Lithium vs. Conventional Batteries: Which is Better?

[our poppy llll]

I’d like to know which of the two types are the best and why? I’m about to have a batterymate installed along with a second battery to give a lot of amp hours while touring. Currently the configuration is that my leisure battery is connected to my motor battery and both are connected to the solar panel. Soon, my lovely and I will hit the road (September) and drive through France Belgium Holland Germany Poland Austria, Swiss Italy Spain & Portugal not necessarily in that order. Returning late November. We want extra Power.. what does lithium give extra?

 

[Guigsy]

Lithium has much more capacity for the size and weight. It can sustain a much higher current both charging and discharging. And it's charging is more efficient, so more of the energy you put in comes back out.

The downsides are you can't charge them below freezing. And you'll not get the best out of them (or even damage them) if you use a mains, alternator and solar charger that doesn't charge using the voltages and currents lithium expects.

... And the cost.

 

[our poppy llll]

Lithium has much more capacity for the size and weight. It can sustain a much higher current both charging and discharging. And it's charging is more efficient, so more of the energy you put in comes back out.

The downsides are you can't charge them below freezing. And you'll not get the best out of them (or even damage them) if you use a mains, alternator and solar charger that doesn't charge using the voltages and currents lithium expects.

... And the cost.

Thank you, that is great info, there’s only the waif and I she’s a fiery lightweight, and we have super light weight stuff that we carry. I check weighed it all once except as listed and we only carry 130kgs plus me and er say 90kg me 60kg er.. it takes 90 litres to fuel and we carry 25litres water. Plus 14 litres adblue. I don’t weigh her purse, the moths fluttering their wings makes it weightless, 14 kg Gas plus bottle total 22 kgs. Food 25kgs. 420kgs max.. all estimates… if we hit 500 kg all told I would be amazed, so the batteries won’t matter much..

 

[autorouter]

I’m about to have a batterymate installed along with a second battery to give a lot of amp hours while touring.

I'd look at alternatives before deciding - if it's not already too late, that is. A BatteryMate will keep your starter and leisure batteries separate, and is slightly better than a simple relay in that it only allows one-way charging. However there is an alternative technology which is an actual battery charger that is powered by the alternator. It is called a Battery-to-Battery (B2B) charger, charge booster or DC-DC charger. This takes power from the alternator, and its electronics provides the battery with exactly the voltage and amps it needs.

There are several types of battery, like standard flooded lead-acid, Gel, AGM and Lead-Carbon, each needing a slightly different charging profile for optimum charging. The B2B usually has settable profiles, including one for lithium batteries.

There are various brands, including MasterVolt who make for example the Magic 12/12-20 and the Mac 12/12-50, They call them DC-DC Converters, but they can be set up to act in power supply mode or as a DC-DC charger, switching on automatically when the engine starts, and off when it stops.

 

[our poppy llll]

I'd look at alternatives before deciding - if it's not already too late, that is. A BatteryMate will keep your starter and leisure batteries separate, and is slightly better than a simple relay in that it only allows one-way charging. However there is an alternative technology which is an actual battery charger that is powered by the alternator. It is called a Battery-to-Battery (B2B) charger, charge booster or DC-DC charger. This takes power from the alternator, and its electronics provides the battery with exactly the voltage and amps it needs.

There are several types of battery, like standard flooded lead-acid, Gel, AGM and Lead-Carbon, each needing a slightly different charging profile for optimum charging. The B2B usually has settable profiles, including one for lithium batteries.

There are various brands, including MasterVolt who make for example the Magic 12/12-20 and the Mac 12/12-50, They call them DC-DC Converters, but they can be set up to act in power supply mode or as a DC-DC charger, switching on automatically when the engine starts, and off when it stops.

WHOOOOOOSH… THAT WENT RIGHT OVER MY HEAD..

