Big boy lithium batteries.

[solarman]

For those of you considering Lithium as a replacement for lead, one of the top battery makers has finally released this

https://www.trojanbattery.com/trillium/

pricing is around $1000 for the 110 a/hr version, a little higher than the new boys on the block ( battleborn et al.. ), but
considering this is Trojan that's only a small premium for what is likely to be the best example of a drop in so far..

 

[Heli_av8tor]

Sounds great!

Now if the price comes down to an affordable point by the time my 2) 8D AGM?s wear out...

 

[JoelP]

I have read posts back to 2016 about lithium batteries.  I am very weary of trying to maintain the charge in my golf cart wet batteries, since I cannot leave my rig plugged in where it is stored. I replaced my coach batteries just last year and already they don't seem to maintain a charge.  I could put on enough solar to keep them maintained, but there is peace of mind knowing that I can get 10 years of life out of a lithium battery even if they fully discharge.  My questions are as follows:

1. Is the Battleborn the battery of choice, or is Trojan the winner for reliability?
2. Do I need to buy a totally new charging system, or is this now all self contained in the lithium battery?
3. Would it be better an cheaper to buy new golf cart batteries and buy just enough solar to maintain them? (an option I have considered in the past but never acted on).
4. If I go the solar route, how much solar is enough to do maintenance only.

Thanks!

 

[John From Detroit]

1: Do not know
2: likely yes or at least have your existing system modified. though some of the newer batteries do come with built in charge systems
3 Likely adding a solar maintainer would be less expensive

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

1. I don't know either, nor would I rule out some of the other brands. Trojan has an outstanding quality rep, but not much track record YET with their Trilliums.

2. Optimal charging would require a new charger, but there is very little data available on the effects of using a decent quality lead-acid battery charger on LI batteries.  The LI packaged as 12v replacements have charge management built-in that assists and "protects" the LI battery when used as a lead-acid replacement in an unmodified system, but I've not found any credible comparisons of battery life or performance.  Trojan says their Trilliums are designed as Lead-acid replacements that can be used with existing deep-cycle chargers , but they don't give comparisons to use with an LI-specific charger.  They do note that some existing deep cycle chargers may shut off before the Trillium reaches 100% charge.  Sounds like a "your mileage may vary" kind of statement.

Be careful about applying info that applies to one Lithium battery type to another, e.g. Li-Ion, LiFePO4, LiMnPO4, LiMnCo - they have somewhat different attributes.

3. In the short run, much cheaper to stay with lead acid. Over a 10+ year period, maybe not.

4. If you currently have 200-230 AH of battery capacity, a single 75W-100W panel should easily replace self-discharge & phantom discharge losses, ASSUMING a reasonable amount of sunlight daily.  It only needs a  trickle to do that.  But if you have more than the usual phantom discharge, say more than 0.3 amps/hr, you probably need more. Or you need to find and fix the source of the discharge.

If you haven't yet read thru the Trojan Trillium User Guide, do so. Trojan does an excellent job with their product literature and the User Guides have more useful info than the marketing ads. It includes a chapter on charging.

https://www.trojanbattery.com/pdf/Trillium_UsersGuide.pdf