Maine Sail,
Thanks for you comments, however, my question was related to feedback from anyone who may have purchased or currently using "drop in" lithium batteries such as the ones made by SMART BATTERY. I think this company deserves a fair look. Better, smarter and lighter batteries for boats are way overdue. I am a believer in Lithium batteries and have experienced first hand how they revolutionized the TV biz.
As I mentioned I do have lots of experience with Li in the marine market. You need more than a pretty plastic box and an "F" BBB rating to make a safe and usable LFP battery that will be worth what you spent.
There are currently no "drop in" LFP batteries for boats that pass the sniff test though there are plenty of companies willing to take your hard earned money, mislead you and laugh all the way to the bank.. Read the link I sent posted earlier. When you understand those concepts, for LFP applied to fractional C marine use, then you will much more easily understand why "drop in" LFP does not work for cruising boats..
There is a HUGE difference between a camera battery that uses ONE charge source, which was specifically designed for that battery, and includes all the protections necessary, and a boat with multiple charge sources all designed for lead acid.. You simply CAN NOT do that with an LFP
drop in on a boat, because nothing is designed for LFP they are all designed to charge lead acid.
All anyone who knows anything about LiFePO4 has to do is look at those specs, for a LiFePO4 battery, and they will get a good chuckle.
16V As a HV cut off = EARLY DEATH (Pack level HVC????)
8V As a LV cut off = EARLY DEATH (Pack level LVC????)
Charge Voltages of 14.4 - 14.6V =
How does series wiring work if the BMS is internal to each battery?
How does parallel work if BMS is internal to each battery?
How do we properly wire a
charge and load bus if the BMS is internal?
Hundreds of internal connections in the marine environment?
How do we protect an alternator from destruction with internal BMS?
A float voltage? You don't float LiFePO4
Is the system protected from cold temp charging?
Is the system protected from high temp charging?
LPF is charge to full > stop charging not
bulk, absorb, float.
The bottom line is there are companies out there trying to stuff LFP into a lead acid box and it WILL NOT WORK and deliver the "claims"... Drop in LFP will be the black eye on the industry and it will be sad to watch......
On second thought buy one and let us know how that works out....
FWIW this is what a LFP install can look like. This was a Genasun installation I worked with Bruce Schwab on. This boat had both a 12V Genasun system and 24V Genasun system. The owner wanted to be able to run vessels the air conditioning off the Genasun 24V bank for dinner parties. Worked like a charm.....