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[VXman]

I think most people would agree that Lithium is better than lead acid. More power, smaller, lighter. However down side is cost and making sure your chargers are capable of charging lithium that has specific charging requirements. Unless you have serious electric requirements a lead acid will do the job fine.

 

[Lenny HB]

It really comes down to your use and budget.

For fairly average use lead acid will be fine, at the moment we get away with 3 x 78ah Gel batteries and 300 Watts of solar and we hardly ever use EHU.

Our next van if it ever arrives I've budgeted £3.5k to upgrade the electrics mainly because we can. Not having an oven so we will be using more electrical items so planning on fitting 460ah of Lithium and a Victron Multiplus and as much solar as we can fit on the roof. We will be less dependant on gas and will be using free energy.

 

[Sandancers]

Mind, there are two types of wet lead acid batteries.

1, Flooded lead acid, which have the removable caps on the top which you remove to check the electrolyte levels.

2, Sealed lead acid, where there is nothing you can do in way of maintenance, there is a big label over any caps on it and it will say sealed.

Both need to be vented outside of the vehicle.

Either of the above should give about 5 years life unless discharged to very low voltages. Typical cost about £125ish.

 

[dawsey]

Lithium all day long.

Nobody has mentioned you can safely discharge to 80% as opposed to 50% with lead acid. For the same weight, the capacity doubles, yes, but the discharge capability means it then effectively doubles again. As others have said, you can charge much faster via B2B (the benefits of this rapid charging from the engine are very significant), and you can also discharge much faster. Just fit a big enough invertor and you can literally power anything.

The charge below zero stuff is nonsense. It’s the exact same technology as being sold all over northern europe in cars. Ask your average Norwegian if his car doesn’t charge in winter. In your van, in use, your battery won’t get much below zero, but if you are going to want to use it in the arctic circle specify a battery with a built in warmer. It’s a £50-100 premium. But you won’t. So don’t.

The real, ball out of the ground six is that Lithiums will last 10 times longer than lead acid. 2-3000 deep discharge cycles as opposed to 250-350 with lead acid. Yes that’s right, you would get 1 year out of a lead acid if you deep discharged every day (to more than 50%) whereas you can expect 10years discharging to as much as 80% discharge from lithium. Final benefit? no offgas, no poisonous, damaging explosive gases.

Now the costs have come down and are continuing to come down, (just 3x the price now), lithium leisure batteries are an absolute no brainier. For most, a lithium leisure battery is now a one time fit, massively enjoy and forget purchase.

Sorry to be brutally blunt, but lithium batteries are a modern BMW and lead acid is very much Ford model T. Lead acid batteries are a deservedly and rapidly dying ancient out of date technology, like a steam engine.

Negatives? other than the cost premium, reducing all the time, there really aren’t any. You will see some stories on lithium battery fires, this can happen if a correct (lithium profile) charger is not used. It’s why a B2B is essential, to regulate charge input. Some e-bike and phone batteries are made in some dodgy chinese factories with low quality standards. 12v lithium leisure batteries are a much higher value proposition and it is less likely, therefore, to find that sort of risk, Battery Monitoring Systems (BMS) are common in the big lithium leisure batteries, as they are in cars, which very dramatically reduces, effectively eliminates such risks.

Lastly, a negative is the need to buy a B2B to protect your alternator and your vans wiring and maximise the rapid charge benefit from the lithium, and a decent invertor to maximise the discharge and capacity benefits. That’s the thing about a lithium set up, you really need to go the whole hog to really make the leap into this century. To get maximum benefit from the lithium, you have to buy a lithium, a decent B2B and a decent invertor. But if you do, you will never, ever look back.

Buy a lithium. The bigger the better. For most, a £900 Renogy 200ah is all the battery you will ever need. Then buy a 2000 or 3000W pure wine invertor and a decent 50A B2B, letting you run the engine for no more than a couple of hours to recharge it.

