EZA 130 Lithium Power-Pack (1 Viewer)

[Jenben]

No problem I suspected you had seen it by some of your earlier comments

I think the prices are getting a bit better now. We don't really need a lot of capacity but it would be nice to replace our heavy AGM's with a single small Lithium battery next time if the sums add up by then.

 

[pappajohn]

If we all stuck steadfastly to what we have known and trusted for years little progress would be made.

Well, I agree there.
That's what happened to the British car industry...tried and tested, why change it.
Ya know, the Austin A series engine was around for about 50 years in different guises...because it worked and because of that attitude the designers wouldn't move up a half century and catch up with the rest of the industry.

 

[Windy66]

UPDATE

Firstly thanks to all that have posted replies and valued opinions on this subject. All informative and serves to increase the knowledge so we can make better and more informed decisions.

Having had the EVA130 for a number of months now, I thought I'd post a quick update regarding my experience so far....


I bought the EVA130 from Roadpro. An excellent company. Unfortunately, they could not fit it for a few months due to being overloaded with work. So I had a local company fit it. All was well and the EVA worked as I expected apart from it took longer to charge up than I thought it would. Certainly when considering the video above showing the experience of another.

The fitters had not wired it exactly as the instructions. The reason is that in my van it was not clear how it could be achieved. So they wired it just as though they were replacing the battery, like for like with any other battery. As I say, the EZA worked fine.

So I spoke to Roadpro and they asked me to take it along and work out what needed doing. I did this and they wired in the Fast DC-DC charge line (from the alternator) and also the +D signal wire from the ignition.

Now it fully charges up and rapidly.

My advice is, therefore, buy from RoadPro and if possible, get them to fit it. If they don't fit it, make sure it's going to be wired as per the instructions.

In terms of usability, I have ran the EZA down to as low as 13%. It singularly outperforms the 2 x 110Ah lead-acid batteries it replaced. The app is reasonably good in that you can see the solar input charge and history, as you can the 240v and the charging when driving.

I did have a problem with the Bluetooth connectivity once. I had to hit the reset button on the EZA to restore it. No idea if the root cause was the EZA or my tablet.

Otherwise, I've been very happy with it.

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[two]

Great to have the feed-back. It's much better to get real life experience than a repeat of sales information. When I first saw the Eza, the (French) guy selling it claimed that you could take the cells down to 0%. "Oh yes?" I thought, "maybe once".
Next step will be to hook-up to a fast charging point, intended for electric cars (although I think that rapid charging may not be so kind to the cells).

 

[Windy66]

According to the app, I get 50A going into the EZA Fast Charge Line while driving.

 

[Windy66]

Great to have the feed-back. It's much better to get real life experience than a repeat of sales information. When I first saw the Eza, the (French) guy selling it claimed that you could take the cells down to 0%. "Oh yes?" I thought, "maybe once".
Next step will be to hook-up to a fast charging point, intended for electric cars (although I think that rapid charging may not be so kind to the cells).

I understand the EZA will allow you to drop the battery down to 5%. After that it stops outputting any power.

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[two]

What you are paying for with Eza is more than just LiFePo batteries. It's the management system that looks after it. Difficult to determine how good it is until after a few years use.

 

[Windy66]

Mmmmm. Had to reset the EZA again as the bluetooth connectivity failed again. This might become an irritation.

 

[Camper634]

Mmmmm. Had to reset the EZA again as the bluetooth connectivity failed again. This might become an irritation.

I have purchased a wired version of the tablet ie it connects via usb to the EZA.I was having endless Bluetooth problems which hopefully are now a thing of the past.Unfortunately you can’t just get the wired,you have to buy another tablet aswell.

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[Windy66]

I have purchased a wired version of the tablet ie it connects via usb to the EZA.I was having endless Bluetooth problems which hopefully are now a thing of the past.Unfortunately you can’t just get the wired,you have to buy another tablet aswell.

Good to know. I will be very keen to understand how you get on with the wired version.

I wrote to EZA directly about the bluetooth issue. Asking if there were any firmware updates yet. I'll let you know what they say.

 

[Windy66]

Apparently, Frankia are putting these EZA's into their motorhomes as standard now.

 

[Camper634]

Up to now it has been a lot better,apart from the first tablet packed in and EZA in France Replaced it,no fuss.I have had to restart the app a couple of times but have not had to reset the EZA itself,which has been a blessingI personally haven’t been over impressed with Roadpro’s after sales,apart from when I contacted Andrew Harris directly.The French people however have been really helpful.

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[sid1234]

Hi, so if the EZA was at 50% can you just start the engine to charge it to 100%, if yes how long would it take. or would you have to drive around a bit and for how many miles?. Thanks

 

[Camper634]

Last time out mine went down to 64 per cent.I drove about 9 miles to an LPG station(and back)and it was on 99 per cent when I checked it on my return.Over a normal weekend in winter I have never had it down past 60 per cent.Thats with TV viewing,lights etc and occasional inverter use.

 

[Windy66]

Hi, so if the EZA was at 50% can you just start the engine to charge it to 100%, if yes how long would it take. or would you have to drive around a bit and for how many miles?. Thanks

When it was at 13%, I drove for about 30 mins and it was then at 60%. When I had done another hour and a quarter I checked again, it was up at 100%. But I don't know the actual point it reached 100%. I suspect after about 1 hour?

Unfortunately I don't think the app has a graph for charge value over time. That would be most useful.

