How reliable are Lithium leisure batteries?

SimonM

SimonM

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I am changing from the conventional lead/acid leisure batteries to a single Lithium that offers almost 5 times the useable energy for a similar space taken up.

I have seen posts from peeps praising their supplier for the fast response when there has been a problem - but that wouldn’t be much good if the failure happens 1000 miles and umpteen countries away. I’d hate to then be really stuck.

So, my question is really how reliable/unreliable are they? We never seem to see threads from happy users.
 
I guess it’s hard to say how reliable they are when I’ve only had them 8 months, but so far they have been outstanding, I’ve only had EHU once since they were installed at RoadPro, in December / January i wild camped many nights and used an inverter a few times, one week in sub zero all week and little driving and they didn’t miss a beat.

I also upgraded my solar at the same time and the difference is outstanding, but again even given the heavy use it’s still only 8 months so impossible for me (at least) to offer you any certainty I’m afraid.
 
We bought our 120Ah KS Energy Lithium Battery in July 2021, 3 months after buying our first Motorhome. We used it only to power the hab lights and to the water pump, and occasionally to refill the inborad fresh water tank using a 19 ltr per minute Reicher submersible pump powered from the TV socket via a home made switch with long lead. The light usage caused a problem with the Battery BMS in that it recharged itself via the Solar almost instantly and then went into a deep sleep/standby mode. Almost exactly 1 hour after switching the 12v lights on in the evening, the fridge would call for a teaspoon of leccy to power the spark, but the battery would be in too deep a sleep to respond, and the 12v system would cut out for 1 second before reconnecting. That 1 second trip was enough to lose the built in Sat Nav settings, throw a Fault Code on the Truma 6 Control Panel [warning of excessive power consumption, 'shut down all systema to preserve battery power' message' and occasionally trip the 12v system switch on the Hab Control Panel, a total PITA every night!

On David Wildebus advice we managed to increase the load on the Lithium to stop it going into Sleep Mode, by fitting USB Chargers and a Trickle Charger that forces the Lithium to feed the Vehicle Battery for 9 seconds in every 10 seconds, and that has solved the problem. David fitted an Inverter for us in early Autumn 2022 and we gave it its first proper trial at Jeff & Lorraine's 3 Rallies over the last 2.5 weeks, using Induction Hobs, Kettles, Bike Battery Chargers, Remoska, and anything else we could find to burn some power, to the extent that we overstretched the Lithium and cuased it, the inverter and the van 12v Control Panel to go into alarm simultaneously, with lights and alarms triggering at the same time. This caused confusion for the BMS on the Lithium and was overcome by plugging into a mains socket overnight after 2 solid days of solar recharging and NO inverter usage had restored the SOC to only 6%! The Lithium has recovered from our over exuberant abuse of its resources and reached 100% SOC yesterday after about 100 miles of driving to top up 3 days solar charge that totalled almost 2.5 Kwh!

Now that we have found out what the Inverter/Lithium combination can offer with Slow Cookers/Remoskas etc, we will probably look to replace the 120Ah battery with a 200 or 230Ah Lithium, so that we can play with anything/everything electric without throwing the power supply into overload. Had I treated a Lead Acid Leisure Battery like I did the 120Ah Lithium over the last 2 weeks or so, I would have killed it. But the Lithium has recovered fully and returned for more, despite my idiotic usage. Lithium is a godsend for us!

Steve
 
I've had LA fail twice, without being abused, so I'm on the lithium now. 6 year guarantee, which excludes wear and tear - not sure what that means on a battery.... The good thing is I have Victron monitoring stuff that I can evidence.... The better thing is I can unscrew the top of my batteries and change the duff bit.

The best bit about lithium is how they will take all the charge solar can give until full. Not like LA which takes ages after the bulk stage. 80% is it?
 
Im running 10 years now on 2 off 90ah open vent standard truck batteries and they are perfect so far, will be lead carbon next time round, but wont go lithium as iv had small ones die for no idea at all, and way to expensive.
 
8 years full-time use with a bank of Trojans. Live as we had our house. Lead acid has worked for full-time off grid use for decades and is proven. I see my mate put his engine on when using his coffee maker with his lithium . The only reason to consider lithium is weight.
 
