John Holway
New Member
Hi... From stupidity I've over discharged my lead-acid auxiliary batteries and they have broken down. Looking at getting a new system, and am very interested in these lightweight Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries. I think I'll only need 1 x 100AH battery. I have a t1n sprinter with a "dumb" alternator. I have 1 x 100W solar panel.
My current setup has a cable running between my house batteries (which are now dead) and my starter battery, and has a switch between them that I can toggle on and off only when I need to. I loved this setup because I could send voltage both directions, whether the engine was running or not. ( I also keep a jump pack in the van at all times). If I wanted to pump my subwoofer for a long time and not worry about draining my starter battery, instead of turning the engine on I'd just flip the switch on. If I drained the house battery in the night, or was worried that I might, I'd flip the switch on before bed and leave it on through the night (leaving engine off), and the starter battery would give the house battery just enough extra V to keep phones charging and heater going (perhaps that was bad practice).
Anyways, if I get a LifePO4 battery, I'll need to put a DC to DC charger between it and my starter battery, correct? If I do that, can I send charge back to the starter battery if I want? And, if I have the DC to DC charger, is there one that will send my LifePO4 battery charge even if the engine is off, for those rare midnight situations?
Thanks for the help!
John
My current setup has a cable running between my house batteries (which are now dead) and my starter battery, and has a switch between them that I can toggle on and off only when I need to. I loved this setup because I could send voltage both directions, whether the engine was running or not. ( I also keep a jump pack in the van at all times). If I wanted to pump my subwoofer for a long time and not worry about draining my starter battery, instead of turning the engine on I'd just flip the switch on. If I drained the house battery in the night, or was worried that I might, I'd flip the switch on before bed and leave it on through the night (leaving engine off), and the starter battery would give the house battery just enough extra V to keep phones charging and heater going (perhaps that was bad practice).
Anyways, if I get a LifePO4 battery, I'll need to put a DC to DC charger between it and my starter battery, correct? If I do that, can I send charge back to the starter battery if I want? And, if I have the DC to DC charger, is there one that will send my LifePO4 battery charge even if the engine is off, for those rare midnight situations?
Thanks for the help!
John
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