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  1. jdege

    Source for assorted power connectors?

    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...
  2. jdege

    Switching between redundant systems.

    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...
  3. jdege

    How long will a power station run in standby?

    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...
  4. jdege

    Two Victron Orion DC-DC converters?

    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...
  5. jdege

    Identifying Anderson connectors

    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?
  6. jdege

    Exploring CAN bus?

    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...
  7. jdege

    Epoch Batteries has started a discussion forum

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

    Configuring Victron BMV-712?

    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...
  9. jdege

    Gluing gadgets to the battery case?

    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...
  10. jdege

    Replacing battery terminal screws?

    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...
  11. jdege

    Spades too small for terminals - what to do?

    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...
  12. jdege

    Bare shunts?

    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...
  13. jdege

    LiFePO4 availability?

    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?
  14. jdege

    Charging a 48V bank?

    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...
  15. jdege

    Marine LiFePO4 with CANbus?

    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...
  16. jdege

    ABYC standards for marine lithium?

    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?
  17. jdege

    LiFePO4 vs LMO-NMC

    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...
  18. jdege

    Powering USB-PD from 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...
  19. jdege

    Charger+inverter, instead of charger/inverter&isolation transformer?

    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...
  20. jdege

    Bonding ground and neutral, in a solar generator?

    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...
  21. jdege

    Book problems?

    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...
  22. jdege

    Which inverter/charger & solar controller for 3kW, 110V AC and 12V DC?

    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...
  23. jdege

    ABYC standards?

    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.
  24. jdege

    BMSes that can handle extended operations in a partial state of charge?

    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...
  25. jdege

    Cross connecting, in serial-parallel systems?

    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?
  26. jdege

    Is there such a thing as a variable current charger?

    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...
  27. jdege

    Separate house bank from motor bank?

    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...
  28. jdege

    Epropulsion EVO - where to step outside their integrated systems?

    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...
  29. jdege

    Hybrid lithium and lead?

    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?
  30. jdege

    Anyone used LiRongPing Lifepo4 3.2V 300Ah 16pcs Cell?

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