SimonM said:
I am changing from the conventional lead/acid leisure batteries to a single Lithium that offers almost 5 times the useable energy for a similar space taken up.

I have seen posts from peeps praising their supplier for the fast response when there has been a problem - but that wouldn’t be much good if the failure happens 1000 miles and umpteen countries away. I’d hate to then be really stuck.

So, my question is really how reliable/unreliable are they? We never seem to see threads from happy users.
Click to expand...
Worried about failure so..
Do not buy a huge capacity single battery ..as you post.
Buy a pair and know how to revert to just one which should enable you to continue your travels with no need to make for home.
 
Nabsim said:
I have had my lifepo4 over 4 years now and not a single issue. Mine ar dumb batteries, no bluetooth, no heaters etc. As I killed what was supposed to be a good choice (at the time) of Bosch Powerframe battery in 12 months my battery have paid for themselves twice over now
Click to expand...
Those powerframe batts have got very expensive now, i was going to get 2 but now will look at lead carbon next time round.
 
I've had 2 Sterling 120ah LiFePO4 batteries for about 3 years. Most constant load I've drawn from the parallel pair is 1300w via an inverter to power a microwave and the most I've discharged them to is about 25% when my day time running lights developed a fault i Winter. Mine's well kitted out for gas so don't see the point of stressing the system and the alternator using induction hobs personally.

Not had any faults, the bluetooth in the BMS lets me know how individual cells are doing and the state of charge/current flow monitoring is in agreement with the Renogy battery monitor.

My van is old now with limited space for solar & even though I've limited the amount my batteries can draw from the alternator via a B2B to 30 amp and I keep the absorbtion cut off voltage a tad lower than the manufacturer spec I don't have any anxiety about over discharging the batts when wilding. They top up so quickly after a short run. There's defo more advantages than just weight over SLA's. Wouldn't go back personally but if heated batteries weren't so much more expensive when I bought mine I'd consider them as my BMS (Daly) seems a tad restrictive. It doesn't release from it's battery protection state until it measures 5°C. Considered using reptile heaters but it's once in a blue moon when I might want to top up, prior to a mid winter jolly.
 
I've had three Renogy 100 amp Lithium batteries in my Campervan for over two years.With no issues at all. I've just added the fourth battery,as Renogy have a sale on at the minute.you can get 100amp Lithium battery for £351.99.If you add the discount code (RENOGYUK12) or two for £686.38.
 

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I've considered Lithium several times BUT despite the price having come down they still don't make economic sense for us especially as I only purchased 3 x AGMs around the end of 2020 ...to replace the single FLA originally fitted .

They cover our needs easily ...
Drop to around 96% overnight whilst parked up and running 240v fridge inverter chargers etc ...
And back to 100% within an hour or so of sun up from the 400w panel ...

Even when away and running tv etc there are no issues ...
Wintertime the B2B copes easily (especially as we tend to move each day )

The ONLY attraction of lithium for us would be the weight saving .
 
I was going down thinking of lithium when I got the van out of a 3yr hibernation/SORN the 3x110 wet lead would at 5 yrs old be getting a bit long in the tooth. Seems the solar had kept them in condition and we have managed a 3 week tour without EHU so won't be getting them for a while. Dissappointment offset by the savings. ;) ;)

Mind you the B2B can hide a lot I suppose when you drive most days
 
I was always a no to lithium, but now I am a convert.
We seem to have endless power using air fryer daily running f/f all day, hover ,and other 240 things .
Looking forward to winter with lecky blankets at night in the cold Spanish night..
And weight saving is a bonus .
And our lpg usage has dropped by 75% .approx.
All in all sound investment..
 
I can remember going away in ancient VW campers and the legendary Commer Caravanette and they never even had leisure batteries! :D How did we survive without having all this power? We did add some mod cons I seem to remember. Someone bought a plug in 12v cool box which replaced the welly bar which I loved. The welly bar was a big green welly full of little 250ml bottles of beer for the journey (driver excluded).

The rot set in though in the early 2000s when I bought one of the first flip up DVD player TV's. 10" I think. :D We actually still used that in the Kontiki for the first few years we had it.
 
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