Battery Monitor

[solarman]

I'd planned on going with Lithium but I found the cost difference of 3 x 200Ah (600Ah) Victron LiPo to be 6 times more than 8x235Ah (940Ah) Crown FLA 6V.

The 36 month Victron warranty didn't provide any assurance of a payback from Lithium.
 

sadly that's the price for 12 Volt "drop ins" they come with an expensive and questionable BMS and blue tooth comms
things that you actually don't need.

large prismatic cells are considerably cheaper but require a technical skill set to implement.

 

[ALLOY]

Agreed...setup is more but that wasn't so much of an issue as ensuring Lithium remained above 40F when we are out in (3-4 times a year) temps below 32F.

Then in storage it was looking like the best solution was to continually (plugged in) heat Lithium or a secondary solution was to start heating the batteries 3-4 days before a trip.   

 

[solarman]

Agreed...setup is more but that wasn't so much of an issue as ensuring Lithium remained above 40F when we are out in (3-4 times a year) temps below 32F. 

Then in storage it was looking like the best solution was to continually (plugged in) heat Lithium or a secondary solution was to start heating the batteries 3-4 days a trip. 

that's why my cells are located inside..!!

 

[ALLOY]

that's why my cells are located inside..!!

Inside would solve the temp issue but in our 5th inside it meant moving the inverter or running double 4/0 and we still had the temp issue during storage. 

Lithium was my first choice but with our winter trips being down to 0F the tanks and valves are enough of a concern without adding an expensive batty bank to the worry. 

What cells are you using?

 

[Frank B]

I'd planned on going with Lithium but I found the cost difference of 3 x 200Ah (600Ah) Victron LiPo to be 6 times more than 8x235Ah (940Ah) Crown FLA 6V.

The 36 month Victron warranty didn't provide any assurance of a payback from Lithium.

I'm with you. I have a serious look at lithium every time it comes time to replace the house batteries. I still can't justify the added cost, as much as I would like to try them.

 

[solarman]

Inside would solve the temp issue but in our 5th inside it meant moving the inverter or running double 4/0 and we still had the temp issue during storage. 

Lithium was my first choice but with our winter trips being down to 0F the tanks and valves are enough of a concern without adding an expensive batty bank to the worry. 

What cells are you using?

I have 16 CALB SE200FI cells wires as a 48 Volt pack and a custom designed monitoring system
just to keep an eye on the voltage balance. they are bottom balanced and the balance is still good after 18 months.

I have a 48V to 12V buck converter to supply 12V to the RV and a inverter/charger combo for 120V
with a transfer switch built in.

I decided on LFP to save weight as we boondock 99% of the time and I didn't want battery acid
issues and maintenance. also there was the issue of placement, the equivalent FLA would be more than double the
weight and the only place to store them would be on the tongue area, the extra 600 lbs was not acceptable..!
with LFP I was able to store them mid way inside the RV.


We live in southern Texas, so for us there is no need to winterize.

and 4/0 cables,  sigh....