[john61ct]

Highly recommend Vicor but usually sold as a board-level component, e.g. V150A15xxx

they get expensive as a finished standalone.

 

[john61ct]

For complete standalone, Brusa is the best, Kelly is OK.

Cost depends of course on the current output needed.

If you can get into the below 30V input range cheaply, then the DCDC units designed for yachts & campers will give very precisely regulated output stages, usually in the 20-60A range.

Sterling, Kisae maybe even cheap Renogy, many other brands.

 

[john61ct]

Guess I could use one cell to drive the dc-dc charger @ 40v which would lower the complexities and cost of the charger.



Problem is that one cell would drain quicker than the others in series.

Yes you do **not** want any such imbalances in normal cycling usage, it will have a huge impact over time, likely greatly reduce longevity.

The bank is only as good as the weakest cell/group.

> Guess I could wire all the batteries in parallel too and use that to charge, could do without having to do that wiring tho!



Dunno what you mean, but yes you don't want to dis/connect sub-bank elements any more frequently than necessary, usually just for SoH testing or manual rebalancing.

 

[john61ct]

Could you link to your 96v to 13.1v charger?

 

[john61ct]

Best to actually get the average Ah consumed per hour, from all sources

and make sure the converter supports double that without strain.

The 12V battery is in effect just a buffer.