LiFePo4 - what components required?

[Wo_ody]

Premise: certainly solar is fine but most of my camping is in the shade or in low solar areas so no solar. And there are more no solar reasons too.

Intent is to have a battery bank of 4S-8P CALB LiFEPO4 batteries. Using 100 amp cells would give me +/- 600 amps of usable 12V nominal power. When available, a 110 AC land line would be used to power the Truck Camper as well as charge the batteries. When not AC connected, the batteries would be charged by 2nd engine alternator (+/-200 amp) dedicated only to battery charging. And a third option would be to charge the batteries using something like a Honda EU2000i portable generator plugged into the AC.

LiFEPO4 require a battery balancing system which most "normal" inverter/chargers do not provide. Not being "Edison minded" I'm trying to wrap my head around the electrical components necessary to make this work as well as the 2D architecture or flow chart of the AC power circuit and the intergration of the alternator power circuit. Simply put, what goes where?

Also, if you are experienced with LiFEPO4, please recommend specific products or vendors where items could be purchased or a design/install house who could provide such a system.

Thanks for your response.

[Wo_ody]

Thanks for your all your replies.

Pianotuna...you are "the man" to shake all this out. Thanks for your interest.

With a clean sheet of paper and from scratch, I'm trying to identify all the required electrical components required to create a "heavy duty charging system" as per Matthew_B did in his 2010 RV.NET post. However my application differs as the truck will be gas and all camper batteries will be LiFEPO4 chemistry. http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/23601503.cfm


My hope is be able to go 4-6 days on batteries (except for air conditioning). 6 gallon water heater, 7.0 cft fridge with Danfoss compressor, 1000/1800 watt convection microwave, coffee maker, water pump, LED lights,2 Fantastic fans, TV, radio, computer, etc. I think I would want at least a 2500 watt inverter.

Roadtrek RV is making the LiFEPO4 chemistry work and I think they do use a 48 volt inverter. I do understand it would require a battery management system such as the Orion JR unit like this: http://www.orionbms.com/products/orion-bms-jr/
Not being "Edison minded", I don't know what component is right or wrong nor can I conceive what the component connection "flow chart" looks like as per what gets wired to what. How does the system "union or gate" both 110V AC or alternator amperage?

Perhaps this will take a Double-E to spec out components?

[KJINTF]

Suggest you check out the several great blogs and manufacturers web sites
a few off the top of my head
http://www.marinehowto.com/
Read his how to article on LFP batteries
http://www.cruisersforum.com/
Dozens of these folks have the batteries installed and operational

Lead Acid works for most RV'ers - that said there are several of us with LFP systems - You will NEED to be in touch with loads of technical stuff they are NOT a plug and play battery - do not consider them a battery but instead a system

I try not to suggest a make and model since everyone has different wants and needs. They are wonderful systems when treated correctly

If technically competent you will LOVE them

[MEXICOWANDERER]

The manufacturer knows more about their battery than anyone else. Find out ideal charging parameters versus maximum permitted charge parameters. Should be a few pages of data for you to chew on. Hint: ""Manufacturer" does not mean, distributor or reseller. Right from the horse's mouth...

I doubt a standard battery alternator voltage regulator presents the ideal performance profile for lithium ion technology. Therefore coming up with a suitable voltage regulator would be high on the list.

[RoyB]

I went with the large battery bank first and did all of my training on that camping off the power grid. Game plan is to make it through the one day/night run off the batteries doing all the things we want to do. Then starting at 8AM the morning when allowed we will fire up the 2KW Gnerator and do a 50% to 90% charge state run that takes around three hours of generator run time.

Just now since 2009 starting to think about adding solar panels but only want to use them as supplement to the 2KW Generator... Generator is must have item for me as it will re-charge the batteries under all circumstances..

We will have to run our 2KW Generator for the first hour to get past the initial high current demand and then will want the solar panels to finish the 90% charge state before we lose the high sun during the next day.

We will not run our batteries if we can't start each evening with at least a 90% charge state...

Have no idea what a LifePo4 is...

Roy Ken

[scrubjaysnest]

Check out the solar-electric.com forums there are a couple of threads on this.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

What do you plan on running?

If an inverter is going to be part of the mix there are good reasons to consider a 48 volt battery bank--especially as you plan for a dedicated alternator.