Lithium Batteries that are cheaper than Lead Acid! E109 

Ed from someone who had no clue when you first purchased that yacht to what I see you have been accomplishing throughout your journey in yachting is totally incredible well done I am impressed that you work on your own electronics. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 Lose the ponytail. Lol

Hi Ed, If you want to keep your Lithium battery bank in good shape for a long time, putting them in an engine room is really not optimal. I'm not sure how hot it gets in your generator room but be advised that they degrade A LOT faster when it's too warm. You can look at it this way: if it's not confortable for you, it's not good for the batteries. It's actually the same for lead acid batteries, but they are a lot more resilient to warm temperature. Manufacturer often say they can be used in a worm environment and it's true but at a price. Longevity. Richard

Excellent job explaining a lot of technical stuff to a non technical guy like me. You kept my interest throughout the video and I understood everything you were talking about! Great job Ed. Looking forward to your next video....Ed

I drove through Philly on I-95 yesterday (Sunday). I could see The Olympia from the highway and I thought, "It's A weekend, Ed is probably right over there fixing something right now."

Wow, lots of good info! Can't wait for the next video!

Ed, That was an excellent and super informative video. I really enjoyed it, learned a bunch (because I’m not an electronic wiz!) and it was a pleasure to watch. Awesome!! 😃👌👍🍺

I love how Ed's accountant mind works to analyze all the numbers...lol Great video and very informative. Thank you

Ed, very knowledgeable and nicely done, thanks...

Very informative video!

Excellent video quality and great explanation thank you

We have similar Hatt boats and our lithium upgrade is in April 2021. Great video.

This is a very interesting subject to me. Im thinking of how I would set up my boat when the time comes. Thank you.

Hi Ed & Lyn, We just wanted to drop you a note to express how much we enjoy watching your adventures. It has motivated us to purchase a 58 Viking and we hope we get the chance to meet somewhere on the ICW or bay and “shake your hands” and buy you a few drinks. All the Best Mark and Tia Cox and the kids

nice, Lithium batteries are the way to go now.,

Captain Ed - well done ! however have you considered updating the Electrical wiring schematic diagrams for these new power systems - for reasons of fault finding and general understanding for any further upgrades - “if I can get out of Australia one day I’d be pleased to assist with this when I visit my friends in Philly” There’s always something to do, however In meantime keep up the good work, your understanding of this boat and it’s systems must me be very rewarding and what’s more build confidence too. Kind Regards David A

Another great video. Just be sure not to confuse Watts with watt/hours and amps with amp/hours. One is a measure of power and the other a measure of capacity.

I've got two AGM banks and have been thinking about lithium... but it is costly. However, I really like what you did here in creating a new bank just for your inverter. Our current inverter is what draws down one of our existing banks the most so a separate bank to use with a new inverter makes a lot of sense. And I can do it without replacing my two existing banks. Thanks!

I so love your Atari shirt, and the skeleton piloting the boat. 🤣🤣🤣

GOOD CHOICE !!

We're getting ready to do a similar upgrade next spring on our 38' trawler. We're sticking with 12v because we need the house pack to power our thruster and anchor puller. I'm planning on building my own batteries for about a 600 Ah system, though the exact capacity will depend on the cells that I can get when I'm building the system. Your system looks good!

Lead is dead! You really did your homework, very impressive.

I don't want to get too deep into the woods about lithium vs. lead acid. That was funny.

Wise choices and good management of the system. At anchor I'm pretty sure you won't need to run the generator, unless you need the ac's. Getting a 4 bank system will add depth to your run time.

Most manufacturers reccomend for maximum battery life that the charge state of the lithium batteries be kept between 20 and 80 percent. This still allows a healthy increase in useable power over the lead acid batteries while maintaining the maximum number of discharge cycles. As you replace more of your lead acid batteries with the lithium units and augment with the solar panels you may find yourself at the point that you can ditch the genset altogether or at least downsize it considerably. During my years working as a marine tech gensets were some of the most problematic systems because they rarely used and rarely serviced. Out of sight, out of mind to most owners until the one time that they need them, flip the start switch and hear only silence.

Very informative and well presented, thank you. Are you planning to charge his new bank with PV panels?

Small technical point. The shunt on the ground cable measures current in and out of the battery bank, not the voltage. It’s used to calculate the charge going in and coming out of the battery bank.

How did you determine how many cycles they already had used? Another great instructional video!

Hi Ed, thanks for the video, very informative. I have a question, maybe I missed it but how long would the Li batteries take to be fully charged with the generator you have now ? Suggestion : would't it be cheaper/cleaner to operate if your gen were a propane unit ? Thanks a lot, these holidays we will stay in Tarragona, no Barcelona. Happy holidays to you and family !!!

Very informative and well done! Thanks. BTW how often do you need to top-off the H2O with the Lithium batteries? LoL JK.

You mentioned, but glossed over a bit, the life-cycle cost of Lead-Acid vs. LFP. The actual cost comparison over 10 - 15 years (or longer) has to be based on the total amount of energy extracted and has to include the cost to replace the Lead-Acid batteries 2 to 3 times (or more). No question, LFP comes out ahead, especially compared to AGMs.

