Lithium batteries

In preparation for the 2026 Cape trip I want to get rid of the heavy deep cycle auxiliary battery under the bonnet and put a lithium in the back, somewhere. 4wd SuperCentre have 100ah slimline batteries for $279. A price I can’t ignore. I am thinking of maybe getting two. I am wary of their products and how cheap they are and always avoid their stuff. But at this price, it’s hard to ignore.
Am I going to be sadly disappointed? There’s a lot of other companies offering close to this price and then you can pay up to $1000 or more for something of the same size etc.

Any thoughts?

Cheers


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Hey Mark, do you currently have sufficient 12V power from your current setup? If you do, why would you want to complicate the situation and head into unknown territory, even if it a bit lighter?

I am a serious subscriber to K.I.S.S. monthly. If your setup is andequate and works, don’t fix what ain’t broke mate. That’s my 2c anyway.

Mark, I've just installed a Kings 200Ah lithium to replace my Giant 170Ah. Also had hesitations with Kings gear but 200Ah for $549 couldn't be ignored. I sold the Giant for $300 so not a big outlay to do the swap.
It has 200 amp max continuous draw which works well with my induction plate and air fryer. The Giant was 150 amp max draw. I use a Junctek 500 amp shunt battery monitor with bluetooth & wifi connection, even WLAN.
I did a quick test with my 2000w heat gun at full output and it pulled 184 amps at 12.4v through my Renogy 2000w inverter.

Attachment 88582

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Originally Posted by Plasnart

Hey Mark, do you currently have sufficient 12V power from your current setup? If you do, why would you want to complicate the situation and head into unknown territory, even if it a bit lighter?

I am a serious subscriber to K.I.S.S. monthly. If your setup is andequate and works, don’t fix what ain’t broke mate. That’s my 2c anyway.

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Fair points, just some comments. I went from 3 AGM's that weighed 33kg each to 4 Lithium's that weigh 32kg in total. I have doubled the capacity and reduced the weight by 66%, the AGMs cost me $1200, and the Lithium's $2900. The Renogy DCDC 50amp charger is lithium compatible. The Victron 240V chargers are 30amp and Lithium compatible. I guess I could sell the AGM's as they are only 12 months old and dual use, 130aHr and 1100cca , but I tend to gift stuff away. Anyway, its a choice I suppose. I am not swayed to change the under bonnet cranker to a lithium - just not convinced about the heat. For me, this is a step in the right direction, even with the recent disclosed beestings around the battery voltage and baseline charging - now resolved.

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Originally Posted by jff45

Mark, I've just installed a Kings 200Ah lithium to replace my Giant 170Ah. Also had hesitations with Kings gear but 200Ah for $549 couldn't be ignored. I sold the Giant for $300 so not a big outlay to do the swap.
It has 200 amp max continuous draw which works well with my induction plate and air fryer. The Giant was 150 amp max draw. I use a Junctek 500 amp shunt battery monitor with bluetooth & wifi connection, even WLAN.
I did a quick test with my 2000w heat gun at full output and it pulled 184 amps at 12.4v through my Renogy 2000w inverter.

Attachment 88582

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John, yes the Kings stuff is in nightmare territory for me as they pricing and implied performance is very cost effective, and you only ever hear, in the main about the problems with performance and quality. I have hovered around the 'Kings' users facebook page and its a mix of good and moderate and bad, but in the main the quality seems to be on par with the cost, so essentially value at a cost point. I have been looking at a drawer style freezer to compliment the 60L engle that is now 35yrs old, still going strong after a hert transplant some 20yrs ago, and looked at the Kings unit - its a fridge in the main and again, only negative comments abound. Time will tell I guess.

I’d seen some good capacity testing and general reviews on YT so decided to take the risk. If it breaks down and they don’t want to know about it in their 36 month warranty period, I’ll just take it apart and fix whatever’s wrong. You can buy all the bits for these things nowadays.

I have 2x150AH Slimline Lithiums under the false floor in the back of the 62. For me it was a no brainer, i need new batteries for the new build so Lithium was the only way. The Output, the efficiency and the charge rate is All simply a generation better than the best agm you will find. If you have to replace an AGM then Lithium all the way.

I wanted Induction cooking in The62 and it works a treat. Plenty of power for other things too.

