I won't use LiFePO4 Batteries

[Landy Andy]

SPUN OUT FROM ANOTHER THREAD....

People have been motorhomeing for getting on for 100 years with one lead acid battery now we have solar , fancy chargers, B2 b, lithium, and hell knows what else, and what do we get , scores of threads of folks with flat batteries.

Agree. I just have two basic batteries and manage without issue. Endless threads on lithium and how good they are, and now the winter when they are really used, and endless threads about issues. I will stick to camping, not driving a power station about, and have the money in my pocket.

 

[eddie]

Correctly fitted lithium batteries, with a decent sized B2B, a reasonable amount of solar with a good regulator with a lithium profile don’t tend to create problems.

I simply do not believe that buying a ‘drop in’ ‘change nothing’ lithium battery is worth it, and, I suspect is the cause of the alleged multiple problem posts.

I was 28 years old and was lucky enough to be able to buy a brand new motorhome, a Autohomes Highwayman

We went everywhere in that van, AshVanBitz Simon-Alan Kerr @JamesAJMotorhomes were 4,3 & 6 years old Nick@vanbitz didn’t even appear on the scene till 1993!

Christmas in the Alps, August camping on the beach, opening the door in the morning to the Mediterranean, trips to Paris overnighting on the bank of the Seine, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.

And yes, all in a motorhome with one Leisure battery

14 motorhomes later, and aged 61 and retired from a life of fitting electrical equipment to tens of thousands of motorhomes, In our current camper we have 3 X 175w solar panels on the roof, 3 X 120 amp Lithium batteries, a factory fitted 5kw Onan generator, a 120amp buck boost B2B a 3200w inverter/charger charging at 120amp when mains is available

It all talks to each other via a VE Bus and all controllable manually or via our phones and tablets.

I never consider power nowadays, rarely bother to plug in, can‘t remember the last time I consulted the App to check power levels

Not everyone can afford such a set up, I understand that, not everyone needs such a set up, I understand that, so not everyone wants such a set up, probably for one of previous reasons, but I don’t understand when people try to berate such set ups

Its wonderful and completely changed the way we use the camper.

Half the weight, pretty much twice the power so taking cost away, what argument is there against them?

I‘ve said it before not everyone has to make decisions where cost is the number one deciding criteria, sorry that’s the truth, that’s why some people spend Hundreds of thousands on their campers, whereas buying a tent would fundamentally do the same job.

 

[Landy Andy]

Half the weight, pretty much twice the power so taking cost away, what argument is there against them?

They go wrong, and when they do are complicated to fix, with lots of wrong info and too many “I think” answers. To old fashioned batteries, simple. A bit heavy, but not massively when you look into all things. When, if, it goes wrong simple to fix. Two batteries no solar, no B2B for my van, and have never run out of power. It’s easy to say take away the cost, but it’s a very big cost, and as per this post, paying the money, doesn’t equal reliability.

 

[chaser]

They go wrong, and when they do are complicated to fix, with lots of wrong info and too many “I think” answers. To old fashioned batteries, simple. A bit heavy, but not massively when you look into all things. When, if, it goes wrong simple to fix. Two batteries no solar, no B2B for my van, and have never run out of power. It’s easy to say take away the cost, but it’s a very big cost, and as per this post, paying the money, doesn’t equal reliability.

Agree with what you say but must add if someone really wants to upgrade their electricity, solar panels are the way to go, relatively cheap now compared to all this other stuff and will keep you going almost indefinitely without ever moving.

 

[Landy Andy]

Agree with what you say but must add if someone really wants to upgrade their electricity, solar panels are the way to go, relatively cheap now compared to all this other stuff and will keep you going almost indefinitely without ever moving.

If I did have power problems a B2B would be my choice. It always works, whatever the weather, or if in shade. Moving isn’t an issue. That’s why I’ve got a motorhome

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[Jo662]

I have had this,my third, motorhome for nearly 8 years . It had two LA batteries when I got it, which I had to replace after 3 years. Then in November 2021 I had a lithium setup fitted,along with a charger/inverter by AshVanBitz great team ,and it’s been one of the best upgrades I have done to my motorhome.
I got it out of storage this week,and the sunshine we had brought the batteries back up to a 100%.
And as I have not used the motorhome since November last year, the batteries have never gone lazy as has been mentioned.

