Advice on Lithium sought.

[glynhouse]

I thought my 2 batteries had come good, enough for the trip to Sydney but looks unlikely.

I could do with the weight saving more than anything, have a 12 volt 150ltr Vitrifigo plus most goodies, charged by normally 420 watts through a Morningstar Prostar 30, can add 2 extra 80 watters on the tug when needed, so far the Prostar handles it with out a problem.
I have a 30 amp charger but have not used it for the last couple of years the solar has kept us going, when on 240 the batteries are disconnected from the van just left on solar. Use a 12 volt supply.

Have only 160 ah of sealed wet batteries at present. Can I get by with 100 or 130ah of Lithium ? and what other gear do I need if the chargers are suitable ? photo below.

Thanks DD

[dapope]

Terry will give you the goodies. I could have lent you a 90 AH to fiddle with but am in WA.
You probably will need to change your solar controller though, but you may get away with keeping the rest.
I reckon you would get away with 100, but would benefit from 180ah (8x90 3.2v cells), especially with the amount of solar you have. doubt you would need any more.

[T1 Terry]

Is this the battery charger? http://www.powersaver.com.hk/BC-012-30AT.html It could be used in a pinch using the 14.2v/13.2v float setting, depending on how long it holds the absorption mode. if it's just a climb to 14.2v then drops straight back to 13.2v then it would be ok, but if it holds the 14.2v for any period of time there is a risk of over charging the battery. If you can find a link to an operating manual that would help, a link to the solar regulator operating manual would be good too.

[glynhouse]

Thanks Terry, a couple of links below.
Hope the last one means more to you than me. !

DD

http://www.morningstarcorp.com/en/suppo ... NG2_11.pdf

http://www.powerbright.com/bc-012-30a.html

http://www.produktinfo.conrad.com/daten ... 12_20A.pdf

[T1 Terry]

OK, the Morningstar will be fine on the GEL setting, I have sent an email to the battery charger people to confirm a few things but it appears, after reading the third link PDF, the charger is very adjustable so it should be possible to tune it to the specs required.
Does that help
I'll send you a PM as well.

T1 Terry

[glynhouse]

Thanks Terry, I forgot to ask whether I can get a battery suitable for the tug aux. ?
The only battery that will fit in the Discovery engine bay is a small yellow top Optima, yellow topped cause they are made of gold !
The ones that fit are around mid 40AH, how does Lithium like under bonnet heat ? Will it charge from a normal hook up to the tug battery ? they will be about 1 meter apart. Need it to run a 40ltr fridge in the rear.

Sorry I missed this in the original post.

DD

[T1 Terry]

The case of the battery is just like any other battery, the insides don't like getting above 60 degC. Is it posible to build a stainless steel heat sheild to protect it from the direct radiant heat from the exhaust and radiator?
Can you give me the physical measurements of the optium battery, including the terminals?

[glynhouse]

The Optima that is the best fit is the D34, 55ah 254mm long, 173mm wide and 199mm high.
there are a few others AGM that will fit now, have just put some time in looking through the EV Power site most of theirs are too high for me.
Open to suggestions.

DD

[dapope]

I found when I put the 90AH in the pajero that I took out the battery tray and it fitted better.
It doesn't have to be mounted vertically either if that's any help. other possibility is that the individual cells could be separately mounted?

[T1 Terry]

How many Ah can you get out of the Optima before the voltage drops too low for the fridge to work any more? The only thing I can find that would fit are 40Ah cells, EV Works has them for $252 plus GST plus freight. Basically, you would have to buy the 40ah battery, pull the lid off and pull the cells out, or maybe just trim the top of the case down to cell height, the cells are only 183mm high. I'm not sure if that would give you enough extra capacity to be of any value, they claim 1,000 cycles to 100% discharge http://en.winston-battery.com/index.php ... ory_id=176 so you would get 40Ah and a longer life than the Optima. About all I could find about the Optima D34 was this http://www.optimabatteries.com/us/en/pr ... yellowtop/ over on the right, at the bottom, they claim "up to 300 cycle life" but they don't say what percentage state of charge they can be discharged to and return that many cycles.