I have a DCS85 Extreme Lithium (Australian design and Made) under the bonnet from day one for the front axle weight saving and outright power. I had seen someone do a 300m Winch across a mudflat off this batteries and i stopped looking. It was a Huge outlay for a battery but i saw the value. In saying that the internal BMS of this battery appears to have shit itself... 3 weeks before the end of warranty. DCS pushed back hard and rejected my warranty over email. I found a Very Big Bat and belted them over the Head up the chain of authority there and they have sent me a Consignment note for the collection of the battery for an inspection and rebuild or replacement. Likely they will gut it and replace the BMS then rehouse it in a new casing and send it back, im totally fine with that. Note it was 6 times the price of that Kings Mudski so i had a very high expectation of factory support and warranty.

K.i.s.s.
………

Would not touch Kings stuff ever.
You only get what you pay for (if you're lucky)and at that price it will be trouble sooner rather than later and usually at most inconvenient time and place.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Plasnart

Hey Mark, do you currently have sufficient 12V power from your current setup? If you do, why would you want to complicate the situation and head into unknown territory, even if it a bit lighter?

I am a serious subscriber to K.I.S.S. monthly. If your setup is andequate and works, don’t fix what ain’t broke mate. That’s my 2c anyway.

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some of the reasons mate is, size, weight, 36kg for my 100AH deep cycle, i can get twice the power for the same weight, i want to get rid of gas and having to carry numerous gas bottles and just use an induction top, also get another fridge.

Over the last week the Patrol has gone on a weight loss program. 2nd row seats, MSA drop down fridge slide and the drawers were removed and just in those three, 162kg the Patrol lost. Its going to gain a few more pounds with the ideas of running an upright fridge in the back, plus also my ARB 47L as a freezer, water tank of some sort on the rear floor behind the front seats then with a false floor on top. Then a RTT to go on, plus anything else thats needed.

My setup works, ok, its not the best but it does the job, most of the time.

I am wary of the Kings stuff, i am not 100 sold on their batteries, the price got my mind thinking about lithium again, i am looking around, i have plenty of time to get things done, 2026 is the planned Cape Trip. But i have a crap load of other things on the to do list as well.

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Originally Posted by Wizard52

Would not touch Kings stuff ever.
You only get what you pay for (if you're lucky)and at that price it will be trouble sooner rather than later and usually at most inconvenient time and place.

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Understood. Im not dead set on their batteries, it just got the old brain thinking about Lithium again.

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Originally Posted by mudski

some of the reasons mate is, size, weight, 36kg for my 100AH deep cycle, i can get twice the power for the same weight, i want to get rid of gas and having to carry numerous gas bottles and just use an induction top, also get another fridge.

Over the last week the Patrol has gone on a weight loss program. 2nd row seats, MSA drop down fridge slide and the drawers were removed and just in those three, 162kg the Patrol lost. Its going to gain a few more pounds with the ideas of running an upright fridge in the back, plus also my ARB 47L as a freezer, water tank of some sort on the rear floor behind the front seats then with a false floor on top. Then a RTT to go on, plus anything else thats needed.

My setup works, ok, its not the best but it does the job, most of the time.

I am wary of the Kings stuff, i am not 100 sold on their batteries, the price got my mind thinking about lithium again, i am looking around, i have plenty of time to get things done, 2026 is the planned Cape Trip. But i have a crap load of other things on the to do list as well.

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OK against my better judgement I’m going to go there and ask the questions that need to be asked.

If your current setup works OK, not the best, but does the job most of the time, then why TF do you want to reinvent your setup? Refine it mate. Tweak it. Don’t chuck it all out and bring in a totally new system.

Upright fridge. Why?? You’re not going to live out of the back of your vehicle permanently, so why do you want to carry the weight and lose the space that an upright fridge takes up? Just deal with shuffling things around in a traditional chest fridge for a couple of weeks. No big deal.

Induction cooking. Come on mate. Why? They’re heavy. Big. Expensive. They suck electricity like you suck tinnies so you gotta generate power with solar or you’re eating Tom Piper braised steak and onion cans out of the fire like we did when we first started camping in our teens. Keep it simple mate. A couple of butane cookers, a camp oven, a gas Coleman deck, they’re cheap as shit, available everywhere, in every outback community, they’re reliable and simple.