Some will go on about solar. For a camper van solar is hugely, hugely overrated. You get nothing from solar in winter, and to get anything in summer you have to be prepared to roast the van and yourself in full sun. Park under a tree ti stay cool and you get nothing. Portable panels are pointless as you can only use them on a campsite, a place where you can plug in.

But on the batteries, get lithium. Sometimes, new stuff really is just far better.

 

[autorouter]

hit the road (September) and drive through France Belgium Holland Germany Poland Austria, Swiss Italy Spain & Portugal not necessarily in that order.

14 kg Gas plus bottle total 22 kgs.

I hope you appreciate that each of those countries has a different gas bottle type, and won't be compatible with your UK one. And they won't allow you to exchange your UK bottle for a full one of theirs. Also it will probably need a different adaptor if you decide to buy one of theirs.

What many people do is fit a user-refillable gas bottle. It has a special safety valve to cut off the filling at 80% to avoid overfilling, and can be refilled by untrained persons, unlike exchange bottles. With a set of three adaptors you can refill the bottle at a garage or gas supplier that has an LPG pump, anywhere in UK or Europe.

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[Sandancers]

Lithium all day long.

Nobody has mentioned you can safely discharge to 80% as opposed to 50% with lead acid. For the same weight, the capacity doubles, yes, but the discharge capability means it then effectively doubles again. As others have said, you can charge much faster via B2B (the benefits of this rapid charging from the engine are very significant), and you can also discharge much faster. Just fit a big enough invertor and you can literally power anything.

The charge below zero stuff is nonsense. It’s the exact same technology as being sold all over northern europe in cars. Ask your average Norwegian if his car doesn’t charge in winter. In your van, in use, your battery won’t get much below zero, but if you are going to want to use it in the arctic circle specify a battery with a built in warmer. It’s a £50-100 premium.

But the real ace? Lithiums will last 10 times longer than lead acid. 2-3000 deep discharge cycles as opposed to 250-350 with lead acid. Yes that’s right, you would get 1 year out of a lead acid if you deep discharged every day (to more than 50%) whereas you can expect 10years discharging to as much as 80% discharge from lithium. Final benefit? no offgas, no poisonous, damaging explosive gases.

Now the costs have come down, (just 3x the price, lithium is an absolute no brainier. For most, a battery is now a one time fit and forget purchase.

Sorry to be blunt, but lithium batteries are a modern BMW and lead acid is very much Ford model T. Lead acid batteries are a deservedly and rapidly dying ancient out of date technology, like a steam engine.

Sometimes, new stuff really is just better.

The bolded bit.

A correctly used lead acid should last 5 or 6 years. So for the same cost as a lithium you would get 15 to 18 years worth of lead acid batteries as lithium. Lithium would certainly be better if you needed all the extra power they could provide, but if you didn't need more power than the lead acid was capable of delivering, keeping within it's safe usage parameters, then the initial cost of the lithiums becomes harder to justify surely ?

 

[autorouter]

WHOOOOOOSH… THAT WENT RIGHT OVER MY HEAD..

Sorry, your first post made you sound like a hardened motorhomer. The usual arrangement for charging a leisure battery is to make it connect to the alternator while the engine is running, so that it charges both starter and leisure batteries at the same time. Then when the engine stops, it is disconnected, so that if you inadvertently run the leisure battery flat, you can still start the engine.

The switching is done by an electrically operated switch called a relay. Because it splits the charging from the alternator between the two batteries, it is called a split charge relay. The alternator is designed to charge a single starter battery, so sharing the charging means the charging is fairly limited, but it gets there eventually if the drive is long enough.

If you have a couple of big leisure batteries, it can take a long time to charge with a split charge relay. So you can fit a charger that takes power from the alternator, and feeds considerably more amps into the leisure batteries than the split charge relay method does. Such a charger is called a battery-to-battery charger (B2B). A good B2B will fill the leisure batteries from 50% to full in a couple of hours of driving, but a split charge relay might take 8 hours to do the same thing.

