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Best way to use Alternator to charge 36v LG Chem Lithium in RV conversion

solarkev

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Apr 8, 2020
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How can I use the alternator output (while driving) to charge the Chevy OEM LG Chem 10s 36v module from Battery Hookup? What devices will up convert the alternator output to the approx 36 volts needed by this lithium battery. Yes- with enough precision to not harm the battery

What do I have to watch out for on not overheating the Alternator? (What did I read 'somewhere' on being careful not to overheat the alternator- Lithium batteries can
 
no idea about up converting off top of my head.

I di think you might want yo consider upgrading the alternator to a 250ish A model. That should help with overheating probs using a 130A alternator. I've run across these alternators on several sites geared toward racing or off-road modding.
 
this thread might just have the details you need.


It's not specific to your goal but it looks like the configure could be applied to your application.
 
It may cost you a little efficiency, but the easiest off the shelf setup would be using an inverter to get 120 or 240 volt AC from your vehicle 12V system, and then use a normal mains powered CC/CV charger. This also then gives you the flexibility of having mains power available from your vehicle system and being able to plug in the charger to mains power to charge the battery when parked. I bought a 600 watt 14S charger for about $120 and a 1000 watt 12 volt inverter also runs about $100 as well. A pure sine one will be a little more, but not needed if just running the charger. You can find both items on Amazon.

The LG Chevy Bolt packs are 180 amp hour, so a 10 amp charger would take 18 hours to go from fully dead to full charged. Most likely you won't run the packs that low, so figure less than 10 hours for a typical charge. You can parallel 2 chargers to charge in half the time, but then you should get a bigger inverter to run them both. A 10 amp charger for a 10S pack needs about 500 watts. I would not load a cheap inverter past about 50% continuous load. Pulling 700 watts or so from the 12 volt system (13.8 with a running alternator) needs about 50 amps. So even with some loss, this is not too bad.
 
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