[Gnawrocki1]

                           
Well guru's, I figured it was time to post about the solar, LiFePO battery and inverter upgrade.  It has been a long time coming, but I am nearing completion.

I will start with a little description of the main components:
-2 Victron 5KVA quattro inverters
-Victron 150/70 solar controller for 48V batteries
-Victron 100/50 solar controller for charging 12V from 48V batteries
-Victron GX
-3 280Ah batteries made from 48 EVE cells
-Batrium watchmon core battery monitor/controller
-16 100W solar panels hooked up 4S4P
-48-24VDC transformer for Batrium control

It all started about 2 years ago prior to a trip with my bride to our 2nd burning man event.  The plan was to have it all done, but that was not in the cards with the rest of life happening, so I installed the solar the panels and controller to the failing 12V D house batteries.  This has lasted and we never ran out of power even though we were down to 4 batteries.

The location of the devices was a challenge as we did not want to take away any of our storage so here is where I ended up with placement:
-The inverters were located on the back wall of bay L4 (just in front of current inverter/generator-aquahot exhaust bay)
-Both solar controllers were located in the current inverter/generator-aquahot exhaust bay
-3 new batteries were located in current battery bays (in front of drive, and in back of tag axle)
-Main circuit board is located in the new inverter bay (L4) on the ceiling of that
-48-24VDC batrium transformer and auto gen start solenoids are located in pantry closet right behind microwave along with the GX screen

Yesterday I was able to finish the battery top balance charging each cell to 3.64V.  I am letting them sit hooked up until I start the install of the batteries.

There were many challenges with hooking up everything, here are some of the more challenging ones:

-Running wiring to the shore power bay and behind tag axle from the new inverter bay.  This took the longest to prepare for.  Without being able use Simons pit, it would not have been possible to do it as clean as it turned out.  From the new inverter bay, I first went on top of the a/c ducting back to L5 bay, then over to R5.  I went "over the wall" of the R5 bay to R6 fishing the lines (3@6/4 So cables and 6@2/0 battery cables along with a bunch of smaller wires (about 20..).  I drilled 5 holes for 1-1/2 PVC pipe through the R6 aquahot bay into R7 battery bay to run lines through without abrasion.  Then I cut a 4 x 7 oval  in the top back of the battery bay and removed some of the sheet metal above the diesel tank to route the wiring down near the hydraulic cooler area.  I then followed the existing 6/4 wire that came from the generator to the back shore line bay, and the 2/0 battery cable to the battery box behind the tag axle.  (long winded, but a long way to go!)

-Hanging the inverters in bay L4.....I am not as strong as I used to be, I hope to never have to remove.  I mounted a 1/2" panel of baltic birch to the aft of the bay being sure to screw into the metal framing behind the normal bay material as well as putting fender washers all the way through the bay without hitting exisiting inverter or anything already mounted on the front of L5 bay

-Getting an organized place for all of the circuit board that is mounted on the roof of L4 bay.  The board is mounted to the tube frame members with 6 screws that are tapped into the steel

-Drilling the 3 holes through the three 3/8 steel plates on the inside of the shoreline power bay for the 6/4 wire.  I am not as young as I used to be, but carbide hole saws helped me prevail.  The 3 holes were needed to hook up the split phase power that hooks the shore line to generator to main panel together through the inverter.  I removed the existing transfer switch as the inverter has the built in.


That is all for now, I will post some more as I get time.  Enjoy!

[Jack Houpe]

Nice work Glenn, what's the box in the aquahot bay go to?

[Gnawrocki1]

There are 2 boxes in the aquahot bay.

The one on the ceiling has 24V and 48v fuses as well as a relay for battery heaters.

The one on the back wall is the batrium watchmon core control unit to protect the batteries. It monitors every cell of the battery packs so hopefully we don't make any magic smoke.

[Richard]

Wow !!!!!

Talk about raising the bar. Very nice.

[TJ Clark]

Impressive.


Why not use the OG location for the new equipment?

[Gnawrocki1]

Impressive.


Why not use the OG location for the new equipment?

I used as much original locations as much as I thought that I could given the "requirements" that I wanted on the system size and ability for off-ish grid operation.

The batteries are in the original location.  I was actually able to use them with very slight modifications.

I wanted to keep the original inverter as a backup that is now fed from the engine batteries so that stayed.  I can choose to either feed the original inverter sub panel (with a few circuits including the refrigerator/microwave/missing deep freeze....) from the inverter or the main panel with the new inverters.    

The new inverters would not fit in the original location and I wanted to spread the heat load out in the 2 large bays.  I am hoping that I do not have to cool the bays with the new electronics with anything too complicated because of the size of the compartment as well as a/c ducting is located there.  I might get away with doing nothing, but likely I will have to un-insulate the a/c ducting, or put in some sort of heat sink on the ducting, or at worst steal some of the a/c air in the duct. 

I left the generator to transfer switch wiring in, but had to extend it from the shore power bay to the new inverter bay.  

Although it is kind of late for me to move it at this point, is there any suggestions for locations for the next guy?

Glen

[Jack Houpe]

Glenn to give you a bit of hope about heat we had a victron 3,000 Watt 12 volt inverter in our class b, at times it was parked out in the broad sunlight absorbing unbelievable amount of heat and never once was there a problem even when you jump in it and turn on the AC which was a 12,000 BTU mini split. It was located in a very tight area with no ventilation. That being said it never was in Phoenix in the summer!

[TJ Clark]

Although it is kind of late for me to move it at this point, is there any suggestions for locations for the next guy?

Glen

I had not considered that you kept the OG inverter, nor how large the new inverters are.

[Jonestead]

Richard stole my lines, word for word. 
So I guess you'll have to accept a meager Nicely done!!

[TJ Clark]

Glen: "-3 280Ah batteries made from 48 EVE cells" this is 40K amp hours?

How did you land on the battery capacity you have?
What moved you to 48v?
Did you construct the packs yourself?
Are your inverters creating split phase 240v 50a?


My main issue currently is the time to charge required with my current AGM batteries. Do you think, assuming my inverter/charger can be properly configured to charge LiFePO4 batteries, would my time to charge decrease using LiFePO4?

Thanks