Yeah we know we will have issue with the pots sliding on the induction cooktop. But we have found moving it to the cockpit to cook is very nice because it won’t heat up the inside of the boat. I guess it’s a trade, unless I MacGyver something to use as fiddles. 🤪

Hi guys!! We watched your videos also! Your set up is VERY nice, we just scaled it up a little because there are 4 of us and the kids have power-hungry devices. Mads On the channel Sail Life is teasing that he is also going to build a DIY LiFePo4 system. Also, “Out Chasing Stars” has a similar system but there’s was installed by Out Back Marine. It’s awesome to see more and more people doing this. We enjoy your channel! Corey

@@SaltyEscape Heck yah! Those pesky kids ;) Glad to see this worked out well, excited to see how the rest of the community DIY's this concept. safe travels!

Thanks Philippe! 😊

Thanks Tam!! -Corey

Yes, I think Delos is all Electric also. We enjoy Jason and Nikki and we are sizing our system slightly larger than theirs (there are 4 of us). They are pioneers!!! -Corey

Good Luck! Let me know how it goes! 😊

Hi Sean! I’m enjoying reading your edits!! We tend to over think things to avoid making mistakes however we are not marine electricians and it is definitely possible that we overlook something or do something wrong (hope not). Thanks for watching over our shoulder!! Corey

Thanks Mark! This is a good idea to look at our electric bill, unfortunately the marina we are in has electric included for our stay. The problem is only a few appliances are used continuously, such as the refrigerator or water heater. (I know I may not be using the water heater off grid). Everything else is sporadic such as computers, induction cooktop, air fryer/microwave, TVs etc. My plan was to head out for a weekend of full-time use with the four of us and monitor our consumption without solar or Victron Orion, generator etc. This should give me a realistic average consumption. I figured this would be a lot easier and more precise than trying to estimate how much we may use these sporadic appliances. Looking at your profile picture, it appears you are very much involved with solar energy. So, I would like to ask you, is my idea logical or is there some other component I am overlooking? Thanks for your input, -Corey

@@SaltyEscape Corey; Yes your idea is logical. You will find out whether to add more batteries by trial and error. You can always add more Li-ion batteries. It appears that you have all of the necessary components. Li-ion is the only way to go especially on a boat.

Thank you so much!! We are going to do a shake out we can trip here very soon and I’ll be sure to keep the camera rolling. Corey

My theory on capacity calculators is that we could use more than I can generate, so the general rule of thumb is to put as much capacity onboard and learn to live within those constraints. 🙂

I’ve reconfigured the wires a little since this video was made. Currently coming off of my main positive bus bar I have two lines, one for the DC loads and one for the AC /inverter. They are both 4/0 And if memory serves, each is fused with 300 amp ANL fuses. The wires then run through shut off switches, and then to A bus bar. I have the High amp items, like the windlass further fused with blue sea surface mount fuses. I’ll link it here. amzn.to/3HiwdgA

​@@SaltyEscape Very nice. I'm planning to use those MBRF fuses on each of the battery terminals (am planning 150amp, slightly over the OverkillSolar 12v which should shut itself off at 120amp). Some people argue ANL fuses don't have the interrupt capacity required for the high current lithiums can produce under a direct short (esp. higher ampacity as you have with 5 in parallel). Class T fuses do have the interrupt capacity, but they're more expensive. The MBRF also have the interrupt capacity, but I've read on the forum they can get hot if carrying 200 amps or more as there isn't enough surface area for the current to pass through. Of course, there shouldn't ever be a direct short. This stuff is fun to design, and I don't think there is a wrong or right way to do it, just a continuum of risk we all must decide on (or don't decide and live with whatever the Previous Owner did, which as I started digging into our boat, decided was way too risky!). Many don't think DIY lithium is worth the risk on a boat in the first place, so yeah, it's def. a continuum .

