Lithium, Inverter - Adria Twin (1 Viewer)

[Andy MacD]

Planning an upgrade before a trip to France in March for 10 weeks, mostly Aires, so looking at off grid capability taking into account we have a compressor fridge running 24/7 on 12v. At present I have standard 2021 Adria Twin with 120ah AGM battery, charges, solar etc. I want to keep things VERY simple and affordable so want to avoid B2B‘s etc. unless absolutely necessary.

For the battery I’ve seen a Fogstar lithium 230ah battery at £850. Anyone with feedback on this battery or maker having actually used it. Other option would be the KSE energy 155ah at £720 with Funsters discount.

The inverter is to charge a laptop, ebike battery and run a 1,000w air fryer. Numerous pure sine wave inverters on eBay between 1,500w and 3,000w for around £150. Are these up to the job? Anyone fitted one in a Twin, or other PVC with unseat battery? Where did you site the inverter and any issues wiring it up.

Thanks for any advice in advance.

 

[Hoovie]

Interestingly enough I am poised to do an upgrade on an Adria Twin with Inverter, Lithium, etc. but not really what you would call a Budget install (Victron Multiplus, B2B, MPPT, BMV, PV Panels plus a 300Ah Lithium).

I would be slightly wary on a PSU 3000W Inverter at £150. Some things can be too good a price to be true

 

[pacman]

For the battery I’ve seen a Fogstar lithium 230ah battery at £850. Anyone with feedback on this battery or maker having actually used it. Other option would be the KSE energy 155ah at £720 with Funsters discount.

Just fitted a Fogstar 300AH to my Coral , only £850 after a 15% discount. They will supply you with a code if you ask and mention
MHF.

 

[Andy MacD]

They will supply you with a code if you ask and mention
MHF.

Interesting, thanks.

 

[Jev88]

Interesting, thanks.

Be aware orders now to be delivered January. Contemplating one myself

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[Roger S]

I recieved my Fogstar 230a a couple of weeks ago, they seem to be a good knowledegable company

 

[MisterB]

I bought a 300ah from them a couple of weeks ago seems to be fine so far. I had to but some battery posts from Amazon as I wanted to keep my existing snap on type battery terminal connectors. I think Becs at Fogstar was considering getting some to sell as an accessory.

 

[donkey]

Not sure I would be happy with clip on battery terminals if considering drawing 100amps or so.

Geoff

 

[jonasw19]

Planning an upgrade before a trip to France in March for 10 weeks, mostly Aires, so looking at off grid capability taking into account we have a compressor fridge running 24/7 on 12v. At present I have standard 2021 Adria Twin with 120ah AGM battery, charges, solar etc. I want to keep things VERY simple and affordable so want to avoid B2B‘s etc. unless absolutely necessary.

For the battery I’ve seen a Fogstar lithium 230ah battery at £850. Anyone with feedback on this battery or maker having actually used it. Other option would be the KSE energy 155ah at £720 with Funsters discount.

The inverter is to charge a laptop, ebike battery and run a 1,000w air fryer. Numerous pure sine wave inverters on eBay between 1,500w and 3,000w for around £150. Are these up to the job? Anyone fitted one in a Twin, or other PVC with unseat battery? Where did you site the inverter and any issues wiring it up.

Thanks for any advice in advance.

How much solar do you have?
Fitting large capacity batteries seems to be only half the equation, you will need to recharge in a timely way.
I am in N Spain atm and not moving much, so 200ah of battery, 2 ebikes 270w solar and a 45 amp b2b are barely coping. I find we need to do approx 2.5 hours engine run per week.
Maybe consider a 50 amp b2b?
Spring should be better for solar though.
Good luck
jon
Ps i have a 3 way fridge and no heavy electricals, just a 500w inverter

 

[cyberyacht]

If you want to pull 100amps from batteries, it may be worth considering two slightly smaller batteries to split the amperage draw between them. Reduces the stress on the system a bit.

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[MisterB]

Not sure I would be happy with clip on battery terminals if considering drawing 100amps or so.

Geoff

Thanks, always happy to learn something new. Anyone else have a view please, just want to make sure what I do is correct and if that means changing battery terminals and connections it's not a big job, though it would be a big job if something went wrong!

As I intend using a microwave for short bursts, it will be well over 100amps!

 

[Hoovie]

Thanks, always happy to learn something new. Anyone else have a view please, just want to make sure what I do is correct and if that means changing battery terminals and connections it's not a big job, though it would be a big job if something went wrong!

As I intend using a microwave for short bursts, it will be well over 100amps!

The Battery Posts they will be sending would be perfectly fine. I would expect them to be Brass posts that simply bolt down to the screen terminal and making a nice connection to the ring.
I have a pair of those that came with a battery that changed in casing design from a Posts to Bolt terminals.

I haven't used them as I much prefer the bolt-down style and would recommend you take the opportunity to update your terminal leads. However, I would not be concerned in the slightest about converting the battery to a post-style version either.

 

[Andy MacD]

How much solar do you have?

I think it’s 120. We’d be moving apart couple of days so charging shouldn’t be too much of a worry.

 

[jonasw19]

I think it’s 120. We’d be moving apart couple of days so charging shouldn’t be too much of a worry.

