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Stub Kan asked

Request: Advice about how to combine solar / shore / alternator power with a battery system.

Hello Victron Community,


I'm looking to upgrade my boats electric system with a bank of Lithium batteries, and I think the old system which is pretty old may need reconfiguring. I decided to ask here, as I have several victron products and may need to add more and you guys may know best how they would effectively work together. Ie, if a victron DC to DC charger on the same circuit as a MPPT charger would be able to work, for example. Here is an attached circuit of the electric system as best as I can figure.

wiring-setup-1.jpg


When I purchased the boat, there was an old and very large inverter and a few other bits which I took out when I installed the solar panels and victron equipment. It seems to have worked for now.

I do have an old one of these in the wiring on the wall.

And, honestly, I have no idea where it goes in the diagram because it goes into a thick wad of a dozen wires and goes into a bunch of tight spaces where I lose which wire it is. I suspect this device is out of date, and doesnt know what to do for Lithium batteries. So it may need replacing?


I have two things I'd like advice on here - firstly, that the alternator feeds directly into the leisure battery bank - although there is that sterling charge regulator thing that goes somewhere, presumably to regulate the alternator - but I believe it may not be okay for newer or Lithium batteries? Would I need to change that up and maybe put a DC to DC charger on the line somewhere?


Also, the second issue is that the charging and power supply is also tied into the same isolation circuit as the starter motor/battery system - which means if I want to start the boat, I have to switch - so the heavy drain of starting isn't applied to the Leisure array. Then, I have to remember to switch it back to begin to apply the alternator charge to the leisure bank as well as the starter - or to switch so only the Leisures are charged. I imagine it'd be better if the charge circuit was moved off the Isolator so that the isolator switch would only be for starting the motor and not also deal with charge current. I'm not sure how well that'd work, or if there may be some issues I don't foresee?


I'd also like to move the boats 12v systems off the Isolator and just wire it straight into the leisure bank so that boat 12v power remains constant and doesnt bother the isolation switching or starter battery. I guess I can just wire it straight to the Leisure bank, directly bypassing the isolator - any thing I should look out for with that?

Thank you in advance guys, I hope asking these questions is all right.

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