Camping 3 months with single 100Ah Lithium

[Ramblin__Ralph]

Before I started ramblin' this summer, I replaced my two lead acid batteries with a single 100 Ah lithium. I also added a second solar panel to go from 125w to 225w.

I was on the road almost five months, and three of those were dry camping every night. Usually at the end of the day my battery was down to around 90%. The next day it was quickly up to 100%. On Labor Day weekend I camped in a shady spot for four days. At the end of that my battery was down to a little less than 70%. It took a couple of days to get back to 100.

I don't have any high power devices on my camper. My furnace draws the most, at 4 to 5 amps. I only ran it for about 15 minutes in the morning, when needed. All my lights are LED. My fridge was running on propane the whole time. I installed a DC-DC converter before I left home, but never used it.

FYI, my setup is a single AmpereTime 100Ah 12v LiFePo4 ($540 last Jan when bought and $400 now, on Amazon), 225w of solar panels, Victron MPPT 75/15 solar controller and battery temperature/voltage sensor, and an eBay purchased battery monitor that records amp hours. Turned out the battery doesn't have low temperature charge protection, but the Victron solar controller takes care of that.

I'm very happy with my installation and doubt now that I'll ever need other than my solar charging. Now I don't have to remember to check battery water and strain my old body to lift a battery. 🙂

[StirCrazy]

pianotuna wrote:

jaycocreek wrote:
I actually thought and looked at the Sio2 batteries/2-6 volt and stuffing the wheel wells with batteries..All good choices for some, but the way I camp out in the boonies, the lithium and it's charge parameters and weight won out..Being able to charge up so quickly and or just partial charges matters to me....

SiO2 allows partial charges. So there is no need to stuff the wheel wells with batteries, from a capacity point of view.

it would still be a lot more weight, and you would require two to get the longjevity that a LFP will give you. while you can discharge a SIO2 to 100% a fair amout of time it is still recomended to stay above 50% to get the max life which is still less cycles than a LFP gives you doing 100% discharges constantly. unless your frequently camping in -0c or below I just couldnt justify the extra weight, reduced capacity when cold and more expensive cost. sio2 are now the most expensive option available to us now. I was looking at them again wondering if the price has dropped to a reasonable level for the 5th wheel, but for the camper I wouldn't even concider them because of the size and weight constraints.

[pianotuna]

jaycocreek wrote:
I actually thought and looked at the Sio2 batteries/2-6 volt and stuffing the wheel wells with batteries..All good choices for some, but the way I camp out in the boonies, the lithium and it's charge parameters and weight won out..Being able to charge up so quickly and or just partial charges matters to me....

SiO2 allows partial charges. So there is no need to stuff the wheel wells with batteries, from a capacity point of view.

[Kayteg1]

I have to use shore, or generator, since 90% + of my camping require AC, so I am not jumping on solar wagon.
However doing Sprinter conversion I installed single solar panel, just to go with common trend. That proved to be valuable when fuel pump on my van went bad and I had to crank the engine several times for testing and then spend over 1 hr on the cellphone. The 75W solar panel help me with keeping the batteries at certain level, what helped a lot.
Still dealer's mechanic crank it without connecting charger and fried $1000 ignition module for starters.

[jaycocreek]

I actually thought and looked at the Sio2 batteries/2-6 volt and stuffing the wheel wells with batteries..All good choices for some, but the way I camp out in the boonies, the lithium and it's charge parameters and weight won out..Being able to charge up so quickly and or just partial charges matters to me....

Solar is another story...lol..Haven't figured that out quite yet and how it fits my style and places..:B

[pianotuna]

jaycocreek wrote:
What a couple people are missing is this is the truck camper forum where weight and space come at a price..Some truck campers only have room for one battery like mine...I have room for one group 27 battery at 64# and 50 usable amp hours..Should I replace that with my 120ah lithium battery, I would gain 70 amp hours and lose 35# in weight plus be able to charge it 100% in 4-5 hrs via 20 amp charger or to 70-80% without any harm time after time..

One 100ah lifepo4 battery in a truck camper, as Ralph posted, does the job of two group 27 AGM batteries and is over 100# lighter with 8-10X the cycle life..

Ralph did good for those that understand..

So get an SiO2 and not bother with all the hoops for Li.

