My Roamer 460ah lithium battery performance

I took the plunge, delivery of the 460ah model is scheduled for next week.
The new battery combined with our existing 450w of solar and b2b should make a fairly decent setup :)
 
broomeld said:
Morning Jeffmossy.

I stumbled accross this post whilst researching the very battery upon failure of my 3 off lead acids.

If you don't mind me asking if you have only ever used 20% of its charge capacity could you of not got away with a single 100ah model and saved significantly in both cash and weight?

I ask as I ponder if 460ah is excessive for our application and worth the investment.

Regards
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As I see it Jeff has used 20% of 460ah available which equals 92ah used so with a single 100ah he would have used 92% of the available 100ah therefore he would have been down to 8% as opposed to 80% :unsure: Or am I looking at this all wrong?

Regards,
Del
 
alwaysared said:
As I see it Jeff has used 20% of 460ah available which equals 92ah used so with a single 100ah he would have used 92% of the available 100ah therefore he would have been down to 8% as opposed to 80% :unsure: Or am I looking at this all wrong?

Regards,
Del
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Yes you are spot on Del, so in reality I could have actually got by with 1 100ah battery, but it would have been pushed to its limit and probably smoking :eek: :eek: (y). The excess power I have available will be my back up for the winter months when no solar is available, then I should be able to see its benefits before we go to Portugal, I am learning its limits as time goes on (y)
 
jeffmossy said:
Yes you are spot on Del, so in reality I could have actually got by with 1 100ah battery, but it would have been pushed to its limit and probably smoking :eek: :eek: (y). The excess power I have available will be my back up for the winter months when no solar is available, then I should be able to see its benefits before we go to Portugal, I am learning its limits as time goes on (y)
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I wasn't trying to say that you would've got away with a 100ah I was saying exactly what you've said, 8% is low and you would need a a lot of sun to recover that 92% of discharge. I believe that you should have as much ah as you can fit and afford, the same goes for the solar array, but that's only my opinion.

Regards,
Del
 
Also most people adjust to the amount of power they have available on their van and therefore get by day by day, my intentions are to not use any gas when I go overseas then the same in the Summer months here, I will find out it's true benefits this winter, then a whole new ball game when we go to Portugal, fingers crossed (y)
 
Probably different in Portugal as there is good sun even in Winter as I understand it, but solar is fairly inconsequential in the UK from Oct to March, and if 'off-griding' you need to be either moving a fair bit often or have a big battery plus access to hookup to give it a boost.

This is the state of charge of my 500Ah Battery Bank with 570W of PV Panels connected.
1665306642026.png
375Ah taken out the bank in the last fortnight with just solar to provide any replenishment. Probably plug in into EHU shortly and that should get me back to 100% by this evening (which is why having a powerful mains charger can be a significant benefit even if you hookup just once a week or once a fortnight).

1665306793289.png
 
wildebus said:
Probably different in Portugal as there is good sun even in Winter as I understand it, but solar is fairly inconsequential in the UK from Oct to March, and if 'off-griding' you need to be either moving a fair bit often or have a big battery plus access to hookup to give it a boost.

This is the state of charge of my 500Ah Battery Bank with 570W of PV Panels connected.
View attachment 64630
375Ah taken out the bank in the last fortnight with just solar to provide any replenishment. Probably plug in into EHU shortly and that should get me back to 100% by this evening (which is why having a powerful mains charger can be a significant benefit even if you hookup just once a week or once a fortnight).

View attachment 64631
Click to expand...

Yes David, the large mains charger is a significant part of the jigsaw, I have upgraded mine but never used it yet, but I will probably have to do over the next few months, even if it is only the odd day
 
alwaysared said:
I wasn't trying to say that you would've got away with a 100ah I was saying exactly what you've said, 8% is low and you would need a a lot of sun to recover that 92% of discharge. I believe that you should have as much ah as you can fit and afford, the same goes for the solar array, but that's only my opinion.

Regards,
Del
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Ill second that Del
 
wildebus said:
Makes total sense.
I know Rugbyken has saved a lot of gas by running the the fridge off the battery, backed up by solar and an extra Lithium Battery. It is also nice to have the extra capacity so you don't have to watch the battery clock and compromise how you camp :)


Ref the Ferrari .... I found the 200BHP GT4 was relegated to a shopping car (and so OTT for that) after I bought a Motorbike which was even more fun and faster than the car :D (after selling the bike, ended up buying another fast Coupé a couple of years later ;) )
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I thought gas fridges used very little gas, that being the big advantage, so cheap to run?
 
jeffmossy said:
Yes you are spot on Del, so in reality I could have actually got by with 1 100ah battery, but it would have been pushed to its limit and probably smoking :eek: :eek: (y). The excess power I have available will be my back up for the winter months when no solar is available, then I should be able to see its benefits before we go to Portugal, I am learning its limits as time goes on (y)
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Although if running an inverter more than 800-1000W is your intention you would probably have not managed to drive it from a single 100Ah battery anyway Jeff so point is moot, you needed bigger :)
 
Neil makes a very important point ref inverter use.
There are two reasons to get a big battery bank ... one is to extend the time you can spend off-grid (hence these folks with the "I bought a big battery and now never had to plug the charger in" comments. it is akin to getting a car with a much bigger fuel tank - it doesn't mean you don't have to refill it, it just means you can go longer between petrol stations). The other is if you have occasional high demands such as a Microwave, Coffee Machine or whatever, invariably driven by an Inverter and where a single battery won't cut the mustard.

