Thinking of switching to Lithium House Batteries

[757driver]

Originally Posted by paul65k

Here’s the article
https://www.solar-electric.com/learn...ogIlBiemRVYiJ9

Thanks for the article link. He has a nice setup.

[asodergren]

A friend just completed a test of his new Lithium Ion battery bank. Check this out.

https://foxrvtravel.com/electric-bucket/

[pvcampbell]

I'm a little late to the thread, but I can "X2" to the post above by Paul65k above, and my setup may be of some help to the OP.

A year ago, I replaced the 6ea. 6V FLA batteries in my Tiffin with 6 Battleborn 100AH LiFePO4 batteries and also installed solar panels. I have since purchased a new coach and moved everything to the new coach.

In addition to the lithium batteries, I have installed the following:
- Precision Circuits Li-BIM 225 to replace my original battery isolation manager (BIM) (the purpose of which has been discussed here).
- Magnum ME-ARC50 remote for the Magnum 2812 inverter (not actually necessary for battery charging - I wanted it for the more sophisticated AGS capabilities)
- Victron Energy BMV 712 Smart Battery Monitor with Bluetooth
- 4ea. 195W solar panels
- Victron Energy SmartSolar MPPT 150/70 70Watt Charge Controller with Bluetooth

With this setup, I can leave the inverter turned on and run my residential refrigerator indefinitely. I tried it for a 10-day run, and the batteries never fell below about 13.2V even on a cloudy day.

Also, a poster above noted that the transfer switch would not handle a solar input. It doesn't need to - the solar controller handles sending propertly-controlled power directly into the batteries. The transfer switch only has to do with shore power and generator power.

[craighouston]

Originally Posted by pete5016

I currently have a 2008 Allegro Bus42 QRP with six 6V batteries supplying the House. I have solar and a residential fridge. I am not happy with the performance of the lead acid batteries, or adding water each month.

Costco has Lithium Ion Batteries on sale. So, going from six 6V golf cart batteries (NAPA 8144N - rated at 75A for 120 mins - 230Ah). How many of these 12V Lithium Batteries would be required to match or exceed my current "rated" capacity?

The sizes match up nicely. Here is the link to the Costco Batteries....if you are going to steal my deal...please leave me a couple! Lol....

https://www.costco.com/lion-energy-s...100535965.html

contact battle born batteries. they will let you know exactly what you will need. we have a 2016 coach and just replaced our batteries. we were going to have to replace our magnum control panel, alternator charger, in addition to 3 lithium 12 volt to replace our 6 (6-volt) batteries. we don't dry camp so ultimately decided to replace our 6v batteries with trojan amg of same size. no more flood and was easy to change settings on the magnum controller and was less than half the cost of upgrading to lithium
craig

[carlgorski]

Originally Posted by pete5016

I currently have a 2008 Allegro Bus42 QRP with six 6V batteries supplying the House. I have solar and a residential fridge. I am not happy with the performance of the lead acid batteries, or adding water each month.

Costco has Lithium Ion Batteries on sale. So, going from six 6V golf cart batteries (NAPA 8144N - rated at 75A for 120 mins - 230Ah). How many of these 12V Lithium Batteries would be required to match or exceed my current "rated" capacity?

The sizes match up nicely. Here is the link to the Costco Batteries....if you are going to steal my deal...please leave me a couple! Lol....

https://www.costco.com/lion-energy-s...100535965.html

I think I would stick to Battleborn Brand.

[paul65k]

Originally Posted by carlgorski

I think I would stick to Battleborn Brand.

Candidly I would not have (and don't have) any issues recommending these batteries.

I have 8 of them and they are ROCK solid.

As I mentioned to others BB is the Current Industry standard but they are 25% more money and the Lions are very nice batteries at a lower cost.

