Can i get some suggestion on Lithium battery's for my 340 Paradigm, I'm looking at starting with 460 Ah to see if it suits our needs for over night stays and short boon docking. One problem is they don't recommend adding a second battery at a later date due to balancing issues. Is it better to use two battery's in case one fails or stay with the larger capacity. I've been looking at Epoch, Temgo and litime that now has a 560 Ah battery does anyone have experience with any of these battery's to help me decide.
Battery Selection
- Thread starter barryrust
- Start date
My opinion is two batteries are better. If one fails, you can disconnect it and run off of the good battery while getting the bad one replaced. We do a lot of dry camping, so I installed two 460 AH Epoch batteries along with almost 1800 watts of solar on the roof. We don't run the air conditioner much, but with our Victron MultiPlus II, we can run it quite easily and if we are in full sun the panels keep up with the power consumption.
Whatever you do, ensure you install a good battery monitor shunt so you can see precisely what is going into and out of the batteries. Crazy to spend over $1000 for batteries and skimp on a $150 shunt. Just my 2 cents worth.
Whatever you do, ensure you install a good battery monitor shunt so you can see precisely what is going into and out of the batteries. Crazy to spend over $1000 for batteries and skimp on a $150 shunt. Just my 2 cents worth.
Buddy of mine installed the LiTime batteries and he really likes them. Will you ever add an inverter? Without an inverter, 460amp hours will last you a LONG time, knowing you also have one solar panel on the roof.
Once you change to lithium, your 4 LED battery gauge is worthless. Lithium will hold a higher voltage down to about 10% of battery remaining. You will see 4 LED showing 100% charge, until it is waaaay too late. You need to install a battery shunt, like the Victron BMV-712, which will show you the exact battery level and the amount of amps coming in & out of the battery.
Once you change to lithium, your 4 LED battery gauge is worthless. Lithium will hold a higher voltage down to about 10% of battery remaining. You will see 4 LED showing 100% charge, until it is waaaay too late. You need to install a battery shunt, like the Victron BMV-712, which will show you the exact battery level and the amount of amps coming in & out of the battery.
At present we are keeping the camper at a permanent camp site for this summer my first concern it having a backup for our 12 volt fridg as the camp ground does lose electric from time to time. I did install the Victron 712 this past winter and am going to install the Victron 2x120 this winter. awe are planning on retiring and start traveling next year and be able to spend over nights without running a generator. Will probable add more solar but not sure how much or what kind of panels to add, I'm trying to add the equipment a little at a time as we need it and eas in to longer boon docking stays. Any other advise would be greatly appreciated.
I installed two Epoch 460 AH batteries along with a Victron MultiPlus II inverter. I wired the inverter so the entire trailer is powered instead of using the Alliance inverter prep. I put four 320 watt Renogy and three 170 watt solar panels on the roof, for a total of 1590 watts of solar.. The panels are hooked up to two different Victron solar charge controllers. We mostly dry camped in our old trailer and plan on continuing to camp that way with our Alliance.
I have a shunt as well.
Creek Jenkins
Well-known member
My lead acid batteries have finally died, so I’m ready to upgrade to lithium. I am torn between the Epoch, LiTime, and Renogy brands - these 3 seem to be mentioned the most.
- Two 200 aH, three 100 aH, or one 360 aH?
- heated or unheated? I see some people are using a manual battery heating pad which seems like it would work as well.
- I need a shunt as well but other than price difference I’m not sure what the difference is between the Victron BMV 700, 702, and 712.
We have a ‘24 310rl so our major draw is the fridge, Starlink and CPAP. We do boondock in the summer for a couple weeks at a time but generally run the generator a bit every day (microwave, coffee pot) and we have the standard 320 w solar. No inverter. Winter months we stay at a campground for November through April with shore power. We do boondock a bit in mildly freezing temperatures probably no more than 4-5 nights per year.
Cheers
Creek
- Two 200 aH, three 100 aH, or one 360 aH?
- heated or unheated? I see some people are using a manual battery heating pad which seems like it would work as well.
- I need a shunt as well but other than price difference I’m not sure what the difference is between the Victron BMV 700, 702, and 712.
We have a ‘24 310rl so our major draw is the fridge, Starlink and CPAP. We do boondock in the summer for a couple weeks at a time but generally run the generator a bit every day (microwave, coffee pot) and we have the standard 320 w solar. No inverter. Winter months we stay at a campground for November through April with shore power. We do boondock a bit in mildly freezing temperatures probably no more than 4-5 nights per year.
