[C320-list] New Battery Chemistry

[Jerry]

Did it last year a little different than most people. I have two xantrex chargers in parallel. One is 40 amps and one is 20 amps. They do not have a lithium setting. I installed 2 200ah Renogy blue tooth batteries that connect to my iPhone. I use the AGM setting most of the time. But I increased the amp output to 13.9 V by selecting the cold setting on temperature control on the charger. This gets the batteries up to 98% which lithium prefer. When I am off the boat I shut off most of the load and turn off the charger. Once in a great while I need to top balance the battery cells then I switch the charger to GEL settings which increases the float charge to 14.5V for a few hours. When the cells are balanced I switch back to AGM settings which returns the charger back to13.9V float. That keeps the battery happy.  To protect the alternator from over heating I installed a 40amp dc-dc charger to run from the AGM start battery to the lifpo4 battery   That works for me very well I have enough power to run off grid with refrigerator and stereo and instruments for 3-4days without returning to the dock. I am on a Missouri lake so I don’t need solar. 
Cat 320 #500 1998. 
Midnight Rider. 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Feb 20, 2023, at 19:19, Bruce Heyman via C320-list <c320-list at lists.catalina320.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi John,
> Excellent!  Would you do it again?  Any issues or challenges?  Seems like it should provide a lot more AMP Hours!
> Very best,
> Bruce
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: C320-list <c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com> On Behalf Of John Beck via C320-list
> Sent: Monday, February 20, 2023 5:09 PM
> To: C320-List at catalina320.com
> Cc: John Beck <jbeck50 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [C320-list] New Battery Chemistry
> 
> Did it 2 years ago with solar and added a start battery!
> 
>> On Mon, Feb 20, 2023 at 8:02 PM Bruce Heyman via C320-list < c320-list at lists.catalina320.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Has anyone ventured into switching to LiFePO4 batteries?  Seems the 
>> technology has really advanced.
>> Thanks,
>> Bruce
>> 
>> Bruce Heyman
>> Somerset #671   San Pedro (LA) California
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
> Jb
>