Where to buy a Lithium Battery?

Tombola said:
KS energy used to give 10% but I dont see it in the discount codes,
Broken Link Removed
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I just bought a 200ah super series from KS and used an old discount code Funster 2022 and got 5% off
 
If you are spending that sort of dosh then buy from an outlet that has been around for a few years. Not one that has recently popped up with fantastic specs and offers. If a battery is intended to outlive you, let alone your motorhome you need someone who will be around to honour a realistic guarantee. Sunshine Solar and Roadpro for example who sell NDS amongst others. NDS are now part of Dometic. If you want German names then Victron.
Hang onto your wallet.
 
Wh05apk said:
Didn't realise you did fogstar lithium, I am interested in the 460ah which is currently £1,139, is it still 10% off if that and when do you expect stock in?
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That price of £1,139 includes the discount (so it's the final price). We have a Black Friday deal on at the moment, but as soon as it's over only Motorhome Fun users get a 10% discount (we don't offer any other forums a discount).
All things being equal we'll be restocked this coming Wednesday.

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davidathomas42 said:
Just been googling them and prices are jumping off the screen at £1200ish for a 200ah one

My current battery is a Banner 100/110ah which is neatly hidden under the floor in the lounge area.

I want to just lift that out and drop in a lithium same size so I fully fill the space for max available power.

I am looking at all the other stuff which I posted in another thread re solar and chargers etc

Just thought quick question. What price should I / could I pay for one and from where?

Pictured below is the Banner 95751
Length 354mm
Width 175mm
Height 190mm
View attachment 834648
Click to expand...
Have a look on alibaba.com
i bought 3 x 200amph batteries with door to door shipping for £900
including all taxes, even cheaper now , but you aren’t going to get much in that space
 
bobupanddown said:
Have a look on alibaba.com
i bought 3 x 200amph batteries with door to door shipping for £900
including all taxes, even cheaper now , but you aren’t going to get much in that space
Click to expand...
I’m curious: have you done capacity tests on those batteries?
Unfortunately you can‘t do expansion and stress tests without opening them.
We‘ve done loads of cell and battery tests, we try to check this:
  1. capacity, both low and high discharge, whole battery pack and individual cells
  2. swelling
  3. general stress (heat buildup) under high discharge
 
RogerIvy said:
I’m curious: have you done capacity tests on those batteries?
Unfortunately you can‘t do expansion and stress tests without opening them.
We‘ve done loads of cell and battery tests, we try to check this:
  1. capacity, both low and high discharge, whole battery pack and individual cells
  2. swelling
  3. general stress (heat buildup) under high discharge
Click to expand...
No i haven’t
to be honest i’m not sure i would know the process, All i can say is that i don’t have a problem with running out of power, in fact i’m told that it’s best to store lithium at 80% , with my b2b and pv i’m running at 100% more than i’d like.
what i can say is that i can run inverter without worrying
i posted on here when i was looking into this and had some fairly negative feedback, but it was comments like don’t buy chinese batteries, I think you’ll find they are all chinese batteries
if you tell me how to do some testing i’d gladly post the results
best regards bob
 
bobupanddown said:
No i haven’t
to be honest i’m not sure i would know the process, All i can say is that i don’t have a problem with running out of power, in fact i’m told that it’s best to store lithium at 80% , with my b2b and pv i’m running at 100% more than i’d like.
what i can say is that i can run inverter without worrying
i posted on here when i was looking into this and had some fairly negative feedback, but it was comments like don’t buy chinese batteries, I think you’ll find they are all chinese batteries
if you tell me how to do some testing i’d gladly post the results
best regards bob
Click to expand...
This is the easiest way to measure capacity, using one of these devices
www.ebay.co.uk

1pc New 150W Constant Current Electronic Load Battery Discharge Capacity B | eBay

Can be taken as electronic constant current load, USB tester, cable detector. Display Screen Type: micro power consumption crystal module LCM black font green backlight Chinese English display screen.
www.ebay.co.uk
 
This site contains affiliate links for which MHF may be compensated.
Just to prove there are other suppliers, I bought mine from Roamer batteries

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Titan and roadpro make 190 high batteries direct replacement and up to 150Ah.
 
Tombola said:
fair point I spose, huge battery bank for small usages versus cost of colar ad all associated addons. Whatever suits you versus payback I guess. (and weight)

Myself I like to have the solar and battery bank (400ah) which at the time folk were saying overkill :rolleyes: but I do sometimes even pull onto a site pitch and dont even plug in
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Indeed. The more options you can have for charging the better. Makes perfect sense.
We are new to van life and we’re spoilt in south France with continuous warm weather. We didn’t spend any time in the van apart from sleeping and dressing.
Hoping to do the same around Italy next year.
Our use may evolve but so far the battery was incredible.
We don’t use the van for transport either, once at our destination. We liked to get the awning out for outdoor living and stay put for 5 days, using the e-bikes and trains to visit all the different places.
Just the way we see it.
Great fun isn’t it? Being able to explore so much.👍
 
RogerIvy said:
Just for full disclosure we sell LiFePO4 batteries, so my “better” deal would be from myself 🙂

On the subject of UK-backed batteries, pretty much all UK sellers will back their batteries up In the UK. Virtually all LiFePO4 cells come from China (there are a few specialist manufacturers in the USA). The vast majority of BMSs also come from China. Quite a few of the battery suppliers and sellers I know in the UK use JK or JBD. Sellers such as ourselves, FogStar, Roamer, KS, Ecotree etc will back it up here in the sense that any hassle will be sorted here without the need for you to go to China.

