Fogstar lithium batteries, any good ?

[Gaston aires]

One particular battery, a Fogstar 230 amp drift fits perfectly where needed. Anyone had dealings ? You have to pay a deposit and pre order. Takes a few weeks to arrive so they say.
Phil upmeamps

 

[PeterCarole29]

I shall be buying the 460ah from what I have seen and heard very good value communication can be a long wait if you email but they always answer the phone several have bought from them and are happy

 

[cliffanger]

One particular battery, a Fogstar 230 amp drift fits perfectly where needed. Anyone had dealings ? You have to pay a deposit and pre order. Takes a few weeks to arrive so they say.
Phil upmeamps

We’ve just fitted a 280ah Phil and it seems to be working ok!

The price is really reasonable, but the wait was at least 2 months.

The Fogstar 280ah on its side fitted in the space of two leisure batteries fitted.

Cliff measured the compartment and it fitted (on its side) but when the battery came it had handles fitted which weren’t on their dimensions, so he had to hacksaw half of the handles off - a bit off putting when you’ve just paid £800!

No experts on it, but Fogstar had the right size and very reasonably priced in comparison to others.

 

[MisterB]

more than happy with my Fogstar 304Ah and the service they offer, i have also bought EVE cells from them and have a cabinet on order

 

[Andy MacD]

I got a 280ah, ordered in the autumn and arrived in March, around 3 weeks after expected though they did keep me informed re shipping delays from manufacturers of cells.

Really pleased with it, just installed with no other hardware changes to van. Sits on its side under passenger seat and a have a 1,500w inverter which pulls 3% of battery capacity for each kettle boil. Tops up nicely with solar and driving. No worries off grid during 10 weeks in France.

My only gripe is you are supposed to long term store at 50% charge but there is no way to switch off charging on the app and disconnecting is a hassle so I don’t bother.

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[bungy]

One particular battery, a Fogstar 230 amp drift fits perfectly where needed. Anyone had dealings ? You have to pay a deposit and pre order. Takes a few weeks to arrive so they say.
Phil upmeamps

just ordered one, after checking my B2B/EBL/MPPT specs with them - soon as they confirmed no updates needed there (other than settings) all good to go
will be getting shipped at the end of June according to the order

mainly because of a post Andy MacD did a little while ago on the same van

 

[MisterB]

I got a 280ah, ordered in the autumn and arrived in March, around 3 weeks after expected though they did keep me informed re shipping delays from manufacturers of cells.

Really pleased with it, just installed with no other hardware changes to van. Sits on its side under passenger seat and a have a 1,500w inverter which pulls 3% of battery capacity for each kettle boil. Tops up nicely with solar and driving. No worries off grid during 10 weeks in France.

My only gripe is you are supposed to long term store at 50% charge but there is no way to switch off charging on the app and disconnecting is a hassle so I don’t bother.

can you not set the max charge rate to 50%? its something i havent looked at but perhaps others have?

 

[Gaston aires]

just ordered one, after checking my B2B/EBL/MPPT specs with them - soon as they confirmed no updates needed there (other than settings) all good to go
will be getting shipped at the end of June according to the order

mainly because of a post Andy MacD did a little while ago on the same van

Pretty much exactly what they said to me.
Phil

 

[bungy]

I got a 280ah, ordered in the autumn and arrived in March, around 3 weeks after expected though they did keep me informed re shipping delays from manufacturers of cells.

Really pleased with it, just installed with no other hardware changes to van. Sits on its side under passenger seat and a have a 1,500w inverter which pulls 3% of battery capacity for each kettle boil. Tops up nicely with solar and driving. No worries off grid during 10 weeks in France.

My only gripe is you are supposed to long term store at 50% charge but there is no way to switch off charging on the app and disconnecting is a hassle so I don’t bother.

QQ - been looking at an inverter and havent found an out of the way place to put one in our twin!! which inverter have you used and where did you manage to get it installed?

 

[MisterB]

QQ - been looking at an inverter and havent found an out of the way place to put one in our twin!! which inverter have you used and where did you manage to get it installed?

i have no experience of the adria twin re space, but in terms of the inverter i am very pleased with my Renogy inverter, mainly because of the auto change facility

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[Al n Val]

I’m picking 2 x 280ah Drift batteries up today then going to Stratford Show

any budding battery installers give me a shout

 

[bungy]

i have no experience of the adria twin re space, but in terms of the inverter i am very pleased with my Renogy inverter, mainly because of the auto change facility

ive been looking at those (in the sale ) but cant find one that fits where id like it to go, only option ive got at the mo is not where id want to put it!!

ideally im looking for one that fits under the seat area in the vent gap bit

 

[Andy MacD]

can you not set the max charge rate to 50%?

Not found a way but if someone has I’d like to know, as would Fogstar as they said there wasn’t a way to do it.

 

[Lenny HB]

I’m picking 2 x 280ah Drift batteries up today then going to Stratford Show

any budding battery installers give me a shout

I'm around & Dave Ditcha is here, I'm sure we could pull your van apart for you.
You might have a problem getting back together.

 

[Lenny HB]

ive been looking at those (in the sale ) but cant find one that fits where id like it to go, only option ive got at the mo is not where id want to put it!!

ideally im looking for one that fits under the seat area in the vent gap bit

Fogstar now do an under seat one and it's a bit smaller than others

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[Andy MacD]

where did you manage to get it installed?

For the moment I have halved the leads and installed Anderson connectors. The invertor sits in the garage or under the table and when I need it I pop down the front under seat cover and plug it in.

While that works it’s a bit of a hassle. I have seen on here a post where someone has removed the cover at the rear of the front seat and mounted their inverter on a panel attached to the seat base. When I get a chance I’m going to see if I can do similar.

 

[Bolti]

I got a 280ah, ordered in the autumn and arrived in March, around 3 weeks after expected though they did keep me informed re shipping delays from manufacturers of cells.

Really pleased with it, just installed with no other hardware changes to van. Sits on its side under passenger seat and a have a 1,500w inverter which pulls 3% of battery capacity for each kettle boil. Tops up nicely with solar and driving. No worries off grid during 10 weeks in France.

My only gripe is you are supposed to long term store at 50% charge but there is no way to switch off charging on the app and disconnecting is a hassle so I don’t bother.

When you open the app scroll down on the home page and you can turn on and off charging and discharge.

I turn charging off a day or two before returning home this allows it to run down.

 

[Lenny HB]

Whatever the supplier says no way would I fit a Lithium battery as a drop in replacement, you will never get the best out of them and life will be shortened.

You should never fit one without a B2B, without one if you have a van with skinny wiring (most Brit vans) you will have cables running through the van that have a good chance of overheating so a fire risk. If you have decent size wiring (most German Vans) you stand a good chance of overloading the alternator so it could get expensive.

With solar as its going to be charging most of the time you really need one with a Lithium profile and a means to isolate it for storage so you can store the van with batteries at 50-80%.

Mains charging probably not quite so critical as unlikely to be using it much so providing it can output the correct voltage you can get away with it, personally though I wouldn't.

What's the point of spending all that money on the batteries and then not getting the best out of them and risk problems.

 

[Geistguy]

Fogstar are a great company to deal with, I purchased a 300ah Lithium in December for January delivery, due to circumstances beyond their control there was a delay. Fogstar kept me informed at every stage and were most apologetic. The battery was delivered well packaged and exactly as described. I just fitted it, adjusted van settings to Lithium and it worked perfectly. The Fogstar bluetooth app works well.

 

[bungy]

Fogstar now do an under seat one and it's a bit smaller than others

battery wise, yeah - that's the one I've got on order but would like to fit an inverter in the same location. ill probably wait until the battery is in then do some measuring!!

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[Gaston aires]

Thanks for all the information. I think I get the drift (no pun intended). I will order the relevant one.
Phil

 

[Andy MacD]

I turn charging off a day or two before returning home this allows it to run down.

I tried that and it just switches back, contacted Fogstar and they just said that what it did. Will try again.

 

[Vansflyer]

I tried that and it just switches back, contacted Fogstar and they just said that what it did. Will try again.

Turning off charging in the app does work until the battery see a load of 2A + and then the BMS turns the charging back on again! I did report the issue to Fogstar and they said they are looking into it along with no pin code to protect your battery from being "fiddled with".
I am currently trying different options on our Victron b2b and solar controllers to reduce the charge voltage going in on our return home journey to hit 75% soc for storage. A work around is to turn off charging on the return trip from the b2b / solar if you can and the fridge will pull 10-15A from the battery.
Apart from having to chop the handles off the battery (the dims quoted are wrong on the 280ah) we are having a great experience with the battery and not sure we will ever need ehu again apart from in the middle of a dull winter.

 

[iandsm]

Whatever the supplier says no way would I fit a Lithium battery as a drop in replacement, you will never get the best out of them and life will be shortened.

You should never fit one without a B2B, without one if you have a van with skinny wiring (most Brit vans) you will have cables running through the van that have a good chance of overheating so a fire risk. If you have decent size wiring (most German Vans) you stand a good chance of overloading the alternator so it could get expensive.

With solar as its going to be charging most of the time you really need one with a Lithium profile and a means to isolate it for storage so you can store the van with batteries at 50-80%.

Mains charging probably not quite so critical as unlikely to be using it much so providing it can output the correct voltage you can get away with it, personally though I wouldn't.

What's the point of spending all that money on the batteries and then not getting the best out of them and risk problems.