I could go on. Keep it simple and reliable mate. It’s camping. Your car is not your forever house. Don’t sit there worrying about amps, volts, fusing, power generation, is the sun in the right direction and all that bullshit.

You’re clocked off and off duty. You’re touring. Get out there and unwind. Sit back, relax, suck a tinny and put your arm around your Mrs.

Plassie. A man of Great wisdom he is.

Couple of misconceptions I read there about the induction plate, they're not big, heavy nor expensive. Mine is 280 x 300, I can pick it up with 2 fingers and it cost $49.95 at Aldi. My air fryer cost $32 on sale at Kmart.
Big advantage of the induction plate is that it can cook outside in any kind of wind..

Seriously, 2 fingers..

Attachment 88583

You have beautiful strong fingers John!

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Originally Posted by PeeBee

You have beautiful strong fingers John!

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Not bad for an 80 year old eh?

The saga continues. I went fishing for 4 days, mild weather, ran the engel and bushman freezer, using the solar panels and dcdc charger intermittently.

Capacity was circa 99% when I started and circa 60% when the weekend was over. I wasn't able to replace the lost capacity by my methods, and there are two issues.

1) the recommended dcdc capacity is 100amps, I was using a 50 amp Renogy, so essentially half the charger capacity. For clarity I was mislead as to the ability of being able to parallel charge so bought a second Renogy 50amp unit, then found out that Renogy units cant be parallel charged. So back to Renogy, and the sales guy 'disappeared', Renogy dropped me instantly. Anyway I was able to bring the battery bank up to 100% capacity with 60 amp 240v chargers in the garage so left the second charger as a fitted spare - that plan didn't work out.
2) upon getting home I put the bank onto the Victron 2x30 amp chargers and initially they ran pretty hot, punching in a combined 55amps, raised the bank capacity from circa 60% to 99%, then this afternoon aftr turning the chargers off, capacity dropped to 75%, float voltage 13.48 - bugger me, have I lost a battery? I am going to pull everything apart - again and individually charge each battery and see if the fault shows up. Itech have been informed and supportive at this point.
3) I have purchased 2 off Victron Orion XS 50amp units that can be hooked up in parallel, so I will achieve the 100amp charge rate. My brother is looking to install a 200ahr Lithium so I am gifting him the Renogy brand spanker 50amp unit and a Renogy 3000w inverter - lucky guy.

I've been running a Renogy 50 amp DCDC for a while now and they have a quirk that's not in the manual. If you're charging via the alternator and the solar at the same time, each circuit is limited to 25 amps even if the solar is only dribbling say 5 amps in while driving. This restricts the alternator side to 25 amps.
I've fitted a relay that opens the solar feed circuit when engine is running so the DCDC can output 50 amps using the alternator.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jff45

I've been running a Renogy 50 amp DCDC for a while now and they have a quirk that's not in the manual. If you're charging via the alternator and the solar at the same time, each circuit is limited to 25 amps even if the solar is only dribbling say 5 amps in while driving. This restricts the alternator side to 25 amps.
I've fitted a relay that opens the solar feed circuit when engine is running so the DCDC can output 50 amps using the alternator.

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Thanks John, thats interesting for sure, the system always worked fine with the AGM setup. I have bought the new units that will ensure I get the full 100amps now. I have contacted ITECH and they have steered me towards a troubleshooting table before returning the battery that I am sure I will find is faulty - checked just now and the system capacity is sitting at 71% yet float volts still at 13.37 - just dont understand this. Also, this was the first real stationary camping trip where the car sat for 4 days with minimal alternator starts, and the whole Volts V capacity profile was very different to the AGM setup - might just take me a bit to get used to it. Anyway today the bank gets de-coupled into single batteries and the individual charge process begins, with luck the faulty one becomes clear and does not need the entire 4 batteries to travel from Melb/Perth return.

Plot thickens. I observed on the Itech Power meter the volts were 13.4V on the bank, but capacity down to 60% for the bank at 11am today. I disconnected the bank wiring and checked each battery voltage and they are all sitting at 13.4V - steady all day, have not put the charger back on them as this is basically a 'full voltage', so I am now looking at the meter. I have a Renogy unit here and another brand, might set them all up for a comparison, and also repeat the meter setup with the Itech in case its changed or dropped out. Bloody bizarre.