Lithium Battery for Leisure Battery Charging

[Dobba]

Hello

 

I'm new here so first (maybe stupid) question. I have a new boat being built for delivery soon and will be fitting it out myself. I'm thinking of buying a Jackery 1000w rechargeable lithium battery to help with tool charging and general power on the boat so as not to be using the main battery banks and fuel all the time. I can charge the battery bank up at work and use for various things when fitting out the boat. My main question is, if the Jackery is charged, could I use it as an emergency backup generator for the main batteries and use it like plugged in shore power to charge up the main lead acid batteries rather than use a petrol generator?

 

Apologies if I've got the terminology all over the place or it's a daft question. :-)

 

Thanks - Dee.

[Mike Hurley]

Thousands of videos on you tube from camper van people from around the world that use Jackerys/Power Oak/ Bluetti solar generators, many reviews from UK based ones. Go on you tube and type Jackery, tons of reviews.

Edited January 25, 2022 by Mike Hurley

[nicknorman]

As far as I can tell this is a device for the American market. As such the mains is 110v 60Hz. So I don’t think you could plug it into a uk 230v power socket for recharging, and you would need 110v power tools.

 

if you can get a 230v one then it could do what you want. Of course it can’t charge the boat’s batteries directly, you would need a mains battery charger to take the jackery’s mains and use to charge the batteries. 

Edited January 25, 2022 by nicknorman

[Dobba]

4 minutes ago, Mike Hurley said:

Thousands of videos on you tube from camper van people from around the world that use Jackerys/Power Oak/ Bluetti solar generators, many reviews from UK based ones. Go on you tube and type Jackery, tons of reviews.

 

Thanks Mike - will take a look.

[Mike Hurley]

Just now, nicknorman said:

As far as I can tell this is a device for the American market. As such the mains is 110v 60Hz. So I don’t think you could plug it into a uk 230v power socket for recharging, and you would need 110v power tools.

Euro versions are 230v.

[Dobba]

2 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

As far as I can tell this is a device for the American market. As such the mains is 110v 60Hz. So I don’t think you could plug it into a uk 230v power socket for recharging, and you would need 110v power tools.

Looking around (Amazon for example where they are for sale), they have a. UK version - 230v with UK plug interface.

[Mike Hurley]

[nicknorman]

1 minute ago, Dobba said:

Looking around (Amazon for example where they are for sale), they have a. UK version - 230v with UK plug interface.

Ok that’s good then. See my edit about charging the boat batteries. Can be done with a small charger that doesn’t overload the jackery. But of course the boat batteries are much bigger than the jackery’s, so it would only be able to top them up, not fully charge from a low state of charge.

[Dobba]

5 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Ok that’s good then. See my edit about charging the boat batteries. Can be done with a small charger that doesn’t overload the jackery. But of course the boat batteries are much bigger than the jackery’s, so it would only be able to top them up, not fully charge from a low state of charge.

Yes, thank you for the update. Appreciated. 🙂 So, as I understand it, I could take the mains output from the Jackery 1000W (fully charged) and plug it into the boats shore power connector which would give some charge to the main lead acid battery banks on board the boat, just the same as if I was connected to shore power, even if it didn't provide as much power?

 

As I said, it's just in emergency use perhaps but so the Jackery has some multiple long term use as well. Sorry if not explaining too well - new to all this.

 

Thanks - Dee.

[Mike Hurley]

You have a battery charger on board i guess? If not then the Jackery will run power tools direct. Just buy one that has the power you need.

[Dobba]

Just now, Mike Hurley said:

You have a battery charger on board i guess? If not then the Jackery will run power tools direct. Just buy one that has the power you need.

Yes, I can charge the tools in various ways and could run the engine. I'm just wondering if the Jackery, in the future, could charge up the main battery banks (lead acid I believe) like running a petrol generator plugged into shore power. Essentially, the Jackery acts like a shore power connector (with me being cheeky and using the power from work by charging it there (I've already asked permission by the way)).