I would be interested on your view of what Foster say,

"
All of our 12V Drift variants are designed to charge to their full 14.4V capacity, the same output used by the charging systems of all modern 12V existing split-charge engine wiring circuits.

The same can be said for solar too. When charging your Fogstar Drift leisure battery by Solar, existing 12V MPPT chargers can charge Wet, Gel and AGM batteries, and will therefore charge Fogstar Drift just as efficiently, in exactly the same way.

Most PWM or MPPT chargers have separate settings for Wet, Gel and AGM (and Lithium) batteries, enabling you to fine tune their charging efficiencies. However, if you don’t have a PWM or MPPT charger with these settings, just opt for the setting nearest to a 14.4V charge voltage.

It doesn't need to be overcomplicated, and in most instances you don't need to reconfigure your vans entire electrical system as is often suggested by many fitting companies - funny that!"

Of particular concern is your suggestion of overheating the van wiring (UK van) and overloading there alternator, they don't mention that so your view would be helpful when I contact them to ask about those issues. Thanks in advance.

 

[PEM]

I've received two 300amp batteties from fogstar I had order 240 amps but they rang up and offered me the 300amps at no extra charge as a goodwill gesture as I'd waited longer than promised for delivery batteries came 50% full so happy so far not fitted yet but service is excellent

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[Bolti]

Your

I've received two 300amp batteties from fogstar I had order 240 amps but they rang up and offered me the 300amps at no extra charge as a goodwill gesture as I'd waited longer than promised for delivery batteries came 50% full so happy so far not fitted yet but service is excellent

Your a lucky boy.

 

[Lenny HB]

Of particular concern is your suggestion of overheating the van wiring (UK van) and overloading there alternator, they don't mention that so your view would be helpful when I contact them to ask about those issues. Thanks in advance

A Lithium can easily take up to a 100 amps when charging if you only have 4 or 6 mm sq cable feeding it you will get a volt drop that will reduce the charge rate but even if you are only charging at 30 Amps that cable is going to get pretty hot.
With 16 mmsq cable like the Germans use you will probably get 80 amps or more even that cable will get quite warm but depending on the rating of the alternator you could burn it out.

Far better to fit a B2B with the correct cables and have the correct charging profile for the battery.

With the mains, charging to 14.4v is not a good idea as it is getting near the cell max of 3.65v, far better to change to 14.1-14.2v the battery will still get a full charge it will just take slightly longer to reach a full charge. Kinder to the battery and helps prolong it's life.

 

[iandsm]

A Lithium can easily take up to a 100 amps when charging if you only have 4 or 6 mm sq cable feeding it you will get a volt drop that will reduce the charge rate but even if you are only charging at 30 Amps that cable is going to get pretty hot.
With 16 mmsq cable like the Germans use you will probably get 80 amps or more even that cable will get quite warm but depending on the rating of the alternator you could burn it out.

Far better to fit a B2B with the correct cables and have the correct charging profile for the battery.

With the mains, charging to 14.4v is not a good idea as it is getting near the cell max of 3.65v, far better to change to 14.1-14.2v the battery will still get a full charge it will just take slightly longer to reach a full charge. Kinder to the battery and helps prolong it's life.

Thank you, thats useful info.

 

[Ditcha]

Turning off charging in the app does work until the battery see a load of 2A + and then the BMS turns the charging back on again! I did report the issue to Fogstar and they said they are looking into it along with no pin code to protect your battery from being "fiddled with".
I am currently trying different options on our Victron b2b and solar controllers to reduce the charge voltage going in on our return home journey to hit 75% soc for storage. A work around is to turn off charging on the return trip from the b2b / solar if you can and the fridge will pull 10-15A from the battery.
Apart from having to chop the handles off the battery (the dims quoted are wrong on the 280ah) we are having a great experience with the battery and not sure we will ever need ehu again apart from in the middle of a dull winter.

You could just turn off your victron mppt then any parasitic draw will naturally slowly bring the battery soc down or you could set up a user defined charge profile in the MPPT to say 13.6v absorption and select this when not using the van.

 

[Bolti]

Turning off charging in the app does work until the battery see a load of 2A + and then the BMS turns the charging back on again! I did report the issue to Fogstar and they said they are looking into it along with no pin code to protect your battery from being "fiddled with".
I am currently trying different options on our Victron b2b and solar controllers to reduce the charge voltage going in on our return home journey to hit 75% soc for storage. A work around is to turn off charging on the return trip from the b2b / solar if you can and the fridge will pull 10-15A from the battery.
Apart from having to chop the handles off the battery (the dims quoted are wrong on the 280ah) we are having a great experience with the battery and not sure we will ever need ehu again apart from in the middle of a dull winter.

Just checked my battery, van sat in full sun battery 80% charged and turned off, drove back from Scotland a couple of days ago and battery charging remained off during journey.