Interrogating your plans for LiFePO4 installations

There are lots of people like you who thinks it's so easy to get right. Have a look at solar DIY forum to see how many people got it wrong. You can let us know how easy it is when you have built your system. It's not a battery you are building its a system. Your boat electrical system is designed around lead batteries. You don't just drop in lithium and away you go
 
There are lots of people like you who thinks it's so easy to get right. Have a look at solar DIY forum to see how many people got it wrong. You can let us know how easy it is when you have built your system. It's not a battery you are building its a system. Your boat electrical system is designed around lead batteries. You don't just drop in lithium and away you go
Yes I do understand, thanks for your concern. Fair enough if you found it difficult, that doesn’t mean you should tell the rest of the world not to bother. Some of us don’t find it difficult, and find the information easily online. Lots of people screw up a lead acid install, yet the world spins on. This stuff is fundamentally quite trivial stuff with just a few basic rules to follow. What we need is more people sharing that information rather than trying to feel clever by telling people how hard it can be.
 
Yes I do understand, thanks for your concern. Fair enough if you found it difficult, that doesn’t mean you should tell the rest of the world not to bother. Some of us don’t find it difficult, and find the information easily online. Lots of people screw up a lead acid install, yet the world spins on. This stuff is fundamentally quite trivial stuff with just a few basic rules to follow. What we need is more people sharing that information rather than trying to feel clever by telling people how hard it can be.
But you don't need anybody to tell you how to do it. Your so clever you can work it out in an afternoon on Google😅
 
Yes I do understand, thanks for your concern. Fair enough if you found it difficult, that doesn’t mean you should tell the rest of the world not to bother. Some of us don’t find it difficult, and find the information easily online. Lots of people screw up a lead acid install, yet the world spins on. This stuff is fundamentally quite trivial stuff with just a few basic rules to follow. What we need is more people sharing that information rather than trying to feel clever by telling people how hard it can be.

As I said before, go ahead with sharing your system with the forum.
 
But you don't need anybody to tell you how to do it. You're so clever you can work it out in an afternoon on Google😅
I am yes, and I don't need to keep others down to feel validated. If you think playing Lego with wires and chargers and such is hard, wait until you leave the dock!
As I said before, go ahead with sharing your system with the forum.
If I want feedback I will. I don't want or need feedback so I have not asked or shared. You did ask for feedback, but I can't for the life of me work out why as you clearly didn't want it.
 
What we need is more people sharing that information rather than trying to feel clever by telling people how hard it can be.

But you don't want to be one of those people sharing information that is so needed? I'm puzzled, as you don't seem a particularly coy person with your opinions.
 
Last edited:
But you don't want to be one of those people sharing information that is so needed? I'm puzzled -as you don't seem a particularly coy person with your opinions.
No need, it's well covered elsewhere by experts. I certainly would encourage people to adopt lithium though, and would help them if asked with details rather than try to talk them out of it. I see a lot of people gatekeeping at work, and they're usually "invited to find other roles" by the end of the project while everyone else gets on with it. Surely the people who invited you to speak considered you an expert and therefore wanted you to either tell them how you did it or recommend a way for them to do it? Seems odd to tell them not to try and that they're probably not up to the task.

Wow! I didn't realise you found leaving the dock so hard😅
I don't, but it's certainly a bigger concern than installing a power system.
 
Shame this discussion has become a bit unpleasant. In a way I can see both sides, even if one has been put in a much more pleasant way.
My system is neither complicated nor expensive, but I did a lot of reading up first. There's definitely a point you reach where you think 'I understand this' and then you read a bit further and realise you've only just started to understand what you don't understand.

FWIW, I designed my system as an add-on rather than a replacement. So I avoided all the issues of charging sources or problems caused by unexpected shut-downs, because it's not connected to the engine and only powers domestic loads. It's therefore pretty straightforward and actually cost me less than the deep cycle lead acid I was going to buy.

So long as you genuinely understand that you can't just pull out your lead acid batteries and drop in lithium with no other changes, then the rest of the system design doesn't necessarily have to be complex or expensive.
 
Shame this discussion has become a bit unpleasant. In a way I can see both sides, even if one has been put in a much more pleasant way.
My system is neither complicated nor expensive, but I did a lot of reading up first. There's definitely a point you reach where you think 'I understand this' and then you read a bit further and realise you've only just started to understand what you don't understand.

FWIW, I designed my system as an add-on rather than a replacement. So I avoided all the issues of charging sources or problems caused by unexpected shut-downs, because it's not connected to the engine and only powers domestic loads. It's therefore pretty straightforward and actually cost me less than the deep cycle lead acid I was going to buy.

So long as you genuinely understand that you can't just pull out your lead acid batteries and drop in lithium with no other changes, then the rest of the system design doesn't necessarily have to be complex or expensive.

But Kelpie, it sounds to me that if you ask yourself my suggested questions you are covered or at least you are cognissant of the risks having considered the issues at some length. Correct? The questions are basic prompts to think about issues not invitations to unnecessary complexity. If people can demonstrate a simple safe and seaworthy system I'm all for it. I particularly like this sentence "My system is neither complicated nor expensive, but I did a lot of reading up first. There's definitely a point you reach where you think 'I understand this' and then you read a bit further and realise you've only just started to understand what you don't understand."
 
Last edited:
It sounds to me as if Kelpie got on with it, did some reading, and didn't really have any major problems. They may have benefited from a positive presentation explaining the answers to some common pitfalls.
 
Top