Help With Batteries

[Jack7296]

Hello All,

I am pretty new with motorhomes and camping but looking some advise please.

Just purchased a motorhome and it needs new batteries, already replaced the engine/vehicle battery and now looking for the leisure batteries.

Current batteries are 2 x Ultracell UCG-12 (12V 100AH/10HR)

Been quoted approx. £100 incl VAT each for replacements which are also lead acid wet flooded type.

However I am also looking at some Lithium LiFePO4 batteries which surely are better, however would they be suitable or a direct swap replacement, or require special charging etc?

Attached are some images of the old batteries removed + the LiFePO4 I seen on amazon for a decent price.

Any help much appreciated, thanks.

 

[oldiesontour]

Hello All,

I am pretty new with motorhomes and camping but looking some advise please.

Just purchased a motorhome and it needs new batteries, already replaced the engine/vehicle battery and now looking for the leisure batteries.

Current batteries are 2 x Ultracell UCG-12 (12V 100AH/10HR)

Been quoted approx. £100 incl VAT each for replacements which are also lead acid wet flooded type.

However I am also looking at some Lithium LiFePO4 batteries which surely are better, however would they be suitable or a direct swap replacement, or require special charging etc?

Attached are some images of the old batteries removed + the LiFePO4 I seen on amazon for a decent price.

Any help much appreciated, thanks.



View attachment 1002006

View attachment 1002007

View attachment 1002008

View attachment 1002009

Make model year etc will bring more specific answers

 

[tonka]

Welcome.
If you need to splash out on new batteries then an ideal time to consider Lithium.

HOWEVER.. There is a wealth of information on here if you take the time to read up.
You need to consider the charging elements as it's different for lithium.

ps... Watch ebay as the ecoworthy 100amp have been down to £154 recently.

 

[Jack7296]

Make model year etc will bring more specific answers

Its a year 2016 Fiat Ducato Liberation CB596

 

[fishplug]

With the cost of lithium batteries having come down significantly I would personally steer you towards that option.

With your current batteries you can only use half of the capacity otherwise you will damage them. So despite having 2 x 100Ah of capacity, your actual usable stored energy is only 100Ah.

With Lithium you can use all of the capacity without worrying. They have a battery management system (BMS) that will do all the thinking for you so you don't have to worry about anything.

I would personally strongly recommend buying one with 'low temperature protection' as that's the only concern with lithium. You shouldn't charge them at very low temperatures. Again, if you buy one with the protection you don't have to worry about this as it won't allow charge unless it's warm enough to do so.

Ultimately, this means that you could replace your 2 x 100Ah batteries with a single 100Ah lithium and still get the same available energy.

The thing to be careful of if you do swap over is that your charger needs to be capable of charging lithium. If it is then there will be a setting that needs changing somewhere (if you tell us the make/model I'm sure we can help). If it's not capable of charging lithium then you'd need to factor in the cost of a new charger as well.

If you have both solar and a B2B to charge your batteries then you'll need to make sure that both are in lithium charging mode and I guess if you have another device which charges from campsite hookup then that would need looking at too (hookup is not something I know much about - but others here will know)

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[MisterB]

As advised, you could almost have a forum just on leisure batteries on their own!
Do a lot of research and reading.

We have Fogstar lithium's and always been very pleased, they also offer MoHo Fun discount still I think .....


My advice, if you do decide to go down the lithium route, get the biggest you can afford and that will fit in the space (very important!!)

Of course if you never go 'off grid' and always go on sites with EHU, then lithium might not offer you the best solution. So decide how you want to 'motorhome' and let that lead your thought process

 

[PlacidoD]

I have done quite a bit of reading on the subject. If you are going to fit one circa 100Ah lithium battery you can likely live with the same mains charger and solar charger even if they do not have a lithium setting. They will not top the lithium battery up to 100% but something more like 90% given the lower voltage charge. On my reading the one element you will be strongly advised to add if you do not have one is you need to fit a decent B2B to charge from the alternator otherwise you run some risk of damage to the new lithium battery. So a 30 Amp or 50 Amp B2B needs to be wired in. Something like a Victron Orion complete with wiring will set you back around £250 and then there is installation:

Victron Orion-Tr Smart 12V 30A Non Isolated DC-DC B2B Split Charge Kit | eBay

Models are available up to 400W and unlimited multiple units can be connected in parallel to increase output power. Heat Shrink. An unlimited number of units can be connected in parallel. Input fuse (not replaceable).

www.ebay.co.uk

The 30 Amp reputedly runs very hot and needs good ventilation. The 50 amp would be better and of course costs more.

If you are going much above 100Ah you need to plan to replace both solar and mains charger. With luck they both have a lithium setting but the mains charger in particular may charge far too slowly to give you the full benefit of your 200 Ah or more lithium.

The other thing to be mindful of is whether your chosen lithium has a bluetooth connection to your phone/PC to give you detailed info about how it is running. Lithium batteries sometime shut down to protect themselves. It is much easier to get them going again if you can see what is happening on a phone screen!

So in short you are talking about a minimum of say £500 to swap to lithium or maybe a bit more if you include installation. From there the sky is the limit!

 

[BouncyBoatFolk]

With it being an under seat installation lithium would be good as their happy being laid on their side. This also gives access to the connections quickly if required. If you can, spend a bit more on the battery and get one/two with a good management system. Other things to consider, Shunt, bussbars, remote or localised battery shut down switch. In line fuses.
Just going through the same process myself, but not till it warms up a bit!!
I have just done the engine servicing though, oil, filters, oil, fuel, air. The oil I had already from a bulk 20ltr buy, the filters came to £30 off Ebay, borg & beck, all done in 2 hours. I just didn't do that bl@@dy cabin pollen filter, it was done last year, so should be good for another year.
Mike.

 

[oldiesontour]

Before deciding on what to do...you need to know what you want to achieve...IE time on hook up,off hook up,time stationary,time travelling,what you want to power...it's no good cooking a nice meal with the best ingredients,only to find you cooked for too many or too few guests

 

[PlacidoD]

Apologies for piggy-backing on this thread but this is an allied subject.

A Dethleffs van interests me long term as a replacement for my Hobby T500. I have just come across this interesting nugget. They do a LiPo4 to be added to the GSM existing. I think other manufacturers may do something similar:

The date sheet says you can retrofit back to circa 2005 on specified models. I have no idea on price but would be interested on comments on how well this or similar packages work?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}