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[Camper634]

Last weekend I gave the EZA it’s first real test.Took the 3 grandkids with us and temperatures never went above freezing.The kids had thier phones,iPads etc on charge from getting here on Friday to leaving on Sunday lunchtime.Lights were on both nights from around 5 until 11.The blended air was on Friday for about 5 hours.I would think TV was on for about 4 hours altogether,as we spent the first night teaching them to play Newmarket!When we left on Sunday it was down at 46%Drove home approx 40 miles and it was back up to 88%.
The above is just my experience with the EZA on a cold February day.It is not an attempt to convince anyone that they are value for money or a recommendation to spend what is indeed a lot of cash on one.I am happy with mine,that’s all.

 

[Camper634]

Well a year on and the EZA continues to perform consistently.The wired controller however was a waste of money and went back for a full refund.I tried a different tablet to the Amazon fire provided by Roadpro,and this one,a Samsung tablet has been far far better with very few problems.This weekend has seen the unit recharged to 100% through good solar,reaching 13 amps by lunchtime.We have used the electrical kettle through the inverter for the full 3 days and this again has been no problem.The kettle takes 90 amps from the battery but only for 4 minutes.I have found this reduces the autonomy by about 5%.Within an hour it is back to 100% via the solar(300 watts).So to summarize a lot of initial outlay,but a great product to have for my particular use.

 

[HandyAndy]

If you want some good detail on what it takes to install a lithium battery setup I can highly recommend watching Journey with Jono on YouTube..



There is another one but I,lol come back to that later as something is on tv I don’t want to miss.

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[Windy66]

You mentioned that it charges your battery from solar better than before. It should do you now have gone from 220AH batteries to 130AH

I have 2 AGM and a cab battery being kept topped up by a 140w solar panel just fine during the winter.

Mmmm. EZA can go down to 5% capacity. Lead acid can go down to 50%. I meant a charge comparison of an EZA from 5% against lead acid from 50%.

Sorry, I should have been more clear

 

[Windy66]

2.5 years after purchasing, the EZA is still going well. I've not seen any degradation in performance. Yet!

 

[Windy66]

Hi, so if the EZA was at 50% can you just start the engine to charge it to 100%, if yes how long would it take. or would you have to drive around a bit and for how many miles?. Thanks

Yes, I start the engine sometimes. Not because I've had to but because I am nervous about it getting too low. I've got a iNET thingy that sends me an SMS when the voltage drops below a value. I set it to 12.6v. I think that's about 50% capacity. 12.6v gives me time to get to the van and check it out.

We were off grid recently and it was very cloudy. The heating on full time and some lights. After 3 days the alarm SMS came through. I started the engine for 20 mins and it went up to 13.8v. Our holiday carried on for another 2 days and it was ok, no need to charge it via the engine again. No more alarms.

The max the voltage gets to is 14.2v. Sunny weather and it will reach that via the solar panels (200w) easily.

I haven't needed to drive around. Just started the engine on occasion.

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[funflair]

2.5 years after purchasing, the EZA is still going well. I've not seen any degradation in performance. Yet!

Thanks for coming back on this, good results and a great bit of kit for anybody short of payload.

Martin

ps don't forget to update us at 10 years

 

[Windy66]

Thanks for coming back on this, good results and a great bit of kit for anybody short of payload.

Martin

ps don't forget to update us at 10 years

We'll all be using crystolicusion by then

 

[HandyAndy]

Ah ha, that youtube guy has done a great playlist by the looks of it. Here's the rest of them for those interested.





Enjoy the remainder of your bank holiday sun

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[funflair]

We'll all be using crystolicusion by then

I might stick with our GEL's for a few more years miss out lithium and go straight to crystolicusion then, after all we have only just gone from CRT to 4K Oled TV at home, "buy well buy well"

Martin

 

[Pausim]

Crystolicusion, isn’t that what powered Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story or was that crystallic fusion?

 

[Windy66]

Yes I thought it was Buzz Lightbeers power source.

Maybe it was crystallic fusion. You got me thinking now! I’m going to have to watch it to find out!

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[Windy66]

Yes I thought it was Buzz Lightbeers power source.

Maybe it was crystallic fusion. You got me thinking now! I’m going to have to watch it to find out!

You are right! Crystallic fusion!

 

[Pausim]

I prefer your crystolicusion, better word.

 

[Windy66]

Ok, it's now some 3 or so years after I first started this thread.

The update is that the EZA is still going and hasn't failed or degraded so far. I've taken it down to around 10% or 12% remaining a few times when in the winter in the UK. Thats about 5 days of power with our typical use. When abroad in the sunshine, the solar panels keep the battery fully charged up, with our typical power usage. It takes 1 hour of driving to recharge it back to 100% again. After 20 mins it's up to 65% though.

The app updates have improved the app user ability considerably. No faults now and the bluetooth issues have gone away with those updates.

I think the prices are coming down now and getting closer to my view that they needed to be about half of what I paid. So that's good at least.

I've re-read a lot of this thread and there are some that feel their own standard setup works well for them, some have looked at or even moved to these types of batteries. All in all, I just hope that this thread has helped all who have read it by allowing them to be informed accordingly and support their decision making in whatever they choose to do. But of course these batteries are not 'new' anymore and so we can reflect of newer or upcoming technologies to come.

For me I'm ok with my purchase, if not the price I paid.

Happy and healthy holidays to everyone who contributed.

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