Inexpensive Chinese Lithium battery worth trying or stick with Battleborn?

[wanderso]

Amazon sells an off brand lithium deep cycle battery. $539 for 100AH; $899 for 200AH; $1299 for 300AH. A Battleborn is $899 for 100AH. There is no question that the Battleborn is a better built battery, but one can get twice the amp hours for the same price. Both offer a 10 year warranty. Double the capacity makes it very tempting to go with the off brand.

In my case I will be replacing the charge controller in my setup to one that is lithium compatible, and taking care to do a DC to DC charger if my Alternator can’t handle the load. If off grid I also have a generator on board, but prefer less noise. We go off grid rarely as most site have shore power. (wife preference, medical equipment reasons). Having more battery bank could well change that. Even with only 100AH, I can get more real usage with lithium than what I can with one lead acid battery in my current setup.

My battery is in the step well. Unfortunately due to a suspension component entering the step well battery box (leaf spring bracket), I can’t fit two 100 ah deep cycle batteries in it nor this less expensive battery. I either keep to 100AH or move the battery bank to an outside compartment. I would miss the lost storage in a 24 foot RV.

Being on a limited budget and with these realities, which would you choose? Anyone have experience with off brand lithium like these?

[Freqz]

I don’t have experience with those exactly...but I do have 10kw-hr of odd ball battery packs in my TT. But those batteries only cost me $1400 shipped so it was deal of the decade kind of deal

There’s more to this than just plugging them in and setting parameters on your charger— how is protection handled? How are the cells balanced? This is where Battleborn shines: that’s all handled well with high quality components vs. commodity grade electronics in commodity grade batteries. I’d certainly lend more weight to the battleborn warranty as well. Lithium is dangerous if you mistreat it...

On a 100 amp hour bank, I’m not sure the savings are worth it. On a much, much larger bank I’d be buying Calb 100 amp hour cells and handling the balancing and protection myself but I’m odd in that regard.

[bigchick]

i read a post once where somebody installed some off brand lithium batteries and then was not able to start his on board generator. the batteries did not provide enough burst capacity to start the generator. i don't know if this would apply to you but you might want to double check it since you mentioned an on board generator.

[wanderso]

Good point on the generator. Another item to investigate.

[twinboat]

You can reconfigure the generator to start from the chassis battery. Just make sure its charged when the generator is running.

[Jacjetlag]

Sounds like the stairwell is ruled out.

LiFePo's (no venting of gas) can hide under the bed but it takes a new level of trust in cheap batteries from China.

[Isaac-1]

You may want to check out this guys youtube videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxMIs0PXrBw

he has a lot of good info out there, and tests various cheap import lithium batteries, some seam fairly good, some are junk. He also has information on brand name batteries like Battleborn

[BCam]

Originally Posted by Isaac-1

You may want to check out this guys youtube videos

he has a lot of good info out there, and tests various cheap import lithium batteries, some seam fairly good, some are junk. He also has information on brand name batteries like Battleborn

A lot of the bad and good things don't show up until he does a tear-down, which is one of the things I like about his reviews.

[JDaveB]

Originally Posted by twinboat

You can reconfigure the generator to start from the chassis battery. Just make sure its charged when the generator is running.

Twinboat are there significant downsides to reconfiguring to use the chassis battery (8D used to start my Cummins ISL) to start the generator (Onan 8Kw diesel)?

Seems like a good idea in general

Dave

[wanderso]

Thanks. I was at the RV today for the monthly run of the generator and found that it is actually wired to the chassis battery for starting. We've just had this particular RV for just over a year. I had been typically turning on the house battery but found it isn't needed for starting the generator.

[wanderso]

Originally Posted by Freqz

I don’t have experience with those exactly...but I do have 10kw-hr of odd ball battery packs in my TT. But those batteries only cost me $1400 shipped so it was deal of the decade kind of deal

There’s more to this than just plugging them in and setting parameters on your charger— how is protection handled? How are the cells balanced? This is where Battleborn shines: that’s all handled well with high quality components vs. commodity grade electronics in commodity grade batteries. I’d certainly lend more weight to the battleborn warranty as well. Lithium is dangerous if you mistreat it...

On a 100 amp hour bank, I’m not sure the savings are worth it. On a much, much larger bank I’d be buying Calb 100 amp hour cells and handling the balancing and protection myself but I’m odd in that regard.

Great feedback. I agree in err to safety and expect that the less expensive battery will have some shortcuts in that regard. A benefit of having an external BMS in my situation would allow me to fit more AH in the step well.

[wanderso]

Originally Posted by Isaac-1

You may want to check out this guys youtube videos

he has a lot of good info out there, and tests various cheap import lithium batteries, some seam fairly good, some are junk. He also has information on brand name batteries like Battleborn

Thank you for this. I did remember watching a couple of his videos a long time back and had lost the link. I'll take a peek again.

[Phil G.]

Originally Posted by wanderso

Amazon sells an off brand lithium deep cycle battery. $539 for 100AH; $899 for 200AH; $1299 for 300AH. A Battleborn is $899 for 100AH. There is no question that the Battleborn is a better built battery, but one can get twice the amp hours for the same price. Both offer a 10 year warranty. Double the capacity makes it very tempting to go with the off brand.

In my case I will be replacing the charge controller in my setup to one that is lithium compatible, and taking care to do a DC to DC charger if my Alternator can’t handle the load. If off grid I also have a generator on board, but prefer less noise. We go off grid rarely as most site have shore power. (wife preference, medical equipment reasons). Having more battery bank could well change that. Even with only 100AH, I can get more real usage with lithium than what I can with one lead acid battery in my current setup.

My battery is in the step well. Unfortunately due to a suspension component entering the step well battery box (leaf spring bracket), I can’t fit two 100 ah deep cycle batteries in it nor this less expensive battery. I either keep to 100AH or move the battery bank to an outside compartment. I would miss the lost storage in a 24 foot RV.

Being on a limited budget and with these realities, which would you choose? Anyone have experience with off brand lithium like these?

Attachment 315567

Here's a possible solution for you - a high quality (lifetime warranty) lithium battery - in Group 31 size so one will easily fit under your step ... and will provide 200AH of capacity!:
https://www.lithiumion-batteries.com...on-battery.php

[wanderso]

Thank you all for the thoughtful posts. I decided to go one last time with a single flooded lead acid battery (Trojan SC 225) for now while I take time to upgrade the converter, wiring, DC to DC charger, etc. in prep for lithium. It’s clear that I’m going to need to do some remodeling for an alternative battery location and this will give me some time to do so. The current wiring setup is using longer runs of AWG4 that probably should be redone with heavier gauge as I see some voltage drops.