Battery advice

We only normally wild for a weekend .if we have a week off we typically stay on sites with ehu. I've noticed Alfa do a 70amp lithium at a reasonable price would 2 of them cater for our needs?
 
Steveandjulie said:
We only normally wild for a weekend .if we have a week off we typically stay on sites with ehu. I've noticed Alfa do a 70amp lithium at a reasonable price would 2 of them cater for our needs?
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I would say so. If you did run low on the odd occasion, you could just run the engine for a short time or nip out to the shops to give them a boost.
 
wildebus said:
Ref ensuring long life by fully charging as soon as possible ... that is true of the large majority of lead acid batteries, not just AGM.

There are some Lead Acid batteries that don't really care about getting charged ASAP - the ones I have for example don't require that (" NorthStar AGM thin plate lead carbon technology delivers ultra fast recharge times and more than three times as many cycles as standard AGMs, thanks to its PSOC compatibility" - PSOC = Partial State of Charge)
Ref the voltages, you are generally correct in saying that different battery technologies tend to need different charge voltages - AGM usually need more then SLA, and that is often more than Wet Cell fillables. Calcium Batteries would need more than AGM, so a charger that is designed only for 'standard' Lead Acid SLA/Wet batteries might not be optimized for AGM Lead Acid batteries (just to make one think clear .... AGM Batteries ARE Lead Acid batteries).
Again, those voltage values are not a hard and fast rule. 14.7V would be like a fast charge for a battery, but 14.4V for AGM is perfectly acceptable and is better for the battery. Personally, I would not use 14.7V for AGM (and taking my own Lead Acid GM Carbon batteries, I have my mains and B2B chargers set to 14.1V, with Solar at 14.2V to finish the job - they like 14.2V more than 14.4 and would never use 14.7 on them for any length of time)

All the above is only for Lead Acid. Lithium is different and actually likes to be left in a PSOC for longer life.
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Thanks, I was stating what I was told and read, its nice to have a knowledgeable opinion on these things .
 
Just had a measure of our battery compartment and I can fit a 200 ah lithium if I take a divider out which only stores some chocks. So might take the plunge and preorder one as that should be more than enough power for our needs
 
Steveandjulie said:
Just had a measure of our battery compartment and I can fit a 200 ah lithium if I take a divider out which only stores some chocks. So might take the plunge and preorder one as that should be more than enough power for our needs
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I've done the same, measured and found I can fit the Basic 200Ah battery. I've spoken to Alpha too.

Just need a B2B now.
 
Steveandjulie said:
Just had a measure of our battery compartment and I can fit a 200 ah lithium if I take a divider out which only stores some chocks. So might take the plunge and preorder one as that should be more than enough power for our needs
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What motorhome do you have? (curious as the one I just bought has seperate compartments for each battery and not yet looked in detail at it)
 
It's a conversion on a swb Citroen relay.the battery is located under part of the pull out bed near the side door so a fair size I can also fit a diesel heater in their as well if I fit a single lithium battery.my sterling b2b suitable for lithium but will I have to change the settings? Just checked 240 charger and it says unsuitable for lithium it was only cheap from Aldi. Do you recommend a suitable charger for lithium?
 
Steveandjulie said:
It's a conversion on a swb Citroen relay.the battery is located under part of the pull out bed near the side door so a fair size I can also fit a diesel heater in their as well if I fit a single lithium battery.my sterling b2b suitable for lithium but will I have to change the settings? Just checked 240 charger and it says unsuitable for lithium it was only cheap from Aldi. Do you recommend a suitable charger for lithium?
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The Victron ones have a Lithium setting. They are handy as they remember the settings when you power them back up (some chargers need setting each time) and you can monitor the mode and current out via the Bluetooth App and turn them off or down. The Victron IP22 Smart Power is what I go for and fit as I find them very user-friendly, but there are cheaper around with are compatible with Lithium
 
Hey David. Open a thread telling us what you got etc. And what you are doing. Going to do . I’m all ears Said the hare to the rabbit🤣😂forget that. Guess what I just found about a Cheyenne
 
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trevskoda said:
Bosch and varta silver power frame are the best never mind the so called les batteries
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They are probably the best available on the high street, and probably the best value, but they're not the best. Not by a country mile.
 
