Neeves
Well-known member
I have clearly stated I am learning. If the build was on a yacht it would take for ever, as we would use a swing mooring. I'm making the mistakes now - not then.Enough with the petty insults.
You started the series of posts on your lithium install in this thread:
DIY lithium for novices!
Here in post #27 you even posted a photo of your catamaran discussing where lithium batteries, fuses etc of the new electrical system would be fitted in this vessel. In reality you had sold this catamaran long before this post. Why this subterfuge?
In subsequent threads it is clear that you have actually installed a lithium battery in a camper trailer or something similar. You have never pointed this out, or clarified exactly where this lithium battery and electrical system are installed.
I don’t understand the reason for this misrepresentation. It is unfair to forum members taking the trouble to offer you advice and it is misleading for those who may try to copy your system believing it is a system that can be safely installed on their yacht.
You now claim this lithium installation will be duplicated in some future yacht. If this is the case (and frankly I am skeptical) you need a total rethink. The idea of relying on the BMS to terminate the solar charging, while acceptable in a camper trailer, is not safe in a yacht. You need to install a solar controller. With a drop-in lithium battery, if there is no automatic termination of the charging from a solar controller then sooner or later you are bound to have an event where the BMS will totally shut down the battery. This will leave the yacht suddenly without vital systems such as navigational equipment, depth sounder, VHF, navigational lights and autopilot. This is not safe.
In addition, if you want electric cooking (and this seem to one of your goals) you would be silly to give up the added solar yield given by an MPPT controller. With a camper trailer there is plenty of ground space around the campsite to add additional solar panels (foldable solar blankets are often used), but on a yacht shade free space to fit solar panels is at a premium. You need to extract the maximum yield from each watt if electric cooking is the goal. This is only possible with an MPPT solar controller.
The type of solar panels will also make a difference. The foldable solar blankets used when camping are comprised of "12v" panels which do not require voltage conversion. Yachts incorporating electric cooking typical install higher voltage panels. These require a controller with MPPT technology.
So for numerous reasons you cannot leave out a solar regulator if you want to install something identical in a yacht at some stage in the future.
The essential nature of a solar controller is just one difference between a lithium install in a camper trailer and a yacht. Concentrating just on the charging system, you also need to design the alternator, and shore power charging based on the application. For example, a perfectly acceptable and simple shore power system on a camper trailer could cause expensive stray current corrosion if duplicated on yacht.
I don’t see anything wrong with discussing the techniques and equipment you have used installing your lithium system in a camper trailer, providing you make this distinction clear. Your desire to continually obscure this important detail is unnecessary and unhelpful. You need to stop attacking members who point out the technical differences between this and a marine system. It is important people are aware of these differences if considering duplicating your system on yacht.
Members volunteer their advice if they are unhappy they need not post. Maybe you should take a leaf out of your own book, stop being self righteous and explain why you missed data flaw in your anchor. Your thread was incorrect yet many took the information at face value and bought an anchor - you do not feel compelled to correct your omission so people are using the anchor you recommended in ignorance of its poor performance. In your position I would be correcting the error and keeping my head down - and certainly not criticising others.
I suggest you put your idea of camping to bed and mull over your own inadequacies.
Jonathan.
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