Hello,
I own a yacht which has a 120ah starter battery, 3 x 120AH domestic batteries & 2 x 120AH bow thruster batteries which are all 12v lead acid and charged from the standard 80amp engine alternator via a diode charge splitter or a VICTRON 60amp 3 output Centaur mains charger. I also have 150W of solar charging the domestic bank via a VICTRON MPPT charger.
I would like to upgrade my domestic batteries to Lithium (300-500AH) and would like to know the best way of doing it while not changing too much. I would also like to future proof the solution as I may upgrade the Alternator and add further B2B’s when budget allows.
My question is would it be best to remove the diode charge splitter and connect the alternator direct to the start battery and then add a 30amp Orion B2B charger from the start battery to the Lithium domestic bank and also add a 18amp Orion B2B to charge the lead acid bow thruster bank. I also assume I should only connect my Centaur charger to the start battery so when on shore power the charging of the domestic & bow banks will be via the Orion B2B’s.
The alternative is to keep the Diode charge splitter and just connect a single 30 amp Orion B2B to it and charge the Lithium in this way, keeping everything else the same. I understand that you have a voltage drop with a diode split chargers and this may not be as efficient or I could change the diode splitter for an Argofet battery isolator if it would make much difference. However I am also concerned that the Orion charging the lithium bank may suck up all the available charge as the Argofet or diode splitter will see the demand and bias to much towards the B2B / lithium.
Many thanks for your advice.
