Got lithium??

[3 tons]

A friend of mine was in serious need for more battery capacity, but only had storage room for one battery on his Bigfoot...So he nearily doubled his capacity with one lithium and at about only half the weight. Pricey for sure, but for those who mostly camp off-grid, it may be something worth considering...However, a bit of research is in order...I posted this on another site and thought I’d share it here:

Heres some interesting info on Lithium – check the spec’s and the manual tabs.
I’d need to know more though – though it has a built-in BMS, it’s not clear to me if I’d need a special charger or not, and the solar output and alternator to camper voltage may need a modification device as well..From what I can tell they will continue to discharge below 32degF, but cannot be recharged until above that temp…What is especially favorable is that they can be discharged down to almost 100% DOD, and still maintain an acceptable voltage output, thus one of these is roughly equivalent to two same sized wet-cells at about 1/4 the overall weight, but will last over 4,000 charging cycles versus roughly only 300-500 for wet-cells…


https://www.aimscorp.net/lithium-battery-12v-100ah-lifepo4.html

[3 tons]

FYI, I just got this info from Battle Born Lithium Batteries Mfg:

Temperature
High temperature: > 135F The BMS will not allow a charging or discharging current.
Low temperature: < 25F The BMS will not allow a charging current. Charging current will be allowed again at 32F. We recommend not to use the batteries in temperatures under -4F 

Cold weather storage
Storage temperature range -10F to 140F. We recommend bringing the battle born batteries to a 100% charge and then disconnecting them completely for storage. After 6 months in storage you should still have 75-80% charged batteries.
Storing batteries in subzero weather(-15 or more) has the potential to crack the abs and more importantly could causes a faster loss of capacity, in some cases drastically more than the typical 2-4% per month loss.
Charging our lithium batteries in cold weather
We have an adhesive backed heating wrap that runs off of a 12 v source and works very well. It has a temperature sensor that allows it to turn on at 34F and stays on until the temperature rises above 45F. 
Heating wrap draws 30 watts/2.5-3 amps and is 3/16 of an inch thick.

And this:


Compatibility has two sides, the power and voltage ratings of the batteries and the requirements and specs for whichever device you are using with the batteries.

 

Our batteries will allow 100 amps continuous, 200 amps for a 30 second surge and ½ second for higher loads.

Two of our batteries will give you 200 useable amps of power at 12 volts.

 

The inverter will run well off of any 12 volt source and our batteries are a superior 12 volt source. The charging side of your inverter can deliver 100 amps(which is just fine for our batteries) as long as the charger reaches anywhere from 14.2 to 14.4 volts. You said it was a programmable charger so this will not be a problem.

 

Your solar charge controller is compatible because it can be set to our charging recommendations:

Bulk/absorb 14.2 - 14.6 Volts

float 13.6 Volts or lower

No equalization(or set it to 14.4v), no temperature compensation and absorption time is 20 minutes per battery(if its an option).

 

Not sure about your PWM charger because we don’t have the specs, again the agm mode will work if its an option but if you give us the model # then we could look at the manual and check for compatibility.

 

Your progressive dynamics converter (9200 series) is not made for lithium charging and it will only stay in the 13.6 volt mode because of the higher voltage of a lithium battery. The way around this is to manually put it into boost mode with the pendant. This will bring the charging voltage up to the 14.4 volts required to properly charge the batteries.

 

So compatibility is a two way street and the internal bms and the charging sources both have a role to play in this.

 

We would be happy to help with any other questions or clarifications on how our batteries or the charging methods work. Give us a call anytime and thanks again!

 

Jesse Asay
775-221-8892

[testdog]

Two things that strike me right off:
1) 31-pound battery weight for 100 amp hours
2) The price!
https://battlebornbatteries.com/shop/12v-lifepo4-deep-cycle-battery/

[3 tons]

All true...I have two buddies with a Big Foot campers and their battery boxes are only big enough for one battery...One of the pals had enough reward points on his card that he ended up paying just over $500 bucks...The one Lithium essentially doubled his capacity, and instead of lasting only 3-4 hundred charging cycles, he should be good for something closer to 4-5 thousand charging cycles - so theoretically, the case can be made that the cost may be cheaper in the long run. In my case lithium would be waaay better acting for running the air cond, and for camping during extended periods of poor solar harvest...Another mfg. is Aimscorp.com.

[losman]

Jesse, i have a 1165 and I couldn't find any literature on my owners paperwork that talked about the battery charger that is in this unit. I have to believe there is one that chargers the batteries when connected to shore power. 

Like you have written the gopower solar control can change lithiums batteries, but what charges the batteries when connected to shore power?

thanks

[3 tons]

Your camper has a built-in combination converter-charger that takes care of charging, but you’ll need to determine what make and whether the charging algorithm is suitable for Lithium, specifically LiFePo4 (Lithium, iron, phosphate)...Most are, but for lithium with the caveats of no equalizations, and to avoid long term charging when in storage...