Look at it like this......Lexus is one of the nicest cars on the road but not everyone can or wants to drive one.......Toyota on the other hand also builds a high quality product that will get you down the road very nicely with high quality.....there are 2 distinct markets and it's hard to say everyone should "Stick" with Lexus....you have to take space, weight and price into account as you make your decision.

I will have 10 Lions (by the end of this week) for the price I would have paid for 7 BBs....personally I'd rather have the extra 300Ah of batteries in a smaller space at 25% less weight......but then again I drive a Toyota

[Pianotuna]

Consider SiO2 instead of LI. about 1/3 the price. You would need 3 to duplicate the usable capacity of the 6 six volt jars. They are about the same weight as similar AGM jars but can be used down to 20% state of charge. They also can be used and charged at -40, which would destroy most Li chemistries.

[Pianotuna]

Look at SiO2 They can be used and charged at -40 C. Even storing an LiFe at those temperatures would destroy it. There is a Canadian supplier for the SiO2 and cost is $600 Cdn for a 105 amp-hour. 2800 cycles to 50% or 1500 cycles to 20% state of charge. They will be my next battery bank.

[GUSRENTIT]

I was on my way out the door, heading for my old RV, when by chance, I read this weeks news! You guys may have saved my life, with all the great LI batt info. Lord knows what could have happened to me if I had opened the door, right next to the batt box, without reading all that info.
Well, almost killed myself searching through old boxes, but after a few hours of looking, one trip and fall, a few pulled muscles, almost broke my wrist, but I finally found them. As soon as the swelling goes down, I will put them on, and I should be able to replace my RVH BATTS, as my coach batt is working just fine. I'm glad that even at my age(63) I still had it, actually I have 2 of them, one is older than the other, but I think I can make them work, neither of them need batteries, WIFI, net connection, nor Blue Tooth. The older of the 2 is a Captain Midnight, the other is a Jonny Quest, both seem to work great after all these years in hot and cold storage. If it was not for those two Decoder rings, god only knows what could have happened. Thinking of all that could have gone wrong with the LiPo, and the LFP, along with the connections of the FLA, BMS, HVD, SOC, Li-Bim, LA, LiFe PO4, and all the old wires on the BMK and the SIo2, the Knee next to the Bird sys, along with the BCC next to the IRD, and the MPPI. After reading everything, I just went to the kitchen poured a cup of coffee and put it in the microwave (NO BATT needed), made sure that the Knee was nowhere near my crotch, looked around to make sure that there was no BIRD sys. around, took a deep breath and got my LED flashlight to look for the box of candles( NO BATT needed). I also called my DW and asked her to go to Wells Fargo's Bulk Bank and see how many AH's they had available, and what was the charge, because if it's under 13.5, I do not want any.

[Hicks3456]

Originally Posted by creativepart

If each 12v pair of your batteries has 230 aH rating. Then you currently have 690 aH of storage, or did when the batteries were new. So, 6 of the LiPo batteries with 105 aH would be 630 aH of storage.

Your current Battery bank weighs 456 lbs and the new battery bank would weigh 138 lbs.

As long as you have close to the capacity does it matter? I would think 630 aH of reliable capacity would be better than 690 aH (or whatever it is today because it is reduced)

[DonKarstedt]

What if you switched FLA to AGM? Would you have similar problems with charge profiles as described for switching to Lithium, or do AGMs charge the same way as flooded?



--DonK

[mlh]

The Costco link is not working; no lithium batteries (auto nor RV) came up on a Costco search. Who is the mfr/model #? thanks

[paul65k]

Originally Posted by mlh

The Costco link is not working; no lithium batteries (auto nor RV) came up on a Costco search. Who is the mfr/model #? thanks

Deal ended yesterday

[pete5016]

Originally Posted by mlh

The Costco link is not working; no lithium batteries (auto nor RV) came up on a Costco search. Who is the mfr/model #? thanks

Yep...deal ended yesterday, but Costco seems to run this special every other month. So, if you want these, keep checking, it will come back