Cheapskate LiFePo report

Grumpy_G

After nursing a degraded lead acid battery to the end of last year's camping season I decided to move into the 21st century and install a LiFePo battery. However I'm frugal (some might call it cheap ) so I opted for one of the lower priced batteries on Amazon, sold by Vatrer. I picked it because it has low temperature charging protection (as verified by Will Prowse) which actually is a concern around my neck of the woods (high desert with hot days but chilly nights). The joke around here is you can go from heating to air conditioning to heating in a single day. 

I've used it for 2 months now and have done a few full cycles confirming the battery can deliver the advertised 1280Wh/100 Ah. However this is highly dependent on charging method. I've used both the older non-LiFePo converter and a 200W solar panel with a LiFePo capable controller. With the converter the battery got to 1180Wh capacity, with solar charging and the battery switch on it only got 10Wh more. The only way to get a full charge was to turn the disconnect switch off and allow the solar charger to have full reign of the battery. I found that somewhat interesting because the standby power draw of the trailer is just .3A. Need to chew on this a little more as to why the small power drain affects the total charge amount. 

The battery does not have any built-in bluetooth capability so it is important to monitor the amount of power drained from it. Voltage is not a good indicator as I found out, went to bed with 12V give or take and woke up with everything dead because of the low voltage cutoff. The good news is that the propane/CO detector never started chirping because the voltage never drops below the warning threshold before turning off completely.  

AnOldUR

hmmmm, I thought it was just me, but also got the feeling that I wasn’t getting a full LiFePO4 charge from solar when hooked up to shore power unless the battery switch was off. I don’t have a shunt, so no accurate way to know. I’m interested to hear what you find.

SLJ

Went with cheaper batteries also. My whole set-up including two 100AH batteries, a Victron smart charger and battery monitor, and a wall mount Renogy monitor/shunt (minus the solar suitcase) was $1,200. I already had a 200W portable solar suitcase. I took the controller off it and moved the controller inside the front tub. You get less voltage drop from the cables if the controller is close to the battery and not at the panel end. I installed the batteries under the passenger bench and the smart charger next to the Air8. At uCamp on a overcast day I was getting 233 watts combined from my T@B 105 panel and my Renogy 200 watt suitcase. All solar panels are not created equal. With no hook ups there I never dropped below 85% and it was back up to 99-100% at the end of every day. The 12 volt fridges are great also. They take a short time to get down to temperature and use less than a quarter of what a 3 way uses even running on propane.


These are two Enjoybot batteries ($350 each). I could have run with one 100AH and not had a problem running the fridge, lights, stereo/TV, and pump for that whole rainy week. On the worst day it would have only been down 30%.

GregChris

So many batteries, what's a camper to do? For my needs, rarely boondocking, I only need that isothem to make it 12-18hrs, until solar kicks in, or I can use my gen. I leaning towards this, $189.00, but perhaps someone could sway me. 

pthomas745

@GregChris before I bought my "less than 400 dollar lithium" I had one of these 100 AH AGM's lined up for several years on my Amazon wish list.  That is a "true deep cycle", at a great price, and has about 10 more amp hours than the stock battery.  Still a great option for many, many campers. especially in the way you describe your "camping style". 

When it comes to batteries: we tend to over complicate things.  Sometimes, by a lot.  It is hard to convince a "novice" battery person that this battery or that battery is the appropriate choice when they are confronted with a lot of jargon. 

Grumpy_G

If LiFePo batteries were still north of $500 I would have stayed with some sort of lead-acid battery but at $320 for the one I got (and there are other sub $300 options nowadays) the cost/benefit made sense. Even if the advertised number of cycles is vastly exaggerated they still last much longer than a conventional battery, plus the battery management system prevents accidental "killing" of the battery due to over discharge.  The battery is also a hair smaller than the Renogy shown above and less than half the weight 

GregChris

I understand your point, It would be cheaper in the long run with a LifePo. During a discussion with Battle Born engineers and service techs at ucamp23, they cautioned me against using Lifepo batteries without a lithium compatible converter. The incomplete charge and the low voltage could damage their batteries. The agm is a direct drop in. I guess I need some investigating. Half way the 2021 model year, Nucamp switched to lithium comp converters, I need to figure out which 1 I have. I also can't figure $1000 for BB  to $299 for Vatrer.

Horigan

The concern with an incomplete charge is real since it doesn't give the battery an opportunity to balance the cells, but if you have solar set to lithium, that concern goes away.

SLJ

GregChris said:

Half way the 2021 model year, Nucamp switched to lithium comp converters, I need to figure out which 1 I have.

Check your WFCO model number:
WF8735/P - Not for lithium batteries (charges to 80%)

WF-8735LiS - Has switch for charging lithium batteries

WF8735-AD - Auto Detects for charging lithium batteries (doesn't always so you may have to fiddle with it)

GregChris

Is the model# on the unit some where. I bought my 320s preowned, and don't remember any WFCO info in the folder provided.

Binghi

The model number should be listed on the face of the converter once you open the cover. We received our 2021 400 trailer in April 2021, and it has the old-stye 8955PEC device. Not compatible with lithium from what I gather.