![]() ![]() Run the usual conversion loads including a "600" watt microwave (actual 950 watts). I only have a 1000 watt house inverter/charger/transfer switch. Shore power or "shore power" from the vehicle powered inverter or power from the house battery/inverter. System provides 120 volt AC power from 3 sources. This method of charging is the backup for poor weather conditions. That occurs a few times each year in my climate and with my power usage. I use the system for charging only if my 300 watt solar panel can not provide enough output in poor weather conditions. ![]() Probably difficult to measure the change in fuel usage. With a selector switch the vehicle powered inverter output can be used for heating water or air or charging with engine running.ĭisadvantage is less efficient going from DC to AC and back to DC for charging. 3 wire SOOW cord for 120v AC instead of large DC cable.Ĥ. Heavy DC cables from front of van to rear battery bank location can be eliminated. Charging only done with the shore power charger that can have the proper charge profile that matches your battery construction.ģ. The size of the vehicle powered inverter will limit the load on the alternator.Ģ. Charger can be powered with shore power or power from the vehicle powered inverter.ġ. If you have a shore power charger appropriate for your battery bank, another choice that can be considered is a vehicle powered pure sine inverter. Your 150 amp alternator will happily support a constant charge current of 40 amps, but it might not live too long trying to deal with the very high current the lithiums will try to draw With the high cost of lithiums and the difficulty changing Sprinter alternators, a 20 or 40 amp DC to DC charger will make your charging fully automatic and you won't have to worry about overloading or overheating anything. A 20 amp DC to DC will only output a max of 20 amps, or 40 or 50 for a higher current unit. It will also self regulate the current for you. It can take a 12 or 13 volt input from the alternator and output 14.4 or 14.6 or whatever charge voltage you set it up for. The 'safe' way to go charging lithiums is to use a DC to DC charger, which is very friendly to both your alternator and your lithium batteries. Be nice to your Sprinter alternator - I hear it's a real bear to change! Lithiums on the other hand, might start off drawing 200 or 250 amps and stay at that high level until the batteries are nearly fully recharged, and that can overheat and maybe destroy your alternator. This makes them 'alternator friendly' but it also means you'll take many hours to put that 300 amps back into them. By comparison, lead acid batteries have a relatively high internal resistance, so when you hit them with lots of amps, that resistance causes the charge current to 'self regulate' pretty quickly - Even if your lead acid bank 'needs' 300 amps to be fully recharged, the current will start off high, maybe at 100 amps or so and pretty quickly taper off to 50 amps or less. The 'problem' with charging lithium batteries directly from an alternator is that they have a very, very low internal resistance, so they will suck up an incredible amount of amps, often more than the alternator can stand for long periods of time. However, I plan to travel full time afterwards.Īs always, I am very grateful to each one of you for providing us with your knowledge. Note: For the first few years I will be a weekend warrior. If I'm right about the isolator can I keep it? Can I later change to Lithium batteries by updating the isolator? Or will more be involved? I think my alternator is maxed at 50 amps. Right now I have sized my usage as ~60 Amps. I am using FarOutRides wiring diagram and tutorial, still my head is spinning. Fridge/Freezer DC - next year's budget (nyb).Samlex PST-1500-12 PST Series Pure Sine Wave Inverter - 1500 Watt.Victron Energy BMV-712 Smart Battery Monitor (Grey).Victron Energy SmartSolar MPPT 75V 15 amp 12/24-Volt Solar Charge Controller.Gen2 20A 12V 2 Bank On-Board Battery Charger.I understand that I would need to upgrade at that point. I have read that it needs to be based on the Alternator's Amp Max Output, which even though I've looked at several posts on the subject, I am just not getting it.Īt some point when my current batteries die, I want to replace with Li, I think. I realize I need to understand what Isolator I currently have. I’m at the very challenging part of the build.
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