Lifeline/Victron Lithium Power Upgrade

Hi everyone,

Our four 100Ah Lifeline AGM batteries are 11.5 years old.  They've done amazingly well.  They were installed at the start of our other live-aboard hurricane/cyclone season - in Darwin.  See here.  Over the last two months we've noticed they're not holding charge.  Our battery monitor shows less Amp-hours out than the voltage implies.  We knew we'd replace them before crossing another ocean so the time had come.

Lifeline Lithium Aboard

Lifeline AGMs ready for retirement

While in Sint Maartin we discovered Budget Marine stocks the new Lifeline LiFePo4 batteries.  We're big fans of Lifeline, having had them on our last two boats.  On our previous boat we had to wait for delivery since the US Coast Guard had bought three months output of the factory - now that's an endorsement!  Not only do Lifeline now make LiFePo4 batteries but, very sensibly, they match the size of their AGM batteries.  An easy choice for us.

Lithium batteries are thought to be expensive, but their useable Amp-hours are nearly twice that of AGM batteries.  We had four 100Ah AGMs which we could discharge to 50%, so using 200Ah.  Two 100Ah LiFePo4 batteries would give us similar capacity.  And the price of two 100Ah Lifeline LiFePo4 batteries from Budget Marine was the same as four 100Ah Lifeline AGM batteries.  The cost was EC$6600 for the two new batteries, or US$2400.  Amazingly Budget Marine in Grenada had them in stock!  A 'no brainer' perhaps.

Another advantage of LiFePo4 batteries is weight.  Each AGM weighs 28kg.  Each LiFePo4 weighs 12kg.  Total saving 88kg.  Nice.

On receiving the batteries we noted their serial numbers were each less than 100.  Early adopters!

Inspection Ports open for keel bolt inspection

Lifeline battery party!

The other factor was the need to replace our mains and solar regulators which were 12 years old and did not support lithium.  And we needed to add a DC to DC charger to protect our engine alternator from the LiFiPo4 batteries which would otherwise burn it out.   That's due to the low impedance of LiFePo4 batteries.

We decided to replace with Victron Energy gear.  Victron gear is blue so a good fit for Zen Again.  And they have great specs and are very popular.  Island Water World stocks Victron products.  Their web site doesn't show stock at each store so I called the Grenada store.  They had what we needed in stock.   Twas meant to be! The total cost of the Victron gear was EC$3300 (US$1200).

On arrival at Port Louis Marina last Wednesday we walked around to the Island Water World store to pay the balance and collect the kit.  We then taxied to Budget Marine to pay the balance and the batteries were then put on charge prior to delivery on Thursday.  And Budget Marine gave us a 15% discount on the batteries as their first customers for the batteries.  That saved us EC$990 (US$370), reducing the price to roughly equivalent to buying them in the US.  Outstanding!

Victron Energy Aboard

On Thursday (day 1) morning we had all the kit aboard so the project commenced.  We swapped out the batteries and installed the Victron BSC IP22 30A mains charger.  We also replaced our battery monitor with a Victron SmartBMV 712 Smart which adds Bluetooth capability.

Batteries mounted in the pedestal (under the saloon table)

Installation of the mains charger was simple with new cables only necessary inside the pedestal.  Victron's installation instructions are very good.  With power applied we could connect to the unit from our iPhone via bluetooth.  The unit then updated its firmware automatically and prompted us to change the default bluetooth pairing PIN.  That's a must since we would see our neighbour's Victron solar charger! 

Mains Charger and Battery Monitor mounted
(note the mounting holes of the old unit)

Overnight on day 1 we tested the mains charger.  It is much smaller than our old unit and like the old unit has fan cooling.  In operation is gets quite hot, increasing to 30C above ambient.  That's 60C actual.  By late evening it had switched from Bulk mode to Absorb mode and by morning to Float mode.  We fitted a 50A circuit breaker on its DC output nearby.  And yes, our mains/shore power system has RCD and circuit breakers on entry to the boat.

Mains Charger charging
(on iPhone using VictronConnect app)

Fully charged batteries
(on iPad)

On day 2 (Friday) we fitted the solar charger.  It was mounted in the nav station where the old unit lived.  Installation was very simple since no new wiring was required.  We did the bluetooth connect, firmware upgrade, PIN change and setup thing and then completed the wiring.  The output side is protected by a 50A circuit breaker in the pedestal.