Very informative Ed, just one correction though; The limited use (~40%) that you get out of a lead acid battery is in terms of the Amp/hours, not the wattage. The wattage (P= V x I) is fixed per the voltage and amperage rating of the battery. The 40% limit pertains to the usable TIME of use (Amp-Hours or Watt-hours) that you get out of the battery before having to recharge it. In the case of lead acid, you only get 40% of the full charge (Watt-hours) that is useable vs lithium which gives you 90% of the full charge. Hence it is not correct to say if a lead acid battery is rated 1200 Watt, you get only 480Watt from it. The rated Wattage remains constant until you have to recharge. It's the Watt-hours or kWHrs that are limited on lead acid when comparing with the same capacity Lithium batteries. The glitch in the specs is that the ratings are 100amp-hours not 100 amps. (In fact 100 amps drawn from any battery is pretty much like a short circuit that will instantly kill it :)) If you correct that, the Watts become Watt-Hours and the efficiency of lead acid goes from 1200Watt-hours to 480Watt-hours, which is the correct way to look at it.

love that word FREE lol is that a ponytail you are sprouting or the start of a man bun lol no pun intended

I'm considering adding solar to my 63' Viking CPMY. I don't know where to start... how did you decide what size system to use? I don't want to run any of the 220v stuff but being able to run the 110v without 20kw generator would be nice.

U r correct. It is a no brainer to go lithium

That is the exact inverter I've been looking at for my boat 30 amps would run my entire boat

Your numbers were indeed very conservative in regard to the lithium batteries. Typical life expectancy for LiFePO4 batteries is about 4000 cycles, as you said. What you did not mention - or, perhaps, realize - is that, after 4000 cycles, the LiFePO4 batteries are likely to still have 80% of their original capacity. You could see 10,000, or more cycles before they would need to be replaced. Another thing to remember about LiFePO4 batteries is the fact that they love being partially charged. The sweet spot that will provide the longest life is between 40% and 80%. They will actually last longer if they are never fully charged or fully discharged.

Just remember that the enemy of Lithium Batteries is "HEAT", and if lithium batteries become over heated they can start venting extremely flammable gas (remember the fires that the earlier models of B787's experienced), that if ignited is like a jet engine on after burner. Saying all that you'll love those batteries once you add those other batteries.

What size fuse from battery and what size gauge wire off the batteries please

I have the xantrex invertor with 6 ,6volt trojan t105 golf cart batteries wired to 12 volts on my grand banks 36 then two group 331 batts for starting the diesels. I have an electric range too. I'm thinking now of ditching the 6 trojan batts and get 2 of those lithiums like you got......did you hook up your invertor to charge your diesel starting batts while plugged into the dock power? mine is that way.........hey I enjoy all your videos by the way

Now do you still need a lead acid for starting the motors?

Great info -- hate the piano background music though...

If you don't get enough discussion on best battery systems to install, try discussing best anchors to have.

Ed if your going to replace your 32 volt house system with 24 volts, are you also going to replace all of the lights etc that use 32 volts?

did you use any BMS for to balance the batteries? its hard to tell how you connected the link cables

The batteries will outlive you :) and me :). Do you really trust the discharges provided by the people that sold them to you on ebay ? Your electrical skills are impressive. Is there an autoshutoff if the battery level gets to a certain level - say 10%. I have heard that if you take a lithium battery to zero just one time - it destroys the battery. Is that true ?

Ed, if you folks size the bank to be able to work off the top 30% the cycle life goes to the point that your son will inherit them. Best wishes

You have more room I your generator room than I have in my engine room

Love your videos but Ray Charles tickling the keyboards is a little much. Hard to here u speak over the piano.

Have you ever done the great loop

the cost of getting stuck in a campground to the ocean is life challenging \ sorry im an rv tech

Fast charge rate saves fuel and $$$$.

About the only place on board where the benefits of lithium can be questioned for if the cost is worth it is the starter bank for the engines. The rest of the boat the lithium benefits do come out on top in the analysis. With how little the drain is for the starter bank, they last for long enough that the cost of the lithium and lifespan of them it just doesn't make sense to switch them over. If you were living aboard and cruising full time, then maybe it would. A brand new boat, from the Factory? if they don't come with lithium then the builders are idiots.

Does anyone know if you can or someone has ever put a Tesla power wall in a boat?

I subscribed because you have good/useful content and explain things well. I have to say, though, that whoever told you it's a good idea to have background music while you are talking is either ignorant and/or stupid. A large percentage of adults have impaired hearing (including me). Having any kind of sound (e.g.: music, engines, rain, etc.) overlaying the speech makes it more difficult to understand what it being said. Notice, I said "understand", not "hear". I do appreciate the CC and would not even bother to watch this if that wasn't available. But, although it helps, it does not replace a clean, clear, uncompromised voice. I look forward to watching newer videos without the music background. I may continue watching if you ignore this but, I certainly won't be watching as much as it is much less stressful to seek out an alternative for information. Thank you for sharing your experiences. I know how much work it is to do that.

I hope you have woken up the BMS inside the battery otherwise it won't balance the cells and you will ruin them. Google valance super thread to find my thread about these batteries. I know them inside and out and trust me you will break them if you don't have that balancing board active if you haven't already.

I made it to the 5:02 minute:second mark, very interesting subject. But the music is very distracting as you simultaneously talk on a subject I would like to hear. As one who lectures and speaks and as one who listens to many lectures, talks and presentations. Nobody plays music while speaking to an audience.

lost me at the first turn......lol

Ummm.. an old Hatteras is a trawler? A trawler has a displacement hull. a Hatteras can plane..

First

*USED* Li-ion batteries vs brand new Lead-Acid ...

back ground music very annoying.....

You need to be corrected, "they're gonna last TEN time longer" is factually incorrect friend.

ED, LOSE the ponytail, it's not very flattering.

Beta + Ponytail = S.I.M.P.

Your MATH assumes that you will now start using TWICE as much power EVERY night. If you do not then your math is pure bull shit ...