Lion Energy Lithium Phosphate Battery

[fisher99]

LeisurePursuits: Amazing setup and so very nicely done! Wish I had your electrical talent. Or better yet, that you were my neighbor...

[BCam]

More on the Lion's here. This video focuses on the terminals:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdE1SfSKXJs&t=190s

[Mkaye]

what did you do to limit the alternator current?

mark

[Natty]

I had the Renogy batteries. Similar to the Lions the terminal were not user friendly nor robust. I sold them and got Battleborn. Sure, it was an extra $100 per battery but.....they are way more robustly built, they are UL certified, they have a warranty that is twice as long, and something I didn't know till I started building my system: Places like Victron test and configure and support their charing gear, inverters, monitors with a select group of battery brands. Battleborn is always one of the brands they test with. Renogy and Lion, not so much, so it has been much easier to find compatible gear with the Battleborn, and to get support for that gear, which has been really really useful.

[LeisurePursuits]

Originally Posted by BCam

More on the Lion's here. This video focuses on the terminals:

I didn't use the terminals that came with the batteries. They were too tall and the threads were too short. I used M6 x 12mm stainless flange bolts. The flanges have a serrated surface. I tightened it firmly with a 1/4" ratchet. When I went to take one off later to modify some wiring, it was very hard to remove. No chance that these are going to vibrate loose. The Battleborns are great batteries, but for the space I had available and for the $699 sale price, the Lions were the right choice for me.

[jcussen]

[QUOTE=Mkaye;5211717]what did you do to limit the alternator current?

mark[/QUOTE
https://www.solar-electric.com/victr...BxvM6KeauK_yo8

[BCam]

Originally Posted by LeisurePursuits

I didn't use the terminals that came with the batteries. They were too tall and the threads were too short. I used M6 x 12mm stainless flange bolts. The flanges have a serrated surface. I tightened it firmly with a 1/4" ratchet. When I went to take one off later to modify some wiring, it was very hard to remove. No chance that these are going to vibrate loose. The Battleborns are great batteries, but for the space I had available and for the $699 sale price, the Lions were the right choice for me.

Good idea! DIY thinking at its best.

[paul65k]

Originally Posted by LeisurePursuits

I'm pretty much finished with the install of 4 Lion LiFePO4 batteries in my 2019 24RKS. These replace two Lifeline AGM 8D batteries that weighed over 300lbs total. The 4 Lion batteries weigh only 92 lbs. I used the space under the foot of the bed between the drawers. There was just the right amount of width available without having to mess with the drawer glide support wood. If the batteries were 1/8" wider it would have been a lot more work. Under the batteries I put a piece of Reflectix insulation and a RV water tank heating pad. Not sure I'll ever need the heating pad, but what the heck. I put a piece of 1/4" plywood on either side over the drawers because with the insulation below the batteries it turned out that the 1/0 gauge cables were just a little too tall to replace the wood panel floor of the storage area. I like having the thin piece of plywood because it does firm up the floor of the storage space. I did not use the terminals that came with the battery. They were just too tall. Instead I used M6 x 12mm flange bolts. I will probably come back and put lock washers under them.






It was nice to be able to remove the huge pair of 8D AGM batteries from the front pass thru. I took advantage of this and reworked my 900 watt solar and 2000 watt inverter wiring.


Hopefully I'll get to go camping with all a little later this year.

Very nice and clean install. The only change I would have considered would be to either run the ground from the batteries to the front battery which would help ensure more complete balancing, even though the BMS in each battery will try to do that as well.....while Lynx box would also take care of this issue it would obviously not provide nearly as clean an install as the beautiful job you did here.

I would have loved to line my batteries up the way you did bu the space I had to work with allowed 2 batteries to fit PERFECTLY in the manner shown in the picture.

The cables that appear to be stacked in the photo are via the use of the posts that came with the batteries, and replacing the wingnuts that came with the batteries with high-quality 6MM bolts that are torqued to 35 Ft-lb which allows me to have 840Ah in a space that would otherwise only support 600Ah with the other orientation or with BB for that matter.

I actually have room for 2 more of these in the same space, which I may do at some point if we decide to move to a 24V system with a dual-head mini-split system at some point in the future

[LeisurePursuits]

Originally Posted by paul65k

Very nice and clean install. The only change I would have considered would be to either run the ground from the batteries to the front battery which would help ensure more complete balancing, even though the BMS in each battery will try to do that as well.....

Great feedback! You're right, I hadn't considered that. I'm almost done rewiring it so that the ground comes from battery #1 and positive comes from #4. I'd be done but I came up one lug short. Small side benefit is that by moving the shunt, the ground cable distance to inverter is actually about 6" shorter.

[paul65k]

I think that will help with keeping the batteries balanced

[woodflycamp]

The Lion Energy Safari UT1300 are back on sale at Costco.

Special Event - Ends 7/5/20!
Limited Time Offer. While supplies last.

Lion Energy Safari UT1300 - $749.99

Lion Energy Safari UT1300 2-pack - $1,399.99

[Grump010]

Just in case anyone in Canada is looking to do a battery upgrade, the best price/quality I could find was on the Renogy Canada web site. Price includes shipping and taxes plus a 10% off coupon on the home page. My new batteries arrived yesterday 8^)

[fisher99]

Originally Posted by woodflycamp

The Lion Energy Safari UT1300 are back on sale at Costco.

Special Event - Ends 7/5/20!
Limited Time Offer. While supplies last.

Lion Energy Safari UT1300 - $749.99

Lion Energy Safari UT1300 2-pack - $1,399.99

Interesting. They were on sale for $699 when I started this thread. In any case, I decided that I wasn't ready to go Lithium so went with two Trojan T105 6 volt's instead.

[fisher99]

Originally Posted by Grump010

Just in case anyone in Canada is looking to do a battery upgrade, the best price/quality I could find was on the Renogy Canada web site. Price includes shipping and taxes plus a 10% off coupon on the home page. My new batteries arrived yesterday 8^)

Nice! Will be interested in a report/review once you get them installed!