[nicknorman]

6 minutes ago, Dobba said:

Yes, thank you for the update. Appreciated. 🙂 So, as I understand it, I could take the mains output from the Jackery 1000W (fully charged) and plug it into the boats shore power connector which would give some charge to the main lead acid battery banks on board the boat, just the same as if I was connected to shore power, even if it didn't provide as much power?

 

As I said, it's just in emergency use perhaps but so the Jackery has some multiple long term use as well. Sorry if not explaining too well - new to all this.

 

Thanks - Dee.

Yes, assuming the boat has a battery charger built in. And the jackery is capable of supplying enough power to run it. Bear in mind that lead acid batteries in the boat don’t like to be left in a partial state of charge for long periods, they would suffer from sulphation. So actually the jackery would be good for keeping the boat batteries fully charged.

[Mike Hurley]

If the boat is outside just put a solar panel and a MPPT controller on it, much cheaper option.

[Dobba]

17 minutes ago, Mike Hurley said:

If the boat is outside just put a solar panel and a MPPT controller on it, much cheaper option.

I will eventually have solar . . . but the question is just about if it's possible to plug a fully charged Jackery into the boat and pull power from the Jackery back into the battery banks on the boat like a shore powered hookup. 🙂

22 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

So actually the jackery would be good for keeping the boat batteries fully charged.

 

That's kind of the answer I was hoping for; in the absence of solar, shore power or petrol generator and not wanting to run the engine, that I could plug the Jackery into the boats connection and give some charge back to the boats lead acid batteries. 🙂

[nicknorman]

4 minutes ago, Dobba said:

I will eventually have solar . . . but the question is just about if it's possible to plug a fully charged Jackery into the boat and pull power from the Jackery back into the battery banks on the boat like a shore powered hookup. 🙂

 

That's kind of the answer I was hoping for; in the absence of solar, shore power or petrol generator and not wanting to run the engine, that I could plug the Jackery into the boats connection and give some charge back to the boats lead acid batteries. 🙂

Yes you just have to be careful of the detail. You don’t mention the type/model of battery charger but if it’s a big one, it could overload the Jackery. It will probably be ok though, unless the charger is more than around 60A.

[Dobba]

16 minutes ago, nicknorman said:

Yes you just have to be careful of the detail. You don’t mention the type/model of battery charger but if it’s a big one, it could overload the Jackery. It will probably be ok though, unless the charger is more than around 60A.

 

Hmmmm . . . this is where I'm getting confused. Maybe equipment list would be better. I have a 3KVA Victron which, I assume, charges the batteries (a bank of 4 or 5) from the engine running. Would plugging the Jackery 1000W lithium battery into the shore power connection on the boat (not to charge the Jackery, but to offload power from the jackery in to the the boat batteries) be okay? How would that overload the Jackery if the power is going from that into the boat? Apologies as ever if I'm just sounding thick. 😉

[Jen-in-Wellies]

The 3KVA of the Victron is the maximum mains power it can supply drawing from the boat batteries. The battery charger built in to the Victron multi will take a lot less power than that. As long as it is less than 80A current, then you should be OK.

4 minutes ago, Dobba said:

Would plugging the Jackery 1000W lithium battery into the shore power connection on the boat (not to charge the Jackery, but to offload power from the jackery in to the the boat batteries) be okay?

Should be yes. Assuming what I said above.

 

[Mike Hurley]

Nick is a well respected electric expert so i would listen to him for sure.

[Dobba]

6 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

The 3KVA of the Victron is the maximum mains power it can supply drawing from the boat batteries. The battery charger built in to the Victron multi will take a lot less power than that. As long as it is less than 80A current, then you should be OK.

Should be yes. Assuming what I said above.

 

 

5 minutes ago, Mike Hurley said:

Nick is a well respected electric expert so i would listen to him for sure.

 

Thank you to all. It's really appreciated you taking the time to help me in virgin territory. I'll give it a whirl at some point and fingers crossed it works out okay/doesn't blow up or create a singularity/glitch in the matrix.

