Jfet had question on weight of our battery set so I went to the Manzanita Micro site and found
"...This is a complete solution for all of your battery box needs. Available in 180Ah packs. Includes: 4 Lithium Ion Cells, Aluminum Battery Box, Lexan Top, Fully Assembled Reg Deck, All necessary hardware, and Regulator..
The battery box is 8" wide, 12.5" long, 13.5" tall (without lugs). Total weight with 180Ah cells is 63 lbs/ 28.5 kg."
So the weight is 172 pounds and not 160 as I had written earlier.
Max charge is 57V and float is 54.4V with turn-off at 49.5V.
We had AGM batteries on our first two rigs (switched them and the solar system to the newer frame). We were quite satisified with them after almost six years of use. However, they are quite heavy and the 400+ amp-hours gave only about 200 amp-hours of usable energy at about 280 pounds (assuming 0.7 lb per amp-hour). We now have 180 amp-hours at 54This is a complete solution for all of your battery box needs. Available in 180Ah packs. Includes: 4 Lithium Ion Cells, Aluminum Battery Box, Lexan Top, Fully Assembled Reg Deck, All necessary hardware, and Regulator.."
The battery box is 8" wide, 12.5" long, 13.5" tall (without lugs). Total weight with 180Ah cells is 63 lbs or 172 pounds total for four battery boxes in series for 54.5V float.
We were delighted with the AGM batteries which were still going great at six years but they are heavy at about 0.7 pounds per stored amp-hour. If one is conservative and does not cycle below 50% capacity this is 1.4 pounds per usable amp-hour.
We currently have 180Ah at 54.4V or approximately 720Ah at 12V (arithmetic gives over 800Ah at 12V but we can prove anything with statistics and judicious management of facts). Assuming 80% usable power at very conservative usage (others state 90%), this gives us 576Ah usable. This would require over 800 pounds of PbS (AGM may weight more) to get the same amount of usable energy.
As noted above we have 1400+ watts of solar panels and have gotten over 1300W in mid-summer at noon. We have used the solar/LFP batteries to run air conditioner for 3.5 hour and were still at 60% or better energy capacity (the electric car folks call it "fuel capacity").
Our general concept is that of "Goldilockers" - if it hot, go where it is not, either go up in elevation (we were at son's place in Fort Collins and it was 100 F in town so we went up to Long Draw at 10,400' where it was 34F at night) - or go north. Reverse when it gets cold, Yucatan for three years in a row.
As Pianotuna noted concerning solar and a/c "...I'm sure someone will say--but what if there is no sun? Well, if there is no sun--I won't need the air conditioner now will I?" Have followed some of your postings with interest but not all 21,000 of them. We are new to this forum.
Reed and Elaine Cundiff
