Who has Lithium Batteries?

[ThereAndBack]

Originally Posted by CapnBazza

Are you worried about the fire you have to make on board to send out smoke signals? Try vhf radios or mobile phones, they are “new” but work quite well.

There are naysayers to all new technologies. They said GPS would kill people, that VHF would kill people, that LORAN would kill people, that engines would kill people.


They aren't wrong. But they let the perfect get in the way of the good. Let them gripe. Those of us that use new technology and enjoy it will move the world on while they wring their "safe" little hands.

[CatNewBee]

Originally Posted by seagypsy50

You can lead a mule to water, but .... you know the rest.

Always interesting to read about boats going up in flames and what caused it.... Guess we'll start seeing a lot of battery fires before people see sense, at least those who haven't gone overboard because of poor seamanship, and then expect people to risk themselves to rescue them. Same goes for ill-informed equipment choices.

Anyway enough time wasted on this forum, Darwin... do your work

Totally agree, especially by poor propane installations. I am happy to have got rid of that risk. A LiFeYPO4 setup is much more safe and having sufficient energy to run autopilot, radar and all safety gear in all situations gives us peace of mind.

I saw one of my lead acid (GEL) batteries going up in smoke by a short cell, it stinked like rotten eggs and killed the other batteries of the bank. Having to run the generator or the engines daily for hours to recharge the LA battery is also not a preferrable option on a sailing vessel at all.

LFP batteries are safe and reliable, they have a longer life and swallow higher currents, they are monitored by expensive systems (BMS) and are much better cared of than LA installations, because people are more aware of the systems needs.

Electric fires caused by corrosion or loose contacts are risks on any used electric storage technology and are equally likely or unlikely on LA and LFP.

We feel safer with LFP, and the life quality on board for us as liveaboards is much higher with a reliable and large energy storage.

It is an very essential piece of the puzzle for everything: allways availlable fresh water, refrigeration and food storage, food processing (cooking, baking), power winches, navigation and safety aids (auto pilot, RADAR, AIS, communication like VHF, internet, cell phones, SAT phone, weather, navigation lights) We run everything 24x7 on passagges and have safety zones set up for collision avoidance and Squall monitoring without permanently thinking about available energy, or turning off the RADAR or VHF to save power is a HUGE gain in security and safety at sea for ourselves and for the other boats around us. It is not just having the necessary juice, but also having a very stable Voltage for all electronics.

We are aware of the risks, and we do our best to cope with them, switching to LFP was one of our best decisions so far.

The battery stays cool all the time regardless of the load at ambient temperature, each cell has its temperature sensor and voltage sensor, the BMS is watching and tracking this values 24x7 and the user is informed by alarms of unusual behavior early. Misconfigured or malfunctioning charge sources that can harm the battery are monitored and can be cut automatically by the BMS to keep the cells in the safe operation zone. This was not the case with LA.