New to the forum

[Cfdlighthouse]

I am new to the forum and am looking to convert my 24v lead acid house bank on my boat and am interested in building my own lithium battery bank.

i watched the video on the fortune cells and am interested in learning how to make two 24v packs running in parallel. I am using victron components for the inverter charger, shunt, cerbo gx, etc.

ill have 1200w of 24v solar, a 5000w quattro 24v inverter charger for the ac loads and a 70amp dc converter to step the 24 down to 12 for the 12v loads

would the fortune cells be the best setup for my environment and it looks like the lynx bms is also a good system.

thanks
Dan

 

[Dzl]

Welcome

would the fortune cells be the best setup for my environment and it looks like the lynx bms is also a good system.

Fortune cells are high quality, not sure how well suited they are for your application. The author of one of the best series on LiFePO4 for marine applications says he prefers the nylon (plastic) cased cells for marine applications. He didn't exactly recommend against aluminum cased cells, but said that personally he would always opt for the nylon cased cells in a marine/saltwater context. If you choose to go with Alu, fortune would be a good brand. In terms of Nylon cased cells the options are: CALB, Winston, Sinopoly and GBS. Winston is the brand that Victron uses in their own drop in batteries. CALB is easiest to source if you are in the US. Both are reputable brands.

 

[Cfdlighthouse]

Thank you for the information, i will take a look at the calb and winston cells. Is the lynx bms a good system or will the daly or other brand work?

 

[MisterSandals]

am interested in learning how to make two 24v packs running in parallel.

This is pretty specific. Why 2x 24v packs as opposed to a single bigger batter of the same amp hour rating?

 

[Cfdlighthouse]

It seemed the only cells i could find were in the 100ah, so it seemed it would take two 24v banks. I would much rather have one large capacity bank, i am just having trouble sourcing cells it seems the calb cells come in 100ah and 200ah.

i just need a bank large enough that can run my boat ac and dc loads , we are trying to make our boat a 48 foot trawler all electric except for the engines, right now we have 8 - 6v 225ah golf cart batteries as a 24v house bank

 

[Dzl]

Is the lynx bms a good system or will the daly or other brand work?

I was under the impression Victron BMSes only work with Victron Batteries, or maybe victron compatiable batteries but I may be wrong. I've never heard of anyone using one, and there are many folks here who like and use Victron components. You could try asking on the Victron Forum.

There are many options of BMS to consider, to a large extent it depends on your budget and the features you want. Most people here tend towards the low cost made in china options (Daly being of them). The JBD Smart BMS sold by Overkill solar and others is another decent option if your current needs are not super high.

As to 1 large or two smaller battery packs, both are options with pros and cons. 2 is a little more complex and a little more expensive, but you also get redundancy and true cell level monitoring. 1 is simpler, cheaper, but sacrifices true cell level monitoring. For more detail I suggest searching the forum or reading the link in my signature 'nordkyn design' which is a great series on lifepo4 geared towards the marine community.

You can put cells in parallel to get to your desired amp hours regardless of the cell size.

 

[Cfdlighthouse]

I was under the impression Victron BMSes only work with Victron Batteries, or maybe victron compatiable batteries but I may be wrong. I've never heard of anyone using one, and there are many folks here who like and use Victron components. You could try asking on the Victron Forum.

There are many options of BMS to consider, to a large extent it depends on your budget and the features you want. Most people here tend towards the low cost made in china options (Daly being of them). The JBD Smart BMS sold by Overkill solar and others is another decent option if your current needs are not super high.

As to 1 large or two smaller battery packs, both are options with pros and cons. 2 is a little more complex and a little more expensive, but you also get redundancy and true cell level monitoring. 1 is simpler, cheaper, but sacrifices true cell level monitoring. For more detail I suggest searching the forum or reading the link in my signature 'nordkyn design' which is a great series on lifepo4 geared towards the marine community.

You can put cells in parallel to get to your desired amp hours regardless of the cell size.

Thank you so much for the thorough information its been very helpful and i will check out the link today.

the bms question was more related to if i were to use the calb cells as you suggested for a diy battery set up and i agree the redundancy of two 24 banks is desirable especially since it is basically the sole source of power while not at a marina since i wont have a generator.