Victron Energy: Alternator/Solar Charging - LFP Battery System

shade

Well-known member
In high vibration environments clamping the cells reduces the risk of damage to the electrodes.
I've been wondering if it'd be worth trying to provide some vibration damping in my battery mount. I don't jump my truck, and it has a pretty plush suspension, but it still rattles a fair amount over corrugated roads.
 

shade

Well-known member
Makes sense. I haven't read of any battery failures due to mechanical damage short of actual impact.
 

shade

Well-known member
Victron blog update with several new products:

 

dreadlocks

Well-known member
Bah, 1600VA MultPlus Inverter, perfect size for a couple LFP's (70A charge current!) and any Coffee Maker you can find.. even espresso machines.

but its 220v euro, booo

SmartShunt looks cool tho for mini installs where someone dunno where to put a BMV display.
 
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dreadlocks

Well-known member
I have that and quite like it so far and ive not even connected to the VE direct port.. its ran all my stuff but its all low wattage travel/dorm stuff, which is good but a bit limiting..

unfortunately my bus dont have the room my trailer has for all this stuff, solar either so imna need more capacity or gotta packup and drive it.. I been hoping they come out with a north american model before I restore that.. would make things much easier on me.
 

shade

Well-known member
I'm in no hurry to buy, but I may have found a fun way to get a lot more use out of my solar system.


I could easily do my work commute on something like this, and charge it off of my truck's solar system. I've been wanting a >300 lb bike to carry on my truck's hitch receiver, and there are a few of these that meet that requirement, too. I'm guessing 50 miles of off-road battery endurance is possible, which would be decent.

I spend roughly $50/week on fuel for my commute, so that's a fair chunk of money to save. At least this would be a toy with some justification to own. I'd rather buy something made by a more established manufacturer to avoid the fate of Alta owners, but I'm keeping an eye on Zero, UBCO, and SurRon.
 

dreadlocks

Well-known member
I'm in no hurry to buy, but I may have found a fun way to get a lot more use out of my solar system.

ah I spend so much effort trying to avoid that term.. but I suppose, we're all having fun and getting use out of your solar system eh? :p

drives me a bit bonkers when I see solar system used for PV installs.. kinda like Automatic ATM Machine.. Solar Setup, PV System, Cosmic Photon to Electron Conversion system.. ah so many choices you can use :p

I thought about getting a golf cart for taking kids to school and picking em up and going to grocery store.. all like 2-3 blocks away, could solar charge it off trailer, but goddamn they want like $15k for a street legal one.. screw that.
 

shade

Well-known member
ah I spend so much effort trying to avoid that term.. but I suppose, we're all having fun and getting use out of your solar system eh? :p

drives me a bit bonkers when I see solar system used for PV installs.. kinda like Automatic ATM Machine.. Solar Setup, PV System, Cosmic Photon to Electron Conversion system.. ah so many choices you can use :p

I thought about getting a golf cart for taking kids to school and picking em up and going to grocery store.. all like 2-3 blocks away, could solar charge it off trailer, but goddamn they want like $15k for a street legal one.. screw that.
Photonic energy harvesting and storage system, then. :)

Seems like the kind of EV project a clever fella would take on once they had their travel trailer sorted. :cool:
 

dreadlocks

Well-known member
yeah with all the EV toys coming out like Dirt Bikes, Mountain Bikes, Scooters, OHV's I build my system with those needs in mind.. when Ive got good sun I'd have no problem charging my house bank and a small EV at the same time.. I fully intend to put a few hundred thousand miles on my trailer so its not going anywhere soon and we're on the cusp of so much electronic fun.

I remember being so damn excited to build a model rocket with a film camera on it when I was about 10yro and getting one crappy aerial photo of my house a week after launch.. now days they got drones w/UHD Go Pro's on em.. I think I had kids so I could play with all these cool new toys heh.
 

shade

Well-known member
yeah with all the EV toys coming out like Dirt Bikes, Mountain Bikes, Scooters, OHV's I build my system with those needs in mind.. when Ive got good sun I'd have no problem charging my house bank and a small EV at the same time.. I fully intend to put a few hundred thousand miles on my trailer so its not going anywhere soon and we're on the cusp of so much electronic fun.

I remember being so damn excited to build a model rocket with a film camera on it when I was about 10yro and getting one crappy aerial photo of my house a week after launch.. now days they got drones w/UHD Go Pro's on em.. I think I had kids so I could play with all these cool new toys heh.
lol - same here on the rocket.

My travel plans changed and I flew to Phoenix, so I wasn't able to pick up my 360W panel. I ended up paying $150 freight, which isn't as horrible as I originally thought it'd be. I'll see how a single panel works, but I'm already thinking about ways to add a second on a simple slider under the first, since charging an EV pack might require it. This is a cool system, but way more complicated than I want.


I wonder how that performs in cold conditions, or when snow & ice find their way into it.
 
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dreadlocks

Well-known member
Id be more worried about dirt and leaves, I carry around a gas station window cleaner so I can scrub the dirt, seed pods and other crap off my fixed roof panel.. even driving between sites it can get a nice layer of dirt.. then thanks to all the deserts and california burning to my west our rain showers here can make your car dirtier than it was before it rained.. its actually causing our snow pack to melt quicker because it turns the snow black as it melts and concentrates at the surface.

Definitely a gets points for cool factor and over engineering.. on a small all highway rig that was stored in a garage and only used in good seasons.. its probably pretty damn nice.
 

Alloy

Well-known member
Drawer slides and tapped alum be OK if it stayed on the highway and air if the temp never drops below 32F.

We just came back from a 6 day trip that took us 45min on a FSR to get into when it was 28F with light snow and 2 hrs to get out of when it was 35F and raining. The pot holes had doubled in number and depth on the last (most traveled) 8 miles of road. Tapped aluminium wouldn't last long on a road like that.

These are the fixed panels. Four more are on the ground. At this point the system is producing 21A of 12V.
The sun was behind a the mountain in the background for the whole trip but there was 800-1000wH a day brought in.
20191112_114803.jpg

This is the closest the sun got.
20191110_154223.jpg
 

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