Lithium Conversion

[robhwa]

Depending on what you have, you'll probably never get much into the yellow and never into the red zones indicated in the post above with LiFePO4. I went for a long trip with my truck camper, and then to Brazil fishing for a month. I had hooked up a 12/24VDC converter to power my Starlink mini through its long cable. It was kludged directly to the Renogy battery, not through the regular fused system, during the trip when I found that you can't use 12VDC directly with the long cable because of voltage drop. I didn't remember to unhook it when I left for Brazil, and I guess it was still drawing slightly when I tripped the breaker and "isolated" the batteries before this trip. Since it didn't draw through my monitoring system, the usage read "0" amps. I came home to apparently dead LiFePO4 batteries, but one click of the startup switch for the Battery Management System (BMS) on the Renogy cells showed I still had 12.8 volts. Looking at specs for the Renogy BMS, it ways it will cutoff when one of the 4 cells drops below 2.3 volts, protecting the cells. If this would have been a system with my old Pb-acid batteries, they would likely have completely discharged, and continued to discharge with any recovery over this long time, probably damaging them. I really like the current systems, and I am really impressed with Renogy products, which I have been using for >5 years now. To be honest, I have 12 LiFePO4 batteries of various brands now, ranging from 100-460 AmpHours, all 12VDC, and all of them are still working well, though I guess some have lost capacity over time. A neighbor replaced his huge (like 2000Ah) flooded Pb-acid system a few years ago with LiFePO4 and has already exceeded his earlier replacement schedule. He did burn up two alternators before he put a DC/DC in between, so you need to be careful. If you are considering replacing house batteries, you probably won't regret switching to LiFePO4.

[Hunkydory]

I’m sure glad to see your new electrical systems are working out so well for you. Also good to be able to have Internet at the remote locations with the Starlink. I sure enjoyed your video directly from Fords Terror. The last time, I reached out through a satellite from Fords Terror was in 2004 with a Satellite phone, when JoLee & I had the mishap going out of there, crossing the bar on a strong ebb tide. I can see Starlink on our boat in the future.

We know exactly what you two are experiencing with the mid 40 degree temperatures & heavy rain. Hopefully for you, the weather will improve & not continue to be as cold & wet as it was on our 4th cruise there in 2012, when from mid April to late July, we only had 6 days without some rain & the rare blue sky’s came with wind. The Wallas quit after the first month & we put 784 hours on its replacement during the last two months of the cruise, while like you, not running it when sleeping. Still overall one of our best trips & looking forward to being back next year.

Stay safe as possible, though risk does have it’s rewards & you two seem to have similar risk assessment tolerances as us. I agree the older we get the less we have to lose. My biggest fear is injury that causes suffering & lost good times in recovery.

JoLee & I, along with granddaughter Wrenny are leaving Sunday on a rv road trip to Valdez, Alaska, then ferry to Whittier followed by the top of the world highway to Dawson City, Yukon. We will be keeping tabs on you, while on the way.

Jay