LiFe Blue Battery

[Zirdu]

I was researching the possibility of upgrading the dual 75 AH AGM batteries that came with my 2016 Grandby. I came across the following lithium battery called the LiFeBlue Battery. http://www.lifebluebattery.com/the-smartest-lithium-battery/index.html It is also sold by Starlight Solar in Yuma, AZ.

The LiFeBlue 200 AH lithium battery is a drop-in replacement. It contains its own battery management system, so you don't have to purchase and wire up this necessary accessory. The size is smaller than 4D, and the dimensions seem to be a perfect fit for the current battery compartment in my 2016 Grandby, where my two 75 AH AGM batteries now sit.

This battery also contains what they call the "Smart Connect" system. As they describe it, you download an app to your phone, then you can read and monitor via bluetooth the State of Charge, Voltage, Temperature, and the Charge or Discharge Current of your battery. It also keeps track of the number of "cycles" the battery has experienced in its lifetime, defined as one cycle equals 80% of a discharge. It also notes events such as an overcurrent discharge event. This is better than a battery monitor!

Cost for the 200 AH model is $1788. Free Shipping now. They also have a 100 AH and a 300 AH model.

Anyone have any experience with this particular model? It seems perfect, to me, other than the cost. But I am not sure that Lithium batteries are going to get that much cheaper, what with the electric car movement gaining steam.

 

[ski3pin]

Your link does not work for me. Is this the website you meant to link to?

http://www.lifebluebattery.com/lifeblue-battery-home-page/lifeblue-battery-features.html

Thank you.

 

[Vic Harder]

I was researching the possibility of upgrading the dual 75 AH AGM batteries that came with my 2016 Grandby. I came across the following lithium battery called the LiFeBlue Battery. http://www.lifebluebattery.com/the-smartest-lithium-battery/index.html It is also sold by Starlight Solar in Yuma, AZ.

The LiFeBlue 200 AH lithium battery is a drop-in replacement. It contains its own battery management system, so you don't have to purchase and wire up this necessary accessory. The size is smaller than 4D, and the dimensions seem to be a perfect fit for the current battery compartment in my 2016 Grandby, where my two 75 AH AGM batteries now sit.

This battery also contains what they call the "Smart Connect" system. As they describe it, you download an app to your phone, then you can read and monitor via bluetooth the State of Charge, Voltage, Temperature, and the Charge or Discharge Current of your battery. It also keeps track of the number of "cycles" the battery has experienced in its lifetime, defined as one cycle equals 80% of a discharge. It also notes events such as an overcurrent discharge event. This is better than a battery monitor!

Cost for the 200 AH model is $1788. Free Shipping now. They also have a 100 AH and a 300 AH model.

Anyone have any experience with this particular model? It seems perfect, to me, other than the cost. But I am not sure that Lithium batteries are going to get that much cheaper, what with the electric car movement gaining steam.

That does sound very high-tech and all... but at that price you would need to have good reasons for wanting the advantages of Lithium.... like faster charging in case you drive every day and want to take advantage of the alternator dumping 50A into your batteries for an hour.

 

[craig333]

I don't see why they wouldn't drop in price. I sure hope so or my plan of running ten of them in series will have a serious flaw

 

[adamxcl]

Impressive stuff and worth keeping an eye on for sure.

 

[PaulT]

Everyone, please, keep posting advances, experiences, & new vendors and prices on LiFePo4 batteries. I hope to be able to find a good, affordable, replacement for my factory AGM batteries in a few years. (Or sooner if I mess them up).

Paul

 

[Esus]

Cost for the 200 AH model is $1788. Free Shipping now. They also have a 100 AH and a 300 AH model.

Anyone have any experience with this particular model? It seems perfect, to me, other than the cost. But I am not sure that Lithium batteries are going to get that much cheaper, what with the electric car movement gaining steam.

Zirdu,

I'm running a different LiFePO4 battery in my rig. I love it. Light, fast charging, can practically discharge completely. I spent ~$800 on my 100 ah Battle Born battery with built in BMS. I love the bluetooth insight, but don't get that directly from my battery. I have both a Victron battery monitor and Victron solar controller so I can bluetooth into each device and get tons of good data. It's very useful for really understanding energy needs, consumption, and recharge during different conditions. Great for troubleshooting too. One thing you might consider in increasing your charging capacity and decreasing your storage capacity as a way to save $$$. An extra panel is a lot cheaper than Lithium amp hours. Cheers.

 

[Trailbob]

I also follow the Airstream forums (airforums.com), and there are many, many threads discussing lithium batteries. If you google "airstream lithium batteries" it will bring up a list to start with. Several people have upgraded to lithiums, and seem very happy with them. The main negative that I have seen, other than cost, was that they can not be charged if the battery is below 32 deg F. This may or may not be a factor depending on how/where they are used.

 

[Zirdu]

Thanks for all the replies. I will not be buying a Lithium battery any time soon, since there is nothing wrong with my AGMs right now! Just trying to keep up with the latest offerings. I do need a little more power than some, since sometimes I have my wife with me, and she uses a portable oxygen generator at night.

