crayfish21
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2022
- Messages
- 8
I'm planning my electrical system for a van. I'm not running high wattage appliances and I'll only be using about 1-3kwh per day, but I'll often be away from grid for 6+ days and my solar won't be enough to fully recharge batteries. Ultimately I need to have ~14kwh of capacity. Here are two possible 12v system battery bank set-ups.
• Option 1: Buy three SOK 12v 206ah LiFePO4 batteries now, and then when I can afford it in 6-12 months, buy three more batteries, for a total of six batteries wired together in one of the Victron Unlimited parallel wiring set-ups.
• Option 2: When I'm able to buy the additional three batteries, rather than wiring them in with the other three, use this switch to create two completely separate, isolated battery banks in the van. Only one bank would charge/discharge at a time. Periodically I'd use shore power to recharge each bank separately, one after the other. I don't know if this usage is even possible with this switch or if I'd have to physically disconnect wires every time instead? But if this could work, I'd seemingly avoid the balancing issues people report when wiring more than 3 batteries in parallel or adding newer batteries to older banks.
I understand that the ideal option is to go to 24v or 48v (although that would make alternator charging difficult and require converting a lot of things to 12v). Theoretically, if I could afford four 200ah 12v batteries to start, I could wire them in 2p2s for 24v, and then get the additional two and wire the bank 3p2s. The batteries need to be in a row of six, however, and not sure if that would make it very difficult to wire 3p2s? (I've also looked at 24v 200ah batteries, but cannot find a configuration of 3 that would fit in in the space I have available (LxWxH) 51" x 12" x 16" and I'm looking to avoid DIY batteries.)
So assuming 24v/48v is out, which of the above 12v options is the least bad?
If option 2 can work, any guidance on how I wire the positives and negatives coming off the two different banks so they are actually isolated with the switch and will be safe?
Thanks!
• Option 1: Buy three SOK 12v 206ah LiFePO4 batteries now, and then when I can afford it in 6-12 months, buy three more batteries, for a total of six batteries wired together in one of the Victron Unlimited parallel wiring set-ups.
• Option 2: When I'm able to buy the additional three batteries, rather than wiring them in with the other three, use this switch to create two completely separate, isolated battery banks in the van. Only one bank would charge/discharge at a time. Periodically I'd use shore power to recharge each bank separately, one after the other. I don't know if this usage is even possible with this switch or if I'd have to physically disconnect wires every time instead? But if this could work, I'd seemingly avoid the balancing issues people report when wiring more than 3 batteries in parallel or adding newer batteries to older banks.
I understand that the ideal option is to go to 24v or 48v (although that would make alternator charging difficult and require converting a lot of things to 12v). Theoretically, if I could afford four 200ah 12v batteries to start, I could wire them in 2p2s for 24v, and then get the additional two and wire the bank 3p2s. The batteries need to be in a row of six, however, and not sure if that would make it very difficult to wire 3p2s? (I've also looked at 24v 200ah batteries, but cannot find a configuration of 3 that would fit in in the space I have available (LxWxH) 51" x 12" x 16" and I'm looking to avoid DIY batteries.)
So assuming 24v/48v is out, which of the above 12v options is the least bad?
If option 2 can work, any guidance on how I wire the positives and negatives coming off the two different banks so they are actually isolated with the switch and will be safe?
Thanks!