 

[funflair]

Agree with what you say but must add if someone really wants to upgrade their electricity, solar panels are the way to go, relatively cheap now compared to all this other stuff and will keep you going almost indefinitely without ever moving.

When the sun is up in the sky for sure but when it's winter and the sun is way down on the horizon most of the day you need battery capacity as solar will do next to nothing, we tend to be away for shorter trips in the UK winter so battery capacity alone will see us 5 or 6 days heavy use, in the summer longer trips are fuelled by solar and we can last forever.

 

[jongood]

.

 

[eddie]

They go wrong, and when they do are complicated to fix, with lots of wrong info and too many “I think” answers. To old fashioned batteries, simple. A bit heavy, but not massively when you look into all things. When, if, it goes wrong simple to fix. Two batteries no solar, no B2B for my van, and have never run out of power. It’s easy to say take away the cost, but it’s a very big cost, and as per this post, paying the money, doesn’t equal reliability.

I have sold probably thousands, and would struggle to think of any warranty claims AshVanBitz would know better.

So where is your proof they go wrong?

No “I think” answers from people that know what they’re talking about.

Perhaps some, put too much faith in vloggers

 

[eddie]

Agree with what you say but must add if someone really wants to upgrade their electricity, solar panels are the way to go, relatively cheap now compared to all this other stuff and will keep you going almost indefinitely without ever moving.

No good for a Winter trip to Finland

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[bigtwin]

It depends what you want to do with your batteries? if you just want to keep the lights on and run the water pump now and again cheap lead acid will do

If you want a bit more power and capacity and are prepared to spend a bit more I would go for "gel" lead acid.

If you want it all, big capacity, fast recharge, big discharge for inverter etc then LiFePO4 are obviously the way to go.

Nicely put.

Ian

 

[AdrianChen]

Rubbish, lithium batteries do not get lazy.

Seems to have come up before when batteries are cycled with little discharge - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30396271/

 

[Landy Andy]

So where is your proof they go wrong?

This forum, there are several post of people having difficulties with them.

 

[eddie]

This forum, there are several post of people having difficulties with them.

So your lumping misuse, inappropriate use, expectations exceeding physical ability and confusion in with failures

Your wrong.

The actual failure rate of main stream ‘known’ brands is tiny

 

[Steve and Denise]

I fitted a 300ah Roamer with all correct mppt and b2b and have neve had ehu since a year gone October

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[Landy Andy]

So your lumping misuse, inappropriate use, expectations exceeding physical ability and confusion in with failures

Your wrong.

The actual failure rate of main stream ‘known’ brands is tiny

Yes I am. As they have paid thousands to the “specialist” who sold them all this stuff. Then it went cold and now they have no power. Sellers will always talk the talk, then it under performs, and the seller goes quiet.

 

[Spriddler]

It rather depends upon how much electrical equipment you want to run when off grid.
I travel solo and don't need a T.V., coffee machine, hair dryer, kettle, toaster, charger for a bicycle etc. etc. so the 90Ah Bosch (starter) battery that I've been using for hab power has never run out in 5 years. It only has to run lights, fridge and water heater controls, water pump and charge my phone. I've no B2B or solar but just the original base vehicle (1995 model VW T4) alternator but I do drive every 2 or 3 days, overnighting off-grid 90% of the time.
It seems to me that battery capacity is similar to a garden shed; the more there is the more you find to use it up.

Simplicity rules.......no sophisticated electronics here.

 

[BillandHelen]

Yes I am. As they have paid thousands to the “specialist” who sold them all this stuff. Then it went cold and now they have no power. Sellers will always talk the talk, then it under performs, and the seller goes quiet.

We had our 2x100amp NDS lithium, with 2000w inventor, 60 amp Votronic b2b and NDS solar charger all fitted by Damien at Roadpro. Andy, the owner very helpful, talked through what we wanted to use, how we would use it and no hard sell at all. Been using it for 2 years with no issues, main uses are nespresso maker, induction hob, Helens straighteners and occasionally the roof aircon just to cool the van down before bed when necessary. We use a mixture of sites in winter, but still useful for making lunch/coffee on journey, and stellpkatz/aires when abroad. I know it’s more expensive, but getting true professionals to fit lithium makes all the difference in my experience.

