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electrical

  • Batteries And Generators Are Different Things

    2 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    It drives me crazy when sales people suggest that installing their lithium batteries automatically means we don’t need a generator.

    Batteries are a storage device, generators are…wait for it…a generation device. They are different things.

    Sure, installing a larger capacity battery bank (of any chemistry) might mean that we can anchor for longer, or sail for longer, without starting a charging source, but eventually, and in some way, those batteries will need charging…duh.

    And if we have enough solar to never need a generator, then we might not even need lithium batteries.

    Point being that confusing this basic difference between batteries and generators, sets us up to make bad system design decisions…and often spend our money unnecessarily.

    Navico should know better.

    More on the generator decision here (needs updating).

  • ABYC Bans Twin Busses For Lithium

    2 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    Turns out that the new ABYC E13 standard for lithium battery installations on boats in effect bans separate busses for loads and charging sources. (Thanks to member Rick for pointing this out.)

    13.7.2.1A BMS shall respond to any conditions outside the SOE by activating the output disconnect device.

    My guess, and hope, is that this is probably the result of poor drafting, rather than intended. The problem, of course, is the word output.

    In my view, compelling the BMS to dump the loads just because of an overcharge does not increase safety, it decreases it, since load dumps are dangerous in and of themselves and overcharge is the most likely scenario to cause a disconnect.

    Hopefully ABYC will fix what I believe to be a mistake soon. Banning something that most industry experts I have talked to consider much better design (separate charge and load busses) does their credibility no good at all.

  • Balmar Battery Monitor On-Test

    15 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    After two months and four defects:

    1. Bad cable.
    2. Despite paying full price we were shipped a beta test shunt that could not be updated to latest software.
    3. Ditto the display which did not have enough memory for the latest software.
    4. The final problem was a bug in the iPhone up-date software that it seems that Balmar’s support techs don’t know about, since they didn’t tell me when I called, even though it’s on their site.

    I finally got the SG200 we bought for our J/109 working. I will write a review once I have more experience with it.

  • Most “Drop In” Lithium Batteries Not ABYC Compliant

    5 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteMembers

    The way I read this, batteries with BMSs that do not communicate are now obsolete:

    If a shutdown condition is approaching a battery system should notify the operator with a visual and/or audible alarm before disconnecting the battery from the DC system.

    ABYC E13-7


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  • ABYC Publishes Lithium Battery Standard

    0 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    The TE-13 technical note is now a standard: E-13. To me, a woefully inadequate one that relies far too much on the vendors to do the right thing, but it’s a start. Panbo has a good analysis, most of which I agree with.

  • Victron Chargers Rock

    2 CommentsReading Time: < 1 minuteFree

    I’m loving this little charger I bought. I will write more in an upcoming article, but the ability to check out, on my phone, exactly what happened in the last charge cycle is amazing. Tells me a lot about battery health and how to set up the charger best for our usage.