Will Soon Upgrade my 2 100Ah LiFePO4 batteries to 1 (possibly 2!) 460Ah LiFePO4 batteries

mresseguie

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2023
Messages
123
Location
Corvallis
I've got the upgrade bug. I want to replace my current two 100Ah LiFePO4 batteries with a new one (or two?) 460Ah batteries. I'm looking hard at either LiTime or Epoch brands. While more expensive, I'm drawn to the Epoch brand for its easy connectivity to Victron gear. I'll also replace my ~1500 inverter with a Victron 3000W inverter. I may add a couple more flexible solar panels to the roof of my trailer. There are already two 190W rigid panels up top.

I'm posting this for a couple reasons. I'll happily read and consider anyone's advice and or suggestions concerning my intention; I'm also wondering what I should/could do with the two 100Ah batteries that came with my trailer. Off hand, I don't know what brand they are (the trailer is in storage about 40 miles away). They're ~3 years old. I've considered possibly mounting them and the 1500W inverter in the bed of my RAM 1500, but I'm also wondering if I should just sell them all?

Why upgrade, you ask? Well, my son, DIL, my wife and I are looking forward to boondocking for more than a couple days. Being able to use the AC while boondocking is very attractive.

Thoughts? Opinions? Warnings? Attaboys?

Thanks,

Michael
 
My only thought is that you will need both a lot of sun and a lot of panels to keep 920Ah of battery charged if you plan on running AC. I think a generator may be a simpler solution for running AC and charging. I have 600Ah in batteries which I thought was lots and $$. 920Ah is hard for me to put my head around.
 
Thoughts?
How many consecutive days of boondocking without shore / generator power would you like to enjoy?

It'd be interesting to see your table showing consecutive 24-hour days of estimated
  • Battery Ah at start of the day
  • Itemized loads for the day
  • Itemized charging input (solar; maybe from vehicle while towing) for the day
  • Battery Ah at end of the day
That can be extended to indicate how many days you can boondock without shore / generator power input and whether that meets your goals.

IMO it's useful to tabulate that in a calculating spreadsheet so values can be easily adjusted to observe the effect of a range of load / input assumptions (reflecting 'sensitivity' to estimated values and varying solar gain conditions that may be encountered).

Increasing storage capacity is relatively easy, increasing solar charging not so much due to 'roof real-estate' constraints. Realistic estimation / tabulation of the sort suggested is needed to determine whether your planned combination of the two will likely meet your intended goals. Meeting your intended goals is what earns the "Attaboys" ;).

Just for your consideration, Have Fun! :)
 
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I've got the upgrade bug. I want to replace my current two 100Ah LiFePO4 batteries with a new one (or two?) 460Ah batteries. I'm looking hard at either LiTime or Epoch brands. While more expensive, I'm drawn to the Epoch brand for its easy connectivity to Victron gear. I'll also replace my ~1500 inverter with a Victron 3000W inverter. I may add a couple more flexible solar panels to the roof of my trailer. There are already two 190W rigid panels up top.

I'm posting this for a couple reasons. I'll happily read and consider anyone's advice and or suggestions concerning my intention; I'm also wondering what I should/could do with the two 100Ah batteries that came with my trailer. Off hand, I don't know what brand they are (the trailer is in storage about 40 miles away). They're ~3 years old. I've considered possibly mounting them and the 1500W inverter in the bed of my RAM 1500, but I'm also wondering if I should just sell them all?

Why upgrade, you ask? Well, my son, DIL, my wife and I are looking forward to boondocking for more than a couple days. Being able to use the AC while boondocking is very attractive.

Thoughts? Opinions? Warnings? Attaboys?

Thanks,

Michael
We installed basically what you are describing in our 5.0 We have two Epoch 460ah marine batteries with a multiplus inverter, a total of 800 watts of solar on the roof, soon to be expanded to 1200 watts, along with 400 watts of ground mounted solar. All of the batteries, inverter/charger and various mppt controllers underneath the passenger side bench. We also have the Houghton 13,500 BTU heatpump that can run for a couple of days without any charging, either solar or ground power.
 
