Lithium Deep Cycle Batteries

[drayweb]

I have a 1986 Sunline Saturn and was wondering if anyone on here has ever tried using a deep cycle lithium battery with their camper. I have a Interstate lead acid 210 amp battery right now, which weighs about a hundred pounds and takes about a day to charge everytime I use it. I called the Interstate Battery store today and the guy told me that there was a guy in my home town that tried a lithium in his boat and fried his motor. Does your boat or camper have to be wired differently to use a lithium? I know they run about a thousand bucks.

[JohnB]

Hi drayweb,

This link will drop you into a post where Yellow Jacket was restoring his 87 camper and was looking to go with lithium. It might help https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f...tml#post150090

As for the guy using a lithium battery in his boat and fried his motor, need more details on this to put some "what happen" behind it.

I have a friend using 3 Battle Born lithium batteries on his camper in a mega battery bank, with solar charging and a large inverter. He lives in AZ where the sun shines all the time. So yes, lithium in a camper does work, but it comes understanding the different charging needs verses a lead acid battery and it comes with higher cost.

A question would be, which battery technology is right for your application?

What is your thought process for converting from lead acid to lithium? Knowing some about your situation helps us give provide better answers. Lithium does have some advantages, but it comes with the higher costs. If you have the need for the advantages and can accept the cost, then it may make sense for you to go lithium.

We boondock using only 2, group 27 lead acid batteries. We have reduced our 12 volt power needs greatly and we recharge with a very good power converter with a generator that only can run for 5 hours a day at the camps we go to. We can go as many days as needed/wanted, weeks if wanted. We are under too much tree cover to make solar work right now, but lead acid fits all our needs and is well, cheap. Others here on the forum use lead acid recharged off of solar and have all the power they need, again it starts of power management and then how to recharge the battery bank.

I'm not trying to talk you out of lithium, just trying to help better understand what you are trying to fix by going lithium.

Hope this helps

John

[drayweb]

Last summer I bought a a Renogy 200 watt solar charging kit thinking that I could recharge my lead acid deep cycle battery in a day. Boy was I wrong. This past weekend, I was out in the North Dakota badlands turkey hunting and I hooked up the solar panels while it was sunny in the morning, but then it clouded up in the afternoon. Luckily I brought my 3100 watt Champion generator which has a 12 volt charging port on it. I was able to charge the battery enough to run the furnace at night. Didn't want to run generator that night because there were others campers in the campground we were staying at. My thought about getting a lithium is that you can run them down to 80 percent compared to lead acid which is only 50 percent. Also they're only suppose to take a couple hours to charge.

[Finelinevan]

I researched this myself. I have a full 500 watt solar setup on my unit and it works great. We do dry camp and the crazy lithium battery cost my me look into this question you ask.
On the two 6 volt golf cart batteries we use have worked out flawless with dry camping for us and they hold charge fine. At night the batteries supply us all we need and we have yet to come close to running them down to the 50% mark. We typically use 20% to 30% by 2 pm we are fully charged for next night. The batteries if always maintained to fully charged can easily last 7 plus years. They are 4 now and show no signs of weakness. They cost me about 325 for the pair. Lithium 1000 bucks. 3 times the cost.
Lithium don’t hold up as long in the cold if you camp in cold weather either. There’s no real data other then the manufacturer saying how long they last to their claims.
If you need to lighten weight in your trailer then lithium will do that if it’s worth the cost
With my research weight is the only benefit over cost. Some will argue that but cost to me matters. Most people sell there RVs in a few years too unless your keeping the trailer 10 plus more year why spend so much. I would rather spend it on Trojan T111 golf carts

[flbradjr]

I’m going to vote for 2 6v golf cart batteries. Work well for us and we weren’t happy with happy with our 12v lead acid (2) set up. But now no kids. Brad

[Finelinevan]

Those kits they sell won’t do the job nor will it charge a batteries full and 200 watts will maintain. A sitting camper some but not fully to last a night
A serious solar setup works and is programmable to battery manufacturer charging specs. I have 500 watts and bogart controller used 6 ga solar wire. These kits sucks and won’t allow enough charge voltage to get to batteries you need 14.8 volts hitting two 6 volt gulf cart batteries on 3 stage controller charged. We can keep batteries charged for as long as we are dry camping Use 30 percent i over night fully charged usually by 2 pm on sunny day 4 cloudy. Go power and kits like those they push usually don’t work for much then trickle charge not fast recovery A good system that works will be at least 1500 more if you have it installed much more.
We have on board generation we never use it other then for AC when it’s super hot. Panels work for us. But it’s not cheap