Cheers
Creek
@ Creek Jenkins
How many amp hours did you have with your old batteries? Did they provide all the power you needed for your type of camping? Without an inverter, your draw will be fairly small...say 5-6amp from the frig. Did you convert your Starlink to DC only? I did and now draws anywhere from 20-28 watts.
If your old batteries were enough to cover your needs, then you can pretty much 1/2 that number with Lithium. Buying the same amount of amp hours with Lithium, will double your amp hours, as anything other than lithium will only allow you to draw 50% of stated amp hours.
We have 3x270 amp hour Battle Born batteries that are not heated and no heating pad (I have the heating pads...never installed them)
I think the difference in the BMV shunts is the 712 has bluetooth, which you really want
How many amp hours did you have with your old batteries? Did they provide all the power you needed for your type of camping? Without an inverter, your draw will be fairly small...say 5-6amp from the frig. Did you convert your Starlink to DC only? I did and now draws anywhere from 20-28 watts.
If your old batteries were enough to cover your needs, then you can pretty much 1/2 that number with Lithium. Buying the same amount of amp hours with Lithium, will double your amp hours, as anything other than lithium will only allow you to draw 50% of stated amp hours.
We have 3x270 amp hour Battle Born batteries that are not heated and no heating pad (I have the heating pads...never installed them)
I think the difference in the BMV shunts is the 712 has bluetooth, which you really want
Creek Jenkins
Well-known member
Thanks for your input, Jim.
Our lead acid batteries barely covered our load last spring when they were fairly new. The fridge would quit about 6 am. By the end of our boondock trip in August they would only last a couple hours. I would like to be able to go a bit longer plus maybe at some point add a small inverter to run the TV ‘cause nothing say camping like watching the tube in the wilderness.
The CPAP takes about 4 amps and I figure the furnace averages 4-5 depending on temperature.
I watched a couple of the Will Prowse videos and wow he really goes into depth on lithium. More solar oriented but still a lot of good information. He likes the Epoch but last winter they had a firmware glitch that was bricking new batteries on the over the air updates which he wasn’t too thrilled about.
He has tested a lot of the LiTime batteries and says as long as you get the low temperature protection they are pretty good. So I am leaning toward two LiTime 230 aH with low temperature protection but not heated.
Maybe I’ll get some heating pads just in case.
When we setup I normally plug in to shore power at a campground or start the generator if boondocking before running jacks or slides. However sometimes I have to run a slide out or run the jacks with no AC input, will the lithium batteries handle that current surge?
I like the fact that the Victron 712 has a display as I think I would mostly use that however you are right the Bluetooth would be handy I just hate depending on it as the only source of control or monitoring.
Cheers
Creek
Our lead acid batteries barely covered our load last spring when they were fairly new. The fridge would quit about 6 am. By the end of our boondock trip in August they would only last a couple hours. I would like to be able to go a bit longer plus maybe at some point add a small inverter to run the TV ‘cause nothing say camping like watching the tube in the wilderness.
The CPAP takes about 4 amps and I figure the furnace averages 4-5 depending on temperature.
I watched a couple of the Will Prowse videos and wow he really goes into depth on lithium. More solar oriented but still a lot of good information. He likes the Epoch but last winter they had a firmware glitch that was bricking new batteries on the over the air updates which he wasn’t too thrilled about.
He has tested a lot of the LiTime batteries and says as long as you get the low temperature protection they are pretty good. So I am leaning toward two LiTime 230 aH with low temperature protection but not heated.
Maybe I’ll get some heating pads just in case.
When we setup I normally plug in to shore power at a campground or start the generator if boondocking before running jacks or slides. However sometimes I have to run a slide out or run the jacks with no AC input, will the lithium batteries handle that current surge?
I like the fact that the Victron 712 has a display as I think I would mostly use that however you are right the Bluetooth would be handy I just hate depending on it as the only source of control or monitoring.
Cheers
Creek
2x230 LiTime will treat you well. I have a buddy that has 3 of them and he really likes them
The new lithium batteries will 100% handle your jacks and slides, without having to connect to power first (shore or generator). I hook up to power last and only use the batteries for leveling and all 3 slides.
Having the BMV display on BT and phyiscal display is a great choice.
The new lithium batteries will 100% handle your jacks and slides, without having to connect to power first (shore or generator). I hook up to power last and only use the batteries for leveling and all 3 slides.
Having the BMV display on BT and phyiscal display is a great choice.
Long Islander
Active member
I converted our Delta 292RL over to Lithium batteries last winter. I installed two LiTime 100AH batteries that have low temp charging protection and I can easily install two more batteries. We don't have an inverter and I don't think we'll ever need one. Our biggest DC draw is the frig, after that it would probably be the blower (fan) inside the heating system. So we don't have a huge DC power demand. We've camped in a field with no hook-ups for a few days and the most that we have ever depleated the batteries over night was 31% (according to our Victron shunt). This was during the summer and we didn't need any heat. If it was sunny, our 400 Watt solar panel had us charged back to 100% by 10 - 11 AM the next day. We also carry a 4000/3200 Watt Pulsar dual fuel generator as a back up.
