LiFePo4 battery users

[RoamingKat]

The beauty of LiFePo4 is that it will take everything you can throw at it until it is full. So, the speed that you can recharge them is the speed at which your charging system can deliver.

So....no float. I routinely draw 50 amps over night. Then another 50-80 amps in the morning running electric heat. These days...close to the equinox....my 650 watts of solar bring me back to full before noon on the sunny days (delivering about 25-30 amp) and full before evening on overcast days. That is because the max output of the panels is going into the battery...not left unused because of slow trickle used in float.

Last summer I ran a small 5000btu AC unit. About 120 amps (12v). I would run that for a couple hours at dusk. Plus the usual 50 amps over night use. The next day I had an additional 600 watts on my awning...so a total of about 55 -60 amps in total panels. On a sunny day...I was back to full by mid afternoon. I was limping along with damaged panels on top....so I wasn’t getting more than about 15-20 off from them....the awning was carrying most of the load. This year I expect to do better with the new panels.

It was this property of lithium that caused me to select it to start with. No generator or gasoline needed. I do not need to charge from the alternator, I have enough solar to do the whole job.

I charge to 13.8. Per manufacturers spec. The manufacturer has upper and lower drop-dead limits at 14.6 and 11.8. The batteries in electric cars seem to have a greater tolerance for charging voltage. I would be worried if the charging got up that high. The renogy charger is set to 14.0 ... but I almost never have shore power anyway.