Sailboat Electrical upgrade
I’m new to the forums and want to thank you Will for all your great videos and putting this forum together.
I am considering revamping the electrical system on my sailboat by swapping my lead acid 470Ah House Bank (House batteries are in need of replacing) for 200 or 300Ah of lithium and adding 200W of solar for a total of 405 watts. I was also considering the Victron Energy Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-Volt 30 amp 360-Watt DC-DC charger to assist with my 80 amp Hytachi alternator and new lithium bank. I feel many questions coming on. ???
Currently I have 3 Banks of batteries:
1. The House Bank consists of 4 x lead acid Crown CR235 6 volt 235Ah batteries connected in series parallel for 12 volts 470 amps. They are in need of replacing
2. The Bow Thruster Battery Bank is a lead acid 904D 1050CCA installed in 2015. The Bow Thruster (Lewmar 140TT 3hp) is Rarely maybe once a week and when it is used it’s for less than 30 seconds or a minute at most. The Bow Truster is a Lewmar 140TT 3hp 12V motor rated 280 Amps on the cable size diagram.
3. Yanmar Diesel Engine Start Battery is a lead acid Group 24 12V 780 CCA.
My boat systems consist of the following:
A) The engine alternator is a Hytachi 80 Amp alternator stock to the Yanmar 4Jh4E 55hp engine.
B) I have a Mase 4.04 3.2KW 120V 60hz Generator for AC and to power Magnum MS 2000W inverter, 100 Amp Charger.
C) Magnum MS2000 pure sin wave 120V 60hz 2000W, 12V 100Amp charger. Magnum Energy ME-RC 50 Remote.
D) Solar, I only have one 205W Kyocera Polycrystalline panel but have room for one more 200W panel.
E) Blue Sky Charge controller 25A 12Vix. ( I was told it could handle 405W of solar because you never get rated power out of the panels. I hope that’s true?) I also have the Blue Sky IPN Remote.
The current setup as I understand it:
The engine’s Hitachi 80A alternator charges the Engine Start Battery and connects through a parallel
Solenoid, as long as the circuit breaker for parallel is on, and charges the House Bank.
The House Bank, when charging then charges the Bow Truster through a Blue Seas ACR.
I’m really not sure it’s the best set up but that’s how it is now with the lead acid batteries.
What I would like to do is replace my 4 lead acid (470Ah total) batteries with Chins or equivalent lithium 200Ah battery. I know that’s a bit of a decrease in total amperage but given the low usable amps of lead acid I don’t think it’s too bad.
1st question could I incorporate the House and the Bow Thruster Bank by adding another 100Ah of lithium in parallel with the 200Ah House Bank, bring it up to 300Ah and simplifying down to just 2 battery banks, the House and Starer Bank?
1a) Would the lithium be capable of the discharge rate required of the 3hp Bow Truster for short burst of infrequent use?
2) If I don’t combine the House and Bow Thruster Bank, and leave it as a lead acid battery, what is the best way to charge the Bow Truster Battery? An ACR off the Start Battery? I’m planning on a DC-DC charger for the lithium House Bank (see 3). Note the two banks are within a few feet of each other and the Bow Thruster has a dedicated fuse block and Perko switch.
3) If I go with the Victron Energy Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-Volt 30 amp 360-Watt DC-DC charger to charge my lithium House Bank from my Hytachi 80 amp alternator will this be too large for the alternator? Will it cause the alternator to overheat or prematurely fail? It’s my understanding you can safely only get ½ of the rate output of a standard alternator. Should I use a 20 amp DC-DC charger?
4) For winter storage, the batteries I’m looking at do not have a BMS with low temperature cut-out for charging. How do I best address this issue? Disconnect all charging sources when bellow 0’ C or is there a low temperature sensor that can be added to the Blue seas solar charge controller and DC-DC charger?
I thank you for your time and input,
I’m new to the forums and want to thank you Will for all your great videos and putting this forum together.
I am considering revamping the electrical system on my sailboat by swapping my lead acid 470Ah House Bank (House batteries are in need of replacing) for 200 or 300Ah of lithium and adding 200W of solar for a total of 405 watts. I was also considering the Victron Energy Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-Volt 30 amp 360-Watt DC-DC charger to assist with my 80 amp Hytachi alternator and new lithium bank. I feel many questions coming on. ???
Currently I have 3 Banks of batteries:
1. The House Bank consists of 4 x lead acid Crown CR235 6 volt 235Ah batteries connected in series parallel for 12 volts 470 amps. They are in need of replacing
2. The Bow Thruster Battery Bank is a lead acid 904D 1050CCA installed in 2015. The Bow Thruster (Lewmar 140TT 3hp) is Rarely maybe once a week and when it is used it’s for less than 30 seconds or a minute at most. The Bow Truster is a Lewmar 140TT 3hp 12V motor rated 280 Amps on the cable size diagram.
3. Yanmar Diesel Engine Start Battery is a lead acid Group 24 12V 780 CCA.
My boat systems consist of the following:
A) The engine alternator is a Hytachi 80 Amp alternator stock to the Yanmar 4Jh4E 55hp engine.
B) I have a Mase 4.04 3.2KW 120V 60hz Generator for AC and to power Magnum MS 2000W inverter, 100 Amp Charger.
C) Magnum MS2000 pure sin wave 120V 60hz 2000W, 12V 100Amp charger. Magnum Energy ME-RC 50 Remote.
D) Solar, I only have one 205W Kyocera Polycrystalline panel but have room for one more 200W panel.
E) Blue Sky Charge controller 25A 12Vix. ( I was told it could handle 405W of solar because you never get rated power out of the panels. I hope that’s true?) I also have the Blue Sky IPN Remote.
The current setup as I understand it:
The engine’s Hitachi 80A alternator charges the Engine Start Battery and connects through a parallel
Solenoid, as long as the circuit breaker for parallel is on, and charges the House Bank.
The House Bank, when charging then charges the Bow Truster through a Blue Seas ACR.
I’m really not sure it’s the best set up but that’s how it is now with the lead acid batteries.
What I would like to do is replace my 4 lead acid (470Ah total) batteries with Chins or equivalent lithium 200Ah battery. I know that’s a bit of a decrease in total amperage but given the low usable amps of lead acid I don’t think it’s too bad.
1st question could I incorporate the House and the Bow Thruster Bank by adding another 100Ah of lithium in parallel with the 200Ah House Bank, bring it up to 300Ah and simplifying down to just 2 battery banks, the House and Starer Bank?
1a) Would the lithium be capable of the discharge rate required of the 3hp Bow Truster for short burst of infrequent use?
2) If I don’t combine the House and Bow Thruster Bank, and leave it as a lead acid battery, what is the best way to charge the Bow Truster Battery? An ACR off the Start Battery? I’m planning on a DC-DC charger for the lithium House Bank (see 3). Note the two banks are within a few feet of each other and the Bow Thruster has a dedicated fuse block and Perko switch.
3) If I go with the Victron Energy Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-Volt 30 amp 360-Watt DC-DC charger to charge my lithium House Bank from my Hytachi 80 amp alternator will this be too large for the alternator? Will it cause the alternator to overheat or prematurely fail? It’s my understanding you can safely only get ½ of the rate output of a standard alternator. Should I use a 20 amp DC-DC charger?
4) For winter storage, the batteries I’m looking at do not have a BMS with low temperature cut-out for charging. How do I best address this issue? Disconnect all charging sources when bellow 0’ C or is there a low temperature sensor that can be added to the Blue seas solar charge controller and DC-DC charger?
I thank you for your time and input,
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