Lithium battery recommendation

[432bartman]

Originally Posted by Foldbak

I call BS! Use a DC amp clamp on a LA battery and see what the actual amp draw is. I'll bet money it's a BMS problem. Crap customer service!

Tony, I just bought a DC amp clamp meter. Going to give that a go to see what it's pulling when operating the leveling system.

[Foldbak]

Originally Posted by 432bartman

Tony, I just bought a DC amp clamp meter. Going to give that a go to see what it's pulling when operating the leveling system.

I got on off amazon. It arrived yesterday. I'm going to test some systems as well.

[Hblick48]

I bought a 280 AH battery from Eco-Worthy. Runs my hydraulics fine. They told me it couldn't be used as a starter battery for my onboard Onan generator. I purchased a LiFePO4 Motorcycle Battery and an Xantrex Echo Charger to charge it from the 280 AH. I have 600 watts solar.

Went dry camping, battery worked perfectly, Charge never showed lower than 60%. On our last night, started at 90% and at 3am, heater stopped working. Battery was at 0%. Thank God I had separate battery to start generator. Next month went dry camping again, and same thing happened on 1 out of 4 nights.

I emailed customer support. They couldn't explain what happened, but since all voltages were good, battery was OK.

I wrote back telling them to review with engineer/designer as I suspected the internal Battery Management System was defective, not a happy customer! Next day they sent a new battery.

Great customer service.

[Foldbak]

Well in that case it worked out having a separate starter battery. If I was in that position I would have jumped the gen from the truck. I talked to Holly generator and they told me that lithium is perfectly fine for small motors. It's not meant for a car or truck engine. Hell 1/4 of my Harley group has installed lithium batteries in their bikes without any other upgrades and they work great. Big displacement high compression motors.

[schill32]

Originally Posted by 432bartman

Yeah, it's being charged by a 3000 watt Redodo inverter with a built in charger. So weird........or I'm just unlucky.

Did you update/verify the charge profile?

[Route66Rambler]

We replaced our two lead acid batteries that came with the camper with two x 100 Ah Battle Born batteries and they have performed fantastic. We chose Battle Born for the 10 year guarantee and the customer service. Those cheap batteries don't have either. The two batteries will power the 15 cu ft 12 V compressor fridge all day and still run out our cable slides. Two 100 Ah Battle Borns should fit the bill for you. Highly recommend swapping for a higher quality battery. Also make sure you are using the correct cables and converter.

[dfb]

I was thinking about Lithium, however, fire scares me big time.. They can't be put out..

[KirkFess]

I installed 2 battle born 100AH, 12V batteries in 2019. They handle all my power needs. My slides are electric cable driven, and they move easily with just battery power. I would recommend checking your voltage with no load and then also while running either a slide or your levelers. I suspect either a bad connection (likely the ground) or a bad battery. Lithium are not recommended for starting batteries because they can’t put out the CCA (cold cranking amps) of a lead battery. However, you should be able to pull 300AH from your battery. That is plenty to operate the levelers or the slides.

[Mark7]

Originally Posted by R.S.O'Donnell

I agree. My first guess would be that the BMS is sensing the load of the pump as a short and shutting the battery down.

Tom Morton did a test that I found to be pretty interesting.

Excellent video! Thank you!

I will not be buying Li Time... even the Dakota was a little concerning.

[LarryG82]

My 2 Renogy 100Ahr run levelers and slides just fine, even one cold morning @13 degrees. Sounds like Redodo leaves quite a bit to be desired.

[Foldbak]

Battle Born's are a good USA made battery, but pricey! I've done a lot of research on lithium and not all are equal however in today's market you can find safe lithium with good support. The tech is growing fast and getting better. As far as worrying about a lithium fire... hell I have more lithium in my garage then in my RV. Lithium fires are rare. Keep them dry, properly charge them, and you'll and you'll be fine.

[Route66Rambler]

Originally Posted by dfb

I was thinking about Lithium, however, fire scares me big time.. They can't be put out..

check the chemical make up of lithium batteries. The BMS in the batteries make them very safe.
How many RV fires have you heard of that have been caused by lithium batteries?

[432bartman]

Well, I reached out to Epoch batteries and told them exactly what was going on. My wiring isn't the issue, because I did not change one thing other than hooking up the factory 12V lead to the new Redodo battery, and when hooked up to a Optima battrery it works perfect. The Epoch sales rep said the Redodo battery should run my system and that their 300ah battery would have no problem doing it. Once again, I am going to ask Redodo to send out a replacement battery. The saga continyues.....lol.

[432bartman]

Guys..........I feel like the biggest idiot. I thought my 300ah had been fully charged.........well I was very wrong. After charging fully, everything works as should.

[Mark7]

I've been there!

Thank you for letting us know. Makes a little more sense now!