Lithium ION Batteries as main power?

[gotnitro]

I have a couple/few questions please, mainly for weight savings but extra AH too:

Has anyone switched to LiPo for your main power in dual batts? Do they make such thing? Have you connected them in parallel? Would they wire right in as if you were simply replacing old lead acid batts? (I connect LiPo's all the time in parallel and in series in my RC surface and Air vehicles)

Will/does the stock charging system in an outboard charge LiPo batts OR would the Marine LiPo batts have internal electronics to accept the stock charging systems?

I have a LiPo batt in my Harley, its got the internals to convert the charging. Saved me about 20LBS too.

Thanks for all and any info!

 

[PartyBarge]

A son has a mix of three LiPo and two lead acid in his CC. However he also has pretty trick power distribution unit that allows charging of all or any batteries as desired, all charged by a Yamie F250. Think he can select alternates for any load too. Sorry don't know the name of the magic box...however it would not surprise me it has some designation for type of battery. He could have switched the starting and house batteries too, but chose not to.

 

[TomS]

I have 6 batteries of 3 different chemistries in my (non-Bennington) boat. I have twin Mercury 200 V6 4-stroke engines, as well as shore power charging. The A/C unit is powered by a 250ah Lithium battery with integral BMS. Some shore power chargers have the capability to properly charge mixed chemistries, though most do not. My Sterling Power chargers actually do this correctly for each output. The engine alternators themselves have no way to know what they''re charging, what stage the battery charge is at, etc, and LiPo batteries also take a bit different profile than AGM's. For this I use a Sterling DC-DC charger, which takes the 2 alternators as inputs, and regulates the output in either buck or boost to take of the LiPo battery. It works very well and is very light compared to the other group 31's I have.

 

[gotnitro]

A son has a mix of three LiPo and two lead acid in his CC. However he also has pretty trick power distribution unit that allows charging of all or any batteries as desired, all charged by a Yamie F250. Think he can select alternates for any load too. Sorry don't know the name of the magic box...however it would not surprise me it has some designation for type of battery. He could have switched the starting and house batteries too, but chose not to.

I have 6 batteries of 3 different chemistries in my (non-Bennington) boat. I have twin Mercury 200 V6 4-stroke engines, as well as shore power charging. The A/C unit is powered by a 250ah Lithium battery with integral BMS. Some shore power chargers have the capability to properly charge mixed chemistries, though most do not. My Sterling Power chargers actually do this correctly for each output. The engine alternators themselves have no way to know what they''re charging, what stage the battery charge is at, etc, and LiPo batteries also take a bit different profile than AGM's. For this I use a Sterling DC-DC charger, which takes the 2 alternators as inputs, and regulates the output in either buck or boost to take of the LiPo battery. It works very well and is very light compared to the other group 31's I have.

Thank you!

I'm not looking to add more wiring/weight or any type of charging distribution block. Maybe one day they will build the circuitry into the LiPo/LiFe batteries for the stock charging system. Make for an easy swap.

 

[gotnitro]

Just wanted to update my thread. I decided to go full Lithium to run the whole boat. These batts have an APP where you can monitor them, simply get it off the app store if you use iPhone. They charge right off the stock charging system with an internal BMS to convert the charge and monitor them as well.

Disclaimer: I learned the "hard" way. 2 of these in parallel will not start your boat. Not because they don't have the power but because the BMS cuts the voltage and they go into LVC. Sometimes it started mine, sometimes it would go into LVC- Low Voltage Cutoff (BMS) even though they were not low voltage.

I installed the 100AH singular batt, it has the proper BMS to start it AND probably an FA-18 Hornet too.. Very powerful batts AND they weigh in at next to nothing. See below:

Both these batts, 100AH in parallel, I'll be using these under the helm soon to help power 3000 real watts. I'll get pics of that once I'm completed.

These (100AH of batts) with the aluminum mount weigh in at a whopping 29lbs.. 1 of my 50AH lead acid batts weighed in at 46lbs.. Getting RID of lead acid is getting rid of dead weight.. I saved 63lbs by going lithium and gained WAY more power.

Batt tray:

 

[SEMPERFI8387]

Yeah I’m going lithium in my camper. 2-100ah batts weigh in at 52 lbs total. My 2 wet cells … 110 pounds! Saves 58 pounds. Now I can mount my generator @ a weight of approx. 52 pounds and still be ahead in weight savings.