It depends on how far you want to move, we are moving generally less than 30 miles a day, approx 1 to 1.5 hours, today will be 7 miles, taking 30 minutes. Sun is shining in generally clear sky. Solar will be 35ah ish from 270w of panels, b2b 20ah.
No cycling because mrs asw19 has a sporting injury.
This total of 55ah is barely enough now the heating is on.
The other day we charged both ebikes, using 75ah of capacity ( taking us down to 30% remaining). Fortunately it was raining so we went for a walk in the van for 90 minutes which replaced this.
Today we have just attained 80% soc for the first time in a week.
Lowest has been 15% soc after charging the bikes twice and only travelling a few miles in the rain.
This is a long winded way of saying you should do your consumption/ generating equation carefully.
And your solar may not be enough, though you may? already have a b2b.
Jon

 

[Andy MacD]

Thanks jonasw19, I think I’m going to do the battery first and then see what I can do next. Don’t think I can add solar.

BTW you must have a much larger van than me, I can get from one end to the other in about 5 sec

Fortunately it was raining so we went for a walk in the van for 90 minutes which replaced this.

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[jonasw19]

BTW you must have a much larger van than me, I can get from one end to the other in about 5 sec

if you have it flaunt it.

What van do you have?
I think many modern vans already have b2b to manage smart alternators.
Our 2016 merc based van does (Hymer mlt620)

 

[royandsharont]

I thought you had a B2B fitted as standard Andy, Adria call it a DC2DC but I understand that is what it is when I asked on here. Ours has one.

Your solar will be 120w, the new ones are now flexible and only 80w.

 

[dosser]

Planning an upgrade before a trip to France in March for 10 weeks, mostly Aires, so looking at off grid capability taking into account we have a compressor fridge running 24/7 on 12v. At present I have standard 2021 Adria Twin with 120ah AGM battery, charges, solar etc. I want to keep things VERY simple and affordable so want to avoid B2B‘s etc. unless absolutely necessary.

For the battery I’ve seen a Fogstar lithium 230ah battery at £850. Anyone with feedback on this battery or maker having actually used it. Other option would be the KSE energy 155ah at £720 with Funsters discount.

The inverter is to charge a laptop, ebike battery and run a 1,000w air fryer. Numerous pure sine wave inverters on eBay between 1,500w and 3,000w for around £150. Are these up to the job? Anyone fitted one in a Twin, or other PVC with unseat battery? Where did you site the inverter and any issues wiring it up.

Thanks for any advice in advance.

Hi Andy i fitted a 200ah KS energy battery under the passenger seat of our 2019 Twin SLB, just back from France last week and for me the B2b i fitted was the most important thing for charging the battery. I was going to rely on solar, imho thats great for the summer here in Scotland and in Europe. My plan was like you to put a bigger panel on but once the summer was over i found the charging a bit on the weak side relying on solar alone.
I fitted a 30aamp B2b could have gone bigger but we tend to move couple of days so the B2B does the job. My advice not and expert by any means would be go B2B route first with a lithium battery, did put an inverter in use it occasionally for the Remoska but does use a fair bit of power out the battery so if your using an inverter i would be looking to replace as much as possible. A lot of aires have free hook up so could also use for a quick top up.
Kenny

 

[Andy MacD]

DC2DC

Is that under the passenger seat rearwards facing Roy? Box there with lithium setting but thought it was a charger. Must go and have mother look.

 

[royandsharont]

Sorry Andy, I absolutely have no idea. I see things under the seats but apart from recognising the electroblok and the solar controller I have no idea what the rest is.

Many moons ago, as part of the learning process in readiness for the new van, I asked if they were the same as I had one on my spec but on here they are always called a B2B.

Mine is auto so unless that dictates having it I suspect yours will too. I got 2 AGM batteries too.

Just checked and they actually call it DC/DC Converter. Here is a screenshot

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[ianto999]

Interested in finding out if my imminent 2029 SL 640 Auto hs some B2B / DC2DC arrangement. Is there a way to check if original spec sheet not available?
How much difference would this make if I replaced 95ag Hausa with a Li battery (+130wsolar)

 

[Peavy]

Is that under the passenger seat rearwards facing Roy? Box there with lithium setting but thought it was a charger. Must go and have mother look.

That's correct.
Mine is LHD (Adria Twin 2022).
So, EBL under the driver's seat and 2 AGM batteries with the booster, under the passenger's seat.

Check the EBL manual to be in the safe side, before adding the stuff you need, because there are some Amp. limitations in solar and other things.

This thing here is the booster:

 

[Speve]

I have just completed my upgrade to Lithium and had a weekend away it’s performed excellently.

I have a Fogstar Drift Pro 300 ah battery with Victron 2000a Multiplus inverter charger, 400w of solar with victron smart solar, victron DC to DC charger(B2B) and victron battery protect. I have used my EBL 30 for the existing 12v features whilst disconnecting any split charge and mains connections leaving the Multiplus to charge Lithium and trickle charge vehicle battery when on EHU.

We have 240w solar on Victron smart controller and 160w on existing Buttner solar controller both performed really well in good sunshine.

We used microwave and Remoska also electric kettle and the tv for three nights viewing approx 3hrs on without hardly showing on battery capacity and the solar topped it up very quickly.

Very pleased with the system and well worth the money

 

[Speve]

Just further to my last post changed settings EBL set to Gel and Buttner solar regulator to lithium