The other thing is that a B2B can be set to give the battery the correct volts and amps for its battery type, if you want to get a proper leisure battery rather than just another starter-type battery. Leisure batteries are designed to give out a few amps over many hours, not like a starter battery which is designed to give out a massive current for a few seconds to start the engine, then get recharged very soon after..

 

[VXman]

Lithium all day long.

Nobody has mentioned you can safely discharge to 80% as opposed to 50% with lead acid. For the same weight, the capacity doubles, yes, but the discharge capability means it then effectively doubles again. As others have said, you can charge much faster via B2B (the benefits of this rapid charging from the engine are very significant), and you can also discharge much faster. Just fit a big enough invertor and you can literally power anything.

The charge below zero stuff is nonsense. It’s the exact same technology as being sold all over northern europe in cars. Ask your average Norwegian if his car doesn’t charge in winter. In your van, in use, your battery won’t get much below zero, but if you are going to want to use it in the arctic circle specify a battery with a built in warmer. It’s a £50-100 premium. But you won’t. So don’t.

The real, ball out of the ground six is that Lithiums will last 10 times longer than lead acid. 2-3000 deep discharge cycles as opposed to 250-350 with lead acid. Yes that’s right, you would get 1 year out of a lead acid if you deep discharged every day (to more than 50%) whereas you can expect 10years discharging to as much as 80% discharge from lithium. Final benefit? no offgas, no poisonous, damaging explosive gases.

Now the costs have come down and are continuing to come down, (just 3x the price now), lithium leisure batteries are an absolute no brainier. For most, a lithium leisure battery is now a one time fit, massively enjoy and forget purchase.

Sorry to be brutally blunt, but lithium batteries are a modern BMW and lead acid is very much Ford model T. Lead acid batteries are a deservedly and rapidly dying ancient out of date technology, like a steam engine.

Negatives? other than the cost premium, reducing all the time, there really aren’t any. You will see some stories on lithium battery fires, this can happen if a correct (lithium profile) charger is not used. It’s why a B2B is essential, to regulate charge input. Some e-bike and phone batteries are made in some dodgy chinese factories with low quality standards. 12v lithium leisure batteries are a much higher value proposition and it is less likely, therefore, to find that sort of risk, Battery Monitoring Systems (BMS) are common in the big lithium leisure batteries, as they are in cars, which very dramatically reduces, effectively eliminates such risks.

Lastly, a negative is the need to buy a B2B to protect your alternator and your vans wiring and maximise the rapid charge benefit from the lithium, and a decent invertor to maximise the discharge and capacity benefits. That’s the thing about a lithium set up, you really need to go the whole hog to really make the leap into this century. To get maximum benefit from the lithium, you have to buy a lithium, a decent B2B and a decent invertor. But if you do, you will never, ever look back.

Buy a lithium. The bigger the better. For most, a £900 Renogy 200ah is all the battery you will ever need. Then buy a 2000 or 3000W pure wine invertor and a decent 50A B2B, letting you run the engine for no more than a couple of hours to recharge it.

Some will go on about solar. For a camper van solar is hugely, hugely overrated. You get nothing from solar in winter, and to get anything in summer you have to be prepared to roast the van and yourself in full sun. Park under a tree ti stay cool and you get nothing. Portable panels are pointless as you can only use them on a campsite, a place where you can plug in.

But on the batteries, get lithium. Sometimes, new stuff really is just far better.

While I agree with most of the above, if you don't need it you don't need it. I drive a 13 year old Renault. I know a brand new Mercedes would be nice but I don't need it. The Megane does the job really well.

I have 2 AGM 100ah batteries and 300 watt solar. It powered me for 10 days off grid recently. No lack of power at any time. Why do I need Lithium?

I just don't feel the need to spend lots of money on something because it's newer/better when cheaper/older tech does the job.

