For anyone on the fence about Lithium - 100Ah Renogy LiFePO4 for $499

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rando

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Aug 26, 2013
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Location
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I don't know how long this will last, but it seems like a great deal for anyone considering LiFePO4 batteries:
Battery Hookup

These are from a fairly reputable company and have a communications port, which is a big plus for larger systems.
 
Rando,

Thanks for posting this I just ordered two of these for my boat.

Here is a detailed review and inside look of these batteres:

 
That's an incredible price.

A year and a half ago I purchased two Renogy, 260 amp hour, 6 volt AGM batteries for $449, which gives me 130 usable amp hours at 50% DOD, their total weight is somewhere in the neighborhood of 140 lbs. This 100 amp hour Li Renogy battery would yield 90 usable amp hours, for the $499 price tag and only weigh around 25 lbs. That's a huge savings in weight, 115 lbs.

Well maybe in 4 years when it's time to replace my current batteries they will be even cheaper. I can only hope.
 
Thanks Rando!

I've been following the Lithium battery threads for a while, but couldn't justify the price jump. Ordered one of these this am and looking forward to much better battery capacity and less weight! Also ordered the Victron solar charge controller you linked to in another thread.

Appreciate the heads up and all the expertise here :)
 
Thanks for sharing! Just bought one myself. Too good of a price to wait. I won't be able to get into the 4wc till October though. Any info on the shelf life of of a Lifepo4 before it really needs to be charged?
 
They can sit on the shelf for years with no issue, unlike lead acid batteries they actually prefer to be stored at a low state of charge.
 
Thanks for the reply guys. Did some research on the battery as well, mixed reviews...as always. Looks like renogy is having a hard time coming up with the charge parameters for this battery or bad customer service, not sure. Unlike battle born those charge parameters were all over the internet. I'm assuming they're going to be very similar to BB but we'll see. Either way you can't beat the price, I just hope it works in my 4wc camper with my victron controller/monitor.
 
Hey thanks Kent, I've looked at that manual and the specs as well. I'm looking for a bit more then what the specs page is stating, which isn't much. Looking for float, tail current, puekert ex and some others settings as well. Maybe it's all the same. I'm obviously learning about the Li and like I said earlier, I'm assuming at this point that the settings should be fairly close to other li brands but want to get as dialed as I can with the renogy for obvious reasons.
 
Thanks for the link. Pulled the trigger and bought one. When I took a day between adding it to my cart and actually hitting the buy now button, they tossed me an extra 5% which helped defray shipping/tax. I’m going to drop this into my ArkPak 730 and see if it does a better job of powering the Dometic 75L fridge & freezer…a real power hog.
 
Rando,

I see you are from Colorado also and use a Lithium battery. What do I need to do or be aware of in using the Lithium battery in the cold. That was one of the things slowing me down from Lithium, but from what I can figure out, it seems not to be that big of an issue.

As I understand it, it will discharge and power things until -4F, but just won't charge until it is warmed up to 32F - correct? Do I have to do anything special, or does it just work on it's own in the cold under those parameters and if it gets colder won't charge/discharge but no damage is done to the battery? Or will it get ruined if it gets too cold? As of now, I am not using the camper in the winter - I take if of the truck and used to leave the battery in the camper - putting a trickle charger on it once in a while. But I do go on some shoulder season trips.

Should I take the battery out of the camper during the winter (camper sits outside) - temps can get below 0F or is it fine to just leave it there all winter with no draw on it. And for shoulder seasons, I don't need to do anything? If we're camping we'll have the heater on so it won't freeze inside at night, and the days usually warm up when it will be getting charged from the solar panel. So I don't really see any problems there.

Just want to make sure I don't ruin my new battery :)
Thanks!!
 
The low temperature charging thing is really not that big of an issue, but has been overblown on many of the blogs/forums. First, the BMS has a low temperature charge cut off. It won't let the battery charge if the cells are below 0C which means you cannot damage it, even if you tried. You can just leave the battery in the camper and use it as you have used your previous battery.

The down side to this protection is that you will not do any detectable damage to the battery charging well below 0C if you are charging at typical 'camper' rates (say 0.1C or 10A), so this could cause you to miss out on some charging opportunities. However, in sunny Colorado and if you heat the camper at night I think you will find that the battery easily stays above 0C while the camper is in use. We use our camper year round in CO and the Southwest and I have never had a low temp issue with my lithium battery.

If for some reason you notice you are not getting enough charge, you can insulate the outside walls of the battery box with some foam, and add a vent (or open the hatch on some models) to allow enough heat from the camper into the battery box. Or, if you really need to, you can add a 12V heating pad, but I would seriously doubt you need to. You can leave the battery in the camper over winter with the loads disconnected.
 
Wow, this way too tempting. As MDR mentioned above, there is a 5% code that can be applied. (I always look for coupon codes on the net) It is quan. It basically pays for shipping. I ordered a new kayak that needs a battery, (I have a 50Ah) 100Ah would give all day fishing.

My question is ... can you use the communication port for anything kind of Bluetooth attachment? Or, just in general, can you add any version of external Bluetooth in an economical, simplified manner? I’d like to construct a simple DIY power box with a solar controller.
Thank you Rando.
 
For anybody who ordered one of these batteries and hasn’t seen it arrive on their front porch yet:

I dropped an email inquiring about the shipment which had a tracking number but no record of it in transit. I received a very prompt response, with an included pic, of a bunch of batteries sitting on several pallets waiting to be picked up by FedEx. Apparently, FedEx is limiting the number of daily hazardous material shipments they’ll accept from any single business. You can imagine how frustrated the folks at Battery Hookup have become. As for me, I’ll wait patiently for my delivery. The excellent response from BH is both refreshing and encouraging.
 
Thanks Richard - I got an email from them a week ago saying the order was on the way, but same as you a link to a FedEx # with no record of in transit. I was wondering if I needed to follow up and hoped nothing was wrong. Nice to get an update so I don't have to worry. I too will wait patiently :)

-Rick
 
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