Lithium batteries in Australia

[The Dark Knight]

I have seen in Aus "drop in" Lithium batteries that have built in BMS and therefore not seem to require any changes to the boats charging.

Does anyone have experience with these brands?

https://itechworld.com.au/collections/lithium-batteries

https://enerdrive.com.au/product/enerdrive-12v-100ah-elite-lithium-battery/

My boat currently has 2 x 55amp AGM batteries which are 6 years old. Because I will be adding additional consumers(MFD, AIS, portable 12v fridge & laptop), will be using the AP more (longer o/n passages) and doing some family weekends away, I want to go for a decent house battery capacity boost. As it is a racer cruiser I'd like to minimise the weight gain.

 

[FromTheRail]

I wouldn't touch itechworld stuff, I'd rather spend more and get something decent

 

[eliboat]

Check out Safiery:

https://www.safiery.com/lithium-battery-200ah-canbus-with-bluetooth

they have some nice solutions and I would have loved to have access to their stuff in the US, but he only sells down your way. 

 

[Slim]

Read this before proceeding. 
 

https://marinehowto.com/lifepo4-batteries-on-boats/

 

[Ocean View]

Contact Rod a EV Power

https://www.ev-power.com.au/

All the EV guys use him as he offer the best prices and he knows his stuff.

I've successfully used them in yachts as well.

 

[FromTheRail]

I've used this company on a non marine project before and am happy with the batteries

https://baintech.com.au/

 

[Se7en]

I have seen in Aus "drop in" Lithium batteries that have built in BMS and therefore not seem to require any changes to the boats charging.

My research is 4 years old now - so take it with a grain of salt. 

Summary - I replaced the batteries on our cruiser prior to a 6 month live aboard stint. I dug into replacing with lithium (our boat was pretty light with fin and bulb keel etc), and was not satisfied that any of the 'drop in' solutions would work. Main issue is with charge rates (Lithium like it to be high) and SOC (Lithium likes to be kept at 60%). We had a peak usage of 150 Ah a day while sailing, and an average around 90 Ah. So we went with 400 Ah of AGM, charged by altenator and 400 watts of solar. Managing the batteries was easy - the solar system (2 by 2 panels in series, into two controllers in parrallel) did it for us, whether we were using the boat or not.

The big issue to consider is the charge rate one - how are you going to charge the batteries? 

We did a lot of day sails up the coast, so a typical day will be to run the engine for 30 mins to an hour as we get going, then have solar until dusk. This initial fast charge and ongoing trickle suits lead acid perfectly, but is crap for Lithium. Even if you are going to charge from shore power, Lithium generally likes a higher voltage and current profile than lead acid - which I'm not convinced the Lithium inbuilt BMS can mimic using your current chargers.

However - our next cruising boat I will go Lithium. Our next boat we want a watermaker, so we will have a generator onboard. That way we can make water and charge the batteries fast every few days. Plus have a big inverter as the Lithium also copes with high discharge rates. But it doesn't sound like you want generators and watermakers on your boat.

 

[The Dark Knight]

My research is 4 years old now - so take it with a grain of salt. 

Summary - I replaced the batteries on our cruiser prior to a 6 month live aboard stint. I dug into replacing with lithium (our boat was pretty light with fin and bulb keel etc), and was not satisfied that any of the 'drop in' solutions would work. Main issue is with charge rates (Lithium like it to be high) and SOC (Lithium likes to be kept at 60%). We had a peak usage of 150 Ah a day while sailing, and an average around 90 Ah. So we went with 400 Ah of AGM, charged by altenator and 400 watts of solar. Managing the batteries was easy - the solar system (2 by 2 panels in series, into two controllers in parrallel) did it for us, whether we were using the boat or not.

The big issue to consider is the charge rate one - how are you going to charge the batteries? 

We did a lot of day sails up the coast, so a typical day will be to run the engine for 30 mins to an hour as we get going, then have solar until dusk. This initial fast charge and ongoing trickle suits lead acid perfectly, but is crap for Lithium. Even if you are going to charge from shore power, Lithium generally likes a higher voltage and current profile than lead acid - which I'm not convinced the Lithium inbuilt BMS can mimic using your current chargers.

However - our next cruising boat I will go Lithium. Our next boat we want a watermaker, so we will have a generator onboard. That way we can make water and charge the batteries fast every few days. Plus have a big inverter as the Lithium also copes with high discharge rates. But it doesn't sound like you want generators and watermakers on your boat.

I think I will just replace my 2 x55ah AGMs with a couple of 100ah AGMs. Maybe down the track I will go the Lithium route but for now the cost outweighs the benefits. 

If I go on a diet I can offset the weight gain.

 

[sail7seas]

I recently replaced (4) 6v FLD 200ah batteries weighting about 200lbs
(wired as two 12v batteries = 400ah @ 50% usable = 200ah)   
with one DIY 12v 200ah LifeP04 battery at 30lbs and one 12v AGM wired in parallel.
It is charged per video below: