Technical Generator or inverter ??

[PeterM]

i have a 3000 watt inverter and a 1000 amp;lithium storage battery charging off an 80 amp dc to dc charger

Is that 1000 Ah of 12 V lithium battery? LiFePO4? At AUD1.40/Ah/cell that is AUD5600.00! Are you serious?

 

[toyogran]

Sounds like an awesome solution!
A 20Ah (equiv 70-100Ah Pb) Li-ion battery costs over £800.
I would need to insure them separately as they're worth more than my motorhome!

 

[moodrater]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Winston-Thunder-Sky-lithium-battery-LiFePO4-1000Ah-/120751485632

Looks like its possible to get them cheaper than I thought, I was thinking lithium cobalt which would be a bit like riding around with a grenade in the back.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Winston-Thunder-Sky-lithium-battery-LiFePO4-1000Ah-/120751485632

I suppose adlarplant spends more time in his van than I do at my house so its a good investment.

Also in his line of work he can probably pick up retired batteries, I have 400ah or agm batteries that were retired from large ups

 

[dave]

i had a quick google and a company said they suplied them for electric cars too, might be an idea to look for a prius in a breakers for batteries

 

[mikey72]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Winston-Thunder-Sky-lithium-battery-LiFePO4-1000Ah-/120751485632

Looks like its possible to get them cheaper than I thought, I was thinking lithium cobalt which would be a bit like riding around with a grenade in the back.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Winston-Thunder-Sky-lithium-battery-LiFePO4-1000Ah-/120751485632

I suppose adlarplant spends more time in his van than I do at my house so its a good investment.

Also in his line of work he can probably pick up retired batteries, I have 400ah or agm batteries that were retired from large ups

That's a 3.2 v cell, so that would be times 4.
How well do the retired batteries hold their charge? Any retired ones I've had were no more than scrap, and barely held any charge worth having.

This solution wouldn't work for me though anyway.

3000w invertor pulls 250Ah at full load from the 12v cells.

If I ran the 1000Ah pack flat, even at 80Ah charge rate that would be a 12 hr run at full whack to recharge.
If it's dc to dc my alternator won't actually put that out, (older van) even if I'm not running anything else in the van, so I'd need the roof covered in solar panels as well. One, maybe two, so 10 or 20Ah charging.
If I use a hook up, I'd have some that trip at 16A, so even if I had a 240v to 12v charger, I'd use most of that recharging. I'd trip out the 6A ones I've had in the past straight away.

I go for low energy were I can, and occasionally carry a generator if I don't expect to be able to hook up every few days.

 

[moodrater]

How well do the retired batteries hold their charge? Any retired ones I've had were no more than scrap, and barely held any charge worth having.

Most companies write them off over 3-5 years the agm ones I got have a 12 year warranty and have never been discharged or disconnected during their service life. The data cabs they were supporting are insured for hundreds of millions against data loss the cost of replacing the batteries is miniscule.

 

[adlarplant]

it wasnt cheap i know but the advantage of a lithium battery is that you can take them down to close to 5% and still have 12 volts and charge them back up quickly to have the same amount of amps in deep cycle i was looking at having to carry approx 12 to 15 deep cycle batteries (with their associated weight and storage issues) because of the voltage drop off .I find as im getting older i like lifes luxuries and many mine leases i go to wont allow spark ignition engines or gas burners it works for me cheers adam