Lithium Battery set up

[Dicko1]

Have been wanting to go lithium in the rear of Paj to lighten the load. Currently 2 x 130 amp/hr agm SSB batteries that are 3 1/2 year old but at around 90% in spec from new. Buggers wont die. Just curious to know what others have fitted. I will be going 150-170 amp lithium when I do upgrade to run 2 fridges 80 and 40 litre(freezer). Have you found any quirks with them? I will have a dedicated victron solar charger and an enerdrive 40 amp dc?dc charger. Do you think it was worth the money you invested?

[Hatto]

I'd love to go Lithium too but just too expensive at the moment.
Is it worth the investment? Well if you're travelling heavy and need to loose weight in the Paj the it's a great way to shed some kg. Albeit expensive. In other words, if $ aren't a problem then I'd say it'd be well worth it.

[pajeromack]

Have been wanting to go lithium in the rear of Paj to lighten the load. Currently 2 x 130 amp/hr agm SSB batteries that are 3 1/2 year old but at around 90% in spec from new. Buggers wont die. Just curious to know what others have fitted. I will be going 150-170 amp lithium when I do upgrade to run 2 fridges 80 and 40 litre(freezer). Have you found any quirks with them? I will have a dedicated victron solar charger and an enerdrive 40 amp dc?dc charger. Do you think it was worth the money you invested?

I run lithium in a camper. They cost about $850 a pop (12v/120AH). With their onboard electronics they behave like a drop-in lead acid battery but are 13KG instead of 30KG, and claim to have four times the cycling life and can *really* deep cycle. The weight savings are fantastic. These batteries do not require a special charger, but I have a programmable Victron.

The quirks are that these are computerised batteries. They are not water proof, can only have up to four batteries in parallel or series and should not be floated. In addition they can't crank at all. I've tried.

At this stage I am happy, but I've only had them a year.

[old Jack]

I am an "early adopter" of lithium batteries. I fitted 2x 30amp LiFePo batteries in the back of the Challenger 7.5 years ago. The batteries have their on inbuilt BMS on every cell to optimise recharge and discharge, and are charged by the engines alternator which only gets them up to 90%-95% capacity so every month and particularly before a trip, the batteries get an overnight maintenance charge along with the wet cell cranking battery. On paper they should give me equivalent capacity to 100-120 AH of AGM but in reality it's is closer to 90-95AH. I get 2 days running a 32litre Engel as a fridge, in mild to warm weather but in 30C + temperatures it drops to 1.5 days, 40C+ only 1 day. This is ok because in hot weather we are on the move everyday.

The batteries are very light at 4.5kg each and compact 180mmx180mmx110mm each. Downside was the cost, $600 each so by the time I did all the wiring and circuit breakers, cut offs, etc the materials alone came to almost $1600.

How much longer will they last? No idea but the average cost has been just over $200 a year and getting cheaper. In my last 4wd I had a 100AH AGM under the bonnet and struggled to get anymore than 2.5 - 3 years out of a battery, so I still have a way to go before the lithiums are the same cost as AGM per year.
For me it was all about the weight and space saving, as well as experimenting with evolving technology. When the lithiums do die, replacement costs will be much lower so the payback period will be better than AGM.

OJ.

[bsperka]

It's their ability to go below 50% discharge and come back, and their comparatively long life compared to a lead acid that's their biggest advantages. Plus weight savings, and size for the same amp hours, and...

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[stevemc181]

I've been running a 100a/h lifepo4 from EV Power in WA for around 5 and a half years now. Its still seems as strong as the day I bought it, no complaints from me. I now have it in my Patrol and use an Enerdive EN3DC40+ DC-DC Charger which will charge it at up to 50amps.
Whatever you buy, just make sure it has a decent charge and discharge rate. Some on the market are pretty limited in the input/output current departments. Mine is rated at max 100amp continuous charge current and 200amp discharge current.

[Jasonmc73]

I run lithium in a camper. They cost about $850 a pop (12v/120AH). With their onboard electronics they behave like a drop-in lead acid battery but are 13KG instead of 30KG, and claim to have four times the cycling life and can *really* deep cycle. The weight savings are fantastic. These batteries do not require a special charger, but I have a programmable Victron.

The quirks are that these are computerised batteries. They are not water proof, can only have up to four batteries in parallel or series and should not be floated. In addition they can't crank at all. I've tried.

At this stage I am happy, but I've only had them a year.

I'm watching myself to see if these stay on the market. Itech batteries.
They appear to be A good choice on spec & for Lithium think thats not badly priced, haven't seen any bad raps on them either.

https://itechworld.com.au/collections/lithium-batteries/products/120ah-12-volt-lithium-battery

[pajeromack]

I'm watching myself to see if these stay on the market. Itech batteries.
They appear to be A good choice on spec & for Lithium think thats not badly priced, haven't seen any bad raps on them either.

https://itechworld.com.au/collection...ithium-battery

They seem to be well received on the Caravaners forum https://www.caravanersforum.com/view...1925&start=720

However I don't know what chemistry they are using, and they've only been around a year.