Hi Shaun! Our batteries have been Great! Really, it’s the whole system. We have 4 - 340 watt high efficiency Panasonic panels across the arch and 4 120 watt SunPower flexible panels on the Bimini. We have 6 MPPTs to handle the panels. The multiple MPPTs significantly reduce the power loss with shading. The Victron components has made our electrical a mostly hands off system. I can’t say enough good things about the batteries. We have 1400 amp hours in the same footprint as 500 amp hours of battleborn batteries. We rarely drop below 50 percent and we frequently reach 100% by sunset. We are HEAVY consumers of electricity with multiple computers, electric galley and more. What would I do differently…. I think we could benefit from heating pads under the batteries for cold weather and a fan to keep the whole electrical compartment cooler in hot moments. (Bulk charging for several hours with the generator can heat up that space but it’s never dangerous, just warmer than I’d like and has nothing to do with the batteries.). At this point I think our system is tested and approved. We have more information on patreon about our system and we have several patrons who are using our experience to help them build their own electrical systems. Cheers, Corey

Hi Ariana, yes we have. The space is very unusual and some of what looks like the kitchen space is actually the bathroom on the starboard side. We will be doing some extensive changes but at the moment I’m not excited to rip it all out. I think I’m going to try and work with what’s there. It will be good though 😉. Thanks for reaching out to us! Corey

😃 Sounds very interesting... You would need a very calm sea state.

@@SaltyEscape I don't think it would matter? I saw a KZfaq video where a VanLifer connected his Solar Panels using a One-way Diode in the Connection Box (on the Positive Wire) on the Solar Panel so that when shade hit a panel, (waves in this application) it only decreased the Voltage output on that panel instead of the entire array.

Thank you! Yes, I was told quickly about my poor choice for aluminum bus bars. I will be replacing them with copper soon. As for the wire gauge... I’ve used 4/0. I don’t recall reading 2x 50mm2 or 2x500mm2. I’ll look at it again. Do you think the 4/0 is enough? Thank you! Corey

@@SaltyEscape Hey Corey , if you double up the 4/0 its good, with these victrons its not 'just' about the cables and the ampage they can handle but also the studs they are mounted on, if you open up the box you see the 4 studs , 2 for minus , 2 for plus , that is to evenly distribute the current into and from the multiplus as well when you get a high load charging or inverting and keeps losses and voltage drops to a minimum

Wow thank you!! I don’t know how I missed that in the instructions but I appreciate you taking time to let me know. I will work on it ASAP.

A 4/0 cable has 107 mm^2. So more than the Victron 2x50mm^2 recommendation. However, Victron seems to think the current will pass through the connection with less heat build-up using two smaller cables instead of one large one. Only problem there is with fusing. The Victron manual says to use a 400 amp fuse (usually T-Fuse), but 1/0 cable (53mm^2) should be fused with much less. Even though the 400 amp fuse if fine for both together, technically each wire should be able to carry that full current (in the event the other cable failed for some reason). Our boat came with only one 2/0 cable to our Victron 3000 Multiplus. I'm planning to change that, but we've had no problems with heat buildup. Biggest load I've run is the 16,000 AC. Oh, and once my wife cooked supper with the crock pot at the same time as the AC was running. The multiplus is pretty impressive. Long and short, the qty (2) 1/0 cables Victron recommends is conservative.

Funny you should ask! Actually, The buss bar build video is almost done and will be out in 1-2 days. It will be Complete with a link for all the materials you would need (on my Amazon store) to reproduce them. I have already put them through some heavy use. When we powered up the system all five batteries were at about 25%. There was heavy use on the bus bars to charge them for about eight hours and they never raised more than 2° above room temperature. I’m very impressed with them. I wanted to wait to see the performance before I put the video out on how to build them.

@@SaltyEscape That's awesome. Can't wait for that video!

Hi Andy and Sonja, Thank you! I will check the laws on the gas line but I know that the propane line is copper up to the appliance and then the flexible yellow line was installed. We will be capping it and at this moment we don’t expect to be using it. The only other propane we have is the grill and it’s line is copper to a valve. From the valve to the grill is a rubber gas hose. (Smooth). Are they only illegal for marine use? They are sold here in the hardware stores. 🤷‍♂️. Thanks again!! Corey

@@SaltyEscape i believe they are not citified safe . & are illegal in most countries. You should check in USA the safety laws & may be your surveyor didnt pick it up. I WOULD NEVER USE THE YELLOW . copper is safe or the smooth black or yellow with the safety marks on. all the best either way

Thanks Again Andy!! The yellow ribbed one is going out of service, immediately. I’ll just cap the line for future use if ever needed. Corey

Hi Douglas!! I have not found a way to name each battery on the BMS app. I would really like to though!! The blue led is on the Bluetooth module and actually very easy to see. Thanks for following us!! Love the first comment!! Lol. Corey