[Mike Hurley]

 

[nicknorman]

10 minutes ago, Dobba said:

 

Hmmmm . . . this is where I'm getting confused. Maybe equipment list would be better. I have a 3KVA Victron which, I assume, charges the batteries (a bank of 4 or 5) from the engine running. Would plugging the Jackery 1000W lithium battery into the shore power connection on the boat (not to charge the Jackery, but to offload power from the jackery in to the the boat batteries) be okay? How would that overload the Jackery if the power is going from that into the boat? Apologies as ever if I'm just sounding thick. 😉

It would help if you specified the exact model of Victron? The 3KVA refers to the mains output from an inverter, not the possible charging current. Is the victron actually an inverter and charger (often called a Combi)? eg Multiplus, Quattro etc.

 

Most 3KVA victron combis seem to have a maximum charge current of 120A which would overload the Jackery. However it is possible to adjust (decrease) the maximum charge current, either using the knob on the remote panel (if you have one) or maybe by adjusting the dip switches inside (depends on model) or by means of a PC running Victron’s configuration software. I have a vague recollection that some Victrons come out of the factory set to 1/2 maximum current, but we’d need to know the exact model to be sure. Anyway the point is that this is not an intractable problem, but it might not work “out of the box” and require some settings to be changed on the victron.

[magnetman]

It would be interesting to know what the DC output voltage is. 

 

If it was a LFP battery it would probably be around 13.3v. if you wired the cig socket direct to the domestic batteries (make sure it has a 10a fuse) you might find that a bit of charge goes into them. Assuming discharged lead acid so around 12.0v.

 

I do a similar thing with a Toshiba Lithium Titanate ex electric bus battery. (40ah at 14.4v nominal but can be charged up to 16v being LTO)  this is charged where there is mains (using a car charger which gets battery to 14.4v) then transport this to the off grid boat and plug in to main bank (LFP bank if around 13v or below it needs a bit of charge. Just a wire and it will pass about 20ah. 

 

Depends how much power you use/need. 

 

This is for the depths of winter. For other times a kilowatt of solar is the best investment one can make for electric on the boat. 

 

Edited January 25, 2022 by magnetman

[Tacet]

You need to be realistic about how much energy is in one Jackery.  It depends on the model, of course, but taking this one Jackery 1000, it looks to be approximately the same as a typical lead-acid leisure battery.

 

If you fully recharged at work and fully discharged on the boat each day, it might make a very useful contribution towards a typical (frugal) consumption - but it won't be eat-as-much-as-you-like.

 

[TheBiscuits]

45 minutes ago, Dobba said:

I have a 3KVA Victron which, I assume, charges the batteries (a bank of 4 or 5) from the engine running.

 

No, the engine alternator charges the batteries when the engine is running.

 

The charger part of the victron takes mains shore power (or your lithium gadget) and uses that to charge the batteries.  No engine running needed for this bit.

 

5 minutes ago, Tacet said:

You need to be realistic about how much energy is in one Jackery.  It depends on the model, of course, but taking this one Jackery 1000, it looks to be approximately the same as a typical lead-acid leisure battery.

 

If you fully recharged at work and fully discharged on the boat each day, it might make a very useful contribution towards a typical (frugal) consumption - but it won't be eat-as-much-as-you-like.

 

 

True, but I think it would make more sense to bulk charge the boat batteries using the engine up to around 80% then put the long, slow last 20% to full in from the Jackery.  

 

This would keep engine hours low but batteries fully charged.

 

I do agree that a decent solar array is the best way to do this from February to October.

[Tacet]

2 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

No, the engine alternator charges the batteries when the engine is running.

 

The charger part of the victron takes mains shore power (or your lithium gadget) and uses that to charge the batteries.  No engine running needed for this bit.

 

 

True, but I think it would make more sense to bulk charge the boat batteries using the engine up to around 80% then put the long, slow last 20% to full in from the Jackery.  

 

This would keep engine hours low but batteries fully charged.

 

I do agree that a decent solar array is the best way to do this from February to October.

Fair point

 

Cruising is, in my view, the best solution to all battery charging issues