Lithium Battery Engineering Articles

I've read a fair amount of the articles on the web (forums and blogs) about Lithium battery installations. The best of the best are the following:

http://nordkyndesign.com/category/marine-engineering/electrical/lithium-battery-systems/

https://nordkyndesign.com/electrical-design-for-a-marine-lithium-battery-bank/

https://www.entropypool.de/engineering/

https://marinehowto.com/lifepo4-batteries-on-boats/

In addition, you will find some very long threads on various boating forums. Read them carefully as there are a lot of opinions among a few good facts. The above articles are a much more succinct source of the relevant facts.

The design of a good Lithium battery bank with monitoring circuits, etc., is not for anyone who isn't comfortable with electricity and electronics. There are a lot of things to get right. The articles above will provide the foundation material for getting things right.

If you're not of the mind of an electrical engineer, I recommend going to one of the commercial Lithium battery companies for your system. The short list I give out is Victron (I happen to like their other products too), MasterVolt, and Relion. Yes, there are other good companies, but these are the ones I can regularly remember. Their products are expensive, but are engineered for installation by the typical boatyard or an adept boat owner. Even with their products, it is worth reading over the above articles so you're generally aware of the issues (like overheating alternators or a battery that disconnects itself due to over voltage) so you can discuss them with your vendor of choice.

  -Terry