Originally I had bought the two LiTime batteries for our last trailer (Imagine 2670MK) and I even installed them inside it. We were camping in Hersey PA with friends last fall so we could attend the RV Show, because they'd never been. Well.....somehow we ended up in the Alliance area and purchased a 292RL (SO NOT PLANNED!). Once we got home, I uninstalled the LiTime batteries from our Imagine trailer and set them aside waiting for the new trailer. Unfortunately, I let them sit a bit too long at too low of a voltage and had an issue. After I installing them into our new 292RL I realized that I couldn't get one of the cells to accept a charge. So, I sent LiTime tech support an email requesting assistance. I got their response the next morning. After which we emailed back and forth a couple times with them offering different suggestions on what to do. They always reponded the very next day to my questions. They are in China, so there is a time lag. LiTime tech support thought that the BMS had probably just shut the battery down to protect it and it only needed to be woken up. They gave me instructions on how to do that and the battery ended up working just fine. They even assured me if for some reason the battery can't be woken up that they'd send me a return shipping label, along with a replacement battery. Originally when I was looking for lithium batteries I was a little concerned about what would happen if we an issue with buying batteries from overseas. Well, I no longer have that concern. I am very pleased with LiTime's tech support and I woulldn't hesitate to buy more batteries from them. I am very happy with the LiTime batteries.
Originally I had bought the two LiTime batteries for our last trailer (Imagine 2670MK) and I even installed them inside it. We were camping in Hersey PA with friends last fall so we could attend the RV Show, because they'd never been. Well.....somehow we ended up in the Alliance area and purchased a 292RL (SO NOT PLANNED!). Once we got home, I uninstalled the LiTime batteries from our Imagine trailer and set them aside waiting for the new trailer. Unfortunately, I let them sit a bit too long at too low of a voltage and had an issue. After I installing them into our new 292RL I realized that I couldn't get one of the cells to accept a charge. So, I sent LiTime tech support an email requesting assistance. I got their response the next morning. After which we emailed back and forth a couple times with them offering different suggestions on what to do. They always reponded the very next day to my questions. They are in China, so there is a time lag. LiTime tech support thought that the BMS had probably just shut the battery down to protect it and it only needed to be woken up. They gave me instructions on how to do that and the battery ended up working just fine. They even assured me if for some reason the battery can't be woken up that they'd send me a return shipping label, along with a replacement battery. Originally when I was looking for lithium batteries I was a little concerned about what would happen if we an issue with buying batteries from overseas. Well, I no longer have that concern. I am very pleased with LiTime's tech support and I woulldn't hesitate to buy more batteries from them. I am very happy with the LiTime batteries.
Wow...that is excellent customer support.
Creek Jenkins
Well-known member
Thanks that is good information, I appreciate it. Two 230 aH batteries sounds like it might be overkill but that is a common problem for me, I tend to overdo things. Except vacuuming.
Cheers
Creek
He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher, or, as his wife would have it, an idiot.
- Douglas Adams
Cheers
Creek
He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher, or, as his wife would have it, an idiot.
- Douglas Adams
Creek Jenkins
Well-known member
I flipped the big switch to shut off the solar, but I see the Renogy controller is still lit up. That seems a bit odd.
The switch is wired after the MPPT and before the batteries perhaps?
DanNJanice
Well-known member
Did you buy a DC to DC convertor or do you have a Starlink mini?@ Creek Jenkins
How many amp hours did you have with your old batteries? Did they provide all the power you needed for your type of camping? Without an inverter, your draw will be fairly small...say 5-6amp from the frig. Did you convert your Starlink to DC only? I did and now draws anywhere from 20-28 watts.
If your old batteries were enough to cover your needs, then you can pretty much 1/2 that number with Lithium. Buying the same amount of amp hours with Lithium, will double your amp hours, as anything other than lithium will only allow you to draw 50% of stated amp hours.
We have 3x270 amp hour Battle Born batteries that are not heated and no heating pad (I have the heating pads...never installed them)
I think the difference in the BMV shunts is the 712 has bluetooth, which you really want
Thanks,
Both.
Here is the link to the 12V to 36V 5A 180W Step Up Booster Power Module, as the Starlink needs more than just 12v from RV battery.
You'll also need this power cord socket, to plug the Startlink mini cable into, which you wire off the booster linked above.