It's a bit like my neighbour who doesn't do much, go out much and had a nice 3 year old car which never left the drive much. He just bought a brand new car which hasn't been anywhere for 3 weeks. But it's better I guess because its new tech!

I understand that some people like the latest tech and if you have the money then fair enough. I just think that if someone asks for advice because they don't understand the differences they need to know it is necessarily needed, even if it is 'better'.

 

[Pausim]

Lithium every time for me, people worry too much about damaging them. Unlike lead batteries they don’t deteriorate if under charged or used heavily. Their built in BMS protects them from serious extremes that might harm them. I have had my Relion for over 5 years and have no regrets.

 

[our poppy llll]

Sorry, your first post made you sound like a hardened motorhomer. The usual arrangement for charging a leisure battery is to make it connect to the alternator while the engine is running, so that it charges both starter and leisure batteries at the same time. Then when the engine stops, it is disconnected, so that if you inadvertently run the leisure battery flat, you can still start the engine.

The switching is done by an electrically operated switch called a relay. Because it splits the charging from the alternator between the two batteries, it is called a split charge relay. The alternator is designed to charge a single starter battery, so sharing the charging means the charging is fairly limited, but it gets there eventually if the drive is long enough.

If you have a couple of big leisure batteries, it can take a long time to charge with a split charge relay. So you can fit a charger that takes power from the alternator, and feeds considerably more amps into the leisure batteries than the split charge relay method does. Such a charger is called a battery-to-battery charger (B2B). A good B2B will fill the leisure batteries from 50% to full in a couple of hours of driving, but a split charge relay might take 8 hours to do the same thing.

The other thing is that a B2B can be set to give the battery the correct volts and amps for its battery type, if you want to get a proper leisure battery rather than just another starter-type battery. Leisure batteries are designed to give out a few amps over many hours, not like a starter battery which is designed to give out a massive current for a few seconds to start the engine, then get recharged very soon

Sorry, your first post made you sound like a hardened motorhomer. The usual arrangement for charging a leisure battery is to make it connect to the alternator while the engine is running, so that it charges both starter and leisure batteries at the same time. Then when the engine stops, it is disconnected, so that if you inadvertently run the leisure battery flat, you can still start the engine.

The switching is done by an electrically operated switch called a relay. Because it splits the charging from the alternator between the two batteries, it is called a split charge relay. The alternator is designed to charge a single starter battery, so sharing the charging means the charging is fairly limited, but it gets there eventually if the drive is long enough.

If you have a couple of big leisure batteries, it can take a long time to charge with a split charge relay. So you can fit a charger that takes power from the alternator, and feeds considerably more amps into the leisure batteries than the split charge relay method does. Such a charger is called a battery-to-battery charger (B2B). A good B2B will fill the leisure batteries from 50% to full in a couple of hours of driving, but a split charge relay might take 8 hours to do the same thing.

The other thing is that a B2B can be set to give the battery the correct volts and amps for its battery type, if you want to get a proper leisure battery rather than just another starter-type battery. Leisure batteries are designed to give out a few amps over many hours, not like a starter battery which is designed to give out a massive current for a few seconds to start the engine, then get recharged very soon after..

Yep now I understand.. I have not started yet, it’s just at the planning stage, although not a new motorhomer, we have only had 2 MoHos and 1 camper and 1 caravan, they have all been brand new or the first MoHo was a year old. They have all been all singing and dancing machines, the Auto trail Cheyenne had 2 batteries and we wild camped a lot in Europe, that had a battery mate, we sold it after 3 years, bought a villa then missed having a MoHo, so bought a CV40 vogue from Spinney, again that had a battery mate, but covid restricted its use, it was also just too small.
So we sold it back to Spinney and bought in April 23 this Kon Tiki 794, we have been to Spain in it on a 51 day trip, 1 May to 20 June. We had no issues with the battery or power. But we were in camp sites a lot with EHU. We are off on a 2 week flit tomorrow, Cornwall it’s been 30 odd years since we were last there, then September a Euro tour for 3 months, F,H,B,D,PL, A,CH, I, F, E, P, F, home.
It’s here where we will be using a lot of battery and gas power, flitting from Aire to Aire with occasional campsites… that’s why I want additional power. I thought the battery mate just connected the two leisure batteries and also connected to the engine battery.
Now I’ve read your post, the set up of the Kon Tiki has leisure and engine battery connected , so I’m looking for an additional battery to double the amps available and ensure they both charge while driving or with the solar panel..