I can run our Coleman Mach 10 for about a day on our 920Ah battery bank. It obviously depends on the outside temperature / inside setpoint
 
Personally, I would put the money towards an ultra quiet generator like a Honda or Generac. I know genny’s get a bad wrap, but if you’re boondocking, you will most likely not be around other campers. Plus, you have diversified your power options by not relying totally on solar. A Honda EU2300 will easily run an RV AC with soft start.
 
There are also a couple of other options to provide charging power to the trailer. If your vehicle is a Ford with proposer, you will have up to 7kw of 120VAC available that can be used for high speed charging, up to 120A with a victron multiplus. One can also install a high current cable with anderson connectors and use victron as dc to dc chargers at 50A each. It is pretty easy to have two of these in parallel.
 
I've got the upgrade bug. I want to replace my current two 100Ah LiFePO4 batteries with a new one (or two?) 460Ah batteries. I'm looking hard at either LiTime or Epoch brands. While more expensive, I'm drawn to the Epoch brand for its easy connectivity to Victron gear. I'll also replace my ~1500 inverter with a Victron 3000W inverter. I may add a couple more flexible solar panels to the roof of my trailer. There are already two 190W rigid panels up top.

I'm posting this for a couple reasons. I'll happily read and consider anyone's advice and or suggestions concerning my intention; I'm also wondering what I should/could do with the two 100Ah batteries that came with my trailer. Off hand, I don't know what brand they are (the trailer is in storage about 40 miles away). They're ~3 years old. I've considered possibly mounting them and the 1500W inverter in the bed of my RAM 1500, but I'm also wondering if I should just sell them all?

Why upgrade, you ask? Well, my son, DIL, my wife and I are looking forward to boondocking for more than a couple days. Being able to use the AC while boondocking is very attractive.

Thoughts? Opinions? Warnings? Attaboys?

Thanks,

Michael
Michael;
Before undertaking any type of electrical upgrade such as what you describe I think it would prudent to conduct an energy audit. Base your upgrade capacity on what that audit tells you and then add 30%. A factor often overlooked in lithium batteries banks and solar is oversized battery banks tend to lead to cell in-balance over time as there is insufficient generating capacity to fully charge the bank overtime. There are plenty of papers published on this, it maybe worth some quick research prior to committing to your design.
 
If your vehicle is a Ford
Just FYI, the OP's member profile says he's towing with a 2024 RAM 1500.

A factor often overlooked in lithium batteries banks and solar is oversized battery banks tend to lead to cell in-balance over time as there is insufficient generating capacity to fully charge the bank overtime.
IMO that's not really an issue. Even with extended boondocking the need to rebalance cells by fully-charging is an infrequent occurrence and can surely be satisfied when shore-power is eventually available.
 
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How many consecutive days of boondocking without shore / generator power would you like to enjoy?

It'd be interesting to see your table showing consecutive 24-hour days of estimated
  • Battery Ah at start of the day
  • Itemized loads for the day
  • Itemized charging input (solar; maybe from vehicle while towing) for the day
  • Battery Ah at end of the day
That can be extended to indicate how many days you can boondock without shore / generator power input and whether that meets your goals.

IMO it's useful to tabulate that in a calculating spreadsheet so values can be easily adjusted to observe the effect of a range of load / input assumptions (reflecting 'sensitivity' to estimated values and varying solar gain conditions that may be encountered).

Increasing storage capacity is relatively easy, increasing solar charging not so much due to 'roof real-estate' constraints. Realistic estimation / tabulation of the sort suggested is needed to determine whether your planned combination of the two will likely meet your intended goals. Meeting your intended goals is what earns the "Attaboys" ;).

Just for your consideration, Have Fun! :)
Hi, and thanks for the suggestions.

I'm afraid I do not have a table showing any of the itemizations you asked about nor do I know how to use a speadsheet. :( Up to this point, we have not actually boondocked for more than 24 hours, and the drive to the next location recharged the batteries. We are certain that the current 1500w inverter is too restrictive for what was needed on a couple occasions.

My son and DIL (along with a 5-month old child and 2 dogs) recently used the trailer for a 2 1/2 week cross country trek, so they have a pretty good idea of the present system's limitations. If funds were tight, I might put off upgrading the batteries...but that's not the case. The trailer is in storage in Georgia this winter, and there is a nice RV repair/maintenance service there that I wish to take advantage of. As long as I'm going to replace the inverter, I might as well increase my onboard battery capacity.

