What you need to know when buying a lithium battery!

Lithium batteries are starting become the new normal in many industries. Whether you are replacing your old Sealed Lead Acid batteries starting off new,  Amped Outdoors has developed a lineup of batteries to fit just about every individuals needs.  Here are the best tips for ensuring your batteries will last as long as they are intended:

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Energyland.

BMS

Yes, every Amped Outdoors battery has a built in BMS. The BMS is the heart of a lithium battery. They protect the battery as well as help prolong your battery life. The BMS is the reason a lithium battery can last 5x longer than traditional Lead Acid batteries. 

Each lithium battery has a BMS designed for that batteries intended use. Any use outside of the intended operation can cause a battery BMS to trigger protecting it. Do not try to draw more power than the batteries rated current draw. If you are using one of our batteries for an application outside of marine applications, it is advised to reach out to us first to ensure it will perform properly.

Determining Size/Discharging

So many lithium companies stress how their batteries can be drained 100% safely! Although this is true , it is encourage to size your usable properly so you are not draining your battery to this state on a regular basis. It is best to charge your battery before each use and you DO NOT need to drain your battery before charging. It is always better to size up, charge when you can which in turn will give you more cycles out of your lithium batteries. 

Battery Actual Capacities

Lithium Batteries have a higher useable capacity than standard Seal Lead Acid Batteries. Flooded batteries typically have 50% useable capacity and AGM up to 80% of their rated Amp Hours. Lithium batteries on the market today should range from 95% to 100% usable capacity. Many Amped Outdoors batteries are made to have higher capacity than rated on their package giving you the longest runtimes per size in the industry today. 

Mounting/Storage

Many of our batteries come in standard sizes you will find with Sealed Lead Acid Batteries. Some batteries we sell bags for, some people choose to strap a battery down, some choose trays or a box and some choose an ammo box. Honestly, these are many options but please, secure your products properly and try to keep them from the elements! Yes our batteries have a high IP waterproof rating, but still to this day, the #1 reason a battery fails is due to improper storage, installation and lack of maintenance. Lithium batteries can be mounted in any orientation if they are properly installed. See Maintenance tips below. 

Lithium batteries should be stored between 40-80 degrees F. When not using for the off season, please see our article and video on how to properly store a lithium battery. 

Running 12V batteries in series or buying true 24v/36V batteries?

When all possible, buy the true voltage battery you need vs wiring batteries in series to achieve higher voltage! When batteries are wired in series, they need their own 12V charging source to ensure each battery charges 100%. 

Proper Lithium Maintenance

Yes, lithium batteries require far less maintenance than AGM and other Lead Acid products. Lithium batteries do need to be well cared for to get the full life out of them. Lithium products are built to last 5-10years of regular use as long as they are properly cared for. Here are tips to help get the full life out of our batteries. 

1) Installation: #1 reason of failure of lithium batteries. It is crucial to ensure you do the following: Install in a safe place away from elements. Use the proper battery tray, box and straps as needed. Try to keep in a place that will not get submerged or too wet. Our batteries have a HIGH IP rating but water can cause corrosion and premature wear if not found early. Make sure your wiring is clean, proper cables and connections are used, and then use dielectric grease on all connections to prevent corrosion. Check your connections regularly to make sure they are secured and tight. 

2) Charging: Proper charging is huge for lithium and by far, different than your standard Lead Acid batteries. First, do not charge lithium batteries below freezing. All 12.8V LiFePO4 batteries require a 14.6v CC/CV charge (BULK) and then when fully charged, rest to about 13.5V+. Most AGM chargers are capable of doing this as long as their float is at 13.5V or less (float is useless on LiFePO4 Batteries). Our NMC batteries require our 16.8V charger only. Never mount or charge your lithium batteries outdoors without the proper on board waterproof rated charger. You never want to disulfate a lithium battery. The best chargers for marine applications are available through us or listed below:

• Minnkota Precision (AGM MODE) - New Lithium Chargers in !
• NOCO GEN5 or GENPRO (available on our website)
• Power Pole - only with dedicated 24v and 36V batteries (not 12V in series)
• Dual Pro - Only when provisioned for LiFePO4 lithium
• Dual Pro - New chargers in have lithium detection

For other charging devices, check with us for compatibility. 

3) Checking Connectors Regularly: Check tightness of your connections (on bolt style battery connectors). Loose connections can cause increased resistance, overheating of terminals (melting possible) and corrosion. Use dielectric grease on all connections to prevent corrosion buildup and always ensure your battery bolts are tightened properly using bolt-lock washer-washer then connections in that order. 

4) Storage: Never store a lithium battery fully depleted and do not keep at 100% charged if storing for a longer period of time. First, storing at a depleted state will cause a battery to drop below recommended voltage and cells can go into a state that cannot be recovered. Second, lithium do not like to be stored at a 100% charge. This is very different than older battery technologies. Lithium like to breath and the best way to store a battery is above 30% charge and try to  put a short charge on the battery every 60-90 days if storing for a long period of time. It is recommended to store a battery in a safe, cool and dry place, preferably 40-80 degrees F. 

