Go Go Hybrid!
The Hybrid Battery: Tailored Electrics for Leisure Vehicles and Marine Craft
A Hybrid Battery?
Generally, people still typically install Lead Acid Batteries in their Recreational Vehicles and Boats to run the everyday Habitation/House services.
There is increased interest in Lithium Batteries (and particularly the LiFePO4 style of Lithium) as they offer various benefits and advantages over Lead – however up-front cost has definitely not been one, especially when it is not just the cost of the Battery that needs to be considered!
But what about the idea of using both at the same time, maybe taking advantage of both Lead and Lithium at the same time? Wouldn’t that be cool if it were possible? Well, maybe it is ….
A Hybrid Battery In Use
A Lead Acid Battery when fully charge tends to settle at a voltage of around 12.8V. As the battery gets used, the voltage drops in a very linear fashion.
A Lithium Battery has a very different voltage/amp-hour pattern. The Lithium Battery’s voltage is pretty flat at around 13.2V until it gets to a fairly high Depth of Discharge (DoD), at which point the voltage drop starts to increase and when the DoD of the Lithium starts to get close to 100%, the Voltage really drops away and hits the level the Lead Acid sits at and at that point the Lead Acid battery starts to take over.
Charging a Hybrid Battery
Lithium Batteries and Lead Acid have different charging requirements and characteristics, so how does it work with Lead and Lithium cabled together?
Well, many LifePO4 Batteries are specified as “Drop In” replacements for a Lead Acid battery so that means that voltage requirements are similar – but they are still not the same really, so some thought must go into how to setup your chargers.
The typical LiFePO4 battery ideally wants a charge voltage around 14.2V and no float required (different manufacturers will specify their own parameters, but those are pretty typical). The Typical Lead Acid wants around 14.4V to 14.7V and a float around 13.8V – so you can see a gap there.
The VSDR-200 Lithium Controller
Fixing the voltage charging differential and the “float issue” can be addressed in a number of ways
For this reason I have developed a special Microprocessor-based Control Device that applies the appropriate Voltage Logic to automatically disconnect the LiFePO4 Battery once it has reached a certain voltage, which precisely co-incides with the charge level.
You can read more about the VSDR here
Go Hybrid!
Just about any setup can be converted to a Hybrid Battery configuration.
If you have room for another Lead Battery, you have room for a Lithium Battery and the creation of a cost-effective and energy efficient Hybrid Configuration.
Nothing but first class
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Want to know more?
A full write up is available as a multi-part blog post. This starts from the initial concept of creating a Hybrid configuration as an experiment, right through years of detailed analysis of how it has been performing. To learn more and earn yourself a propeller beanie, click the button below!