[Dicko1]

They seem to be well received on the Caravaners forum https://www.caravanersforum.com/view...1925&start=720

However I don't know what chemistry they are using, and they've only been around a year.

I,m leaning towards this battery. However I will buy another enerdrive 40 amp dcdc... Its alright saying just drop in and away you go. However having a dedicated lithium charger will have to give longer life and peace of mind seeing as it will be hidden in the 3rd row seat cavity....I will also add several 80mm computer fans for cooling..

[Lost1]

Fitted a 100AH LIFEPO4 about 18 months back. I work on having 80AH of useable power to prevent degrading battery life. I have run a 75L Dometic fridge/freezer for 3 days in mid to low 30's daytime temps. Fridge was set on 5 and Freezer on -10.

I run a REDARC 1225D to charge the battery but retrospectively wish I had chosen the 1240D. More for reduced charge time when you are doing short hops on a trip. I have not had to rig solar yet. But plan to hook up an anderson plug to take a 250W panel. This will power the Fridge Freezer on a hot day and still recharge the battery for overnight needs. Looking at what you are running and the higher overnight temps up north you might want 300W + of solar. Looking at what you need 2 x 75-80 AH batteries will do the job and weigh around 20-24kg. Be aware some batteries can be rigged in series and some can't.

Like SteveMc said check the battery spec when purchasing. Good batteries have a continuous discharge rate of 100 amps and a continuous charge rate of 50 amps. The 100 amp discharge rate would also let you jump start your vehicle if needed.

Good Luck.

[Bru9]

For me the Pajero has such a small payload & I carry such heavy stuff the weight saving is almost non existent. Too much weight over the rear with aux fuel tank, rear bar etc. Same as a camper, most storage is on drawbar...

If Fullrivers can give up to 7+years I would not be in a hurry to go lithium, are you really going to go remote travel with a dropin over a tried & trusted lead acid after watching videos of how these things are put together? A good 100AH AGM will take more than most alternators in realworld conds can put out so fast charging is largely fanboy hype. And there is the fact that LA can be taken down to 20% SoC without any real issues so lithium don't really give you that much extra for low current drawing items...

My bootwell is literally full to the lid of essentially tools, spares, supllies, oils, fluids etc Stuff I only need to acess occasionally. So the lithium sits on cargo floor, to me getting cables into the bootwell, dealing with cooling was a turnoff. My approch is to keep the size of the battery lower but the charge source much more powerful.

Modern lifepo4 prismatics is now getting to very high densities, like 160AH in a volume of a 120AH AGM... Many of these 100-120AH dropins are outdated bad.

imo it makes no sense going dropins if you wan't reliablity while travelling remote & long life. Bare cells with a fuse, relay turned on/off by cheapo BMS, additional LV/HV cutouts (victron). is easy to identify problems & if the bms dies, its an easy fix in 5mins. Open so you can visually inspect all electrical connections. Add in my 1200 labcycle 155AH flooded under bonnet for backup & my base camping is perfect. since my lithium sits in a marine ply book with foam & rubber padding, the extra work of building bare cells is not that much at all. Super easy to perform the top balance with a small 2A active balancer. For under the bonnet i would just go a <$1000dropin & deal with the 5-6yr lifespan of holiday use.

Where lithium really shines for me is it's ability to cope with days of PSOC cycling just sitting there taking in a modest amount of solar day after day without caring about gettingback to 100%. And for portable battery setups like used in a tent powering fans, lights, laptops etc, they are a godsend over LA for the weight.
In some places where there is long sunhours & little clouds good old flooded does almost everything lithium can do.
I did think of running a gas fridge for snacks, fuit & veg etc, that will shave off a large chunk of power consumption, but you can't find 3-ways anymore so they are a no-go, plus servicing etc.

the real reason to go lithium is the cost of qulaity cells is about the same as a good AGM. alot of boaters have gone lithium for this reason. Some good info on expedtionportal

[disco stu]

Where did you source bare cells from? Are any sellers of those here willing to supply specs on the bare cells so they are matched etc?

[Scrambler]

I did think of running a gas fridge for snacks, fuit & veg etc, that will shave off a large chunk of power consumption, but you can't find 3-ways anymore so they are a no-go, plus servicing etc.

You can find gas/3 way fridges either new (try Bushman for starters) or second hand. There are minuses (12v is barely able to hold temp and will drain a battery in no time) but gas is great: expect a month from your 4kg gas bottle. So for staying put, I prefer them to 12v fridges. I have 1 in the old caravan (bought second hand to replace the dead one it came with) plus a chest version bought new a few years ago.