[Kayteg1]

I just bought 100 amp-hr battery for my boat for $65 at Costco.
Just saying.

[StirCrazy]

jaycocreek wrote:
Oh and those that are worried about cost of lithium,Amazon has a 100ah lifepo4 battery for $299 right now..It would be hard to match that in amp hours with a lead acid battery or batteries and especially in a truck camper..

yup LFP batteries are on par with AGM here now for buying a premade solution. if you can do it your self then way cheeper.

Steve

[jaycocreek]

Oh and those that are worried about cost of lithium,Amazon has a 100ah lifepo4 battery for $299 right now..It would be hard to match that in amp hours with a lead acid battery or batteries and especially in a truck camper..

[jaycocreek]

What a couple people are missing is this is the truck camper forum where weight and space come at a price..Some truck campers only have room for one battery like mine...I have room for one group 27 battery at 64# and 50 usable amp hours..Should I replace that with my 120ah lithium battery, I would gain 70 amp hours and lose 35# in weight plus be able to charge it 100% in 4-5 hrs via 20 amp charger or to 70-80% without any harm time after time..

One 100ah lifepo4 battery in a truck camper, as Ralph posted, does the job of two group 27 AGM batteries and is over 100# lighter with 8-10X the cycle life..

Ralph did good for those that understand..

[EYEMLOST]

Ramblin' Ralph wrote:
Before I started ramblin' this summer, I replaced my two lead acid batteries with a single 100 Ah lithium. I also added a second solar panel to go from 125w to 225w.

I was on the road almost five months, and three of those were dry camping every night. Usually at the end of the day my battery was down to around 90%. The next day it was quickly up to 100%. On Labor Day weekend I camped in a shady spot for four days. At the end of that my battery was down to a little less than 70%. It took a couple of days to get back to 100.

I don't have any high power devices on my camper. My furnace draws the most, at 4 to 5 amps. I only ran it for about 15 minutes in the morning, when needed. All my lights are LED. My fridge was running on propane the whole time. I installed a DC-DC converter before I left home, but never used it.

FYI, my setup is a single AmpereTime 100Ah 12v LiFePo4 ($540 last Jan when bought and $400 now, on Amazon), 225w of solar panels, Victron MPPT 75/15 solar controller and battery temperature/voltage sensor, and an eBay purchased battery monitor that records amp hours. Turned out the battery doesn't have low temperature charge protection, but the Victron solar controller takes care of that.

I'm very happy with my installation and doubt now that I'll ever need other than my solar charging. Now I don't have to remember to check battery water and strain my old body to lift a battery. 🙂

Informative post; thanks for sharing.

[ticki2]

So let’s add to the informative discussion by comparing a sedan starting battery with a 100ah lithium and call it equal .

[noteven]

Question for the Pendantic Police:

If I posted “went camping for 3 months with a left front tire on my truck” without specific details of the attachments, spindles, the other tires and wheel

Is that just the one infraction of the three of them?

[ajriding]

The general thinking is that the Li batteries can use all their power and lead batts can use about half. SO a 100ah Li batts gives you the same use as a 200 ah lead battery that should not be discharged past 50%.

All my devices that use Li batts can be fully discharged and charged back (one cycle) around 1,500 times. I think these big batteries have fewer cycles, but one cycle is a lot to do in one day and hard to do unless you run a furnace the whole time.

If a laptop runs the battery down in 3 hours you have big problems. Look at your little laptop battery and look at your big 100ah battery. Those little laptop batts can run a laptop for 6-8 hours or so, so, how are you running your camper battery low? not make sense....
Something else is draining it, or you are starting with a low camper battery to begin with.

The worry about recharging below 32 degrees is real, but in reality, if your batt is inside, then how often is it going to get below 32? Keep the rig warm and the batt where it can stay warm from the rig and then you can recharge. This will be different for everyone.

[StirCrazy]

Kayteg1 wrote:
Good report, although I think the title is misleading.
You camped 3 months on solar power, where battery was just a storage and it did not matter if that was lithium, or lead-acid.

I am not sure i agree, yes he camped with better solar but he also improved is solar storage.. so the one day he used 30% of the availble AH, with the original batteries he would have used what 60%? and the recovery each day would have been longer so I do think the batteries are part of the story also. so ya maybe the title should mention them and the solar..