Lithium Battery Upgrade and Move Complete!

[757driver]

Originally Posted by SV K

A big Congrats!! and welcome to the club.

We are on our second Coach with Lifepo4's and it is without a doubt the best money spent to improve our traveling lives.

Just a couple things you may be aware of, but....
The batts don't mind discharging in hot or cold, but they don't like to be charged with internal temps below 32 or above 100 (verify with MFR. always).
As they can suck up everything your alternator can give many of us have bought a programmable regulator to lower output and not overly the tax the alternator. My buddy burned up his air-cooled alternator when he skipped this step during install.

Last Q we went 2 months in our power hungry bus with a res. fridge using only solar and the lithiums.


Enjoy!!

Yes, ours are the same, no charging below 32F.

My alternator will not kick in to charge the house batteries through the Precision Circuits BIM unless the house batteries drop to something below 12.6v so no worry of burning up an alternator.

Looking forward to experiencing the full potential of the lithium’s when not connected to shore power.

[757driver]

Originally Posted by cruzbill

The rumor mill has it that lithium doesn't like to be continuously charged, like by an alternator, as you travel each day. Would it be good practice to just disconnect the alt charge line from the batteries?

Or at least have a disconnect for the alternator so you can choose when it gives a charge.

[757driver]

Originally Posted by brobox

Don, outstanding mod. I think I will stick with $6. a roll LED light mods.
You did one heck of a job!

Thanks Chuck.

[lowejug]

Only the best from our entegra forum battery expert...
Great job don...

[DeeGee]

Wow, excellent. I'm looking forward to checking this out at Quartzsite.

I really wanted to jump from flooded to Lithium in the Aspire, but ended up in an Anthem. Now I either wait a bunch of years or try to sell some used-once AGMs.

[buddy110]

Originally Posted by 757driver

Dave,

I made all my own cables and used a hex cable crimper from Quick Cable.

I have disconnects on both inverters as well as breaker type disconnects on each circuit, 12v, BIM (chassis batteries), Jacks generator and Front Spartan PDC, and Solar.

When are you coming to NY to install mine?

[Coral]

Originally Posted by 757driver

Terry,

If you were used to using 50% of your present setup for increased life cycles then you had 414AH available (50% of 828AH if you have the EVGC6A-B batteries). With the LifeBlue batteries you will have 600AH total and you can regularly use 80% of that so you have 480 usable AH so a 16% increase.

I purchased my LifeBlue batteries from Starlight Solar in Yuma AZ. Larry at Starlight was great to work with and the whole process was easy. May be a discount for cash as well as free shipping but check with Larry.

Thanks for the feedback, I talked to Larry already, he give me a lot of good advice. Regarding the overcharging via the alternator, would the BMS that is built in the LifeBlue protect against that? or do you think this is not an issue?

[757driver]

Originally Posted by Coral

Thanks for the feedback, I talked to Larry already, he give me a lot of good advice. Regarding the overcharging via the alternator, would the BMS that is built in the LifeBlue protect against that? or do you think this is not an issue?

Terry,

The built in BMS will cut off the charge when it gets to approximately 14.6v but I would not want to rely on this to prevent overcharging the batteries.

[Tom n Sandra]

Very nice! Thanks for leading the way Don! Who did you get your batteries from?

[757driver]

Originally Posted by Tom n Sandra

Very nice! Thanks for leading the way Don! Who did you get your batteries from?

Tom,

I purchased my LifeBlue batteries here: Lithium Ion Battery For RV and Boat - LiFePO4 LFP - Starlight Solar

[photraveller]

Don, Very Nice !

Looking forward to updates as to how they perform for you.

Steve

[Victory Blue]

Congratulations, Don. This puts all of my mods to shame.

Now that you’re off to greener pastures I hope we don’t all have to find a new battery guru.

[hogdriver]

Was there any salvage value to your old batteries or did you have to pay for disposal?

[757driver]

Originally Posted by Victory Blue

Congratulations, Don. This puts all of my mods to shame.

Now that you’re off to greener pastures I hope we don’t all have to find a new battery guru.

Not at all Bill, I am still here for everyone.