Lithium batteries

[mudski]

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.

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

[Plasnart]

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.

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.

[mudnut]

Plassie. A man of Great wisdom he is.

[jff45]

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..

2025-02-25 06-19-38.jpeg

[PeeBee]

You have beautiful strong fingers John!

[jff45]

You have beautiful strong fingers John!

Not bad for an 80 year old eh?

[PeeBee]

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.

[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.

[PeeBee]

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.

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.

[PeeBee]

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.