12v Lithium ion

PrairieGhost

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I'm setting up our small camper with a solar system. I now have a 200 watt solar panel and a 2200 watt pure sine inverter. I need two 100amp lithium batteries. Does anyone know a place to purchase these batteries without paying an arm and a leg?
 


Davey Crockett

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I'm setting up our small camper with a solar system. I now have a 200 watt solar panel and a 2200 watt pure sine inverter. I need two 100amp lithium batteries. Does anyone know a place to purchase these batteries without paying an arm and a leg?


The big question is why do you need expensive batteries ? You can do the same thing on a shoestring.
 

Captain Ahab

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There are various levels of quality in the types lithium ion batteries and the cheaper ones are cheaper for a reason. I talked to a battery guy for a while after I found a much cheaper one on EBay. He went through the different way LI batteries are constructed, discharge rates, voltages, charge cycle ratings, etc. The bottom line was you get what you pay for typically. Amped Outdoors and Dakota Lithium use the higher quality materials. Dakota Lithium stepped up with an 11 year warranty. That’s pretty tough to beat.
 

PrairieGhost

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They say Battle Born and Dakota Lithium are cheaper over a ten year period than lead acid even at $999 a pop.

You can do the same thing on a shoestring.
Not really. A 100 amp standard battery drained to about 50 amps has gone from 12.6 v to about 11.5 v. Thats tough on some equipment and high quality inverters will shut down. Also when charging they accept 10 amps until they hit 50% then they reduce what they will take in. At 80% they will reduce what they take in to 2amp per hour. Lithium weigh about half as much and start at 13.4v. They dont drop until they are down to about 5%. This gives you nearly double the usable stored energy. When it comes to charging they will take full charge right up to 100% charge. To get all the power you can from the best six hours of sunlight you dont want a battery that you only get to 70 or 80% each day. It takes four lead acid to equal two lithium. Not to mention you can totally ignore them and they will only discharge max 10% in six months. Right now I am paying $240 for good AGM.
 


Davey Crockett

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I haven't tested it past 7 or 8 days but I can peculate morning coffee with a electric coffee maker with a plain old deep cell battery and an inverter without charging for a week. I guess if you are going off the grid you might need to throw more money at it than I have.
 

PrairieGhost

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Coffee pots or anything that heats use a lot of energy. I want to run a coffee pot, the wifes hair dryer, the microwave, the tv, vcr, satelite dish charge the phones, run a computed, and charge drone batteries. Also the reclining theater seating is 110v.
 

dblkluk

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Coffee pots or anything that heats use a lot of energy. I want to run a coffee pot, the wifes hair dryer, the microwave, the tv, vcr, satelite dish charge the phones, run a computed, and charge drone batteries. Also the reclining theater seating is 110v.


Who the hell still owns a VCR...??

Sheesh... get a generator if you are going to run all that crap.
 


dblkluk

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why?, if solar and batteries can handle it?

Because 200 watts of solar won't power all of that very long.

Not to mention, reliability. Good luck going off grid for a week and you have cloud cover 5 of those 7 days.
 

PrairieGhost

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Sheesh... get a generator if you are going to run all that crap.
I already have a number of Honda generators.

Because 200 watts of solar won't power all of that very long.
I get about 6 hours of 14.5v 7.5am on a good day and half that on a cloudy day. So 7.5 x 6 means I stored 45 amp hours. So I run my coffee pot for three minutes pulling 4amp means I use .2 amps. A 200 watt panel with 200amp stored energy and you can stay for months without starting the generator. TV and, ok it's not a VCR it's a DVD Blue Ra,y don't take much power at all. We had a 45 ft houseboat in northern Minnesota and one day rain was simply a downpour. It was peaceful and I didn't want to run the generator. We watched three movies with a 100amp AGM battery and I wasn't half discharged.

 

dblkluk

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I already have a number of Honda generators.

I get about 6 hours of 14.5v 7.5am on a good day and half that on a cloudy day. So 7.5 x 6 means I stored 45 amp hours. So I run my coffee pot for three minutes pulling 4amp means I use .2 amps. A 200 watt panel with 200amp stored energy and you can stay for months without starting the generator. TV and, ok it's not a VCR it's a DVD Blue Ra,y don't take much power at all. We had a 45 ft houseboat in northern Minnesota and one day rain was simply a downpour. It was peaceful and I didn't want to run the generator. We watched three movies with a 100amp AGM battery and I wasn't half discharged.

