'Eco-Worthy' lithium batteries

[nabsim]

Thanks for the information .

So the heated lithium battery’s are the way to go .
IF you want to run throughout the year in full use .

Those that do not use the Moho in the winter would not be affected then by using an unheated lithium battery then
Only if the temp of the battery stayed below 0c all the time in use .

But if the temp is below 0c through the night and early morning but rises again before use the charge to the battery resumes .

Or have I got it all wrong again I usually do .

Not as straightforward lol

I was in the Highlands towards the end of December to the end of January, ended up coming back down into England because I couldn't get water anywhere, everywhere frozen and campsites shut. Back in the Highlands mid March until last Monday. First stint I was in some very minus temperatures. No battery heating or low temp cut out, no problem with battery power only fresh water.

It is down to your setup and how you use them

 

[Sonar]

I've got an eco worthy battery and it's absolutely spot on. Got it from them but through eBay when they had a 20% discount offer on. Think I paid just over £300 for an 150ah

Did it include the 8 mm terminal bolts

 

[Geek]

I'd personally avoid driving with the interior of the van below 15 degrees, so it's only down to the solar panels. And as you say, in winter, their output isn't going to be hefty enough to matter.

 

[Sonar]

The best thing is you can change then if they are not suitable for your needs

 

[Sonar]

It seems the 280 aph batteries are cheaper on eBay

Also if you alder in the next few days the 280 amp is down to £ 454.99 another saving

 

[Sonar]

It seems the 280 aph batteries are cheaper on eBay

Also if you alder in the next few days the 280 amp is down to £ 454.99 another saving

Now gone up to £550. On eBay same as the shop

 

[merl]

There is currently a 100Ah lithium on Amazon for just £180.

 

[Sonar]

Ian a mate further down the road ordered a battery from the eBay site and only received a little solar panel
Seems there very rude on the phone and now will not talk to him

I feel sorry for him as his PVC in stuck in a garage awaiting the battery he said he would supply

Just a word of warning . There feed back has many saying the same .

 

[nabsim]

I spent the weekend at Vanlife Festival helping Charlie on his trade stand. We were almost opposite Roamer battery’s so over the course of four days we had a few discussions. They could not understand why any battery could only have 2 connected in parallel and I am going to tray adding a third to my setup on the strength of it.

In case anyone is in need Roamer also do a battery that can be charged and discharged down to -30C and it doesn’t have any heaters to allow it to do this. Check out their site if you want info. Not in my price range or even required by me but I know some like ultra low winter temperatures.

Been trying to talk Charlie out of one of his TN Power battery so I can match mine up but no joy so far

 

[wildebus]

Ian a mate further down the road ordered a battery from the eBay site and only received a little solar panel
Seems there very rude on the phone and now will not talk to him

I feel sorry for him as his PVC in stuck in a garage awaiting the battery he said he would supply

Just a word of warning . There feed back has many saying the same .

There are a few listings on eBay where you have variations of parts but it is not made clear - and likely deliberately in some cases.
Best thing with eBay is just do a return request saying part is not as described/pictured with any conversation (or not!) and avoid getting into any discussions and demand a flat full refund.

 

[wildebus]

I spent the weekend at Vanlife Festival helping Charlie on his trade stand. We were almost opposite Roamer battery’s so over the course of four days we had a few discussions. They could not understand why any battery could only have 2 connected in parallel and I am going to tray adding a third to my setup on the strength of it.

It will be the BMS limitation.
I can't remember if/what my Lithiums limitations are. the first ones I had had none. The current ones dunno?
But what I noticed at the weekend was two of my Lithiums, which are the same 100Ah model and actually have the BMSes connected via a data cable, are perfectly in sync and charge & discharge evenly, but the third Lithium - a KS Energy 120Ah one - that I threw in recently is not discharging anything like the first two despite being all in parallel (i.e. 2 batteries are were at around 20% SOC and the KS Energy was at 96% SOC)
It could just be a weird battery (It never really worked great for Steve and I don't rate it TBH but thought it could give me an extra lump of capacity).

In case anyone is in need Roamer also do a battery that can be charged and discharged down to -30C and it doesn’t have any heaters to allow it to do this. Check out their site if you want info. Not in my price range or even required by me but I know some like ultra low winter temperatures.

The KS Energy mentioned above was replaced with a 230AH(?) Roamer underseat battery and I was quite taken with the design I have to say and the App looks quite nice. It was a nice install to do.

Been trying to talk Charlie out of one of his TN Power battery so I can match mine up but no joy so far

 

[Sonar]

There are a few listings on eBay where you have variations of parts but it is not made clear - and likely deliberately in some cases.
Best thing with eBay is just do a return request saying part is not as described/pictured with any conversation (or not!) and avoid getting into any discussions and demand a flat full refund.

