Lithium batteries -

[Dana Douglass]

How have folks liked LiTime lithium batteries? How do they compare with Battleborn? The price difference is pretty drastic.

 

[PaulT]

Search for “litime reviews”, and draw your own conclusions.

I have 2 Battleborns that I bought years ago when they had a sale that dropped the price to $950 for a 100 aH battery. There are many makes of LiFePO4 batteries with much lower prices than a few years ago but doing the due diligence yourself as to quality like you’re doing is important.

Good luck on your search.

 

[Vic Harder]

I hear mixed reviews. Will Prouse (fabulous online resource) likes them. At least one member here had some issues running two of them in parallel. Like PaulT said above, due diligence is required.

 

[Dirtroadsavant]

A tech-savvy friend who did a lot of research through Will Prouse and others landed on a 100 ah SOK. I followed suit. All has gone well for both of us during year 1. Price has been steady at around $300. Ymmv. John

 

[drumwood]

I have a LiTime 12V 100Ah Group 24 Smart. I have had a difficult time getting the battery BMS to agree with my Bogart Trimetric solar controller. The LiTime support people were not helpful. The Bogart support people were VERY helpful.
I went back-and-forth so many times with different settings, I can’t really recount the issues and fixes. Here is what I think is going on:
* the main symptom I observe is voltage spikes. I could see this happening on my battery monitor. The voltage would cycle up to as high as 20 V quickly then back down and repeat. This caused some of my connected devices, such as my propane leak detector to throw errors.
* I received the battery with unbalanced cells. This may have caused some spikes.I had to go through a half dozen or more charge cycles to get the Cells balanced.
* I was testing during the winter, so the battery would go into its freeze protection, shut down mode. When this happened, I would see the spikes.
* the BMS expects the controller to know exactly when the battery is fully charged, and to stop charging. If the controller tries to continue charging at 14.3 V, the spikes occurred.

The compromise settings I arrived at was to charge the battery at 13.8 V, rather than the specified 14.3 V. This is of course, a less efficient way to charge, but in the few trips I have taken so far it has been enough to keep charge in the battery.
This proves that you get what you pay for. I got the battery on a holiday sale for $189 with free shipping, but as you can tell, the aggravation tax was rather high.
I really like my Trimetric controller and monitor and want to keep using it. If I make a change, I will first consider getting a battle born battery, if I can confirm that it will work with my Trimetric setup. Another option would be to switch to a Victron controller and monitor. But I have such a low opinion of the LiTime BMS, it is likely that Victron and LiTime products would end up arguing as well.

 

[PaulT]

Drumwood,
I have 2 Battleborn GC2 batteries with a Bogart Trimetric solar charge controller & display. I, also, use the factory power supply with an Iota Lifepo IQ4 dongle control module. These have worked well for me for 4 or 5 years with no connection to the truck alternator.
I probably should buy a DC to DC charger but as an amateur radio guy, the reports of radio frequency noise with the Victron gear has kept me from doing it. I’m waiting on reports from other hams about any noise on the ham signals for the Redarc or Renogy version before buying either.

However, Bogart Engineering has been great to work with on supporting LiFePO4 early on.

 

[K7MDL]

Paul, I have the Renogy RBC2125DS 50A IP67 DC-DC charger with integrated MPPT solar charging. I do VHF only when mobile. I get noise on HF, 6M and 2M. maybe higher also. Opening my solar panel output breaker the VHF noise goes away. Engine charging does not cause a problem on VHF but does on all HF bands. I just did the June VHF contest on 6 bands 50-1296.

I get typical switcher noise on 28Mhz and down from the charger with the solar off. I have a simple clamp on ferrite on the charger output line and solar input near the charger but have not done anything more yet, including disconnecting the CAN bus cable to see if it is part of the emissions problem. I also need to try to power down the One Core monitor. If need be, I can open the starter battery breaker and kill the charger also but for VHF it seems OK, not so for HF.

Mike K7MDL near Woodinville WA

 

[kmcintyre]

I just purchased a Wattcycle 314Ah battery and will give it a big test these next few days at the FWC rally. I can get you a discount if you'd like and give you some pointers on how to get the best price. I have referral codes if interested too but will be out until Sunday, home for a week or so then off to Alaska for 2 months in the FWC!

 

[Openroad]

I also landed on SOK after tons of research. I have two 100ah batteries. My setup includes Victron DC-DC charger, Victron solar charger and Victron BMV 712 Shunt. The entire set up runs flawlessly with all eight cells (four in each battery) all balanced to a fault. One of the reasons I went with SOK is that individual cells can be easily replaced (if your so inclined) in the event of a problem.

 

[CPT Davenport]

Going on 3 years now with my 206ah SOK. performance has been solid and consistent to my needs.

 

[Outnabout]

Two 100AH SOK batteries. My only draws are frig, occasional furnace, phone recharge, lights. I have gone 4 days without any solar charging with no problem.

 

[GflGdog]

Single LiTime 230Ah. Installed in April. Been out in the camper since April, zero issues so far. Massive upgrade from the AGM batteries

 

[craig333]

Lithium is great. At the lake not only my stuff but I invited anyone who needed to charge something to come over and plug in. Never got below 90% S.O.C and I was in the shade half the day.

 

[drumwood]

Single LiTime 230Ah. Installed in April. Been out in the camper since April, zero issues so far. Massive upgrade from the AGM batteries

What type of solar controller are you using with your LiTime?

 

[Espresso]

I have a 12v 100AH TimeUSB LiFePo battery. One thing you'll have to research is the voltage you'll want to store your battery at 80% charge. These battery's work different than Lead Acid and you don't want to store them at 100% with a trickle charge to keep them there.

There are a few good YouTube videos that explain how LiFePo batteries charge and discharge. It's worth it to spend a little time understanding how to maximize the life of the battery.

 

[antwon412]

Any body have the larger 130l fridge with just 2 of the lithium batteries FWC uses?

 

[Dirtroadsavant]

Any body have the larger 130l fridge with just 2 of the lithium batteries FWC uses?

I have the isotherm 130 on a single 100 ah SOK battery. No concerns at all. I cant recall ever going below a 78% state of charge.

 

[antwon412]

I have the isotherm 130 on a single 100 ah SOK battery. No concerns at all. I cant recall ever going below a 78% state of charge.

Awesome to hear that. In the beginning stages of getting a build together. With dual batteries and some solar I hope to have no worries. Thanks!

 

[bwag]

Any body have the larger 130l fridge with just 2 of the lithium batteries FWC uses?

I have it on two 6 volt AGM's, no issues at all the past five years. Typically in the sun on most trips but in winter I've had 2-3 days of cloud cover and been fine. As I don't want to be on a trip and have my batteries go out from getting old, I'm dropping off my truck/camper at Zero Declination and having a bit of work done next week, in part switching over to lithium.

 

[Vic Harder]

2x 100AH BattleBorn batteries, 130L fridge, 1800W induction cooktop. I have to be careful with the cooktop, otherwise, plenty of power.