Thinking of Lithium upgrade

garry63

garry63

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Hi all
Just been for our first overnight out in chester from leaving van in storage.
Sat watching TV for couple of hours odd light on and heating run off diesel but fans off battery then battery died.
This has made me think off upgrade to lithium, I have 130w solar with mppt controller can fit lithium.
Any advice and have you done this?
we are going to irland in July 3 weeks wild xamping
 
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Probably better to give details of your charging systems and make and age of van. Then the experts can give you focussed advice.
 
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Fogstar batteries are being tried by quite a few Funsters, not fitted my 300ah yet.

More solar = more harvest.
More batteries or AH = more storage.
 
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Jev88 said:
Fogstar batteries are being tried by quite a few Funsters, not fitted my 300ah yet.

More solar = more harvest.
More batteries or AH = more storage.
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Do you think a 230 lithium with 130w solar be good for 3 weeks of grid in irland in July be enough not going mad on usage showers odd tv lights at night not much as going to be in the pubs mostly 😉
 
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I’ve installed a 220 ah lithium instead of lead batteries and what a difference 😃. We have 270w solar and would highly recommend a b2b charger as well, we off grid all the time and have had no problems with our power needs, albet we don’t use an inverter. But in the few years we’ve had it installed ive never have used hook up to charge the lithium.
Between the solar panels and b2b it keeps us topped up.

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Rockpool said:
I’ve installed a 220 ah lithium instead of lead batteries and what a difference 😃. We have 270w solar and would highly recommend a b2b charger as well, we off grid all the time and have had no problems with our power needs, albet we don’t use an inverter. But in the few years we’ve had it installed ive never have used hook up to charge the lithium.
Between the solar panels and b2b it keeps us topped up.
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Whats b2b and how easy is it to fit?
 
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200w.. 240ah lithium.. no B2B.. no Inverter..... easily survive on rally fields for up to three weeks..
Battery never been below 70%
 
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garry63 said:
Sat watching TV for couple of hours odd light on and heating run off diesel but fans off battery then battery died.
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Before you go splashing money about....what battery do you have now....what are your lights......what is your tv, one evening seems a bit short for battery life
Was anything else on? Phone charging, etc
 
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busbuddy said:
Before you go splashing money about....what battery do you have now....what are your lights......what is your tv, one evening seems a bit short for battery life
Was anything else on? Phone charging, etc
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I was wondering if it was because we went straight from storage and first time used this year

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When I had the hymer I had 300w of solar and two 95amp gel’s I never ran out of power and never hooked up…😎
 
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Just smiffy said:
When I had the hymer I had 300w of solar and two 95amp gel’s I never ran out of power and never hooked up…😎
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Similarly 200 ah of gel and 120 watts of solar over 10 years in France (April to September) never ran out.

Ebikes. = Different kettle of fish = 200 ah of lithium and 370 watts and probably better off getting 300 ah of lithium
 
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garry63 said:
Would 130w solar and 2x 110ah gel be a good setup
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I would say yes if you are not wasting electricity on e bikes, microwaves, 15 laptops, coffee machines, air conditioning, hair driers.

Lithium has its place and its always nice to have the best of the best but if you dont need it why buy it
 
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Looking like 2x gells just need to fit in

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garry63 said:
Hi all
Just been for our first overnight out in chester from leaving van in storage.
Sat watching TV for couple of hours odd light on and heating run off diesel but fans off battery then battery died.
This has made me think off upgrade to lithium, I have 130w solar with mppt controller can fit lithium.
Any advice and have you done this?
we are going to irland in July 3 weeks wild xamping
Click to expand...
I’ve recently had it fitted , it’s fantastic! Prior to fitting , I had one solar panel w
80w I beleive and one standard leisure battery , it would give 24 hours of power .. I upgraded to 210 ah lithium and 600 w solar , it was giving me 4/5 days power without having to move or charge , now the suns out it’s practically infinite , solar puts in what I take out so batteries are constantly fully charged! Initially there were some toothing issues but since then it’s worked a dream. I highly recommend!
 