He said he paid 530 for it so I would have thought it was a lot of false advertising .

 

[Sonar]

It will be the BMS limitation.
I can't remember if/what my Lithiums limitations are. the first ones I had had none. The current ones dunno?
But what I noticed at the weekend was two of my Lithiums, which are the same 100Ah model and actually have the BMSes connected via a data cable, are perfectly in sync and charge & discharge evenly, but the third Lithium - a KS Energy 120Ah one - that I threw in recently is not discharging anything like the first two despite being all in parallel (i.e. 2 batteries are were at around 20% SOC and the KS Energy was at 96% SOC)
It could just be a weird battery (It never really worked great for Steve and I don't rate it TBH but thought it could give me an extra lump of capacity).


The KS Energy mentioned above was replaced with a 230AH(?) Roamer underseat battery and I was quite taken with the design I have to say and the App looks quite nice. It was a nice install to do.

I thought if you had two batteries they both had to be the same power in Amps. Or is that wrong.

 

[wildebus]

I thought if you had two batteries they both had to be the same power in Amps. Or is that wrong.

Recommended for sure. 100Ah vs 120Ah should be close enough I would have expected. (I wasn't bothered about possibly losing 20Ah from the 3rd battery as it was just a spare which wasn't suitable for use on its own really).

 

[nabsim]

If it went to the lowest ah capacity it would only mean you had 3 x 100ah anyway David as I doubt your lifepo4 will have any noticeable capacity degradation if they are like mine.

@Sonar the recommendation for same type/age/capacity is much more relevant to lead acid types

 

[Sonar]

If it went to the lowest ah capacity it would only mean you had 3 x 100ah anyway David as I doubt your lifepo4 will have any noticeable capacity degradation if they are like mine.

@Sonar the recommendation for same type/age/capacity is much more relevant to lead acid types

Never mind ordered two the same. Should be sent soon .

 

[merl]

two of my Lithiums, which are the same 100Ah model and actually have the BMSes connected via a data cable, are perfectly in sync and charge & discharge evenly, but the third Lithium - a KS Energy 120Ah one - that I threw in recently is not discharging anything like the first two despite being all in parallel (i.e. 2 batteries are were at around 20% SOC and the KS Energy was at 96% SOC)
It could just be a weird battery

I guess it's because KS energy build that battery with 80 small 32700 cylindrical cells rather than the usual 4 X prismatics and that gives their battery a different voltage vs SOC profile. Ultimately the KS battery HAS to give up it's energy eventually, no doubt a lot of the power will only emerge after the other 2 are getting low, very low or maybe even exhausted. You'll get ALL the Ah eventually but unfortunately you'll not extract current simultaneously so you cant add the maximum current capability of all 3 batteries together.
If you get a chance David, do one of your voltage graphs with only the KS battery connected and then compare it to the other pair, I'm guessing there wont be a massive difference but the very low voltage discharge profile of lifepo4 means that even a small difference will spoil the batteries discharging linearly together when in parallel.
So after all that I'm guessing you're right....it's a weird battery

 

[merl]

They could not understand why any battery could only have 2 connected in parallel

I think that when you exceed 2 in parallel it would be sensible to fuse each battery separately as low as reasonably possible depending on what your maximum current is likely to be (divided by three of course) and no higher than their maximum continuous current rating.
If each battery has it's own low temperature cut off then it's possible that in a low temperature situation you COULD discharge just one battery fully or close to fully and have the other 2 batteries highly charged. IF the other 2 batteries turn on together then the inrush current into the 3rd could possibly cause damage, the fuses should help alleviate this. At the moment this is the only issue I can think of re paralleling more than 2 batteries, obviously the usual rules apply re keeping all the interconnecting cables the same gauge and similar length and +ve from one end of the bank and -ve from the other.

 

[nabsim]

Mine are dumb lifepo4 @merl most were when I bought them, Relion came out with heated just after I got them I think. All mine have is over current, over charge, over discharge and over temperature protection. I am in no rush as it’s solar harvesting time anyway now and May drop on one going cheap

Worse case I will run a 200ah and a 100ah bank anyway.

 

[Sonar]

Ian a mate further down the road ordered a battery from the eBay site and only received a little solar panel
Seems there very rude on the phone and now will not talk to him

I feel sorry for him as his PVC in stuck in a garage awaiting the battery he said he would supply

Just a word of warning . There feed back has many saying the same .

Update. Seems they send out a 5 watt tiny solar panel as a gift. The battery he said arrived this morning.
A strange way to do business.