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Report on 12 Months of Lithium Battery Operation


RussnSue

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G'day All,

When I installed our LiFePO4 batteries I said I would give you all a report after 12 months of operation, so here we go.

The plusses:

.The 360 AH Lithium battery bank delivers more available power than the 480 AH capacity we had with the AGM batteries

.The charging regime I set up in the Plasmatronics solar controller and Sterling battery charger works fine

.No battery failures have occurred

The minus:

Lead acid batteries have the ability to "smooth out" bumps in the voltage of a DC system. By this I mean that, for example, when the piezo igniter of the hot water service operates, the short, sharp spike it causes in the DC rail of the van is soaked up by the batteries. This does NOT happen with Lithium batteries. When the piezo igniter fires with Lithium batteries, the lights blink in the van. On one occasion the voltage must have dropped enough that the TV dropped out for a few seconds. Also, the LED lights, of one particular brand that we have, blink in time with the pulsing of the solar and 240 Volt chargers. This only happens when the batteries are on the "float" stage of their charge cycle. These are not huge issues and we can live with them, but the blinking lights can be annoying.

So, the solutions? I could install a small-capacity lead-acid battery with similar charging characteristics in parallel with the lithium batteries, which is not desirable and defeats the purpose somewhat, or I can install capacitors at each light fitting. This wouldn't be difficult and should work. I'll probably do the latter (only to the lights that blink) as it is much cheaper and relatively easy to do.

Overall, I am very pleased with the result. The weight savings we have achieved mean that we are finally travelling at legal weight, for the first time since we've had the van, when fully loaded with all the stuff we need to carry. This is also true for the ball-weight of the van - which was massively excessive. The power delivery of the batteries is great and because of the nature of their charge cycle, recharging is quick. Best of all, there have been no failures. Some opponents of these aggregated Lithium batteries (that is to say, Lithium cells coupled together without charge-management links between the cells) were predicting early, and expensive, failures. A simple method of testing whether the cells within the battery are misbehaving is to disconnect the batteries completely and leave to settle for an hour. After the hour of rest, a digital voltmeter can be used to measure the voltage of each battery. If they vary from each other appreciably it will be because individual cells within those batteries are not charging to the same voltage as others. I am happy to say that all four of my batteries had identical voltages.

Only time will tell whether we get a long working life from these Lithium batteries, but I see no reason as to why I shouldn't. I still manage the depth of discharge of my batteries, just as I did in the AGM days, and so far I have not even gone close to 50% of available capacity (which is a doddle when you know that Lithium batteries can be discharged by 75% to 80% of capacity with perfect safety.) I'll write a follow-up report in another year's time.

Cheers

Russ

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Greetings Russ and Sue.

Thanks for your report,we have been eagerly waiting for it :D

Hope this finds you both well and not melting in the west.

A very Merry Christmas to you both and have a great New Year.

Cheers from the stuck in Brisbane selling the house Kyd's.

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Greetings Russ and Sue.

Thanks for your report,we have been eagerly waiting for it :D

Hope this finds you both well and not melting in the west.

A very Merry Christmas to you both and have a great New Year.

Cheers from the stuck in Brisbane selling the house Kyd's.

Thanks Rod and Mavis. I confess that I have been very remiss in keeping you all informed of our wherebouts. We have spent the entire year in South Australia (or within 10 Km of it) and have enjoyed it so much (SA really is one of the best kept secrets.) We worked at the Birdsville Pub (hence the 10 Km from SA), the Mt Dare Pub, Arkaroola and are currently at Pinnaroo for the grain harvest. In between work we managed to have six months off to really look around the place and confess to having a real soft spot for the Clare Valley.

Along the way we snuck in a Simpson Desert crossing, extensive touring of the Murray River, the Coorong, The Yorke Peninsula and all of the wine districts in SA. We did revisit some of our fave places on the Eyre peninsula as well, although we had "done" them the year before. So, all in all, it has been a wonderful year. We caught up with many Koggers in all sorts of places and had a great time with them.

Thank you for the Christmas wishes and seasons greetings to you as well. Very sorry to hear that you are stuck in one place at the moment and we hope you sell real soon and are on the road before you know it.

All the best

Russ n Sue

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  • 10 months later...

G'day Russ

We're looking at getting a new Top Ender next year. The Kedron boys seem to be still reluctant to install Lithium batteries, but will do it if you take all the risks, i.e. they don't offer any warranty or support for them.

What are your thoughts on Lithium now? Are you still as keen on them as before?

I notice (your?) van for sale with new AGM's installed.

Cheers

Alan

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Hi Russ & Sue,

We are about to meet you for the grain by the sounds of it. We will be in Pinnaroo on the 16th Nov ready to start on the 17th. We have booked into the caravan park.

Would be good to finally meet you guys

Cheers

Steve & Kez

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G'day Russ

We're looking at getting a new Top Ender next year. The Kedron boys seem to be still reluctant to install Lithium batteries, but will do it if you take all the risks, i.e. they don't offer any warranty or support for them.

What are your thoughts on Lithium now? Are you still as keen on them as before?

I notice (your?) van for sale with new AGM's installed.

Cheers

Alan

Hi Alan. Yes, we were/are selling the van with AGMs fitted - because we like the Lithiums so much that we wish to keep them.

Cheers

Russ

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Hi Russ & Sue,

We are about to meet you for the grain by the sounds of it. We will be in Pinnaroo on the 16th Nov ready to start on the 17th. We have booked into the caravan park.

Would be good to finally meet you guys

Cheers

Steve & Kez

G'day Steve and Kez

Look forward to meeting you when you arrive.

Cheers

Russ

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Guys are you staying in the van park at Pinnaroo? Or is there a better place to stay?

Steve

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Guys are you staying in the van park at Pinnaroo? Or is there a better place to stay?

Steve

Hi Steve

Yes, we are staying at the van park at Pinnaroo. It's $20 per night. There is a van park about 20Km over the border at Murrayville. It is $55.00 per week. We decided not to stay there because we couldn't be bothered driving the 20Km after knocking off from the arvo shift (which finished as late as two in the morning last year.) Also, it adds 25 Km (each way) to the trip to Loxton or Berri (for shopping etc.)

The park at Pinnaroo is OK. It is quiet and there aren't any ratbags here. We use our own amenities, so really just using the power and water.

Cheers

Russ

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G'day Russ

We're looking at getting a new Top Ender next year. The Kedron boys seem to be still reluctant to install Lithium batteries, but will do it if you take all the risks, i.e. they don't offer any warranty or support for them.

What are your thoughts on Lithium now? Are you still as keen on them as before?

I notice (your?) van for sale with new AGM's installed.

Cheers

Alan

From some enquires we have made about lithium batteries there seems to be a reluctance to use them because of fire safety issues. If they catch on fire they are unable to be extinguished - apparently. A 12 V business informed us they want to see more 'technical advancement' in them before they use them!?

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