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[LesW]

I agree with VXman, if you don’t need them, you don't need them.

Some require the entire electrical contents of a three bedroom house, which is fine.

Others like us manage perfectly well with lead acid and solar.

We have no plans to change our 2004 Inca, so adapting it for lithium, which would be desirable, would cost a small fortune, alternator, charger, solar controller etc might have to be changed.

If it were possible to just buy a lithium battery and drop it straight in, I'd consider it when a new leisure battery was needed... but I doubt that's possible.

 

[dunnah01]

If your touring around then your existing battery will be fine with a batterymate. Save your money and get some treats whilst touring.
We did 4 months off grid, 3 without moving in lockdown 1 and we had a comfortable life with 360w solar and 2x100Ah lead acids.

 

[our poppy llll]

Well everyone, that’s a lot to take in. I think from the advise, I’ll for now just add a second battery, same as what it came with, I believe it’s 110 amp hours, so I’ll have 220 amp hours, we eat out a lot it’s easier, so while touring we will just use more gas for hot water and central heating, if after my tour, it comes about that I may need more Electric power then I can have the van upgraded with everything.
On the gas issue, I had planned on getting two refillable gas bottles anyway, a 12kg and a 6 kgs, or similar, now I’ll do that in a couple of weeks, when we return from Cornwall and call in to Lowdhams to put my pigtail on the second outlet. I have checked our planned route and there are many places that I can refill the gas.
From the reading of the posts, lithium certainly seems the best, it’s just do I need it? We will see before the end on November…
Meanwhile thanks for your valuable input. Even if differing, it’s good to see different views.

 

[Guigsy]

Well everyone, that’s a lot to take in. I think from the advise, I’ll for now just add a second battery, same as what it came with, I believe it’s 110 amp hours, so I’ll have 220 amp hours, we eat out a lot it’s easier, so while touring we will just use more gas for hot water and central heating, if after my tour, it comes about that I may need more Electric power then I can have the van upgraded with everything.
On the gas issue, I had planned on getting two refillable gas bottles anyway, a 12kg and a 6 kgs, or similar, now I’ll do that in a couple of weeks, when we return from Cornwall and call in to Lowdhams to put my pigtail on the second outlet. I have checked our planned route and there are many places that I can refill the gas.
From the reading of the posts, lithium certainly seems the best, it’s just do I need it? We will see before the end on November…
Meanwhile thanks for your valuable input. Even if differing, it’s good to see different views.

I'm a pretty low electrical energy user. Fridge and heating run ok on gas. I didn't have anything electrically power hungry like an air fryer or curling tongs. But I do work from the van on a laptop, so I needed a bit of reliable power. And my lead acid battery had been abused and had lost most of its capacity. So as I needed a new one anyway, I put in lithium. But it is overkill for me. I can run for about 10 days without any hookup, solar or driving to charge the battery and be fine. Which I'll probably never need to do.. Overkill.

 

[Lenny HB]

I put in lithium. But it is overkill for me. I can run for about 10 days without any hookup, solar or driving to charge the battery and be fine. Which I'll probably never need to do.. Overkill.

If you have got it might as well flaunt it.

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[Lenny HB]

hen we return from Cornwall and call in to Lowdhams to put my pigtail on the second outlet.

Just collect the pigtail it's best not to fit it until you have a second bottle.

