Poor Mans Inverter Project

[Midnightsun]

Here is some more info on LifePo4 where they say no venting is required and they do not give of any gas. https://greenlifebattery.com/lithium-fa ... g%20needed.

To ensure the utmost safety and minimal impact, our chemistry utilizes only environmentally acceptable materials and has zero emissions with no venting needed.

Lithium batteries are sealed and have no liquids and give off no gasses.

[Midnightsun]

After considering comments on grounding and reading up a little I have cancelled the inverter I ordered and am now going with a 2000w pure sine wave unit by Renogy as it has a ground lug and is obviously a better unit. It is a couple hundred more however it does come with proper DC connection cable and a remote switch so in the end it is only about a hundred more. One thing that surprised me is the ground cable which connects to the common DC ground of the boat should be no smaller than 1 size of the largest cable of the DC inverter connections so it will be rather big, probably 1 gauge. I will change the initial post to reflect the new inverter. https://ca.renogy.com/2000w-12v-pure-si ... -inverter/

Interesting video with some testing done on the inverter.

[bud37]

Wise decision imo, good stuff... .... cable size.... path of least resistance.

[pepmyster]

I have the same one, but the 1000w version. Excellent product and very well built.

[Midnightsun]

Would have gone 1000 but wanted the full capacity of 15a at the receptacle and the coffee machine would not function as it draws 1350 watts albeit only for a minute or 2 it takes a Nespresso machine to crank out a cup. Will make you a potent smoothie on the inverter some time this summer with no generator running. Betcha never had a Lithium inverted smoothie before.

[km1125]

LifePo4 is certainly safer than other forms of lithium batteries, but not 100% "safe", but nor is any other kind of battery. You don't have the hydrogen off-gassing of a lead-acid battery either, so I don't think there is really the risk of explosion from a non-ignition-protected device in the vicinity of a LifePo4 battery.

My earlier post about the neutral/ground was an awareness to folks who are considering adding inverters. If it's a point-of-use inverter (feeding ONE dedicated device), then it's not really as much of an issue an no different than any non-marine 120V device being used in a marine environment. Still there can be concerns, especially if the device is left attached and/or active when the vessel is not in use. When you integrate the inverter into the boat wiring systems, there is more of a concern and as it becomes more integrated, more of a concern.

If the inverter has grounded plugs on it, then they're doing something with that third pin. What they're doing with it may or may not matter in how you're using the device. It may just be bonded to the aluminum housing and essentially "useless" in terms of safety protection. In larger units, it may actually be functioning as part of a GFCI-protected outlet, which means to be really effective the ground (or housing) must be connected correctly to the rest of the environment.

[Midnightsun]

Purchased a new Renogy 2000 Watt on eBay in original packaging. Delivered to my US address it came to $293 CDN all in so pretty decent not to mention it is CSA stamped. In Canada, the best price I found was directly through Renogy at $431 delivered to my door. Darn its convenient to not run around to chandleries looking for stuff they always seem to not have. Things sure have changed in the last 10 years.

[pepmyster]

Lithium inverted smoothie huh? Now things are getting interesting!!!!!!!!!!!!

[KandJ72]

Many people don't realize the chemistry is much different between the Lithium Ion and LiFePo batteries. Even the nomenclature of LiFePo4 just means it's 4 LiFePo batteries in series to create the 12.8 V (nominal). As opposed to the Lithium Ion 18650's that make up the majority of E-Bike battery packs. LiFePo is the same chemistry that most of the E-car manufacturers have gone to, so if they're safe and reliable enough for being used on the road in all conditions I think we can feel comfortable enough in they type of applications we're using them in.
I'm in process of adding 3-100 Ah Renogy LiFepo4 and 3000 watt inverter/charger with DC-DC MTTP charge controller into my boat. The generator was removed by a previous owner and never replaced and there was never a shore charging system even from factory. So all together this will cover al bases when needed.

[km1125]

Source of the post ...
Even the nomenclature of LiFePo4 just means it's 4 LiFePo batteries in series to create the 12.8 V (nominal). As opposed to the Lithium Ion 18650's that make up the majority of E-Bike battery packs. ....

FYI. The "4" in LiFePO4 refers to the number of Oxygen atoms in the Iron Phosphate molecule, not the number of cells.

You can bolt together as many or as few LiFePO4 cells as you need to get to your desired voltage, just as you can stack a number of "D" cells together. You would need 4 of the LiFePO4 cells to get to the "nominal" 12V for most common on-board uses.