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Part three of expert opinions on the use of Lithium LiFePO4 batteries

This is the third article in the series of three, looking at the use of Lithium LiFePO4 batteries in canal boats. Commercially available lithium battery systems have been available for a number of years for our boats but their high cost has prevented any significant uptake. The availability of secondhand hand LiFePO4s from scrapped electric vehicles now means a much cheaper route to us adopting lithiums is available. The first article identified that LiFePO4s are a real alternative to Lead Acid batteries (LAs) with the potential for much reduced engine running to keep your batteries healthy at a comparative five-year cost. The second article looked in more detail at how the Lis can be installed on a narrowboat based on simple equipment available over the internet to give a safe and efficient system. That system however was just a ‘snapshot’ of what is possible and in practice there are many many ways to configure your LiFePO4s. As mentioned in the first article, there are a number of boaters on the Canal World discussion forum who have taken the plunge to install Lis – this article focusses on the different ideas adopted, all breaking new ground to demonstrate a range of installation methods.