Solar Charger mounted and charging

On day 3 (Saturday) we tested the solar charger and watched it progress from Bulk to Absorb to Float.  We believe we're getting more out of it than the old unit which used PWM (Pulse Width Modulation).  The new unit uses MPPT (Maximum Power Point Transfer).  The solar charger also gets hot, but we haven't yet seen the low battery voltage with sunny sky scenario which will maximise its temperature.

Solar Charger charging
(under a cloudy sky)

Also on day 3 we fitted the DC Charger, an Orion-TR Isolated 30A unit.  We don't need isolation but the Non-Isolated version wasn't in stock.  The unit connects between our engine alternator and our new batteries.  It protects the alternator by limiting its output to 30A.  It keeps the current at 30A while in Bulk mode.  Previously we'd get 55A initially, followed by an exponential decrease down to 20A after 90 minutes and 10A after 2 hours.  So the engine will now charge the batteries faster overall.

Fitting involved new cabling but again only inside the pedestal.  We did the bluetooth etc thing and then completed the wiring.  We fitted two 50A circuit breakers for the DC charger, one on its input and the other on its output.  Both are mounted in the pedestal with all the others.  Incidentally this gave us a connection point to wire the Engine Battery voltage to the Victron Battery Shunt.  This allows us to display the engine battery voltage on the Battery Monitor.  We also cut and fitted a cover to hide the old battery switch array holes on the aft face of the pedestal.

DC Charger mounted below Mains Charger

On day 4 (Sunday) we tested the DC Charger which of course involves running the engine.  We ran the test for about 4 hours.  The DC Charger gets very hot, exactly as highlighted in the manual.  It got to 42C above ambient, or 72C actual.  The unit may have been reducing its output current at that temperature.  Orion-TRs can be paralleled to get 60A or 90A but 30A is plenty for us.

The DC Charger is pretty clever in its ability to detect engine start and stop.  We need to test this more thoroughly but it worked on initial test.  An external switch can be used if necessary.

DC Charger charging

Today (Monday) we reconnected the loads local to the pedestal.  That's our Victron Phoenix 500W inverter, two cigarette lighter outlets and two USB charge points.  All are mounted on the pedestal and it doesn't make sense to run cables to the nav station circuit breaker panel and back again.  They're protected by fuses in the pedestal.

We're really pleased with the ease of installation of the Victron gear.  We were helped by the minimal need for new cable runs.  I'd estimated 1 to 2 weeks and it took 4 days including substantial but not exhaustive testing.  We may need to tweek some settings to better suit the Lifeline LiFePo4 batteries, choosing not to get ahead of ourselves during initial tests.  The Lifeline batteries have a charge voltage of 14.6V, higher than the Victron LiFePo4 default of 14.2V.

The VictronConnect app gathers statistical information in addition to live data.  An example is below.  What we want ulitmately is to pass the live data to our Signal K system, store it in the Influx database and graph it with Grafana.  But that project's a little way down the To-Do list. 

VictronConnect app History display

It was good to have the opportunity to rewire the pedestal.  Additions, modifications and deletions over 12 years made it less tidy than I wanted.  I'm pretty happy with the result.

Ready to install the locker floor

The pedestal has a substantial, well-secured 'floor' over the batteries.  They won't go anywhere in a knockdown.  And above the floor we store a large volume of 'stuff' - mainly electrical, plumbing, gas and engine spares.

Floor in (view forward)

Floor in (view aft)

Nine storage boxes back in place

Blue Lithium!

You may wonder what we did with our old batteries and chargers.  We're donating them to the Caribbean Emergency & Weather Net.  This Amateur SSB Net runs daily on 3815kHz LSB at 0630 and 1830 local (1030 and 2230 UTC).  The same folks use the Friendly Net on 7188kHz LSB at 0700 local (1100 UTC) to stay in touch and teach new operators.  The Friendly Net loves to hear from foreign licensed amateurs, and particularly those from distant lands.  Nice folks!

Trust all's well where you are!