 

[autorouter]

bought in April 23 this Kon Tiki 794,

What year is this MH? If it's new or nearly new, it might already have a B2B. The latest motorhomes with smart alternators need a B2B to ensure the leisure batteries are charged properly, so they are usually fitted with a B2B.

 

[swanseajack13]

I’d like to know which of the two types are the best and why? I’m about to have a batterymate installed along with a second battery to give a lot of amp hours while touring. Currently the configuration is that my leisure battery is connected to my motor battery and both are connected to the solar panel. Soon, my lovely and I will hit the road (September) and drive through France Belgium Holland Germany Poland Austria, Swiss Italy Spain & Portugal not necessarily in that order. Returning late November. We want extra Power.. what does lithium give extra?

I've been replying to a thread about m/h insurance I wonder if you replace a standard battery to a lithium battery would you need to inform the m/h insurance company to be covered any answers out there

 

[autorouter]

I've been replying to a thread about m/h insurance I wonder if you replace a standard battery to a lithium battery would you need to inform the m/h insurance company to be covered any answers out there

The type of lithium battery fitted in motorhomes, Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4), is safer than a lead-acid battery, but I doubt they would give you a reduction in your premium.

 

[Hoovie]

It really comes down to your use and budget.

For fairly average use lead acid will be fine, at the moment we get away with 3 x 78ah Gel batteries and 300 Watts of solar and we hardly ever use EHU.

Our next van if it ever arrives I've budgeted £3.5k to upgrade the electrics mainly because we can. Not having an oven so we will be using more electrical items so planning on fitting 460ah of Lithium and a Victron Multiplus and as much solar as we can fit on the roof. We will be less dependant on gas and will be using free energy.

Lot of money for free energy


Just teasing. I think my electrics upgrade to benefit from free energy was around £3,500 as well

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[L' Hobo]

Thank you, that is great info, there’s only the waif and I she’s a fiery lightweight, and we have super light weight stuff that we carry. I check weighed it all once except as listed and we only carry 130kgs plus me and er say 90kg me 60kg er.. it takes 90 litres to fuel and we carry 25litres water. Plus 14 litres adblue. I don’t weigh her purse, the moths fluttering their wings makes it weightless, 14 kg Gas plus bottle total 22 kgs. Food 25kgs. 420kgs max.. all estimates… if we hit 500 kg all told I would be amazed, so the batteries won’t matter much..

Just out of curiosity, what payload have you got in your van. The reason I ask is, that 500kgs exceeds a lot of van ACTUAL payload these days.

 

[DT]

Watch Greg Virgo's lates YT video explained clearly. Lithium cost not for me.

 

[wfdTamar]

It’s bad practice to add a new second battery to an existing one. You should get two new batteries, (if your charging system can cope with them), but better yet get one good new one of a better type. If you don’t want to get lithium (and it is a higher investment) get a lead carbon gel one from alpha batteries. They have a 110Ah one that is the same size as a standard 100Ah just a little higher. You can discharge 80% and still get 750 cycles from it. That’s 88 usable Ah. For £190 a bargain.

Doesn’t need any special charging stuff, just change the charger to Gel setting.

I’ve been using one in Scotland & France now for 2 months and it’s great. So much more capacity than the Yuasa EFB I did have (which is a pretty good battery).

12V 110AH Expedition Plus Lead Carbon Gel Ultra Deep Cycle Battery (EXP12-110C) - Alpha Batteries

Ultra Deep Cycle Lead Carbon GEL Battery

www.alpha-batteries.co.uk

 

[rod_vw]

Interesting route...

F,H,B,D,PL, A,CH, I, F, E, P, F,

By 'H' I assume you mean 'NL' and if so please tell us how you get from France (F) to Holland (NL) directly without going through Belgium (B) .

 

[LesW]

Interesting route...

F,H,B,D,PL, A,CH, I, F, E, P, F,

By 'H' I assume you mean 'NL' and if so please tell us how you get from France (F) to Holland (NL) directly without going through Belgium (B) .

??

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