Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) Batteries

[davidbrady]

(01-10-2015 02:38)GregOConnor Wrote:  I understood one of the issues with different dc voltage was the chassis banks were 24v and the house bank was 12 volt. would it not be better to use all 24volt inverter chargers and banks then step down the house dc output to 12volt appliance demand (mostly audio and lights). the house would power the inverters with 24volt but power the other 12 volt demand with 1/2 of a set of batteries in series. there is not much of a 12 volt demand anymore anyway.

the construction equipment chassis that run 24volt often have a bunch of 12volt demand. On Bus chassis that are 24volt, is it just the Detroit starter motor that require 24volt?. seems too simple to work , so I must be missing the entire need or advantage to go 24 volt.

Hi Greg,

Maybe an M450 owner can chime in, but I think the house on a 450 is 24V with 24V Vanner inverters and one or two Vanner Equalizers to supply the 12V loads. I think the chassis uses this same battery bank for it's 24 and 12V loads. I believe the generator has it's own 12V start battery. (IOW's, one center-tapped 24V battery bank for the house and chassis).

Maybe Dan can help us out with some requirements of what he'd like to see.

I'm not an M450 owner but if I were I'd want:
1) the fewest number of battery banks possible,
2) only one deep cycle battery bank, in this case Li-ion,
3) all other banks charged by 120VAC house trickle chargers,
4) good separation between chassis and house systems,
5) a house system capable of 12VDC and 24VDC,

Any more?

There are other ways, but my preference to solve these would be a dedicated lead acid bank for the chassis, a dedicated generator start battery, and a Li-ion 24V house bank with a 100A 24/12V DC-to-DC (buck) converter for 12V house loads. The genny and chassis batteries would be trickle charged off the 120VAC house system.