Blue Sea, Victron, Lithium

[lusgi]

I have a 98 Windsor, with a Lance neeville alternator, diode, lambert charging system.  After reading multiple threads i think I have a partial understanding. If I read right instead of the blue sea relay I could put a victron DC to DC charger in It's place?  If I also put in lithium house batteries would this charge them also. 

[timaz996]

You will have to make sure that your alternator is only putting current to the house batteries through the DC to DC charger. Then you will be good.

[TomV48]

1 hour ago, lusgi said:

I have a 98 Windsor, with a Lance neeville alternator, diode, lambert charging system.  After reading multiple threads i think I have a partial understanding. If I read right instead of the blue sea relay I could put a victron DC to DC charger in It's place?  If I also put in lithium house batteries would this charge them also. 

Oh yes.  A good DC to DC charger is ideal for LiFePo batteries.  Since they can suck a very high rate of charge, they can often take all that an alternator will deliver and put the alternator to more load than is good for it.   That said, one of our rving partners let's his LiFePo bank pull straight from the alternator and has not smoked it YET.

[vito.a]

Your alternator is a Leece-Neville.  These are very heavy-duty alternators used in big trucks and heavy duty marine applications.  This is different than the light duty automotive alternators used in most gas-powered motor homes.  It's your coach, but several folks are running lithium batteries with a Leece-Neville alternator and without the DC to DC charger.  

I would make sure you charge your batteries as much as possible with the generator and inverter.  In other words, don't start the engine and drive off with discharged lithium batteries.  

Edited June 8 by vito.a

[Tom Cherry]

3 minutes ago, vito.a said:

Your alternator is a Leece-Neville.  These are very heavy-duty alternators used in big trucks and heavy duty marine applications.  This is different than the light duty automotive alternators used in most gas-powered motor homes.  It's your coach, but several folks are running lithium batteries with a Leece-Neville alternator and without the DC to DC charger.  

I would make sure you charge your batteries as much as possible with the generator and inverter.  In other words, don't start the engine and drive off with discharged lithium batteries.  

That, I THOUGHT, was the reason for the DC/DC Charger...to protect the Lithiums, which are VERY PERSNICKETY, from being destroyed from proper charging.

The next question....  Assume you are going to install a NEW INVERTER as the original inverters....even the more recent Magnums (circa 2009 - 15) are NOT SUITED for Lithiums and MOST folks are gutting and putting in NEW INVERTERS....to protect their Lithiums and their investment.

Just CURIOUS....

We have had many folks that said...Just bought new LIthiums because I wanted...."FILL IN THE BLANK" or perhaps the statements of all the benefits of Lithiums.  Then, a year or two later...  OMG... I have toasted my Lithiums...and then decide to go back to the original Lead Acid RV Deep Cycle batteries.  I don't have a list... but my mental one says it is well into the double digits.

There are MANY topics here that give you a good feel.  This one, in particular helps.  Suggest you search and do some reading.... 

Perhaps you are aware of all of this...but the fact that the Inverter was not mentioned prompted this question.

I also did a search....over 25 pages on LITHIUMS...Here is the search results and I selected the one below as the one to start with... Click on the link for the list...

https://www.monacoers.org/search/?q=Lithium&quick=1&type=forums_topic

 

 

[Benjamin]

Ironically, a diode isolator is designed exactly for this purpose, to limit current to the house batteries if you take off with fully drained house batteries, so that the chassis can function correctly, and gradually charge the house.  I'm NOT suggesting you use the diode isolator that way, or even keep it, just that this is not a new problem. The Li would make the problem much worse and possibly blow out the diode isolator. 

Hooking the DC to DC converter would mean removing the house battery lead from the isolator, and hooking the center alternator lead directly to the chassis battery bank, without disconnecting the remote sense wire from the chassis batteries.  Remove any boost solenoid, or other connection between the chassis and Li besides the DC converter.  You could leave the isolator in place as a base for the stud terminals, even leave the house and chassis hooked to the outer terminals as long as the center alternator wire is moved. 

[lusgi]

Okay, my system is working as it should at the moment. I am just trying to have a plan of action if some component were to fail. The bus is old and the simplest way to fix is what I am looking for,  although possibly not the best.

I thought I saw in one of the threads that the Victron could be used instead of the ML-ACR.

On 6/8/2024 at 5:39 PM, timaz996 said:

You will have to make sure that your alternator is only putting current to the house batteries through the DC to DC charger. Then you will be good.

Then I would lose the isolation feature of the Victron?

[Benjamin]

There's no reason to change it if it's working, and you're sticking with lead acid house batteries for now.  The alternator can be replaced with any delco 28si with the proper mount, or most 22si, 24si etc. with the remote sense, and proper mount.  NO guarantee that the first shop you take it to gets it right though!  If you're diode isolator burns out, in an emergency you can move the center alternator cable to the chassis battery side, then hook a jumper and switch between that and the house side, switch it on once the engine is running, off when you'll be using the house batteries overnight, not a big deal compared to all the things that could possibly go wrong.

With no working generator and an aftermarket import alternator I don't trust, I bought a used genuine Delco alternator off ebay for less than $50, tested it with a drill, and carry it along. 

[timaz996]

4 hours ago, lusgi said:

Okay, my system is working as it should at the moment. I am just trying to have a plan of action if some component were to fail. The bus is old and the simplest way to fix is what I am looking for,  although possibly not the best.

I thought I saw in one of the threads that the Victron could be used instead of the ML-ACR.

Then I would lose the isolation feature of the Victron?

I have tied my alternator to only charge my chassis battery. I use a DC to DC charger to charge my house batteries pulling current from the chassis battery. I removed the battery isolator. See pictures. The DC to DC charger is not in the pictures as it is located in a back bedroom compartment.   

[lusgi]

1 hour ago, timaz996 said:

I have tied my alternator to only charge my chassis battery. I use a DC to DC charger to charge my house batteries pulling current from the chassis battery. I removed the battery isolator. See pictures. The DC to DC charger is not in the pictures as it is located in a back bedroom compartment.   

The Lambert is still in the circuit to charge the chassis battery?

[timaz996]

That only works when you are plugged in or generator. (Lambert) And yes you can charge lithium batteries at a lower voltage, but you just won't bring them to 100% charge with a lower voltage. Contrary to what people say, I also charge my chassis battery from one of my solar controllers. (yes, at lithium voltage) For almost five years now. (Sept 2019) Note: I'm dry camping more than 95% of the time.

Edited June 10 by timaz996