 

[Landy Andy]

7 years of a motorhome. No solar, no B2B, no lithium, just two batteries. Never run out of power, and money in my pocket, not someone else’s. I know we are all different but more toys, more problems and I like simple. The posts on this forum show lithium is not as simple as some suggest.

 

[Two on Tour]

The posts on this forum show lithium is not as simple as some suggest.

I find lithium simple and have no trouble with it at all, in fact, I find it to be a big advantage in our case.

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[Lenny HB]

I find lithium simple and have no trouble with it at all, in fact, I find it to be a big advantage in our case.

Providing its installed correctly with the correct chargers I think it is a lot easier to manage than a Lead Acid system. Don't have to be constantly monitoring your power usage.

 

[eddie]

7 years of a motorhome. No solar, no B2B, no lithium, just two batteries. Never run out of power, and money in my pocket, not someone else’s. I know we are all different but more toys, more problems and I like simple. The posts on this forum show lithium is not as simple as some suggest.

Fine you like a simple life, great, but making up problems about lithium because you can’t afford it/don’t want it without backing your statements up is disingenuous

Just saying ‘I’ve read stuff’ isn’t proof

 

[Landy Andy]

Fine you like a simple life, great, but making up problems about lithium because you can’t afford it/don’t want it without backing your statements up is disingenuous

Just saying ‘I’ve read stuff’ isn’t proof

Read the forum. People are having problems. You as a seller of them isn’t an honest opinion. Why was this very post started, because someone wants a contact number as they are having problems. You want people to have them,

Help with lithium batteries

We are at present near Almería and having trouble with our lithium batteries. Twice in the last three days the batteries have gone down almost to zero , both overnight. Any suggestions of what I should check. Or does any one know of any retail business or mobile engineers in this area...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Cold Lithium, too cold?

Hi fellow Funsters, I have a 100 amp LiFeO. Has I fitted two years ago to replace x2 wet 110‘s and they’ve been great…, until this last cold snap. I noticed I couldn’t switch on the 12v lamp in garage and good that the vans 12v system had shut down with only 10.5v on the Lithium. I have the...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Dangerous Ecoflow kit?

I know we don’t think much of gadget John & Mandy but take a look at the section of this vid where he talks about a graded lead Ecoflow supplied in a bloody expensive new set up (I think best part of £6,000), it was getting very hot and could have burnt his van down to hubs 🤪. Story around 8.4t...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Lithium batteries - Parameter Settings for balancing

2 x 100Ah Sterling Power lithium batteries, 18 months old. One seems to be reluctant to balance cells. Volt diff as high as 0.3v on occasions and rarely volt diff below 0.2v The batteries arrived with different parameter settings. Sterling apologised and gave recommendations - see attached...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Lithium battery dropped to 10v !

Hello, We had a sneeky few days away wild camping to test our new Lithium 230ah battery and our new 500w microwave, all went very well until I got up this morning and there was no power ! The Alde heating wouldnt work, I looked at the three way fridge and noticed it had switched from gas to...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Lithium charging at low temp !!

Hi all, I have 2 x 100 ampTransporter energy batteries, on the spec sheet it says they will discharge between -20 to 71C And charging between -4 and 57C. As our van is kept in our garage it gets no benefit from our solar panels. With the monitoring and parasitic load it consumes around 9 to 12 w...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

But you go on promoting them, and I will stay with basic, known and working.

 

[RowleyBirkinQC]

This forum, there are several post of people having difficulties with them.

Are those typically home or professional installations? What type of lithium battery/installation, cheap and cheerful ‘drop in’ lead replacement with little/no thought to accompanying infra or ensuring the lithium battery is from a reputable manufacturer/supplier and the associated infra components are designed for and correctly setup for lithium? Personally, I think there are so many potential variables that it’s too simplistic to just say lithium batteries are problematic.

 

[eddie]

Read the forum. People are having problems. You as a seller of them isn’t an honest opinion. Why was this very post started, because someone wants a contact number as they are having problems. You want people to have them.

This post is started not because of lithium battery technology, but because someone doesn’t have a telephone number for a supplier. He needs to speak to them as he in Spain and his battery discharges over night!

That is not proof that Lithium batteries are inherently unreliable, actually if “proof” was posts on forums far more people post singing the praises of Lithium set ups than not.

