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Roger MacDougall avatar image
Roger MacDougall asked

Alternator to Lithium house first, then to AGM Starter?

I am moving from AGM house + starter to Lithium House + AGM starter. I have 640aH of Lithium, 2 Orion TR DC-DC 30 A units and a Balmar 180A Alternator with an external ARS-5 regulator. I will also have 600 W of solar, to start with. Most Victron diagrams show the alternator going to the starter battery first, then the Orions to the Lithium house battery bank. Given my charging capability, wouldn’t it make more sense to go from the regulated alt, to the house bank, thence to the starter via an Orion? I may not even need 2.

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2 Answers
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jwfrary answered ·

Yes I would agree with that, though I haven't used the balmar reg so not sure what it's protections are like if the BMS shuts off!?

We are getting 3.5 kw out of our 200amp 24v Delstar 170 series alt. 2.5 at idle speeds. Pretty amazing, but using the wakespeed controller, incidentally we haven't actually maxed it out yet. Direct to service bank charging is the only way in my opinion for either chemistry's

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pwfarnell answered ·

Most of the Victron diagrams assume a basic alternator with internal regulator set for lead acid charging so charging the starter battery direct and lithiums via a B2B charger is the only was in these cases. With external regulator if the BMS can shut it down then direct charging of the lithiums is good, there are several schematics with the Wakespeed on with the allow to charge function from the BMS. Can your chosen BMS shut down the ARS5.

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