Hi guys! We have had absolutely no problems with our battery system. I don’t have very much off grid experience to share, only a few long weekends however I’m confident the batteries will continue to perform well. We had one instance where we lost shore power and the Victron multi plus kicked over to the batteries seamlessly. We had no idea that we were on our battery power until the light started flickering and we found the batteries near the floor of their programmed charging parameters. We immediately corrected the shore power problem and the batteries charged up again without any challenge to them. We think we were on battery power for about 36 hours but we were not attempting to conserve, using high draw appliances with no recharge source. Overall, We are very happy with the batteries and at this point I would recommend them to anyone else wanting to do the same. I will say, check out Will Prowse on KZfaq. His whole channel is designed around DIY LiFePo4 battery builds AND he does teardowns of commercially available batteries. Recently he has made some pretty impressive videos showing the build quality of the cheapest batteries available on Amazon. You still cannot get the amount of amp hours in the same footprint as we have created with these prismatic cells although the batteries that he is showing are impressive with a very reasonable cost. Hope this helps! Reach out anytime! Corey

Hi Odyssea Yes Will Drowse is very good as well as this other site. kzfaq.infovideos The BMS are really for series set up. So sets of 4 cells in series for each BMS is the way to go just as Corey has done. Only thing to add would be an active balancer. I have set up my cat with the settings explained in that channel. André

Lol... Well that wire controlled the main DC switch board. We have re-labeled it. 😊

Hi Mitch! We bought these on Alibaba, however they are now on Amazon and the shipping from alibaba was 3 months!! Have a look at last weeks video for lots of details on my battery build, AND I have a link to our Amazon store in the video description for all the parts we used for this build!! Hope this helps, good luck! Here’s the Amazon link to our Amazon Affiliate Store, www.amazon.com/shop/saltyescape?listId=3JLBWF2QY9XBN -Corey

Thank you! ❤️

Hi Ben, our boat was already set up for a 12 volt system so it made the most sense to keep it at 12. We did consider changing it to 24. 😊

Thanks Allyn! You have very good ideas. These batteries seem to function best above 54°F. The data sheets say that you can use them down to 0°C/32°F but to not do it for very long. Because the ideal temperature is around 54°F I had planned to do the silicone heating mats fairly soon. We definitely have temperatures in that range. I did not know about the water heater, I’ll look into that more. Right now all of the settings are a little Squirrley but I’m going to get them ironed out soon. We did not expect the battery to arrive at around 20% capacity. I’ll give them a couple of days to settle. Right now the BMS is set to cut them off sooner than the Victon. on but we’re going to change that. I just wanted to make sure the BMS’s worked, So I set them lower (only by a little).

@@SaltyEscape With the water heater you have a couple of options there. Use an AC element on the inverter...or change to a DC element or dual AC and DC element. Set the voltage sensing relay just below your top charging cutoff so it will dump into the water heater before it will stop the charging process. You can put the relay on a switch to allow it to be turned off if you need it to be. The relay triggers the contactor unless you have a really beefy relay. Also make sure the water heater will still shut off at the correct temperatures.

That’s cool. Never thought of doing that. At this point, I don’t know how balanced our system will be for our consumption to recharge ratio. If it looks like I am generating more power than I’m using.... I will definitely dump it into the hot water heater. The family will love that!! 🙂

So I will need a programmable voltage sensing relay which will turn on the water heater Element?

@@SaltyEscape If you want to use excess solar capacity on the water heater you will need the voltage sensing relay. Basically it will dump into the water heater when the voltage gets high. Also you only need to likely use the silicone mats when the temp is like 34F. Most LIFEPO4 batteries will charge fine down till a little above freezing, no need to draw energy from the batteries except when it gets that cold. Also most will allow pulling energy below freezing just not charging...there are limits to the temps though typically like -40C(see manufacturer specs). I have an arduino device that monitors the temps inside and out, voltages, bilge water level, and sounds an alert and displays on a small text lcd scrolling information regarding the boat. It also controls the water heater.

Well, actually our son, Carter (14) is taking college level classes for 3D imaging and video game design. He’s very passionate and talented with this schooling and we’re already looking at colleges for him to pursue this career. We don’t want to squash his ambitions. We are so proud of him. So, yes, gaming is part of our family life… we never claimed to be stereotypical cruisers. Lol. Cheers, Corey