lithium batteries advise wanted

Hi Chris

We put a 200a/h lithium battery into our 2012BT. We are extremely happy with its performance. It chargers quickly and takes as many as amps that it is given.
It is much lighter than AGM's - we were told we saved 100kg with a 200 a/h system.
They are more expensive but we definitely think they are worth it.

Good luck with your decision .

Cheers
Mark

Hi Chris,

We have 200ah lithiums installed as well and love it. Having said that we are making our way to Bushtracker to have it upgraded to 300ah.
For us it was all about the weight and rapid charge as we live in it full time so we were prepared to pay the price.
Although it is expensive, we don't regret the decision.

Cheers
Richard

Hi Chris,

We've only had our 300ah lithium equipped 19' for about a month and have just completed our shakedown trip. Our previous travel experience has been with 100ah gels in a smaller off road caravan.

Although everything is still new, we were really surprised how well this system worked. We tried to work it hard and the anderson connection to the car or the solars replaced what we used in very rapid time (eg less than 30 minutes). We also couldn't get the batteries below 88% full.

Other benefits are floor space and weight is less. Although expensive, we are very glad we made this choice.

Cheers

Paul

Hi All - I know its a "how long is a piece of string" question and it will be different for each van but I was just wondering what a full 300ah system would cost? We have 4 solar panels and 4 AGM batteries. Thanks
Cheers Tony

We had 200Ah lithiums in our 21ft van and yes they are great, charge up by 11am most mornings, but being heavy power users(lap tops sat TV ect.) on a trip up the Darling River run in early Feb this year in 40+ degrees every day we found we were down to less that 30% some mornings leaving no room if the next day was raining.
So we just put another 200Ah pack on board, because our van was built in sep 13 we were able to just add another pack.
would recommend a min of 300Ah.
In those temps the fridge alone uses 30-40% of batteries on a 200Ah pack.

Hi everybody,

Just to let you all know we have taken the plunge and gone for the 300ah lithium pack. Phew, bit of a price jump but after debating all the pros and cons we are hoping that this is the way to go. Been dealing with Chris at Challenge Batteries in Osbourne Park and Andrew at Enerdrive and they have both been extremely helpful with us novices. Thanks everyone for your replies and advice. Much appreciated.

Chris & Tracy

Chris,

This is the company a lot of Caravaners have used: Ev power

Click on the Contact link on their website and you will see they have offices in Balcatta and Margaret River. I believe they have supplied batteries to quite a few vanners over east.

They will be a good source of additional info for you.

We have had our November 2011 BT with 200 a/h lithium since new, and although costly, wouldn't be without them. Have thought about getting a 100 a/h to keep a better reserve, but still managing even using a CPAP over nights, satellite TV too.

An issue we have to watch in the past has been that the genny wouldn't charge the battery as well as run the a/c at the same time, if the battery was low. A 60 a/h charger was a trifle hungry when charging at the maximum, as it could until near 90-95% charged!

Such a different charging situation compared to charging AGMs.

I see you have bitten the bullet already. I don't think you will be disappointed

Chris,

I upgraded all the electronics in my 2001 16' BT.

I bought 320AH lithium, plus a new smart charger, an 1800w inverter, two wall fans, two double USB outlets for phone charging, two additional 12v outlets had the lights changed to LED and new wiring throughout the van. After I got a gent in Wollongong to do all the work and paid for the parts, I did not get much change out of $6000.

I am on my first trip with the new set-up now and I am really pleased with the lithium batteries. The re-charging time is half that of old lead acid batteries and wonder of wonders - I can actually use a microwave off the batteries now.

The biggest headache for me, was finding somebody to install the batteries and all the monitoring gear. I could find no one on Sydney to do it, which I thought was incredible. Eventually a Bogger gave me a contact in Wollongong - he did a great job.

Cheers,

Willie.