Making the switch to Lithium Batteries
I've been thinking about switching from Lead-Acid batteries to LiIon for several years, but have been put off by the fact that I would have to change pretty much EVERY part of my charging and battery system. The benfits were very clear however, and I knew it was just matter of time. That 'time' came mid-season, when I noticed my group 29 110Ah Lead-Acid house battery was not holding a charge. Looking around locally, it was going to be about US$130 to replace. For LESS than that price, I could have 100Ah LiFePO4 battery (complete with an integrated Battery Monitoring System (BMS) delivered to my door. The benefits are real. Over 80Ah (close to 100 in a pinch) of useable capacity (vs 45Ah), at 1/3 the weight. And 10x the number of charging cycles. This would be a slam-dunk for any boat owner, if that was the end of the story. But it's not. The trick is the the BMS, a 'computer' built into the batery that manages its charging. One of the things it can do is im...