I was following the LFP talk at a Liberty Coach thread on this forum and responded that Liberty Coach work with LFP was quite important in our going to LFP. I further noted that the 2000 deep cycles they had trialed without degradation was superb. I was informed that they have continued testing/trialing and are now convinced that the cells they use are good for at least 10 years of daily 80% DOD.I should greatly enjoy being able to read through any reports they may have produced, but these are probably proprietary.
Our older son (who designed and fabricated our system) attended a solar a month symposium ago where it was stated that the costs of LFP will probably drop by 50% within the next few years. I read something on an Aussie forum where it noted Australia is now producing the rare earths required for these cells.
We have had excellent results with our system which is CALB (Chinese Aviaition Lithium Battery) cells fabricated into batteries by Manzanita Micro in Washington. These come with a battery management system (BMS) which is designed for electrical vehicles but has been working quite well. Son went with Mazanita since he has hobbyist friends who are working with EVs and the fact that the smaller Manzanita cells are 65 pounds each. This permitted better placement of the four batteries in our forward "basement" designed to carry an Onan 6 kW generator. Checked with manufacturer (Open Range) and they said that it should hold 400 pounds. Balquon (sic) sells a 9.6 kW 12 V battery pack with BMS for $3500. It weighs 250# (the same as our four battery packs) but it would be far hard to "package" in our 5th wheel and rather darned difficult for a truck camper.
As noted above, our system has all four battery packs in series for a 48 V nominal system.
I would think that two of the 180 amp-hour (12 V nominal) battery packs would be sufficient and make a great 24 V system for a camper trailer.
The only bit of argument I have found amongst users of LFP is whether to go with a BMS or self-monitoring. I may be OCD but not enough to continually mess with a Fluke meter to do this. Those that self monitor seem to agree that the cells should never be above 3.4 V. Serious problems occur when they are allowed to go to maximum of 3.9V. The BMS generally have them absorb to 3.6 V and then float at 3.4 V.
