question

marka avatar image
marka asked

Lithium Batteries Location, max cable Length / size between alternator, charger and batteries

Hi,

planing to change the battery bank on my boat. I wonder if there is any recomentation where to place lithium batteries in relation to alternator to charger to battery bank. Max cable lenght and sizes between the parts.

Thanks for your help

Mark

Lithium Batterychargeralternator
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2 Answers
wkirby avatar image
wkirby answered ·

Generally you want the cables to be as short as possible. For longer runs then you'll need to consider thicker cables to keep losses down.
If you let us know what sort of distances you have in mind and also what sort of current you expect the cables to carry then perhaps we could help you with cable sizes.

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marka avatar image marka commented ·
Thank you for your help. I am wondering if it makes more sense to put the carger next to the alternator in the engie room or close to the batteries which might be 2-3 m cable length. So what option is better charger close to alternator or charger close to batteries ?

Thanks again

Mark

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drlbradley avatar image
drlbradley answered ·

I put my charger (an Orion) closer to my batteries than the alternator, figuring that the voltage drop to the Orion wasnt as important as between the Orion and the batteries as its doing voltage conversion anyway. I still overspecced the cable from batteries to the Orion though to reduce voltage drop.

The victron toolkit app has a Cable Calc that you can use to determine the voltage drop.

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marka avatar image marka commented ·
Thank you very much
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