Lithium Battery Installers

[terry111]

Hi
I'm looking to replace the 2 x 95Ah AGM batteries in my 2018 Globecar Campscout.
The batteries fit (tightly!) under the driver's seat and from what I saw yesterday at NEC Motorhome show I can get 200 to 300Ah of Lithium battery / batteries in the space.
Obviously there's the B2B charger and associated wiring and I'm not going to do it myself.
I saw people from Roadpro, Offgrid Power, Van Bitz and Alpha Batteries, all of which said they could do the job.
Does anyone have experiences of these suppliers - Good or bad. Or recommend someone else, I'm near Derby so location could be an issue (Van Bitz insn't ideal!).
Thanks

 

[Boris7]

I’ve used Road Pro and S&G Leisure personally I’d go back to S&G every time.

 

[wildebus]

Hi
I'm looking to replace the 2 x 95Ah AGM batteries in my 2018 Globecar Campscout.
The batteries fit (tightly!) under the driver's seat and from what I saw yesterday at NEC Motorhome show I can get 200 to 300Ah of Lithium battery / batteries in the space.
Obviously there's the B2B charger and associated wiring and I'm not going to do it myself.
I saw people from Roadpro, Offgrid Power, Van Bitz and Alpha Batteries, all of which said they could do the job.
Does anyone have experiences of these suppliers - Good or bad. Or recommend someone else, I'm near Derby so location could be an issue (Van Bitz insn't ideal!).
Thanks

I'd be surprised if you can get 300Ah of batteries under the drivers seat. would be blooming tight indeed! There is more height available than I initially thought though.

This is fresh in my mind as I spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon looking at a Ducato to see the options of what will fit where and discounted underseat fitments as too small. Actually going to repurpose one of the lockers and pop in 400Ah of Lithium, B2B, MPPT and AMT12 all together in there. Much neater we decided

 

[colinm]

Hi
I'm looking to replace the 2 x 95Ah AGM batteries in my 2018 Globecar Campscout.
The batteries fit (tightly!) under the driver's seat and from what I saw yesterday at NEC Motorhome show I can get 200 to 300Ah of Lithium battery / batteries in the space.
Obviously there's the B2B charger and associated wiring and I'm not going to do it myself.
I saw people from Roadpro, Offgrid Power, Van Bitz and Alpha Batteries, all of which said they could do the job.
Does anyone have experiences of these suppliers - Good or bad. Or recommend someone else, I'm near Derby so location could be an issue (Van Bitz insn't ideal!).
Thanks

I'm not sure what you saw, but the lithium batteries I've seen have been roughly the same volume for the same 'nominal'(if that's the right word) capacity, this would mean you might find 200Ah of lithium will fit, but these will benefit from greater usable capacity.
p.s. crossed over with David's post.

 

[andyjanet]

We have the 2019 campscout and 2x100 lithiums wouldn’t fit under the seat without removing the swivel to get them in , we removed the gas locker and went for a tank underneath , then this space was rejigged for 3x lithium solar controller, b2b and a 3000 watt inverter, still have space for ebike chargers and batteries ! The area under the drivers seat holds boots and shoes .

 

[Admin]

Hi
I'm looking to replace the 2 x 95Ah AGM batteries in my 2018 Globecar Campscout.
The batteries fit (tightly!) under the driver's seat and from what I saw yesterday at NEC Motorhome show I can get 200 to 300Ah of Lithium battery / batteries in the space.
Obviously there's the B2B charger and associated wiring and I'm not going to do it myself.
I saw people from Roadpro, Offgrid Power, Van Bitz and Alpha Batteries, all of which said they could do the job.
Does anyone have experiences of these suppliers - Good or bad. Or recommend someone else, I'm near Derby so location could be an issue (Van Bitz insn't ideal!).
Thanks

I would use BlueFix. Bluefix gives our members a 5% discount, and their labour rates are £14 per hour lower than Vanbitz.

 

[1807truckman]

Richardson Auto Electrics at Rothterham did mine, see attached photo of the installation, Mob: 07763752479. From Derby it's probably a 3/4 hour drive.

 

[wildebus]

Richardson Auto Electrics at Rothterham did mine, see attached photo of the installation, Mob: 07763752479. From Derby it's probably a 3/4 hour drive.