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all that is fine.. but you haven't mentioned the microwave and your wifes hairdryer.. both huge draws of power
 

PrairieGhost

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all that is fine.. but you haven't mentioned the microwave and your wifes hairdryer.. both huge draws of power
Yes they are high wattage. The microwave in the camper is 950 watt, but how long do you run it? Maybe one or two minutes? My wifes hairdryer is 850 watt, and 1250 watt. We read that anything 1000 watt and above damages hair roots so she only runs it on 850 watt. She may run that for five or six or even ten minutes. Compared to 200 watts and hour for six hours and about 100 watts for much of the rest of the day it's no problem. Low wattage for a long time supplies enough power for high wattage for a short time.

I have been watching a lot of utube videos on this and it requires a lithium charger or the lithium batteries will not last that long. Battle Born has a guarantee for 10 years, but not if you destroy it with the improper charger. Between expensive batteries and expensive chargers, and also a pain in the rear rewiring the entire camper electrical box I think I give up. Even the AGM I already have should have a special charger. I don't like all the hassle getting this going so I think I'll stick with lead acid to go with my solar panel and 2200 watt inverter that I have. I have learned a lot though and purchased 2 gauge wire to link my batteries in parallel. I had only ten gauge. That 1/0 gauge I had to buy to run from the batteries to the inverter was some expensive wire.
 

shorthairsrus

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Off the grid --- who is using a microwave ?? or a coffee maker? cook on gas and you hope like hell you dont need heat. They dont put the old propane heaters that were vented and didnt need a fan in campers anymore --- its all forced air bs. AKA freeze your ass off.

I had an old camper back when i was a 20something ---- easy to go off grid. the only thing we used the battery for was lights once in a while.
 


riverview

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im building a stealth camper out of a 12 or 14 foot utility trailer this winter, looking at Dakota lithium batts for the solar system.
 

PrairieGhost

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im building a stealth camper out of a 12 or 14 foot utility trailer this winter, looking at Dakota lithium batts for the solar system.

That shoul
d be good. At least everything will hook up easily. You can put the battery, inverter, and breaker in a box with a piggyback box containing the charger.
About ten years ago I ordered a 17 foot online and drove to Middlebury, Indiana to pick it up. I got it seven feet high inside so I can drive my Polaris Ranger in. Get a camper style door so some joker dont lock you in. They insulated the trailer and put in two windows. two vents, and two lights. I yanked out the lights and put in LED. Carpeted it, sink up in the V nose and one cabinet. Locally they wanted $650 for a Suburban heater, but I got it from a place in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee for $350. My wife made curtains out of heavy black towels so when the lights are all on at night animals dont see it from the outside. With the styrofoam insulation I have been toasty down to -13 degrees. Its a lot warmer than either of my campers. One battery and one 20lb tank is all I have ever needed for a week of rifle deer season.
 
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dblkluk

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im building a stealth camper out of a 12 or 14 foot utility trailer this winter, looking at Dakota lithium batts for the solar system.


I built one 2 years ago and use it almost exclusively in the early spring, late fall, and winter. Its not terribly "stealth" as I have added alot of windows. LP tanks, roof rack etc. But its built off a 6 x12 V aluminum framed Cargo pro trailer. Its nicer inside than 90% of the production RVs on the market, and built better than 100% of them.
I have 100 watts of solar and 2- 31 series AGM batteries and if the temps get into the low teens or single digits even with solar, I have about 2 days max in my battery bank before the voltage drops too low to run my 16K Suburban forced air heater. THEY ARE BATTERY PIGS!!
I have to run my generator alot on longer trips in those temps as along with short days and often heavy cloud cover, the solar simply cant keep up.

I'd like to see what my system would do with lithiums (the weight savings would be really nice) but I cant justify spending 2k in batteries, when I can just run my Honda 2000 watt generator for a few hours.

Next build I'm definitely going to look into a diesel heater.
 
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riverview

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I built one 2 years ago and use it almost exclusively in the early spring, late fall, and winter. Its not terribly "stealth" as I have added alot of windows. LP tanks, roof rack etc. But its built off a 6 x12 V aluminum framed Cargo pro trailer. Its nicer inside than 90% of the production RVs on the market, and built better than 100% of them.
I have 100 watts of solar and 2- 31 series AGM batteries and if the temps get into the low teens or single digits even with solar, I have about 2 days max in my battery bank before the voltage drops too low to run my 16K Suburban forced air heater. THEY ARE BATTERY PIGS!!
I have to run my generator alot on longer trips in those temps as along with short days and often heavy cloud cover, the solar simply cant keep up.

I'd like to see what my system would do with lithiums (the weight savings would be really nice) but I cant justify spending 2k in batteries, when I can just run my Honda 2000 watt generator for a few hours.

Next build I'm definitely going to look into a diesel heater.
im installing a Chinese diesel heater in my skid house
 

PrairieGhost

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2- 31 series AGM batteries
I have a couple of those, and I have an AGM charger. Some say they are damaged with a standard charger. What's your experience been? I would use them for my camper, but I don't want to wire in a special charger.
 


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