Lithium battery prices

[melvynpatrick]

I have found the batteries to be less than half the cost of upgrading to lifepo4. The other stuff eg wire fuses bus bars alternator controller etc etc really adds up. For me though it has been worth it

 

[Sea Change]

I have found the batteries to be less than half the cost of upgrading to lifepo4. The other stuff eg wire fuses bus bars alternator controller etc etc really adds up. For me though it has been worth it

This is where careful design pays dividends. I built a whole new system in a compact space so the heavy cable runs are as short as possible.
I'm thinking of switching over to NH fuses because the cost of class T is just silly.
And I didn't touch the alternator at all. It's an entirely standalone system that just charges from solar.

 

[Sea Change]

If you really want to know ask it to list five types of berry and then ask how many Rs are in each! I stopped using AI LLMs a year ago after readying so much nonsense spouted with such confidence.

I used ChatGPT recently when I was revising for my Yachtmaster exam. It was useful, but with significant flaws.
E.g. I could ask it to make me a quiz to test my knowledge of a specific subject. And I could tailor this to address my weak points. It can be a really effective tool when used this way. The problem is, sometimes it gets stuff plain wrong. I ended up in a big argument with it when revising IRPCS. It was adamant that two vertical green lights indicates a fishing boat. I answered that this could only be the safe side to pass of a dredger or similar, but the AI stuck to its guns and I had to really push the point, quoting rule numbers, before it accepted that it was wrong. There were a few similar issues elsewhere.
What's worrying is that this was a subject where there really is very little room for error or opinion. It's scary that people are relying on it for anything remotely important.

 

[steve yates]

If you really want to know ask it to list five types of berry and then ask how many Rs are in each! I stopped using AI LLMs a year ago after readying so much nonsense spouted with such confidence.

Jesus! I just tried that, how crap

 

[MikeBz]

I tried the berry test on Claude - it passed. This is quite funny (and worrying) though: I hacked ChatGPT and Google's AI - and it only took 20 minutes

Apologies for continuing the thread drift.

 

[Otter]

When switching to lithium what do you do with existing chargers? I’ve got a nice 3 way split charge system for the alternator and a mains battery charger with three outputs. And does everything still share a common earth?

 

[PaulRainbow]

When switching to lithium what do you do with existing chargers? I’ve got a nice 3 way split charge system for the alternator

You cannot charge LFP directly from a standard alternator. If the 3 way split actually feeds 3 batteries/banks then leave it in place but disconnect the cable from it to the domestic bank. Fit a DC-DC charger to charge the LFP from the engine battery.

and a mains battery charger with three outputs.

As above, disconnect the cable from the charger and fit a new charger that can be correctly set for LFP, such as Victron.

And does everything still share a common earth?

It isn't Earth, it's negative Leave it as it is.