Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) Batteries

[davidbrady]

Like most Prevost's, my H3 is blessed with two Vanner Equalizers. Most Prevost converters are very careful not to intrude or cut into any factory Prevost wiring harnesses; the converter house stands on its own in most cases. The Prevost chassis uses one equalizer to split 12V out of its 24V chassis battery bank. The converter followed suit with the house batteries; i.e., 24V battery bank to supply the inverters and the slide motors and a Vanner Equalizer (center tapped into the house battery bank) to supply the 12VDC loads including the generator start. My focus is on the house; I'd leave the 24V chassis bank and equalizer untouched.

Here's a schematic of my house system with split 24/12VDC battery bank and twin SW-4024 inverters:



My largest 12V draw is the generator start motor. A simple solution here is to break out this draw with a dedicated 12V battery for the genny. That leaves the remaining 12V loads which include just about everything DC powered in the house: mostly lights, electronics, a handful of motors (shades, sofas, pocket doors, dump valves), Aquahot, Glendinning, tank levels, etc.

I'm thinking a good way to handle these loads is with a DC-to-DC converter, 24VDC in and 12VDC out. My 12VDC distribution panel is protected with a 100A circuit breaker so I need a 100A DC to DC converter, 24VDC in 12VDC out. I haven't yet found a high quality off-the-shelf converter with anything close to these specs; if anyone finds anything please let me know. I may have to build it.

Stay tuned!