Tidy

One was done by a dodgy company in the Borders. Not sure if I would go back there!

 

[terry111]

I'd be surprised if you can get 300Ah of batteries under the drivers seat. would be blooming tight indeed! There is more height available than I initially thought though.

This is fresh in my mind as I spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon looking at a Ducato to see the options of what will fit where and discounted underseat fitments as too small. Actually going to repurpose one of the lockers and pop in 400Ah of Lithium, B2B, MPPT and AMT12 all together in there. Much neater we decided

Roadpro said they have done this using Off-Grid 150 Batteries, they are exactly the same size as Off-Grid 100 Batteries - odd but true, apparently!

 

[terry111]

I would use BlueFix. Bluefix gives our members a 5% discount, and their labour rates are £14 per hour lower than Vanbitz.

Has anyone used them and can recommend them?

 

[Admin]

Has anyone used them and can recommend them?

I know them personally, and they are "Victron Professional Installers" Victron use them in some of their promotional videos.
They do have a Youtube channel and you can see some videos of their work.

 

[Boris7]

I know them personally, and they are "Victron Professional Installers" Victron use them in some of their promotional videos.
They do have a Youtube channel and you can see some videos of their work.

Hard to get a better recommendation than that

 

[Admin]

Has anyone used them and can recommend them?

I should also say that the owners "Mark and Luke" are Motorhomer and Wild Camping members and attend our rallies when they can.

 

[rugbyken]

this could be an option purpose designed for under the seat

 

[Canalsman]

Has anyone used them and can recommend them?

You will find a video on the Campervibe YouTube channel where a complete Victron system is installed in a small van conversion.

That I think you will find reassuring.

 

[aross]

I'd be surprised if you can get 300Ah of batteries under the drivers seat. would be blooming tight indeed! There is more height available than I initially thought though.

We have a Globecar Summit Shine 5.4m and have 2x210 lithium under the driver's seat. And spare space!

 

[wildebus]

We have a Globecar Summit Shine 5.4m and have 2x210 lithium under the driver's seat. And spare space!

420Ah under the seat? and spare space?
Congrats. Apologies if I don't believe it

 

[colinm]

this could be an option purpose designed for under the seat

That should easily fit under a Ducato seat, and looks a good option. I think it is a 'universal' size designed to fit under other seat bases of other vans, as it could be made bigger (roughly 350x350?) and still under the seat in my Globecar.

 

[wildebus]

That should easily fit under a Ducato seat, and looks a good option. I think it is a 'universal' size designed to fit under other seat bases of other vans, as it could be made bigger (roughly 350x350?) and still under the seat in my Globecar.

I think the Ducato/Boxer/Relay probably has one of the largest underseat spaces of a van.
If you take a VW T5 Transporter (which is a smaller vehicle generally), the biggest battery that generally will fit under the seat is a 160Ah one - and to do that involves taking a grinder to the base and 'reprofiling' some interior parts. The shape of that base allows without changes a nominal 110Ah battery (which are generally Group 19 dimensions). maximum length of 330 fitted sizeways. maximum height of 190mm - and that is only at the rear. The front half is generally to low to take a battery. And heights can be limited of swivels are fitted (dependant on the design). I fitted a low-height 110Ah battery to a T5 passenger seat and had to put it on its side even at the back as the swivel interfered otherwise.
Sprinters are not much better. Here is a photo I took showing a T5 Seat (right) and a Sprinter Seat (left).

LT vs T5 Bases by David, on Flickr
The Sprinter Base is taller but is narrower, which becomes a real limiting factor for a underseat battery install. In practice, the apparently smaller T5 base is better for that.
Not sure about Renault Masters, but Ducatos and Sprinters, plus VW Transporters make up the significant majority of Motorhome and Camper conversions.
You have the Ford Transits of course, but seeing how Ford fit the Engine Batteries (usually two for some reason?) under the drivers seat, that is out of bounds anyway.

 

[Nabsim]

Do you know if the Crafter seat base is the same as the T1N sprinter @wildebus ? I keep looking and thinking my 2x100Ah would fit but have yet to get a tape measure put and my eyes are getting old.