Friend needed a replacement for his 2 x 100Ah house batteries while on tour and was offered this battery for what he considered a reasonable price and rang me for "expert approval" first.
I could only give him generic advice at the time.
Specs seem good and it does have a 3 year warranty so..
Just have to check his alternator setup to make sure it is not being damaged by excessive current. Probably OK since he has done lots of miles since
Anyone got any experience with this particular brand and have any opinion to offer please.
Friend needed a replacement for his 2 x 100Ah house batteries while on tour and was offered this battery for what he considered a reasonable price and rang me for "expert approval" first. I could only give him generic advice at the time. Specs seem good and it does have a 3 year warranty so.. Just have to check his alternator setup to make sure it is not being damaged by excessive current. Probably OK since he has done lots of miles since Anyone got any experience with this particular brand and have any opinion to offer please.
Yes, I've used that exact battery for four years now, first in my caravan, then in a standalone battery box, and now just been installed in my new camper trailer. Still going strong without any issues, however, I'm not a full time grey nomad so it only gets used for holidays so hasn't been cycled a lot. If I remember correctly I paid $1000 for it at the time.
I would characterise it as a medium priced, medium performance LiFePO4 battery. By that I mean the internal BMS handles a maximum continuous charge/discharge current of 70A which is fine for 'normal' use but not high enough to power large inverters.
You talk about his alternator setup and not being damaged by excessive current. Personally I would only charge a Lithium battery via a charger that has a specific Lithium profile and temperature compensation as Lithium batteries do not respond well to being held at high float voltages or being charged when hot. So that means I would not charge it direct from an alternator but only via a DC/DC charger with Lithium profile.
I attach the spec sheet in case you haven't seen that yet...
-- Edited by Mamil on Sunday 18th of July 2021 12:52:15 PM
Thanks mamil, sounds good.
In my experience with both lead acid and lithium, while there can be problems charging lithiums from the alternator, overcharging isn't one of them. Normally the alternator doesn't come close to fully charging them which isn't a big deal given that they don't care about sitting partially charged.
Victron did publish an overly alarmist video suggesting that the alternator would go up in a sheet of flame if you dared try and direct charge lithiums and they copped a heap of flak for it, but of course it is out there now and entered that murky genre of it's - on-the-internet-so-it-must-be-true. But there is some truth in it for motorhomes with short wiring runs, so I will check what boost current flows from the alternator just in case.
