Panbo

The Marine Electronics Hub

Category: LiFePO4

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LiFePO4 / Network & control / Electrical & Engines

IBEX 2024: Revatek Altion alternator regulators

IBEX 2024 was a show to remember for me. Starting with Hurricane Helene’s development and potential threat, it was unclear if the show would proceed. Fortunately, although there was some impact, the show was able to proceed. My show began Sunday morning, two days before the official open, with two days of judging the IBEX Innovation Awards. Every year, the awards afford me the opportunity to get an early jump on the new and exciting products displayed at the show. This year, the crop of entries was exceptionally strong. I’m going to write a series of entries covering the products that caught my eye. I. believe it’s a testament to the strength of this year’s entries that quite a few of the products I will highlight were not selected for innovation awards. First up in my list are Revateks’ Altion and Altion Max alternator regulators.

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LiFePO4 / Electrical & Engines

SFK 275EX, space efficient and feature packed LiFePO4 battery

At first glance, the SFK 275EX looks like many other 275-300 amp hour internal BMS lithium iron phosphate batteries. With Bluetooth communications, heating, long cycle life, and a good warranty it seems to compete well with other batteries. But, closer inspection reveals a battery with features above and beyond anything I’ve seen in similar form-factor and priced batteries. Not only that, it comes with a thorough and readable manual.

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LiFePO4 / Editors' Blog / Panbo & misc. / Electrical & Engines

My test bench runneth over with lithium from SFK, Mastervolt, and Epoch

I have big things planned for upcoming battery tests. I’m working to evolve my testing of LiFePO4 batteries to match their evolution. Battery capacities are increasing, physical size is decreasing, prices are dropping rapidly, and acceptance is increasing. New options hit the market regularly and keeping up with the pace of change can be challenging. In the coming months, I will review quite a few batteries in different positions in the market and try to help readers decide which price point and battery is right for them.

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LiFePO4 / Editors' Blog / Electrical & Engines

Charging LiFePO4, what’s the impact of lower voltages?

What voltage should I charge my LiFePO4 batteries? That seems like a simple question likely to have a single, direct answer. But, the actual answers are often unclear. Many LiFePO4 battery manufacturers recommend 14.6 volt absorption. But, that singular recommendation doesn’t account for numerous factors like managing a larger system, battery longevity, and more. Increasingly, we are seeing good reasons to lower charge voltages to 14 volts or below. But, what impact does that lower charge voltage have on capacity and charge time? Let’s take a look.

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LiFePO4 / Editors' Blog / Electrical & Engines

Update: Epoch’s 460ah battery, what we’ve learned

In January of this year, I published my review of the Epoch 460 amp-hour, 12 volt battery. My review was quite positive and reflected how the battery performed in my testing. But, once the battery was in the wild, reports began trickling in of troubles with some installations of the 460s. That lead to weeks of investigating the issues. At this point, I believe I have a solid command of what’s happening with these batteries and some of their limitations. While this better understanding of the batteries does serve to take a little shine off them, I still believe these are very solid batteries and capable of delivering excellent service. But, for best service, some tuning is required.

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LiFePO4 / Electrical & Engines

The ultimate LiFePO4 battery? Epoch’s 460ah powerhouse

My wife Laura reads most of my entries. She often tells me that I write about lithium batteries too much. Well, sorry but what follows will be another article about another lithium battery. If it helps, this is one hell of a battery and I think everyone considering new deep-cycle batteries for their boat should know about it and consider it. That’s doubly true in light of the significant step forward in battery safety I found when I opened the lid of my evaluation unit.

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LiFePO4 / Editors' Blog / Electrical & Engines

Epoch’s new 460 amp-hour, external communicating battery arrives and testing begins

In a short time, Epoch has made a name for itself producing high-quality batteries at a remarkable value. I first tested their 100 amp-hour batteries and thought they were the best blend of value, features, and quality I have encountered. In fact, there were only two areas I thought Epoch could improve upon. First, higher density, and second, external communications. Epoch seems to have addressed both those issues and more.

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LiFePO4 / Press Releases / Electrical & Engines

ePropulsion Launches X40 Outboard Engine

ePropulsion, a global leader and market challenger in marine electric propulsion systems and services, announced today the launch of their all-new X40 Electric Outboard, the future of clean, quiet and powerful marine propulsion, at this year’s Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show from October 25th – 29th, 2023. Weighing 20% less than traditional motors, the X40 offers 40 kW of power with 88.2% total powertrain efficiency. Using a proprietary algorithm, ePropulsion has also optimized over 20 key variables to achieve…

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LiFePO4 / Electrical & Engines

Victron Phoenix Smart IP43 Charger, charging perfection?

I’ve written a lot about Victron’s products. In fact, I’ve written enough that I sometimes fear my readers will see another Victron article and roll their eyes. But, yet again, I find myself with a compelling Victron product that I feel you should hear about. This time, it’s a battery charger. I realize you may not think of battery chargers as the most exciting piece of technology on your boat, but bear with me and read on to hear why I think you should be excited by this one.