Just curious - why Lithiums are so heavy?

yep
stuff the storage compartment
and in time, you will forget what is there
OR
not be able to fine it

that is a constant 'personal battle' of mine

Always interesting to see the different viewpoints, and angles on what is important to my fellow RV'ing community:)!

Sometimes I catch myself nodding my head... (Mexicowander - Dang it! Now I've added a 'To Do' diet minded review of the 'essential' gear that has accumulated in our coach... I always kid my wife about our Weight Creep. And with over 11K pounds of useable CCC - I can carry one heck of a lot!!).

Other times I catch myself shaking my head from side to side... You see, contrary to the above comment. Weight is important to me, enough that along with hopefully longer life cycles, I'm planning to shift to Lithium when our current House Battery X's 4 L16 Lifelines need replacement. Weight savings, is one of my primary reasons. Sure, I can carry lots of weight. But our coaches ISL does an 'adequate' job now, but we also plan to add weight in the next year or so when we shift Toads to a F150 from the CRV... And that will make that ISL's power to weight ratio that less comfortable. So if I can shave a few hundred pounds shifting to Lithium, I see that as a positive in the rational for doing so.

And gee, rock gut whiskey will get me a buzz - but I prefer the refinement and enjoyment of that a properly aged single malt scotch brings to the buzz. (Lead wet cells being 'rock gut', and lithium being a nice scotch.) Do I need it, no. Can I get by with out the good scotch, yes. Will I still buy good scotch vs rock gut, YES!

Luckily, as I hope to get at least 3-5 more years out of our now ~5 year old Lifeline's - the lithium industry can mature like a nice aging single malt... Hopefully when the time comes, I'll not have to sacrifice my scotch allowance to procure the replacement bank of lithium. Time will tell...

I'm also fortunate my DW likes a well aged, with a nice trace of witticism too, man. I consider myself her 'fine scotch' fix equivalent!! (Though, she has been known to possibly glance at a 'rock gut' with a 'six pack' chaser set of abs... but then comes to sip her 'fine scotch' man:)!).

Best to all, and heck - I'll say cheers too,
Smitty

Itinerant1 wrote:
if 100ah lead battery was good for 800 cycles only being used at 30% (30 ah) the battery would have a 2400 ah life? Also assuming all proper charging was done. Then the battery was used 180 days in a year that battery could possibly last 13.3 years?

With wet cells, in theory, yes. Though, in 8-9 years people do something wrong, like improper charging or storage, so you won't hear 13 years too often. Or they sell RV after 8 years together with batteries.

What Mex said - acid eats the plates, this is what it does for living :)... Storage will affect cycle life, no matter what.

Yeah, that's why I'm still using surplus AGMs
But i do find the Chevy volt 12v 100 amphr, 200 Amphrs packs interesting

Still more $$, than my AGMs, but it would balance out, if i got the extended cycles life out of them

I have question. Can you estimate using what ever battery type you want to figure out life span of ah? Just for easy figuring example, So if 100ah lead battery was good for 800 cycles only being used at 30% (30 ah) the battery would have a 2400 ah life? Also assuming all proper charging was done. Then the battery was used 180 days in a year that battery could possibly last 13.3 years?

MrWizard wrote:
Weight was never a real concern for me
Just the number of life cycles per dollar
That's why surplus server AGMs have been my friend

For my application weight is important.
Max number of cycles is about same important to me.

There is some hope that Li will have higher number of cycles, this would TAD mitigate high $ per cycle, but I'm not sure that cost per cycle is comparable to AGM surplus yet. Li specs often suggest 2000 cycles or more, but this remains to be seen. Scooters and ebikes have accumulated a wealth of statistics on the subject, probably more than e-car users. Low quality Chinese cells can die after 700-800 cycles. And then there is 3%-4% annual loss of capacity even for better brands, whether you use it or not.

Almot wrote:

2oldman wrote:
Work your entire life. Save.

And then die. A lot of good these savings will do you then :)

Sounds like a 'live for today' philosophy from the 60s.

2oldman wrote:
Work your entire life. Save.

And then die. A lot of good these savings will do you then :)

valhalla360 wrote:


The original post suggested 2-3 times as much:

Half the weight and 50% more capacity = 3 times as much capacity per pound.

Yes, up to 3 times less weight. The original post (don't remember where I got that stupid seller's quote) was talking about 5 times less weight of Li.

People charging their wet cells to 80% are ruining them. Generator charging to 99% is difficult, yes. Get solar.