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I have a LiFePO4 power station. I'll t mention the brand because I don't think the issue I may have found is brand specific. Like many such power stations, this has wireless charging pads on top that are enabled when the DC output is turned on. And like a fair number of such power stations...

Epoch batteries has started a discussion forum: https://www.thebatteryforum.com/ Not much there, yet...

Consider a boat with batteries you want to charge from shore power. Different marinas have different current limits. Some provide 20A, some 30A, some 50A, some provide two outlets you can combine. If you're cruising, rather than day-sailing out of a single marina, what size charger do you use...

I'm reading Nigel Calder's "Boatowners Mechanical and Electrical Manual, 4th Ed.", and I ran across an idea I'd not seen before - inverter-based boats. That is boats that don't rely on shore-power AC at all, so that all of their AC circuits are powered by inverters running off the batteries...

A lot of people seem to run inverters from 12V batteries as if it were no big deal. But I've been running numbers, and the currents seem extreme. A typical household outlet in the US provides 20A at 120V. That's 2400W. So figure an inverter rated at 2500W. To provide 2500W from a 12V...

I'm setting up a boat as a live aboard. I have a few devices that are powered by USB-D and I'm wondering how I would best provide that on a 12V boat. I could, of course, plug the devices' wall-warts into 110 through the inverter, but that seems wasteful. Are there USB-PD drivers that can be...

I have a pair of 48V 100Ah LiFePO4 batteries that I've removed from my boat for the winter. They're currently at ~100% charge. They'll be sitting in my basement over the winter, because lithium doesn't much care for -40° temps. It's my understanding that it's better to store lithium at 50%...

I've been thinking about using LiFePo4 on my boat. That has new reading Nigel Calder's Boatowners Mechanical and Electrical Manual 4/E. And in it, I read: This seems like a significant concern, but I've seen no discussion of it, in my readings online. Its this something I need to...

I'm working on turning an old sailboat into a live-aboard. What I have now is a 27hp diesel, with a 22aV lead acid starter battery and a second 12V, 100Ah lead acid house battery. The only charging source is the alternator (and the trickle charger in my basement, when I pull the batteries over...

I have four 100W panels I'm using to feed my power station. After checking the voltages were in spec, I tried them in series. I want to try connecting in parallel. There's only one way to connect four panels in series: A -> B -> C -> D. But with parallel there are options. I could mix...

I'm setting up a new Epoch 48V 105Ah battery, with Epoch's charger, and a Victron BMV-712 shunt and battery monitor. Epoch 48V 100Ah heated bluetooth LiFePO4 battery The BMV has a whole bunch of configurable settings. So far all I've changed is the max Ah capacity, the rest are unchanged. Any...

I'm trying to design a solar charging system for my boat. It has two 48V electric motors that draw a max of 80A, and two 48V 100Ah batteries. It will have four 12V 100Ah batteries in parallel for the house bank. It has, as of now, no solar installed. That I'll be dealing with this spring...

Epropulsion has a new EVO line of motors, batteries, and chargers. Their marketing materials are full of the advantages of using their batteries with their motor controllers and motors, and of using their chargers with their batteries. Supposing, for the moment, that there are real advantages...

I've decided to replace most of my AC->DC wall warts with custom USB-PD cables. I'm moving onto a boat, and the idea of running my inverter just to provide 120V AC just so my electric razor's wall wart can produce 9V DC for my razor seems wastefully. USB-PD can provide power at various various...

I'm refitting a boat. Because of this I've pulled both starter and house batteries. Eventually these will be replaced, but for now I've wired the 12V DC output of my power station to the house bank distribution blocks. There's nothing running on the house bank except the bilge pumps, but the...

The COVID lockdowns severely impacted the supply chains for most everything, especially stuff sourced from China. Has it improved, yet? What kind of backlog are we seeing?

I've been thinking about installing a pair of Torqeedo Cruise 6.0R outboards on my boat. Their motors are better suited to pushing displacement boats at low speed than their competitors. But their batteries seem absurdly overpriced. And they're li-ion, not lipo. Torqeedo does, though...

I have a new pair of LiFePO4 batteries that have screw terminals. I had some random guy on the internet suggest that I not use the screws, but replace them with short lengths of stainless steel threaded rod, and then use washers and nuts on these to hold down the cable lugs, etc. The idea...

I have a pair of Epoch 48V 100Ah LiFePO4 batteries that I'll be installing on my boat to drive a pair of Elco 9.9 outboards. Currently their on a bench in my basement while I test things out. Given that these are for a boat, they're going to need to be slid into odd corners with difficult...

I'm thinking about installing a pair of Torqeedo Cruise 6.0 outboards on my boat. These are 48V motors, and Torqeedo's battery prices are absurd, so I'm looking at something like 4 of SOK's 12V 100Ah marine batteries wire d in series. 4×12V rather than 1×48V or 2×24V because the lower individual...

I've ordered four 12V 100Ah LiFePO4 batteries that I intend to configure in parallel. Are there specific procedures I should follow? When installing a vehicle battery, for example, the usual process is to connect the positive terminal first, and then the ground. And if your wrench is conductive...

Apparently ABYC has published new standards for lithium batteries in a marine environment, effective sometime next year. Has anyone looked them over? Do any of the current manufacturers measure up?