Of course if you buy cells from China to save some money, then if you have a problem it’s very expensive (£100) to send the cells back. Maybe that’s what you’re alluding to , and if so you’re correct.
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Thanks. I wasn’t aware that most of these battery sellers you see online were uk based and therefore have a uk contact. Certainly not the case for my Chinese inverter and Chinese copy diesel heater - which are both brilliant and a quarter the price of the US and German equivalent.

Great that you can speak to someone if there are problems. I didn’t mean buying cells from china and building your own.

Interesting to hear all the different views.
Do you buy the cells and build your own for selling, or buy in ready made from china?
Sounds like a growing business to me.👍Good luck. Let me know your prices. Thinking of converting my other long wheel base sprinter too.
 
RogerIvy said:
A few months ago we stayed at a site in the New Forest, didn’t pay for EHU but wouldn’t have minded it. Rained the whole time so solar did zilch and we used so much power on the rice cooker (prepped meals for three dogs), coffee machine and air fryer. Came down to 20% which is about the lowest we’ve been for a long time.
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I can imagine.
We went away and forcast was rain all weekend so we abandoned and came home.
My van is not really set up for winter or full time rain as we don’t want tv and all the mod cons from home, apart from cooking facilities like air fryer etc.
37 days in south France, - 2 days of cloud.
And that wasn’t even summer. We started 11 September.
I am thinking of getting a roll out panel for emergency off grid use but they are nowhere near as efficient as the claims and not as practical as having a large reliable battery.
And they don’t work at all in the rain😊
 
Lenny HB said:
Sounds crazy to me, why pay for EHU when you can charge them for free with solar.
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Because staying on a friendly secure campsite with others doing the same is more than just about saving on your electricity.
We stayed on a couple of airs and enjoyed it, but our MO is to set up on site for 5 days and explore using the e-bikes and the trains rather than driving the van. It means we can set up the full length awning and live outside rather than in the van.
For us it is a nice camping trip, not a home from home vehicle.
Everybody uses their van differently I suppose.
We don’t even cook in ours although we could.
Been in too many vans that stink of cooking.👍
 
MalibuChap said:
Titan and roadpro make 190 high batteries direct replacement and up to 150Ah.
Click to expand...
That is interesting. I didn't know of Titan or they were not available when I was trying to find a lithium built to a "standard" 190 high battery case size.
 
garymumford said:
Because staying on a friendly secure campsite with others doing the same is more than just about saving on your electricity.
We stayed on a couple of airs and enjoyed it, but our MO is to set up on site for 5 days and explore using the e-bikes and the trains rather than driving the van. It means we can set up the full length awning and live outside rather than in the van.
For us it is a nice camping trip, not a home from home vehicle.
Everybody uses their van differently I suppose.
We don’t even cook in ours although we could.
Been in too many vans that stink of cooking.👍
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But as you have loads of solar so why pay for EHU.
 
Lenny HB said:
But as you have loads of solar so why pay for EHU.
Click to expand...
I agree Lenny HB

I can understand that they may not want to pay to put on solar panels. But to remove what they have already got seems illogical and will limit them in the future. In many places in France or Italy for example they will struggle to find many campsites open in their off season, from October to Easter. But the Aires and Sostas will still be open and there will still be enough sun to top up batteries with the amount of solar they have got.

And, unlike in the UK, many camp sites in Europe will charge less if you don't use the EHU or only charge for the electricity depending upon how much you use.

As for not charging when it rains, they will still get some charge. But we don't like rain anyway and our motorhome has wheels so we use them to move onto to somewhere else where it is not raining.
 
Just pulled the floor up.

I have plenty of height space if I leave the top cover off. Not sure what that would do to insulation but it’s a double floor there anyway. Could always add a foam topper to it?

9B999848-D503-4E0B-9FAD-F5CE6874B5CA.jpeg


A989BD61-D20A-4AB8-B419-E6D59275A7CA.jpeg

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Don't think it's a proper double floor on your van I think it's unheated so won't make much odds.
 
davidathomas42 said:
Yea no it’s more of a raised area for style over anything.
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The only concern is if it is used for storing anything be careful nothing metal rolls into the battery area and shorts it when driving.
 
davidathomas42 said:
Just been googling them and prices are jumping off the screen at £1200ish for a 200ah one

My current battery is a Banner 100/110ah which is neatly hidden under the floor in the lounge area.

I want to just lift that out and drop in a lithium same size so I fully fill the space for max available power.

I am looking at all the other stuff which I posted in another thread re solar and chargers etc

Just thought quick question. What price should I / could I pay for one and from where?

Pictured below is the Banner 95751
Length 354mm
Width 175mm
Height 190mm
View attachment 834648
Click to expand...
Definitely Fogstar Drift as we have a 460 😃
 
garymumford said:
I converted my van and used it for 7 weeks in south of France September and October.
I bought a Roamer 12V 400AH battery. £1700.
Great value
Once charged, it runs the van for 5 days or so. Not tried pushing it further. It is so efficient that I didn’t need solar charge so I will be taking the 500watt solar panels off the van for the next trip.
Battery charges from alternator and hookup when on site.

Go big
Go expensive
Saves any hassle and saves money and weight of solar.

Roamer are English firm based in Yorkshire although like most batteries they are made in china and imported, but at least you have uk based experts to speak to.
Click to expand...
Bit confused on this, does the 5 days exclude any solar? I. E. You turned the solar off, or it was so little it didn't make a difference?

What's your usage, do you cook with battery electric?

Thanks.

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