over the place, so there are similarities.

Indeed they can!!

I went in to take the Princess out at Nottingham one day and one of the batteries had indeed exploded overnight. They are all in very heavily built steel battery boxes but the casing had gone off like a hand grenade. If one of us had being doing the frequent battery checks we did when it happened the result could have proved fatal I kid you not!!

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19 minutes ago, Richard10002 said:

Then come back in a week when you have read them :) 

 

Speed reader, eh?

 

 

 

 

54 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

No you cannot just swap the batteries.

 

Well you can actually, but you will almost immediately wreck your alternator and shortly after, wreck the new batteries....

 

 

 

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