Hi Jerome,
I sort of backed into the whole LiFePO4 thing when I had the previous batteries melt down followed by a number of -- shall we say -- less than reliable marine electricians, all of whom wanted to replicate the multiple parallel AGM battery setup but never actually followed through. I decided that I had to deal with the battery system myself and spent a few months researching and becoming competent.
I settled on using the lithium along with lead (in my case the starting battery) in a hybrid arrangement. There are a number of advantages to doing this but to do so, you need a controller specific to hybrid setups. The only one I know of that exists currently is the BankManager and probably the most important thing it does is allows for optimal charging of LiFePO4 -- something lacking currently in the industry.
Essentially, the system is comprised of a lead battery in parallel with a LiFePO4 battery through a contactor managed by the BankManager controller. What it does is it connects the two battery types when the voltages of both are close enough to do so without serious inrush one way or the other. So, on a typical day, your house system is powered by the entire lithium and lead system and when the lithium gets to a point where it is sufficiently discharged, the system safely disconnects the lithium and then runs only off of the lead until a charge is applied. Conversely, when charging, the charge goes through the lead battery and into the lithium until such a time that the lithium is fully charged, after which the controller disconnects the lead and lithium as to not overcharge the lithium. This is a simplistic explanation in that it can do all of that incrementally. The controller knows the state of charge and discharge of the lead and lithium, and controls all elements of the charging, discharging, and connection. Using the lead as a buffer is a really slick way to employ safe charging of lithium. LiFePO4 will not tolerate overcharging -- it will be killed. An added bonus is that by using the lead as a buffer with the BankManager controller, you can use any traditional charge source (like the ones you already have) including (in my case) Victron 50amp shore power charger, solar panel MPPT, and an externally regulated alternator.
Anyway, it's a pretty slick setup and offers a number of advantages. One of the best is that by replacing 400ah of AGM lead with a 300ah LiFePO4 increased by house capacity from 200ah (50% usable of 400ah of lead) to 300ah (100% usable) while reducing the footprint and weight of the batteries. I pulled out 250 lbs of lead and replaced it with 75 lbs of lithium while increasing house capacity by 50%.
If you want to learn more about how to add lithium in your traditional lead setup, check out the BankManager here:
https://www.emilyandclarksadventure.com/bbmsI get nothing for advocating this as a solution but it has been working fantastically for me for almost a year now.
Cheers,
Eric Larsen
S/V Felix 1981 30C #115
Olympia, WA