Does anyone have experience with the compatibility between sterling power alternator to battery 130A and bms 12/200? I have already mounted the sterling on my boat, now I am about to mount the bms and lifepo4 victron battery, I don’t know whether to leave the sterling power or eliminate it and connect the alternator directly to the engine battery. Thanks
From a theoretical position, no experience with this set up.
Your alternator needs to output about 14.4 to 14.5V to get the victron lithium battery up to 14.2V at end of charge. If it can do this then there is no need for the Sterling A2B, as the batteries get full, the BMS will cut back charging.
If your alternator does not get a high enough voltage then the A2B may be useful. However, I would be concerned about interactions between 3 controllers in the system in series, alternator regulator, A2B and BMS.
Are you trying to avoid having a lead acid battery on the alternator exit, because the lead acid buffers the system providing smoother control and acts as a load dump should the BMS shut down charging with the alternator running. I do not know if the Sterling A2B has load dump protection inbuilt.
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the engine battery remains, I don’t remove it, it’s an AGM
the alternator supplies 14v, so without the strerling it won’t be able to charge the lifepo4 battery to 100%, but I don’t care, I’m fine with it reaching 85-90%, plus I have the shore charger and solar regulators to charge it to 100% when I need it