Wrenches, I have a nice little rental house here in my off-grid neighborhood that after 40 years is ready to transition to LiFePO4 batteries. I have no experience with any lithium home power storage batteries. I'm looking for advice, so I can avoid mistakes as a rental house with battery problems is quite the pain in the ass. The last tenant was my daughter so life with older lead acids wasn't a huge issue, but now I want something I won't have to enter the house to monitor and operate. I'll bullet what I think I know and my questions.
* The house has four 11-year-old Trojan Industrial IND 17-6 for 925 AH @ 24V that are amply sized for the houses loads. * It has a newer TriMetric meter that I was supposed to be able to set up for web access using their WIFI module, but I have had no success with being able to monitor battery state of charge remotely. * I really need something that will give me battery state of charge information without entering the house. * The system has a single OutBack VFX3624. PV array is 2.5kW. * System also has a Iota 40A charger so charging with my 6 KW genset is typically in the 100Amp range with the OutBack and Iota. * We are in northern Vermont, so we rack up significant generator (NOT auto-start) run time in the winter months. * I'm looking at Eclipse LiFePO4 24V 200AH. Three of these will give me 600AH @ 24V which is 65% of the rated Amp Hrs of the Trojan Industrials now in use. Is this enough? * My battery box can easily handle up to four of the Eclipse 24V 200AH batteries. I see that Backwoods recommends that only three of the Eclipse are connected with battery cables. If I opted for four (for 800AH) I would need to use a busbar. * Are there other distributors of Eclipse batteries other than Backwoods Solar that I should consider? I haven't used my dealer account with them for a number of years and I'm not sure that I'll get a good price from them. * What is the lead time for getting these batteries shipped out? * Are there other LiFePO4 batteries I should consider? * Is 600AH of LiFePO4's enough to replace 925AH of LA's? Dave Palumbo Retired from running Independent Power, but active in off-grid solar. Hyde Park, VT 802-371-8678 voice or text.
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