snapster said:
I was reliably informed by a company that makes AGM batteries that they require a higher charge rate than lead acid, I assume that’s why many chargers now have an AGM profile. Solar charging and long slow charging will work fine, but unless you regularly charge the battery fully, you will shorten its life.
The handbook in my van ( with AGM profile on the charger and high output alternator) states that to ensure long life of the batteries, they should be fully charged after every trip using the built in charger.
My solar charger shows AGM batteries reach the absorption stage at 14.7v whereas lead acid only need to achieve 14.4v before the absorption stage starts.
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I'm not saying you were told wrong, or that you understood it wrong, but the first half sentence you wrote is just plain misleading.
An AGM battery can be charged as slowly as you like, as long as it carries on charging to the correct voltage.
All lead acid batteries are better being fully charged and all need to be charged to a suitable voltage.
No lead acid battery needs to be charged at a particular current, provided that the current is enough to push the voltage up.
 
Snapster - I think they were referring to the higher charge voltage for AGM and yes they do need different profile and finally lead acid last longer if taken back up to fully charged frequently.
 
Weight is definitely a significant factor when considering high capacity battery banks.
My primary worry would not be installing them - that's a one time problem.
The loss of payload is a continuing issue - don't forget to add in the extra solar panhiel weight.
You could easily be adding an extra 50kg over what you have now.
I think that for a lot of people limited battery space and weight could easily swing the argument in favour of lithium especially if prices are falling.
As others say you can always take lithium out and drop in a cheap lead acid if you sell.
 
Markd said:
Weight is definitely a significant factor when considering high capacity battery banks.
My primary worry would not be installing them - that's a one time problem.
The loss of payload is a continuing issue - don't forget to add in the extra solar panhiel weight.
You could easily be adding an extra 50kg over what you have now.
I think that for a lot of people limited battery space and weight could easily swing the argument in favour of lithium especially if prices are falling.
As others say you can always take lithium out and drop in a cheap lead acid if you sell.
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now I have a coachbuilt motorhome, weight has become a consideration (never was in my 4.6t panel van with over 1t payload free!) and the weight saving of Lithium becomes ever so much more a draw :)
 
wildebus said:
now I have a coachbuilt motorhome, weight has become a consideration (never was in my 4.6t panel van with over 1t payload free!) and the weight saving of Lithium becomes ever so much more a draw :)
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You will be converted yet 👍😂😂
 
in h said:
I'm not saying you were told wrong, or that you understood it wrong, but the first half sentence you wrote is just plain misleading.
An AGM battery can be charged as slowly as you like, as long as it carries on charging to the correct voltage.
All lead acid batteries are better being fully charged and all need to be charged to a suitable voltage.
No lead acid battery needs to be charged at a particular current, provided that the current is enough to push the voltage up.
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I am not disagreeing with the above point, but going to add an associated comment that can catch people out depending on what is fitted.

Many State of Charge Battery Monitors, such as the Victron BMVs, will use the level of charge current as a way to tell if the Battery is fully charged. It is used in combination with other factors, but what it means is if you have a low charge current relative to the size of the battery bank, it doesn't hurt the battery BUT it can fool the battery monitor into telling you the batteries are full when in fact they are not in certain circumstances. Usually it is just a visual thing, but in more complex setups, it can actually affect the charging as well (few people will have this kind of complex setup).
This sudden jump to full charge happens mostly with solar setups and can be reduced by tweaking the settings of the monitor, but just something worth being aware of.
 
It all sounds a bit complicated to a simple soul like me!
We don't use a lot of electricity and don't spend a lot of time in one place so don't feel the need for sophisticated monitoring.
But full time with a compressor fridge is a different kettle of fish and you need to know where yo are particularly in the winter.
I can see the attraction of a compressor fridge as it has the potential of 'zero' running costs and gas can soon add up over the summer.
 
Markd said:
It all sounds a bit complicated to a simple soul like me!
We don't use a lot of electricity and don't spend a lot of time in one place so don't feel the need for sophisticated monitoring.
But full time with a compressor fridge is a different kettle of fish and you need to know where yo are particularly in the winter.
I can see the attraction of a compressor fridge as it has the potential of 'zero' running costs and gas can soon add up over the summer.
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Plus you have little or no problems storing ice cream no matter what the weather outside 👍
 
As it happens my Dometic fridge-freezer is really good on ice creams - in this country at least, we've not ventured to southern Spain in mid summer.
 
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