Full-on Lithionics lithium-battery system and one of the huge lithium batteries on Andy Schell&#;s Falken. Not to worry, we don&#;t all need a system this big, complete, and expensive, but there are important things to learn from a system like this.

So we have carefully thought about the tradeoffs after reading this chapter (where I cut through all the fanboy crap to what really matters), and decided that lithium batteries are the way to go for our offshore voyaging boat.

And we have figured out how much usable battery capacity we need and which charging sources and output power are required to keep up with our usage, as well as whether our system will be 12 or 24 volt, all covered in earlier chapters in this Online Book.

Now what? What gear should we actually buy?

Are you interested in learning more about Lithium Battery? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!

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Sure, we can dive into a hundred YouTube videos, but most are by someone who has never, or rarely, been offshore voyaging, and, worse still, many of the presenters could not explain ohms law if their lives depended on it&#;being a great presenter can mask truly stunning ignorance.

Or we can read who knows how many manufacturer web sites, reviews, and/or videos claiming that one particular lithium battery and BMS is best, or best for the money. But how do you decide who is making sense and who is full of shit and/or just trying to make a sale?

And even if we can figure that out, there is no best, there is only best for each of us.

To solve these problems I&#;m going to explore how each of us can develop our own set of buying criteria so we can cut through the noise to find and buy the best system for us.

The key points that are vital to understand are in the blue (tip) and pink (alert) boxes; that said, it will make more sense if you read the whole article carefully.

Also, I have used photos of various equipment to illustrate the article, but that does not mean I&#;m specifically endorsing that piece of gear.

What Matters To Us

The absolute number-one thing we need to fix in our minds before we go any further down this lithium-battery system selection road is that the needs of offshore voyaging boats are different and more stringent than pretty much any other usage case except aircraft.

Don&#;t Look To RVs (Campers)

For example, a system designed for a recreational vehicle (RV) is useless on an offshore voyaging boat because:

• Lithium-battery system load dumps on an RV don&#;t result in the power steering shutting down (think autopilot), the headlights going dark (think nav lights), and the dials blinking out (think plotter and instruments) in the middle of the highway.
• RVs generally spend a lot more of their time under power and have more room for solar panels in relation to their needs&#;an RV is more like a motorboat than sailboat.
• Most RV campers spend a lot more time on shore power.

RV lithium-battery systems do not supply mission-critical safety systems (driving), offshore voyaging boat systems do.

It&#;s also important to understand that RVs are a far bigger market for lithium-battery systems&#;for example, less than 10% of Wakespeed WS 500 alternator regulators are sold to boat owners&#;so most of the documentation and suggested configurations we find on the internet do not apply to us.

Compare Against a Benchmark

Next we need to compare against the long-proven solution, a well designed and installed lead-acid based system, and be realistic about what we are taking on when we leave that behind:

1. Installing a lithium system that increases the chances of an electrical blackout is bad seamanship.
   • If you doubt that, please read this before going further.
2. Lithium systems are way, way more complex and intrinsically less reliable and fault tolerant.

If we install a lithium-battery system that&#;s anything less than done right, we will have taken a huge step backward. The ocean doesn&#;t give a shit how cool our electrical system is, it only cares about how functional and reliable it is.

Good News, Bad News

The good news is that today we can build a lithium battery-based electrical system that&#;s makes the offshore voyaging boat grade, and even do that at a relatively reasonable cost.

The bad news is that it&#;s on us to figure out how to do that in a seamanlike way, since there are no turnkey systems specially designed for our needs.

Actually, there are from Ocean Planet Energy, but even if we decide to buy the whole system from Bruce and his good folks (highly recommended), we still need enough understanding to know what he&#;s talking about, and to install and maintain the system right; yes, even if we pay someone else to do the actual work.

Why I&#;m Writing This

But, before I dig into the technology, this article and how it will unfold was, as happens so often, inspired by a member comment:

Right now my hang-up is why LFP communication with the Alternator Regulator is necessary, and I have heard no reasonable technical explanation from anyone yet.

Member, Rick

I have to say that when I first read that I was a little put out. After all, I have written a complete Online Book, much of it explaining just that in detail. If you are too lazy to read it&#;yada, yada, yada&#;

But then I realized Rick has a point:

1. I need to explain this more simply and in one place, rather than scattered throughout the Book.
2. I also need to come up with a solution for those who don&#;t want to go that far or already have lithium batteries that don&#;t communicate; often, but not always, called &#;drop in&#;.

And then, once we have covered that off, we need a simple, or as simple as it&#;s possible for me to make it, list of criteria we can use as we buy stuff.

By the way, if you were wondering why there was no article or tips last week it was because I spent a ton of time researching for this article&#;this stuff is still complicated!

Let&#;s do that.

If you want to learn more, please visit our website 20KW Off Grid Inverter.