Habitation batteries. (1 Viewer)

[Aspenshaw]

What's your thinking of best habitation batteries/makes. My current Habitation barrier has is almost packed in. I need one that will last over 3 years.

 

[ChrisL]

That will very much depend on how you use your motorhome, if you intend to spend a lot of time off hookup and or want to use 240v equipment (air fryers, hair dryers etc.) Then lithium and the correct equipment to keep it charged correctly, otherwise if you're on hookup most of the time then a lead acid variant will do the job and be much cheaper.

 

[Aspenshaw]

Hook up almost the time - occasional days and some days out. We don't use air fryers in the van but the misses uses an hair dryer to keep up with me.

 

[ChrisL]

Hook up almost the time - occasional days and some days out. We don't use air fryers in the van but the misses uses an hair dryer to keep up with me.

Something like this would probably be suitable for you, perhaps two of them if you have space, make sure your charger is set for Gel.

Exide G80 80Ah Gel Battery for Hymer Motorhomes

ES900 Exide Marine & Leisure Equipment GEL Battery Exide are one of the leading battery companies in the world and have been delivering quality in the sector for more than 130 years! Exide has introduced its next generation of car/light vehicle batteries. The range is developed in Exide’s...

www.tayna.co.uk

 

[PlacidoD]

Tayna are an ultra reliable supplier. I have bought a few batteries from them.
Having had a hab battery fail shortly after purchase of my Hobby T500 I went with a simple lead acid leisure battery from Tayna. I have since discovered that my mains charger can cope with either gel or lead acid but without demounting the passenger seat (which is a pain!) I have yet to find a switch.

I went with this:

XV85MF Powerline Leisure Battery 12V

XV85MF Powerline WET Lead Acid Leisure Battery The Powerline battery brand name is fast becoming one of the best budget batteries on the market. With the highest power and performance at an affordable competitive price. Powerline Batteries are designed to cope with modern day power demands...

www.tayna.co.uk

I did lots of speedy reading given that I was due to head for France a fortnight or so later wondering about upgrading to LiFePo but felt that the cost of doing the job properly was going to be too great not to mention finding time to install. I went for one lead acid rather than two and will continue to think on the question of a LiFePo upgrade. However I did take the opportunity to change all bulbs on the van from tungsten/halogen to LED. So my consumption when not on an EHU is now quite modest.

There are two distinct schools of thought on this site re a LiFePo upgrade. Many say you will need:
New charger
B2B
New solar charger
Others say - just fit the LiFePo -the rest is optional. OK the battery will under-perform in that it will be unlikely to charge so as to be full but, given that you can take it down to circa 10% without damage, starting from say 80% that is still better than the 50% on a lead acid.

My problem would be that the circuits on my Hobby are set to trip out the hab battery at 50% so as to avoid permanent damage so I would definitely need some sort of upgrade pdq to sort that problem.

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[Jimbohorlicks]

The 50% trip out is also most probably based on voltage rather than amps left in the battery so a lithium battery will be better for you as the voltage will stay over 12 v untill its way down in amps to around 20amps and still usable unlike a lead acid or agm.
Lithium atd getting cheaper all thdctime . There is deal on ecoworthy 100ah lithium for around £169 on e bay at the mo.

 

[PlacidoD]

The 50% trip out is also most probably based on voltage rather than amps left in the battery so a lithium battery will be better for you as the voltage will stay over 12 v untill its way down in amps to around 20amps and still usable unlike a lead acid or agm.
Lithium atd getting cheaper all thdctime . There is deal on ecoworthy 100ah lithium for around £169 on e bay at the mo.

A very interesting observation! It is almost certainly correct now I think it through.
I shall start taking an interest in the LiFePo market.

I did take the most casual of interests when forced to replace my lead acid battery in June. I noticed then that Tayna did not seem to have a low profile LiFePo (max height 190 mm) that would make best use of my under-seat mounting space. I think that is the main drawback at the moment. My circa 315 x 175 x 190 space is not well catered for. And I would certainly want bluetooth type connections to an app rather than wiring in gauges to monitor (and the quality and functionality of that app would be relevant if I can find some reviews) and then there is terminal location. So I think it will be a while before I have a choice of bluetooth LiFePo batteries at affordable prices. I can easily go down from the 315mm width but the 190mm max height is non-negotiable.

I am just taking a look on Ebay for future reference! With a new leisure battery under my seat I can afford to wait until next year and do some learning in the meantime!!

 

[ChrisL]

A very interesting observation! It is almost certainly correct now I think it through.
I shall start taking an interest in the LiFePo market.

I did take the most casual of interests when forced to replace my lead acid battery in June. I noticed then that Tayna did not seem to have a low profile LiFePo (max height 190 mm) that would make best use of my under-seat mounting space. I think that is the main drawback at the moment. My circa 315 x 175 x 190 space is not well catered for. And I would certainly want bluetooth type connections to an app rather than wiring in gauges to monitor (and the quality and functionality of that app would be relevant if I can find some reviews) and then there is terminal location. So I think it will be a while before I have a choice of bluetooth LiFePo batteries at affordable prices. I can easily go down from the 315mm width but the 190mm max height is non-negotiable.

I am just taking a look on Ebay for future reference! With a new leisure battery under my seat I can afford to wait until next year and do some learning in the meantime!!

Fogstar do a quality under seat Lithium both Fogstar and Offgrid Power Solutions will give you a 10% discount for being a paid up subscriber of this forum.

Seat Base Lithium Leisure Battery - Fogstar Drift 12v 230Ah

Seat Base Lithium Leisure Battery 230ah | Grade A EVE LiFePO4 cells, JBD BMS, Bluetooth & Heating. Just £799.99 with a 10 year warranty.

www.fogstar.co.uk

 

[PlacidoD]

ChrisL those dimensions will not work for me and the terminal post are in the wrong position. And I doubt I will get the debit card out for a price over £300 (at least not until the current wet battery is on its last legs!)

P.S. Please educate me - What is an active balancer? Maybe it is to do with fitting two LiFePos?

P.P.S. I am having a summer of failing batteries. First the leisure battery then the Dyson I took with me to France to keep the van tidy and last week my Samsung S10 5G mobile phone!! I fitted a new battery to the phone just yesterday (I had to order some screwdrivers off Amazon Same Day Delivery to complete the task. The screws were so tiny!)

 

[autorouter]

What is an active balancer?

The four cells inside a LiFePO4 battery should ideally all be exactly the same voltage, and exactly the same state of charge. If in the future one of the cells is slightly less charged than the others, then there are various methods to get them back to equality. For example one way is to overcharge all the others slightly until the lowest one is full.

The best method is to have access individually to each of the cells, and charge each of them until they are all full and equal. That's what an active balancer does. Sometimes these are built into the battery BMS. However for batteries with top-quality cells, all balanced during manufacture, there is much less requirement for balancing, and for some batteries it is never or hardly ever required. So having the connections to an active balancer, but making it an optional extra, is a good thing. That means if for example you have several batteries, you only need one balancer that is used on each as required. The battery BMS will always report the individual cell voltages, so you can easily work out if cell balancing is required.

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[Jimbohorlicks]

The ecoworthy batteries are a smaller construction and you can put them on thier sides to reduce the height. That's true for all lithium batteries so check the sizes.
The Bluetooth ecoworthy one at 100ah is around £219 .