Really Cheap - 12v 100amp-hr Lithium Batteries

[valhalla360]

Looking at adding a second battery and google must have overheard as I'm getting ads for batteries. 

I know I can't mix lead-acid and Lithium and my charger has a lithium setting...so not the topic of discussion.

The batteries are seriously cheap...under $150 for a 100am-hr battery. Several brands, good reviews, includes BMS. I know they are coming down in price generally but it's really close to what a 100amp-hr lead battery costs. I could toss the current lead battery and a single lithium would provide the storage of 2 lead batteries.

Anyone tried any of these? Is there an obvious "gotcha"? (I don't want to hear about cheap chinese junk. I'm looking for factual data as the reviews suggest they are good.)

[bigfootford]

Not sure what you are asking, " any of these", do you mean Ltimes?

I am running Redodo's,, going on 2 years. Told you I have a couple of buds that are using Weise's.... Their batteries are over 2 years old.  

Here is a write up from an Rv.net bud Skipro4 about his L times...

I have 3 of these 100ah in my camper configured in parallel with a solar controller I can set max voltage to 13.6volts. Connects to a 3Kw inverter and will run my air conditioner, microwave and coffee maker all at once! 

I also have 3 more 100ah in series to run my 36 volt trolling motor. I can fish for at least 5 days with just one charge. I use their 4-battery equalizer for series batteries with the fourth position connected to a solar panel. It keeps the batteries not only equalized, but puts a charge back into the batteries even while I'm fishing. 

I have a 50ah to run the boat's electronics: fish finders, anchor. It lasts the same as the trolling motor batteries, well matched.

I have a 20ah on my driveway gate that is kept charged with a solar panel. No more dead battery at the gate. 

These batteries work as specified as I test each for their ratings and capacity.

Depending on where you live, you could encounter a warranty return issue. Here in Sacramento I had an AIMS 200ah $700 Batt bad right out of the box.. Tried to return it via UPS, Fedex and USPS... NO carrier would accept the battery although it was in the proper box with labels that AIMS warranty provided.  I was almost out $700.  An Rv.net bud who lives in Carson City was passing through Sac and he picked up the battery and took it to AIMS who is based in Reno!  I was reimbursed and I went with Redodo, Minis.  Two of them for $500.  

Shipping a warranty back to the Vendor can be problematic.  You can read about it in various web's.

At $150 each if a warranty return is refused by a carrier it is not as big of a loss as I would have had.

I have read many reviews that the vendor just shipped another battery and the person kept the bad battery.

Hope this helps ya.

Jim.

[valhalla360]

I understand the charging and capacity issues.  I'm not trying to run the aircon or anything crazy.  Mostly just keeping the 12v compressor fridge going for a couple days...but I have the charging under control just wondering if the  $100-150 100amphour batteries have any obvious gotchas, as they sound too good to be true. 

[StirCrazy]

the biggest thing is that in 2017 Li batteries were 258 bucks for a kwh, last year they are down to 139/kwh and this year you can see prices down to 75 bucks per kwh and they are expected to keep droping through 2028 dues to the over production of cells.  for example when I built my first 280AH battery that I reciently gave to a friend the cells were just over 250US each, now I can buy thoes same cells for 80US each and the 304AH cells I bought in november for 135US are down to 98US almost a year later.  oh thats wrong they are 98.00 but thats for the new version that is rated for 7 to 8000 cycles instead of the 4000 cycle version one I have.  so part of the issue is we are used to seeing thoes 600 to 800 buck batteries in 2017 and 2018 now the retail on thoes samn batteries is down 300 or less due to lower costs and more compitition.  its still good to check reviews and such, but chins, li time, reedoo are all well built "cheep" batteries

[joelc]

A year ago I got 2 100 A Lithium batteries from Li Time.  Great batteries and service.  Check them out, and don't be afraid to call them for recommendations.  But be sure your charger in your coach can handle Lithium.  Most chargers for DeepCycle can not do lithium unless they are duel rated or auto sensing.  I had to change mine.  I upgraded to the Progressive Dynamics Lithium/Deep Cycle Charger.  Don't be afraid to call them either.

Very happy with both purchases.  LI batteries are an advertising jungle with prices all over the place.  The ones I bought are reasonable and Customer Service was Great.

[hawkeye-08]

Which model charger did you get?

[bigfootford]

Multiple friends have them in their RV's TC's etc along with some of them using the Lifeo4 batteries in their boats for trolling and even in their shops and have no 120/220 ac connected to the shop.  Using solar to charge! Some are on their 4th year.  All happy. I am in my 2nd year with the Redodo mini's.  So far they are great!  

As for brands/names they are using various brands.  Weise, Ltime, Aimee, Redodo.

In considering Lbatts it is important that you decide what you want the batteries to do.  Run the MW, some appliances like coffee makers and blenders etc.  Want to run your AC for a few hrs sometimes.

Most of us wanted to get away from running our generators and be able to not worry about getting the Lbatts charged back up each day without hooking up to shore power.

So you need to do that assessment first in my opinion.  This will give you information you need to select the inverter, charger, upgraded wiring, amount of solar etc, then go from there.

And remember that the charging of the Lbatts are different than the FWC's and AGMS.

It seems that most of the makes that Will Prowse has tested are decent reliable brands.

I would recommend you get one that has Blue Tooth so you can monitor the health of the battery (s)

Heated if you are going to camp in freezing weather.

Jim.

[time2rollagain]

Best not to charge near or below freezing, although storage is fine.

If in use in the cold, look for a heater option if the battery is exposed.

[valhalla360]

That's just general lithium battery info. I'm looking for feedback on people who have tried these batteries and am I missing something since the reviews are generally positive...or has lithium simply come down so much that lead no longer makes any financial sense?

[StirCrazy]

you would have to tell us which ones they are.  I know chins are on sale for for like 195 in the US and they are built fairly deicent.  

[valhalla360]

Enter 12v 100amp-hr lithium battery into amazon and there's probably a dozen brands ranging from $110-160. For the most part the reviews are mid to upper 4 star ratings.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=12v+100ah+lifepo4+battery&s=price-asc-rank&crid=1F2Q2PPF3TW1&qid=17221258...

[StirCrazy]

ya the link only pulls up 4 or 5 as I am from canada and it will only show me thoes which will ship to canada.  

if you look through some of the videos on https://www.youtube.com/@WillProwse/videos you will see some of the lower cost ones tested.