I am trying to replace my boat house batteries (service) with lifepo4 batteries and the charging set up has become very confusing. I am wondering if you could shed a light in what connections I need and what components to achieve these.
Boat will have AGM starting batteries and lifepo4 house batteries. Boat has 2 engines, thus 2 x 70a alternators, a 15a solar panel & 220/12 30a shorepower charger.
1- re the alternator charging (70a each), I understand that I can split the current directed between the AGM bank and the lithium battery using 2 argodiode isolators (one for each alternator). The 2 isolators’ output to the lithium battery should pass through a 12v dc/dc charger . Can I connect both isolators to the same dc/dc charger going to the lithium battery?
2 - the shorepower 30a 220/12 charger is an easy fix; I just add a second charger (lithium-specific) connected to the lithium battery and limit the existing charger to the AGM bank. But how is this current to be connected to the lithium battery in conjunction to the alternator charging? For instance, what happens if the boat is connected to the shore 220 and I fire up the engines? Both currents go the battery? Is that safe?
3 - and on top of everything, there is the solar charging too. It’s only 15a, so I would not replace the alternator or the shorepower charger while the latter are charging. But I still connect the panels to the lithium battery (i won’t be connecting these to the AGM starting batteries). How can I connect the solar panels to the lithium house battery that will be receiving current from the engine alternators and the shorepower charger? I would like it to stay connected, or automatically connect if there is no current from the other, bigger sources; manually switching on/off is not practical in my application.
can you please help?
Do you need any more info on the setup before you can help?