Ref the charging, If you have to choose between Lithium OR Lead Batteries, then if your budget allows it, Lithium is definately the choice for an off-grid/wild camping van due to its recharge characteristics.
Less waste in the charging process in converting incoming power to recharging power so your solar becomes more efficient (a 100W panel charging a Lithium through an MPPT controller could provide the same recharge power as a 160W panel charging a Lead battery through a PWM controller).
And Faster Charging means you can get to a full battery situation quicker (charger capabilities permitting).
I plugged my Hybrid System into EHU yesterday as it was getting a bit low with 366Ah taken out the battery bank at the time I pulled the charger in.
178Ah of that came out of the Lithium, and 194Ah out of the Lead Carbon, so a fairly even balance in fact. However, by the time the Lithium had fully recharged (the straight green line), the Lead still had around 70Ah to go and took quite a few more hours to finish due to the charging characteristics of Lead Battery technology. If this was all Lead in the graph below, the Lead (orange) line would be a little different but not significantly so.
1665401239882.png
(for my own Hybrid system, the extended charge period of the Lead is not so important as it is rarely at a level when it needs recharging, so I am still taking almost 100% of the recharge advantage of Lithium in my mixed technology bank :) )
 
nabsim said:
I thought gas fridges used very little gas, that being the big advantage, so cheap to run?
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I don't think the cost of running a gas fridge is the problem, I think that when you've invested large amounts of cash in lithium and solar you want to use as much "free" electric as possible :unsure: I still run my three way fridge on gas 24/7 along with the hot water (and the heating now we've reached October ;) ). I have a decent amount of solar and lithium but don't see the point of changing a perfectly good working three way fridge with a 12 volt compressor one, if it goes wrong then maybe that's the time to splash the cash? Just my thoughts and of course I'm not saying that I'm right or that 12 volt compressor fridges aren't any good, I believe that they are good but not for me at the moment anyway.

Regards,
Del
 
alwaysared said:
I don't think the cost of running a gas fridge is the problem, I think that when you've invested large amounts of cash in lithium and solar you want to use as much "free" electric as possible :unsure: I still run my three way fridge on gas 24/7 along with the hot water (and the heating now we've reached October ;) ). I have a decent amount of solar and lithium but don't see the point of changing a perfectly good working three way fridge with a 12 volt compressor one, if it goes wrong then maybe that's the time to splash the cash? Just my thoughts and of course I'm not saying that I'm right or that 12 volt compressor fridges aren't any good, I believe that they are good but not for me at the moment anyway.

Regards,
Del
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I would never change anything for no reason either. I can understand powering from battery if you have an abundance of power you want to use but it wouldn’t stack up to get that power just for a 3 way.

My compressor fridge is absolutely wonderful but now getting to the time of year where powering it won’t be lol
 
nabsim said:
I would never change anything for no reason either. I can understand powering from battery if you have an abundance of power you want to use but it wouldn’t stack up to get that power just for a 3 way.

My compressor fridge is absolutely wonderful but now getting to the time of year where powering it won’t be lol
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When you price up the cost of a replacement fridge (like I did last year), the sums can point you in a certain direction .....

3-way Fridge - £1200.
12V Compressor Fridge - £1200
240V Compressor Fridge - £400
A 3-way fridge is already wired up to use AC on hookup, so if you already have an Inverter, it is simple enough to adapt to run a 240V compressor fridge from that socket (A 12V Compressor will need cabling run from the Leisure battery to the fridge).
That £800 difference will pay for a fair bit of extra power :)
 
wildebus said:
When you price up the cost of a replacement fridge (like I did last year), the sums can point you in a certain direction .....

3-way Fridge - £1200.
12V Compressor Fridge - £1200
240V Compressor Fridge - £400
A 3-way fridge is already wired up to use AC on hookup, so if you already have an Inverter, it is simple enough to adapt to run a 240V compressor fridge from that socket (A 12V Compressor will need cabling run from the Leisure battery to the fridge).
That £800 difference will pay for a fair bit of extra power :)
Click to expand...
That wasn’t ‘no reason’ David lol

If/when my compressor fridge gives up the ghost I too will fit a domestic fridge freezer
 
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