So, I have a pair of new LiFePO4 batteries, that each have a CAN bus port. And the manufacturer included a simple LED "gas gauge" that plugs into it. I'm a computer programmer whose played around with digital circuits, simple robotics, etc., for many years, and I'm curious to know just what...

Suppose I have a LiFePO4 installation on my boat or RV, with solar charging, and I decided to add a portable generator to charge the batteries when the sun wasn't cooperating. Assume I have AC chargers for the batteries. Traditional generators are much cheaper than inverter generators. Would...

Suppose I had a boat with a shore power connection and an inverter/charger. When running from shore power I would not want neutral tied to ground, because they should be done in the shore power panel. If I running from the inverter, I should have them tied on the boat. And, as I understand it...

Just ran across this: He advocates using both lithium-iron and lead-acid, tied together. Is he right? Does this have advantages? Or is he all wet?

The design of my ketch pretty much rules out a solar arch, so I'm considering hanging lightweight flexible panels from the lifelines. What I'm considering are BougeRVs flexible 100W panels. These are 40x24", only 1/4" thick, and weigh just 4 pounds. These are, as described, very flexible...

It's there any easy/cheap source for the ABYC electrical standards? The standards have requirements for, example, the placement of fuses, but the standards themselves are expensive.

I'm reading through the chapters on electrical systems in Nigel Calder's "Boat Owner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual", and he says: I've never seen anything quite like this, and none of the examples of series/parallel I've seen online do this. It's this normal practice? It's it a good idea?

I'm reading inconsistent advice regarding over-current protection in solar systems. Suppose I'm had a pretty simple system: solar panels => MPPT controller=> LiFePO4 battery => house loads. I'm going to need a class T fuse at the positive post of the battery on the conductor to the house...

I'm fitting out a sailboat as a liveaboard. This will include as much solar as I can fit. I'm trying to design the solar wiring harness. And I want wiring I won't have to redo from scratch every time I make a change. I don't expect that my first arrangement of solar panels will be my last, or...

Had anyone used these, or reviewed these: LiRongPing Lifepo4 Battery 16pcs 3.2V 300Ah 16pcs Cell

I'm building, in piecemeal fashion, the electrical systems for a liveaboard sailboat. What I have currently are two 48V, 100Ah LiFePO4 batteries, each powering a separate electric motor, and each with its own 120VAC->48VDC, 22A charger. And temporarily, I'm using a Bluetti AC200MAX for...

So, I'm working through Charlie Wing's "Boat Owner's Illustrated Electrical Handbook" and I ran across a problem similar to many I've seen before: And it bugged me. As I understand how DC circuits work, there's no such thing as a 20-watt lamp. They is, there's no property inherent in a lamp...

Is there any reason why the shunt for a Victron BMV-312 would need to be electrically insulated? It's connected to ground, and there should be minimal voltage drop across it, and given that there's bare ground-connected metal all over, is there any risk? I could, of course, put it in a plastic...

I'm in the basement, working up an electric outboard, prior to installation on my boat. Components: Elco 9.9 electric outboard Epoch 48V 100Ah LiFePO4 battery Epoch 48V LiFePO4 charger Victron BMV-712 battery monitor with shunt The outboard came with pre-made cables for throttle and ignition...

I'm in the process of replacing the diesel on my boat with a pair of electric motors. I had had two 12V lead-acids, a 100Ah house and a starter. What I have now is two independent 48V 100Ah batteries, and no starter or house. I don't need the starter, anymore, but I do need something to power...

I've been thinking about electric propulsion, and have been weighing different options. EPropulsion uses LiFePO4, which seems to be the standard in marine systems. https://www.epropulsion.com/e-series-batteries/ But Torqueedo uses LMO-NMC, which I know nothing about...

I have two 48V 100Ah and four 12V 100Ah batteries, all LiFePO4. They have Bluetooth apps, so I can see the voltages of the individual cells. The cell voltages on all the batteries are pretty close, but not identical. How far apart can they get before I worry about balancing them?

I have a boat that I've been thinking about converting to electric, for a number of reasons. I've been considering ePropulsion's Pod Drives. These run at a nominal 48V, and have systems that integrate motor, controller, batteries, and AC charger. But that don't integrate solar chargers, or...

The standard advice when wiring batteries into a parallel bank is that the cables all have the same lengths. But is this in total, or on each side? Suppose I have four batteries that I'm wiring in parallel. I have a positive bus bar and a negative bus bar. I have a cable running from the...

I've tossed essentially all the DC components of my boat, including battery, alternator, etc., so I'm starting from scratch. I've been bouncing between 12 and 24V. Nearly everything I might need is available in 24V, but there are a couple of odd things that only run on 12V. Now I could...

I've been playing with these: MakerHawk Electronic Load Tester The UI allows you to easily set current limits beyond what they can handle. And, of course, the provided cables are crap. I was trying to use one, with 10GA cables with proper ring terminals, to discharge a 48V LiFePO4 battery...

I have a pair out electric outboards that came with power cables that use Anderson connectors. The max current is 100A at 48V, so I figure the connectors are at a minimum SB120, but they could be SB175 or SB350. Is there some way of identifying which, from a visual inspection?