Varta 230Ahm battery replacement - lithium?

[Chod Jacqui]

We own a 2010 Le Voyageur 855LVX. Seven years ago whilst in the Lake District the 200Ahm leisure battery suddenly failed and we were unable to source one locally so had to return home. A Varta 230Ahm battery was purchased from Battery Megastore, Tewkesbury and all has been fine since.
Now, seven years along I feel that probably our current battery is coming to the end of its life. May/June sees us touring Spain, Portugal and France and I'm concerned that I will have problems finding a replacement whilst away.
So, should I replace like for like or purchase a 200Ahm lithium battery as a drop on replacement, there is a gel setting on the charger and see how it goes and maybe later fit a B2B. I know the set up won't be perfect and the battery will not get fully charged perhaps only 90% giving about 160Ahm of usable power still a lot more than the 115Ahm we currently have.
We are not huge power users, but do have a 1000w inverter which we very occasionally use to top up our bike batteries. Our control panel has never shown the leisure battery as dropping below 80%.
Thoughts please.

 

[Just smiffy]

How do you currently charge your existing batteries..? Solar, EHU..

 

[Chod Jacqui]

Last few years we have often used CCP sites so have taken the opportunity to fully charge our bike batteries, luckily our batteries have well in excess of 140km range if used sensibly. We have occasionally topped them using our 1000w inverter (but not upto 100% maybe 75%)

 

[Chod Jacqui]

Or perhaps you mean our vehicle batteries - we have a 120w solar panel, driving and the occasional ehu.

 

[Lenny HB]

If you use EHU most of the time probably not worth going to Lithium but if you prefer off grid fit Lithium.
If you fit Lithium you need to fit the correct chargers to get the best out of them. A B2B is essential to protect both the battery and the alternator, I wouldn't be happy with the Gel setting on the charger as it has a long absorption phase of 8 or 16 hours not good for Lithium, also if your solar controller doesn't have a Lithium profile that will need changing as well. Ideally you would need to fit more solar to take advantage of Lithiums cabability of fast charging.

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[R32Paul]

We have just replaced 2x lead acids with a single lithium. I needed to replace the solar charger and took the opportunity to fit a smart shunt as well. I have a B2B to fit to protect the alternator and I will have to disconnect the split charge via the Electroblock. I purchased via offgrid solutions and you get a 10% discount. Plus Nigel is exceptionally helpful.

 

[Camdoon]

If you have coped with your present set up for 7 years then the kit required to change to lithium previously stopped me from doing similar.

 

[Just smiffy]

Or perhaps you mean our vehicle batteries - we have a 120w solar panel, driving and the occasional ehu.

Yes, if your present batteries are doing OKish then leave until you need to, going with more solar will be beneficial especially if you go the lithium way but as Lenny has said you’ll need to change the b2b for lithium…

 

[Chod Jacqui]

Thank you for all your insight, as we have now owned our van for nearly fourteen years and have coped well with just normal sealed lead acid batteries - even wild camping we will stay lead acid.
As a matter of interest would there be an advantage changing to Gel?

 

[dunnah01]

Thank you for all your insight, as we have now owned our van for nearly fourteen years and have coped well with just normal sealed lead acid batteries - even wild camping we will stay lead acid.
As a matter of interest would there be an advantage changing to Gel?

You wouldn't need to upgrade anything for gels but would gain about 50Ah of usable energy from the 200Ah battery

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[Chod Jacqui]

So any suggestions where to purchase a 200Ah gel battery?

 

[Lenny HB]

Although you wil get more useable power with Gels as you can discharge them down to 20% they do take longer to charge. They charge to 80%in the same time as a standard LA but need several hours of the absorption phase for a full charge. Providing you have a Gel setting on your mains charger and solar regulator they are a good choice.

I have 3 x78 ah Gels and we hardly ever use EHU last year we only had 100 nights away of those only one on EHU.
Gels also have a long life, 2 of mine are 8 years old and one 7 years they are performing like new apart from capacity loss due to age.

 

[Chod Jacqui]

Yes our Schaudt Electblock has a gel setting(as stated in the first post)

 

[Gaston aires]

Take a look at my post, “Lithium update”, and you can see how my system is doing after about 6 months of use.
Phil

 

[autorouter]

As a matter of interest would there be an advantage changing to Gel?

I think of all the battery types, gel is the most fussy when it comes to high discharge rates into an inverter. Generally it's recommended not to exceed C/5 when charging and discharging, and for a 230Ah battery that's 230 / 5 = 46A. That's around 550 watts from the inverter. Not a show-stopper, but something to bear in mind.

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[TheMachMan]

Although you wil get more useable power with Gels as you can discharge them down to 20% they do take longer to charge. They charge to 80%in the same time as a standard LA but need several hours of the absorption phase for a full charge. Providing you have a Gel setting on your mains charger and solar regulator they are a good choice.

I have 3 x78 ah Gels and we hardly ever use EHU last year we only had 100 nights away of those only one on EHU.
Gels also have a long life, 2 of mine are 8 years old and one 7 years they are performing like new apart from capacity loss due to age.

Every day is a school day. Didn’t appreciate you could run gels down that low. We were at 25% last week and we were still running, now I know why. Thought we were in trouble. They did run out eventually though!