However, you’ve singled out this post

• Many people in Spain have a solar panel, keeping things fine during the day when it’s warm and sunny, and wonder why their battery discharges at night, with any battery type: mainly because they use too much power and have unrealistic expectations
• I’m pretty certain that the OP has bought a ‘drop’ in Lithium replacement, something I disagree with and would never recommend
• The OP couldn’t find a telephone number for the person he bought the battery from

None of that proves Lithium batteries are more trouble than they are worth.

I am not advocating everyone have Lithium, but you can’t ‘not have them’ and make stuff up about their reliability to justify your stance.

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[Lenny HB]

There have been a few reports of Litiums not delivering power in sub zero temperatures which appears to be mostly down to incorrectly set BMS's and easily rectified.

I've not seen any reports on the forum of failed Lithium but failed lead acids reports are posted almost daily, so many that I've got fed up with replying to them.

 

[Jo662]

But Landy Andy are the examples you show mostly people who have just drop in lithium batteries?
I had mine fitted along with a charger with lithium settings by AshVanBitz ,and it’s worked perfectly in all temperatures for over 16 months.

 

[chaser]

Do folks really know what they require apart from what dealers, YouTube, people who have bought them, say on the internet.
If you really know how much electric you need fair enough but why would a bog standard motorhomer who has managed with one or two batteries for donkeys years suddenly need all these gizmos at anything up to £5000 just because it seems to be the fashion and then parkup on campsites with ehu where they don't need anything but a starter battery.

 

[MichaelT]

But Landy Andy are the examples you show mostly people who have just drop in lithium batteries?
I had mine fitted along with a charger with lithium settings by AshVanBitz ,and it’s worked perfectly in all temperatures for over 16 months.

I just dropped mine in and changed charger and solar settings and same here except its only 15.5 months for me. Sun is just up in deepest Essex but getting nearly an amp trickling in.

 

[eddie]

Read the forum. People are having problems. You as a seller of them isn’t an honest opinion. Why was this very post started, because someone wants a contact number as they are having problems. You want people to have them,

Help with lithium batteries

We are at present near Almería and having trouble with our lithium batteries. Twice in the last three days the batteries have gone down almost to zero , both overnight. Any suggestions of what I should check. Or does any one know of any retail business or mobile engineers in this area...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Cold Lithium, too cold?

Hi fellow Funsters, I have a 100 amp LiFeO. Has I fitted two years ago to replace x2 wet 110‘s and they’ve been great…, until this last cold snap. I noticed I couldn’t switch on the 12v lamp in garage and good that the vans 12v system had shut down with only 10.5v on the Lithium. I have the...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Dangerous Ecoflow kit?

I know we don’t think much of gadget John & Mandy but take a look at the section of this vid where he talks about a graded lead Ecoflow supplied in a bloody expensive new set up (I think best part of £6,000), it was getting very hot and could have burnt his van down to hubs 🤪. Story around 8.4t...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Lithium batteries - Parameter Settings for balancing

2 x 100Ah Sterling Power lithium batteries, 18 months old. One seems to be reluctant to balance cells. Volt diff as high as 0.3v on occasions and rarely volt diff below 0.2v The batteries arrived with different parameter settings. Sterling apologised and gave recommendations - see attached...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Lithium battery dropped to 10v !

Hello, We had a sneeky few days away wild camping to test our new Lithium 230ah battery and our new 500w microwave, all went very well until I got up this morning and there was no power ! The Alde heating wouldnt work, I looked at the three way fridge and noticed it had switched from gas to...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Lithium charging at low temp !!

Hi all, I have 2 x 100 ampTransporter energy batteries, on the spec sheet it says they will discharge between -20 to 71C And charging between -4 and 57C. As our van is kept in our garage it gets no benefit from our solar panels. With the monitoring and parasitic load it consumes around 9 to 12 w...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

But you go on promoting them, and I will stay with basic, known and working.

I picked one and opened it

We had a sneeky few days away wild camping to test our new Lithium 230ah battery and our new 500w microwave, all went very well until I got up this morning and there was no power ! The Alde heating wouldnt work, I looked at the three way fridge and noticed it had switched from gas to battery ! I tried to light the gas hob with no joy, turned on the spare bottle of gas the hob then worked as did the fridge when I reset it to gas. I assume the gas bottle ran out and the fridge switched to battery

Could you explain you that is an example of Lithium batteries being dodgy?

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