Are lithium batteries worth the cost?

Kayteg1 wrote:

Siletzspey wrote:
....

For my truck camper and boondocking, 300W of solar in summer gives me a surplus of power in summer, and FLA/AGM would be fine. Come winter with solar production way down and furnace times way up, I could only survive long stints with LiFePO4, hence I went LiFePO4 despite the cost.

--tg

You could spend $150 on 1000W inverter generator and survive it even better, although with less convenience.
It is all about how much money you are willing to spend on doing nothing down the road.

I already have a generator in the AF1150. I just don't like running it at 6am when coffee needs to be made, or when I want the electric mattress pad on. Inverters are awesome. Just last week I pulled the 100lb generator out of my camper. Rides better now too.

Siletzspey wrote:
....

For my truck camper and boondocking, 300W of solar in summer gives me a surplus of power in summer, and FLA/AGM would be fine. Come winter with solar production way down and furnace times way up, I could only survive long stints with LiFePO4, hence I went LiFePO4 despite the cost.

--tg

You could spend $150 on 1000W inverter generator and survive it even better, although with less convenience.
It is all about how much money you are willing to spend on doing nothing down the road.

What are your requirements for powering things, and what are your opportunities for charging? Batteries just act as a reservoir and reserve of power between power-in and power-out.

FLA and AGM batteries are great for many situations, and in other cases you'll only meet your need with LiFePO4.

Some people look at the question in terms of total cost of ownership or $ per Ah, but you can have the most spend-thrift solution that isn't meeting your needs, and the most gold-plated solution that is overkill.

For my truck camper and boondocking, 300W of solar in summer gives me a surplus of power in summer, and FLA/AGM would be fine. Come winter with solar production way down and furnace times way up, I could only survive long stints with LiFePO4, hence I went LiFePO4 despite the cost.

--tg

I can tell you this about lithium,there are more opinions on what to do and what not to do than I ever expected...One guy says this and another says that then Battleborn itself answers questions and the experts disagree...No kidding..

So I guess it's common sense that prevails and of course your battery maker...Good support is mandatory in my opinion so there advice trumps the experts..lol

I read that regular old voltage meters do not work with lithium..Wrong,atleast in my case..I check my battery daily for SOC and voltage with a Victron smart shunt but my old regular voltage meter is spot on,all but exactly the same except to the tenths not hundreths...Yet nobody agrees on voltage as a way to tell capacity...Some say it is others say it isn't....

So I won't argue anything lithium because there is no absolute it appears..lol

Great choice for all the obvious reasons, save for temperature.
If you’re using them in the cold, need to think about your battery scheme.

Add required B2B charger and you are in 4-digits very fast.

That's funny,I don't have one..lol

Your a redneck of sort with work arounds..Easy to do..A B2B is not necessary..

jaycocreek wrote:
They are definitely worth it,especially for a truck camper..100ah lifepo4 batteries start around $399 with quite a few in the $400 range and a bunch in the $500 range...Buy 2 good agm's for 100ah and your in the $400's.

Add required B2B charger and you are in 4-digits very fast with dual lithium.
As I said, using batteries from my boat and sedan cost me nothing, beside some inconvenience.
Flooded batteries still sell for $70.
When lithium are on my watch list, I will wait for them to come down to $250 to consider.

They are definitely worth it,especially for a truck camper..100ah lifepo4 batteries start around $399 with quite a few in the $400 range and a bunch in the $500 range...Buy 2 good agm's for 100ah and your in the $400's..Most lifepo4 advertise 2000 cycles to 0% and of course more at 20%/30% or less..

There lighter and charge faster..Just last week I put 50ah back into my battery in less than 3 hours making it 100% full..Can't do that with my lead acid..I am 6 hours short of 10 days using my Engel fridge/freezer set at 35 degree's and I am at 43% battery capacity on my 120ah lithium battery.

My battery spread sheet say's 6000 cycles to 80% and I paid less than $600 tomy door for 120ah and I am glad I went this way for my TC..To each there own but you don't have to buy a Battleborn and pay there price because the competition is growing fast and as said above,DIY lifepo4 are cheaper yet and easy to do anymore..

JMHO

My regular batteries are not failing at all, they just don't last long enough when you get accustomed to using the inverter for stuff. We rarely plug in for camping.

Kayteg1 wrote:
When going camping, I am taking batteries from my sedans and boat.
No cost to me.
AGM batteries were design for upside down applications and are excelent for what they are design.
For camper use- it is just led-acid battery.

In defense of AGM, I switched to AGM in the belief that as they got older, there would be no crud build up between cells that could vibrate lose while driving along rough forest and backroads causing cells to short out. That has happened to me twice with the truck battery and twice with the TC batteries while using FLA batteries. I now have AGM all around, matching electrical characteristics, and never had another cell short out from vibration like driving lots of washboard gravel road. Just my 2 cents.