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steveswift said:
I’ve recently had it fitted , it’s fantastic! Prior to fitting , I had one solar panel w
80w I beleive and one standard leisure battery , it would give 24 hours of power .. I upgraded to 210 ah lithium and 600 w solar , it was giving me 4/5 days power without having to move or charge , now the suns out it’s practically infinite , solar puts in what I take out so batteries are constantly fully charged! Initially there were some toothing issues but since then it’s worked a dream. I highly recommend!
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What kit did you have fitted and what charger for when on ehu and if you don't mind me asking how much did it all cost?
 
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How old is the current battery?
Was your van under cover whilst in storage?

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garry63 said:
What kit did you have fitted and what charger for when on ehu and if you don't mind me asking how much did it all cost?
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Oh they aren’t cheap , but I got several quotes and all were around the same , I had 2 eco tree 110ah batteries and all the other stuff is victron, and I had a victron inverter fitted too , which i belive doubles up as the charger you refer to , the whole
Set up inc Solar was 5k
 
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garry63 said:
What kit did you have fitted and what charger for when on ehu and if you don't mind me asking how much did it all cost?
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I got a 300ah from Fogstar (280ah are better value though) an inverter plus bits to fit it - fuses, cable etc 200w solar panels, MPPT controller and fitted it all myself for under £1500 ..... If initial outlay is an issue, do it in stages ??
 
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MisterB said:
I got a 300ah from Fogstar (280ah are better value though) an inverter plus bits to fit it - fuses, cable etc 200w solar panels, MPPT controller and fitted it all myself for under £1500 ..... If initial outlay is an issue, do it in stages
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MisterB said:
I got a 300ah from Fogstar (280ah are better value though) an inverter plus bits to fit it - fuses, cable etc 200w solar panels, MPPT controller and fitted it all myself for under £1500 ..... If initial outlay is an issue, do it in stages ??
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For sure , if a bit of spending money is an issue go with mr b’s advice , if on the other hand a bit of folding isn’t an issue I’d go with one of the recommended fitters , at least then it’s warranted and you have some after care should it be needed , either way , lithium is great! I highly recommend 👍
 
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garry63 Personally if you don't use high drain electrical items like hair dryers, microwaves etc via a powerful inverter I doubt you need lithium.
It sounds like you just need to replace your hab battery, possibly with 2.
My set up last year was 100 watt solar and 2 x 100AH lead acid batteries.
I never had any problems not on hook up including a stint of 24 consecutive nights in one spot.
I watched a mains TV run off a small inverter, lights, water pump, charging 2 mobiles etc.
Batteries were fully recharged every day via the 100 watt solar panel.
I've added to the set up this year, a second 100 watt panel and 60 amp B2B because I know that this year I will be using more electric but still no lithium as I won't be running any high drain items just using more electric.
I don't need to go on EHU at all.
 
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I've got 130w solar with mppt for both vehicle and hab batteries, just put on a 200ah gel battery and our consumption items are tv, water pumps, phones, lights.
No 240v invertor, no heating as diesel.
The only prob I have is I don't trust the onboard sargent ec200 panel.
The mppt controller does have output readings but a bit confusing to tell what state battery is in so would like an easy way of monitoring hab battery

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A shunt will tell you exactly what is going on with your battery ie amps in, amps out, SOC, voltage, time remaining etc if you don't trust your Sargent panel.
I have a Victron Smart Shunt which displays it's info on an app on my phone.
 
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Yeah I've heard of these shunts are they difficult to wire in?
 
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I don't think so but I had mine fitted at the same time as the B2B by Vanbitz.
Quite a few on here have fitted Shunts themselves.
 
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Going to start a new thread asking about fitting shunts
Let's see whats thrown up
 
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upgraded to Lithium last year, 200 watts extra plus MPPT and 200 ah of lithium and fitted a shunt with display (not Bluetooth)
Fitted it self (Ok FiL) fitted the solar.
Just under a grand with the battery at 649, the solar system was about 250 then shunt which I think was about 40 quid in total
 
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