As GinoandLinda suggested, perhaps I ought to look into buying a gas generator to power the AC and/or charge the batteries in addition to upgrading the inverter and batteries. My son likes this idea. Perhaps, with a gas generator mounted in my truck, I could forego buying a second large capacity battery. I will research this idea.
 
Look at Johnny Heng's setup, that'll make your head spin. Even electric flooring heating. :)

Ron
Ron,

I must admit that I felt inspired by Johnny's upgrades. That floor heating upgrade really resonates. I thk this is where I began considering increasing battery capacity to the 900s or higher.
 
If you don't have a TV with a large inverter like some of the ford's, you can still run heave duty wire through Anderson connectors to supply 12V power to a large dc to dc charger(s). It is usually recommended not to draw more than 50% of the TV's alternators capacity, but individual vehicles may have other requirements.
 
I didn't find a Honda EU2300 model, but did find EU2200 for $1099. However, I'm not entirely certain it's powerful enough to run our AC. The EU3000is model specifically states it will run most 13,500 BTU AC models.



I see that Harbor Freight sells this for $799:


This unit is so cheap that I gotta wonder if the Predator is deliberately underpricing their generators in order to drive competition into the ground or how well or shoddily it's built). I have no idea what the quality level is for the Predator. That said, if I bought it and it failed, I could buy a second one and still spend less than the price of one Honda.

I see there are other brands, but I'm not familiar with most of them.
 
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While I don't own one, I've heard good things about that Predator generator. Harbor Freight actually had it on sale a couple of days ago for $580, as part of their "12 days of deals" sale. I was really tempted to pick one up.
 
didn't find a Honda EU2300 model, but did find EU2200 for $1099. However, I'm not entirely certain it's powerful enough to run our AC. The EU3000is model specifically states it will run most 13,500 BTU AC models.
That was my bad. I was referring to the Honda EU2200i. It will run an an RV AC that has a soft start installed. We have a Coleman Mach10 with soft start and our old Champion 2000 would run it. I've been lusting for the Honda EU3200i mostly because it is fuel injected which mitigates a lot of the issues with having a carburetor.
 
I didn't find a Honda EU2300 model, but did find EU2200 for $1099. However, I'm not entirely certain it's powerful enough to run our AC. The EU3000is model specifically states it will run most 13,500 BTU AC models.



I see that Harbor Freight sells this for $799:


This unit is so cheap that I gotta wonder if the Predator is deliberately underpricing their generators in order to drive competition into the ground nor how well or shoddily it's built). I have no idea what the quality level is for the Predator. That said, if I bought it and it failed, I could buy a second one and still spend less than the price of one Honda.

I see there are other brands, but I'm not familiar with most of them.
"You get what you pay for" is a saying for a reason.

If nothing else, Hondas are reliable. Other attributes: quiet, dependable for rated power, quiet, amongst others.

A 2200i should run your A/C with soft start.
 
If I remember correctly, our AC is a Coleman model - probably a '10'. I believe it does not have soft start, but I think I recall reading that soft start can be added pretty easily(?).

I'll discuss my options with the service team to learn what they think about all this. I'm drawn to the Honda - either of the two above - for reliability and quiet operation. At this point, I like the idea of initially upgrading to a single Epoch 460Ah battery with Victron comms + a 3000w inverter + two to three flexible 100w solar panels (as space allows) + an inverter generator. The LiTime 460Ah battery is still up for consideration. It's a good $600+ less expensive, but doesn't come with the Victron comms connectivity.

Thank you all for helping me with ideas and suggestions!

Happy holidays!

Michael
 
If you have the Victron Multiplus 3000 inverter, you don't need a soft start on the AC. The multiplus will draw extra power (up to 3000 watts) from the batteries when the AC starts up, to avoid overloading the generator (or whatever else is providing power).
 
If you have the Victron Multiplus 3000 inverter, you don't need a soft start on the AC. The multiplus will draw extra power (up to 3000 watts) from the batteries when the AC starts up, to avoid overloading the generator (or whatever else is providing power).
That is great news. I had not noticed that as I <too quickly> skimmed through information. Thanks!
 

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