I have two 120 watt flexible panels on my roof now, wired in series into a Victron 100/30 controller. I have their "dongle" wired to the controller to give good information (to my cell phone via bluetooth) on performance of the solar system. I am planning to build a foldable portable unit to plug into the rear plug, wiring two flexible 50 watt panels in series. That will give me a total of up to 340 watts of power, nominal. Should be enough!

I mounted the flexible panels to the roof with pieces of 1 inch square aluminum tubing. The tubing is attached to roof with VHB tape, and the panels are then screwed to the tubing. So I can remove the panels if necessary without a problem. I will do a post on my installation soon, hopefully with pictures.

 

[Andy Douglass]

Looking at their website, they lay out some simple math to show that their batteries have at least 5 times the longevity of lead acid batteries. The cost of the 200 AH battery is $1788, which would buy twelve 75 AH AGM batteries at $140 each, or six pairs of batteries. So the longevity per dollar number is similar, and with the Lithium you wouldn't be swapping out old batteries six times, plus it is 200 AH versus the 150 AH of the dual AGM setup, and I'm guessing it takes up the space of one battery.

It seems like one of those things that makes sense if you can afford it, but that is a big investment up front. Interesting.

 

[Esus]

The main negative that I have seen, other than cost, was that they can not be charged if the battery is below 32 deg F.

This struck me as the main downside as well. Mine cuts off closer to 20 than 32, but yeah, cold weather charging could be tricky. Fortunately, I can run my heater for days before I need to charge and my battery is inside the camper! Hopefully that does the trick this winter - we shall see!

 

[Andy Douglass]

I stumbled across another consideration:

Was looking at the Renogy RV solar packages and in the questions, someone asked if their controller would charge lithium batteries. The Renogy seller stated that none of their controllers are compatible with lithium.

https://www.amazon.com/ask/questions/asin/B015DFMTS2/2/ref=ask_dp_iaw_ql_hza?isAnswered=true#question-Tx3PHSZXHEDXTDS

 

[rando]

The better solar controllers (Victron, Morningstar etc) are all compatible with LiFePO4 as the charge parameters are all adjustable. If I were installing solar now I would (and did) consider this. Lithium batteries are not quite there yet, but they will be in the next couple of years, so it would suck to have to replace your charging system to switch to the new technology when you replace batteries.

 

[Esus]

Lithium batteries are not quite there yet, but they will be in the next couple of years

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree here. My setup is Lithium, it works fine, didn't break the bank, and couldn't be simpler using normal Victron gear many people already have and use for conventional LA setups. While it's true that LA will cease to be as popular and lithium will certainly increase in popularity down the road, the cost savings are already there for those willing to shell out a little more cash up front not to mention the technology is just plain better to begin with.

 

[Esus]

I stumbled across another consideration:

Was looking at the Renogy RV solar packages and in the questions, someone asked if their controller would charge lithium batteries. The Renogy seller stated that none of their controllers are compatible with lithium.

https://www.amazon.com/ask/questions/asin/B015DFMTS2/2/ref=ask_dp_iaw_ql_hza?isAnswered=true#question-Tx3PHSZXHEDXTDS

One of the interesting thing about Lithium cells is that once you have four of them you have a very similar voltage and charging profile as you would with a standard LA battery. Add to that a BMS, which is often built right into a lithium battery, and it's pretty easy to drop them right into traditional applications without changing much. Not to mention that you won't damage it by slightly under charging it. Most chargers where you can at least turn off equalization will likely do the trick.

 

[rando]

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree here. My setup is Lithium, it works fine, didn't break the bank, and couldn't be simpler using normal Victron gear many people already have and use for conventional LA setups. While it's true that LA will cease to be as popular and lithium will certainly increase in popularity down the road, the cost savings are already there for those willing to shell out a little more cash up front not to mention the technology is just plain better to begin with.

I have a DIY LiFePO4 pack as well and think they are awesome. In saying 'not quite there' I am not referring to the tech (which is awesome) but to the pricing and manufacturing. The price per Ah (~$10/Ah) is still really high and the manufacturing is still pretty fragmented (as far as I know all the resellers in the US are small outfits packaging cells from CALB and other Chinese OEMs). However I think both of these issues will be changing as the market grows.

 

[Esus]

I have a DIY LiFePO4 pack as well and think they are awesome. In saying 'not quite there' I am not referring to the tech (which is awesome) but to the pricing and manufacturing. The price per Ah (~$10/Ah) is still really high and the manufacturing is still pretty fragmented (as far as I know all the resellers in the US are small outfits packaging cells from CALB and other Chinese OEMs). However I think both of these issues will be changing as the market grows.

Fair. While not a DIY job, mine is definitely from a small startup. It is worth mentioning that it ran about $8 per Ah and comes with a 3 year warranty. Definitely getting there.

 

[rando]

When Deka, Lifeline and the other big manufacturers get into the LiFePO4 game things will change dramatically with prices going down and quality going up.