Xantrex Echo with Lithium questions

[Tim22]

My current electrical system has an FLA house bank and an FLA start bank. All charging sources go to the house bank and the start bank is charged by a Xantrex echo charger. This has worked well.
I am now planning on upgrading my house bank to LiFePO4 which has raised a couple of questions:
1. Is the Echo charger still a viable means of charging the start bank?
2. If it is viable I will need to move the alternator charging from the house bank to the start bank to prevent it from being damaged. The house bank would still be charged by solar and shore power. How would this change effect the echo charger?

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Tim

 

[sail sfbay]

What I understand about Xantrex echo charger is that the battery banks it is charging must be the same DC voltage and battery type. So are you planning to decouple the Xantrex echo charger from the new LiFePO4 house bank?

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

You may want to consider moving your alternator to charge the start bank, and use a Sterling Battery to Battery Charger between your house bank and start bank. Your solar regulator should stay connected to your house bank, assuming it can be programmed for Lithium.

 

[Tim22]

After my initial post I contacted Xantrex. They seemed to think that the echo charger would continue to work as the echo charger is a voltage follower device so what ever voltage is applied to the lithium batteries would also be supplied to the lead acid batteries but limited to 15 amps of current.

Since then I did a bit more research and decided to use a Victron Orion Smart TR DC to DC charger. I chose this over the Sterling as it allows for Bluetooth programming as well as on off control through my iPhone. As Captain Larry-DH said, I will move the alternator to charge the start battery. I don’t anticipate having to charge the start battery from the house bank very often as hopefully the alternator will keep it topped up. The Bluetooth on/off control will allow me to charge only when required.

Tim