My husband lived on an off grid property for three springs, summers and falls. Here in Utah, in October, it snows and dips into the teens overnight. We had lithium ion batteries and never had an issue with them charging at all. If you want to boondocking, you will be so much happier than with traditional batteries. They charge faster and can use most of their charge without hurting them. We ran 100% of our things off of the lithium batteries and when we put solar in our new rig, we will DEFINITELY be getting lithium batteries again.
Juat stumbled upon your channel. Regarding lithium: while what he said is slightly true its not the whole story. It is basically a non issue as it is not dofficult at all to keep your batteries above 30 (hes full of it on the 40 degree comment). I have mine in a similar bay and have camped in mid 20 degrees with no issue. But ifnit concerns you, you can get a cheap warmer that uses virtualky no power to keep them above freezing. Lithium will change your camping life. And they are much cheaper now. Youre wasting your money on gel if you go that route.
@CrossCountryLiving no one regrets lithium. They charge faster, don't suffer from overdrawn issues and with an inverter you can run your appliances (snaller ones) without a generator while still running DC appliances. TV, fridge, sockets, even the microwave if you have a large enough inverter and battery. But with one 100 amp lithium you'll have 100 amps of usable battery unlike lead acid or gell where you can only use half. Plus they don't vent like lead acid and these are iron phosphate, which don't explode like ion phosphate (cell phone type lithiums) 100 amps is pretty decent price too
@CrossCountryLiving that depends, but probably yes. I dont know if you have an inverter installed already; some rigs do if they have a residential fridge. If thats the case, then you have one, but it is a small one (more than likely 1000 watts - which is too small for anything other than the fridge). Further, since you have lead acid from the facotry, you more than likely have a plane jane converter installed. Recall that converters take AC and convert it to DC to charge the battery, and they allow AC pass-through when hooked up to shore power; conversely, inverters take DC and invert to AC to power your apliances. The problem with factory convertors is their voltage tops out at 13.6 or so, which is good for lead acid which charge up to just shy of 13 volts, but litihium require a higher voltage to charge (Around 14 volts and some change). So with a factory converter, you would never be able to charge lithium to full. Trust me, im going somewhere with this. So, assuming you have a small invertor and standard convertor, youd want to get a single unit with your lithium: a converter/inverter that does both. Further, id say a 3000 watt inverter sized unit is what you would need. With a 100 amp battery youd make it through the night watching TV and running the fridge, recharge in the morning. Itd be tight but consitently doable. for peice of mind id do 200 amps of battery. Anyway, you can easily remove the convertor, reroute the shore cable (trust me its not hard) to the new converter invertor unit to: A) power the rig when plugged in B) charge the batteries when plugged in, and C) invert the batteries when not plugged in. Victron makes the best aftermarket combo called the multiplus and they have a new one that may be overkill but its nice (multiplus II). its about 1300-1500 in price (remember, this replaces two devices). however, there are other units such as renogy's new unit, and a few chinese knockoffs that arent that bad (but no customer service). with out ANY electrical knowledge, or handyman experience, it took me about a week of research and one day to do the install. I ended up getting 340 amps and my family loves it. We almost exclusively boondock several times a month and its become more of a cabin in the woods experience. Lithium (12 volt batteries) can be found pretty cheep, around 1.50 per 2.50 per amp if I recall (im spit balling). My younger brother just purchased some LIon batteries for a few hundred. its doable, its an investment but, worth it to avoid the issues you anmed
My husband lived on an off grid property for three springs, summers and falls. Here in Utah, in October, it snows and dips into the teens overnight. We had lithium ion batteries and never had an issue with them charging at all. If you want to boondocking, you will be so much happier than with traditional batteries. They charge faster and can use most of their charge without hurting them. We ran 100% of our things off of the lithium batteries and when we put solar in our new rig, we will DEFINITELY be getting lithium batteries again.
Good to know!
Saw you folks at the RV park this weekend, lol. Your little guy and ours played quite a bit. Good stuff, sub’d👍🏻
Thanks for touching base. Our boy had a great time making a new friend.
I would run Lexel clear silicone over the top edge of the windows. It’s flexible and UV resistant. Boom…
And not remove them?
👍
Juat stumbled upon your channel. Regarding lithium: while what he said is slightly true its not the whole story. It is basically a non issue as it is not dofficult at all to keep your batteries above 30 (hes full of it on the 40 degree comment). I have mine in a similar bay and have camped in mid 20 degrees with no issue. But ifnit concerns you, you can get a cheap warmer that uses virtualky no power to keep them above freezing. Lithium will change your camping life. And they are much cheaper now. Youre wasting your money on gel if you go that route.
Good to know. Just skid ish given how bad my batteries have been.
@CrossCountryLiving no one regrets lithium. They charge faster, don't suffer from overdrawn issues and with an inverter you can run your appliances (snaller ones) without a generator while still running DC appliances. TV, fridge, sockets, even the microwave if you have a large enough inverter and battery. But with one 100 amp lithium you'll have 100 amps of usable battery unlike lead acid or gell where you can only use half. Plus they don't vent like lead acid and these are iron phosphate, which don't explode like ion phosphate (cell phone type lithiums) 100 amps is pretty decent price too
But I do have to swap my inverter if I go lithium correct?
@CrossCountryLiving that depends, but probably yes. I dont know if you have an inverter installed already; some rigs do if they have a residential fridge. If thats the case, then you have one, but it is a small one (more than likely 1000 watts - which is too small for anything other than the fridge). Further, since you have lead acid from the facotry, you more than likely have a plane jane converter installed. Recall that converters take AC and convert it to DC to charge the battery, and they allow AC pass-through when hooked up to shore power; conversely, inverters take DC and invert to AC to power your apliances. The problem with factory convertors is their voltage tops out at 13.6 or so, which is good for lead acid which charge up to just shy of 13 volts, but litihium require a higher voltage to charge (Around 14 volts and some change). So with a factory converter, you would never be able to charge lithium to full. Trust me, im going somewhere with this. So, assuming you have a small invertor and standard convertor, youd want to get a single unit with your lithium: a converter/inverter that does both. Further, id say a 3000 watt inverter sized unit is what you would need. With a 100 amp battery youd make it through the night watching TV and running the fridge, recharge in the morning. Itd be tight but consitently doable. for peice of mind id do 200 amps of battery. Anyway, you can easily remove the convertor, reroute the shore cable (trust me its not hard) to the new converter invertor unit to: A) power the rig when plugged in B) charge the batteries when plugged in, and C) invert the batteries when not plugged in. Victron makes the best aftermarket combo called the multiplus and they have a new one that may be overkill but its nice (multiplus II). its about 1300-1500 in price (remember, this replaces two devices). however, there are other units such as renogy's new unit, and a few chinese knockoffs that arent that bad (but no customer service). with out ANY electrical knowledge, or handyman experience, it took me about a week of research and one day to do the install. I ended up getting 340 amps and my family loves it. We almost exclusively boondock several times a month and its become more of a cabin in the woods experience. Lithium (12 volt batteries) can be found pretty cheep, around 1.50 per 2.50 per amp if I recall (im spit balling). My younger brother just purchased some LIon batteries for a few hundred. its doable, its an investment but, worth it to avoid the issues you anmed
Anode not diode 👍
Good call! I knew it did not feel right when I said it.