Hotrod - R.I.P.

PM me for additional support on this issue. Have you a WH meter on the solar install to see what daily harvest you are achieving ? bill g 06 Dynasty

Sounds like fun to me. I bet you will be impressed with the lifepo4. Make sure you set the victron to not exceed the maximum charge rate (if it can ). Keep us posted on how it goes. Speaking of accidental run down I pulled 864ah out of my agms which are on year six before my refer inverter started complaining . They charged back up. When they go bad , hopefully not for years, I’ll be putting in lifepo4 and taking out 500lb of lead. Shunbin has a 400ah 12v lifepo4 with a Charger for 1499 on amazon. That would replace my 8 agms for pretty much the same price as agms. I might need a new inverter charger too though .

Phil, I think the big issue is the navistar engines. They have a bad reputation for leaving their owners on the side of the road. bill g 06 dynasty

Dave, One of our members has yet again accused bill g (me, hotrod) of being groups.io . That is totally false and FB monacoers has nothing to do with monacoers.groups.io or visualsc or bill Johnson . bill g aka hotrod 06 Dynasty

You would have to make sure the equalize is defeated. I think I would start with the Gell setting. I don’t know if the included charger is built in or separate. Im not sure how they would interact but probably not an issue. The lifepo4 charger will go to cv and apply 14.6 until its charged. In an rv where there is a constant load , I don’t know how it would tell unless It is built in and uses a separate charge path. Some lithium bms systems allow for a separate charge path .. that would be nice so it could tell when the battery stops taking a charge . You can tell from the following graph when the battery is charged it stops taking anything . That’s per cell so multiply x 4.

Lifepo4 that I read about float at 13.8 and charge at 14.4-14.6. You might have settings that are compatible . I don’t know. But the way the lithium chargers work to fill them up is to hold the charge voltage, 14.6 on them when the charger is capable of that and then hold that voltage until the battery demand reduces to nil. Now most of these batteries have BMS built in and they will disconnect if they get over voltages. With your rc7, it’s going to hold the charge voltage for a set time like 2 hours . Will it stop and drop to float before that time is up. I doubt it since the house loads appear to the charger as the battery taking current. The lithium’s I put in my cart don’t need the constant voltage charge for very long to become fully charged . Maybe only 5 minutes before the current drops off. So what happens if the battery becomes full and disconnects but the charger stays at 14.6 supplying house loads because it thinks the batteries are still taking current . I think nothing happens and it doesn’t bother the batteries in with bms but please research that .

I’m not sure the zero Deg c charge number is a big problem. Batteries are generally a few degrees above ambient when used. Yes wrapping with a blanket would raise the temp. They can be discharged and stored as low as -20C, It should be noted that a lead acid battery can be destroyed by freezing it and it will freeze at 32f if it’s fully discharged. You might want to check the latest pricing. 1500$ on amazon will get you a 400ah Lifepo4 12v battery with a charger included that weighs about 100lb. You can use all of it so it’s equivalent to 8 golf cart batteries . Actually it’s a lot better because the output voltage is about 13v until it’s almost discharged. Inverters love it. Lithium’s operate at a much higher efficiency than lead anchors. The 50ah of 48v lithium’s that I put in my golf cart only weigh 50lb. They take half the space of the lead batteries I took out and the atmosphere is not corrosive . The well that held two of my lead batteries is now storage. The 4 lead batteries I took our weighed 300 lb. I have a 30-35 mile range. 5-10 miles of that range come from the solar panel roof. If I only use it 5-10 miles a day I will never have to put the charger on it. I posted an article about lithium flashlight batteries that charge on usb on FB . They cost 10$ apiece and put out 1.5v flat until they turn off. They can be recharged 2000 times (at least that is what they say). So if true, that ie one penny per pair of D cells per full use and they can power a big mag light for over 5 hours . If you take 500lb out of a 40000 lb rv, the mpg related to rolling resistance will increase about 12 percent. That will be about a 3 or more percent increase in overall mpg which is 150$ a year if you spend 5000$ a year on fuel. Over 10 years , your get your money back, 1500$. What’s not to like about that? bill g aka hotrod 06 dynasty

I have 8 of the duracell gc2 agms In my dynasty and they work very well. I’m on year number 6 with them and they still have full capacity. However they do weigh about 600 lb with Cables. When they need replacing and hopefully that won’t be soon, I’ll replace them with 100lb of lithium . It has even lower internal resistance than the agms and charges and discharged even more efficiently. I don’t see a huge price difference any more.

They have some on Amazon. 400ah for 1499$. That’s 288 per kWh. Look real nice. That comes with a charger too. Lifepo4 100ah 200ah 300ah 400ah 12V Lithium ion Battery for Solar System/Motor Home/Boat/Golf Carts car battery (12V 400ah ×1pcs) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SXK92SS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_6Kx8DbFQSHSZ1

The new site monacoers.org is being referred to by links on the following: monacoers.com www.monacoers.com fb “monacoers” group fb “bills monacoers” group fb “bill d’s monacoers” group. that should make it pretty findable. bill g 06 dynasty

Larry , Any one of many available will do. For me it has to have blue tooth so I can feed it stuff from my iPhone . It might be nice to have one with navigation but it won’t be as safe as a garmin for rv’s. If you can make it take a double din, one with a 6 or 7” screen would be cool . bill g 06 dynasty

Larry, The cost has been the problem. But that has changed and anyone who fails to recognize this will get caught off guard. As a result of the current availability, probably a flooding of the market , the prices have come way down. 1. At 250$ per kWh, the cost is lower than agm. 2. Lifepo4 chemistry has electrical characteristics that are very close to lead acid. 12.8v nominal. 13.8v float. 14.6v charge. 3. Its very safe. 4. four times the gravimetric density. Ie is so much lighter. 5. takes less space. 6. 2000 cycles at 80pct dod. 100pct dod capable. 7. Sealed, no mess or venting. Mount in any position. 8. Low internal resistance. Very efficient charging and discharging. Discharge curve is very flat. Makes inverters very happy. 9. They weigh way less. That gives you more load capacity or better fuel mileage. I love my 8 agms but they weigh about 600lb. I could pull out 500lb. You could replace your house batteries for say 1500$ and they would be the last ones you ever buy and they work so much better than lead anchors . The cost to do my cart with lithium and solar will be less than new flooded batteries. The weight will be 25 percent less. The performance will be better. I’ll have storage under the seat , a place for an ice chest etc. Lead is history, two generations in arrears.

I have found lifepo4, lithium iron phosphate batteries now to cost less than AGMs.... and only a small fraction of the weight: