I am preparing to connect a Battleborn 600ah 12v battery bank to house power on board a powerboat. I'm wondering if any precautions need to be taken before I do that?
The house circuit is charged by shore power (Victron Multiplus 3000) or an alternator on the Starboard engine. That starboard alternator powers the 12V DC house circuit when the engine is running. It's the same circuit the lithium batteries would be directly connected to. I'm concerned about connecting the lithium batteries directly to the same circuit with the alternator.
Am I right to pause? Or is this perfectly normal?
Is there something I need from Victron to safeguard the lithium battery bank from any spikes or noise from the alternator?
Note - the port engine alternator is connected to the engine start bank (8D flooded). I'm not considering this port engine alternator as part of the 12V DC house circuit.
This is a 1989 alternator on a 400hp diesel.
-- Edit following replies:
Thanks guys - thanks for your patience and the responses are great. I'm continuing to research.
One clarification - Both engines start with the engine batteries. The port engine alternator charges the engine battery. The starboard engine alternator is not connected to the engine battery. (I'm simplifying this - there is a crossover switch to connect the house + engine banks in case of an emergency - which adds consideration as well as potential dangers. But let's continue to ignore crossover to keep this topic simple.)
One other thing I'm not yet clear on: The Lithium house bank is going to be directly connected to the house DC so it can power 12v electronics at all times. Typically, the entire house circuit will always be "hot" from the lithium source. Lights, radio, AIS, pumps, navigation, etc are all on the house DC circuit.
The starboard alternator is also directly connected to the house DC so it can power all of the above - at all times when the engine is running. Which is interesting because at this time the lithium and alternator are connected as voltage sources to the same circuit.
I've uploaded a crappy drawing to help illustrate:
If I install the Orion in between the Starboard alternator and the house bus.. would that resolve the problem? But the Orion would also be between the entire house load and the alternator too.
