Being able to camp off grid without using a generator is a huge plus for Ontario campers. It creates a lot of opportunities at parks with the 1 week rule. But even when you are using a site with electricity it’s important to have reliable back up power. We have had our trailer for two years and even with proper maintenance and minimal use(kept in a heated area and trickle charged over winter) our lead acid battery is almost kaput! When it’s time I will definitely get the upgrade! Hopefully I don’t need the converter swapped!
Another excellent video! Thanks for sharing. We decided to go LifePO4 with our new trailer. Went with two SOK 100Ah batteries and a 45A lithium compatible converter. No inverter yet. We have a 12V RV compressor fridge. We had the manufacturer install our batteries inside our 4 season trailer so they can be kept warm year round. We can supplement with 180W of portable solar or a dual fuel generator. A lithium battery with a positively reviewed BMS and the ability to monitor it via Bluetooth is key. So far we’ve been very happy with our SOKs, but we haven’t had the opportunity to dry camp or boondock that often yet.
That's a great idea to store the batteries inside the trailer. You don't have to worry about them getting too cold when camping if you do cold weather camping.
@@CampingwiththeColes Yes. They’re installed under the front dinette bench. We didn’t get the ones with built in heaters and we haven’t modified the bench so more warm air can reach it. We camped at Mew Lake last weekend and the batteries never got below 4C when the outside ambient was as low as -13C.
Our golf cart batteries recently died and we decided to go the LiFePO4 route and so far so good, we loved the easy of installation and the reduced weight, no maintenance, the easy of charging and the BMS that shows you at a glance what is going on with the battery. At the end of the season we will just undo 2 bolts and take the single 48 volt 22 pound battery home and that sure is a lot easier than hauling out almost 400 pounds of messy and dirty lead acid battieries! Love your reviews!
I bought a 97 18' Golden Falcon without a battery. I bought a similar LiFePO4 battery. Connected it and it's been charged and discharged many times. I guess my old converter works fine. Plus it came with a household plug to change it directly if needed.
Make sure you check the size and length of the wire from the charge controller to batteries or fuse on this wire - this will likely be the governing factor on the maximum charge amperage
Well done Ben! I upgraded to a 200ah self-heating lithium battery from CanBat out of B.C. and relocated it to the pass-thru under the bed. Best upgrade I've done so far. I have 380 watts of solar on the roof of the Geo Pro and 200 watts of portable, when needed. Tons of battery capacity now and no worries about freezing temperatures. Greetings from Manitoba by the way!
Putting it inside the trailer is a smart way to go. No concerns about the temperature then when using it. Thanks for watching from Manitoba. I don't think we have many watching from there. We haven't gotten out that way yet.
Best part about this is that the prices of LiFePO4 batteries are dropping like crazy. They are around half the price I stated in the video which is only a few months old.
I loved this video. Very well.put together as usual. I bet many people will do the switch and watch this video several times. Thanks for everything coles!
Thanks. I'm very pleased with the batteries. I'm a stats guy so I love checking the app and the status of the batteries especially when using power for different things. I think Cheryl gets a little tired of my updates to her though. As long as it works, she doesn't want to know more.
Super video Ben. I switched to lithium last year with Dakota brand x 100ah and with an inverter. So this season will be the first time trying it out. I do need to get another battery to increase the time off grid.
You're going to love it. I find that having the app to show everything going on with the battery is invaluable in managing the power usage. The price of these batteries keep dropping too so buying them to replace lead acid is a no-brainer now. Happy camping!
I am Jude. This video was very helpful because I used 3 batteries and they all died. Now after watching this video I decided to buy the lithium battery but it's all sold out. I am waiting now. Thank you. God bless
Really enjoyed this video. Subscribed. Been family camping mostly in Provincial parks around Ontario for the last 7 years in a fold out hybrid trailer with (2) Rolls golf cart batteries in series on my trailer tongue(230Ah÷2=115 Ah useable). Done the last few summers with a basic solar setup on roof and small gopower inverter inside.Recent upgrade to newer couples trailer with plans for a lithium/inverter/solar. Been watching all the cheaper online prices for last year and noticed recent drop in last few weeks. Just ordered Aolithium 300ah battery for upcoming build. Liked your comments and observations about the switchover to lithium. Your style of video is informative and enjoyable.
Thanks, Ben, for another informative video. I've been sitting on the fence himmin and hawen whether or not to switch over my lead acid batteries. Well, after watching your video, I think I'm going to pull the trigger and fork over the $1180 for two Lifep04 batteries. Keep up the great videos you guys and I can't wait to view your battery box install! Like always Ben, a huge thumbs up.👍
Great video, as always, I have to agree with the way you explain the steps with your reviews. They are easy to follow and I would have missed the inverter step without your review. I do have a question about your solar charging system for your Oupes battery box, will the solar panels still charge your new trailer battery set up ? Keep up the great content on your channel, we very much enjoy your park reviews as much as your product reviews.
I've plugged the trailer into the Oupes power station and it'll charge the batteries. I've also plugged the new LiFePO4 charger into the Oupes and directly to the batteries and that too worked. Each battery is 1287Wh for a total of 2574Wh. The Oupes power station is only 992Wh. So if you use the Oupes from 100% and drain it right down to 0% charging the trailer batteries, you're only adding about 30% to your batteries (includes loss for converting from DC to AC back to DC). I bought a DC cigarette lighter cable with alligator clips. I plugged it into the power station and directly to the batteries but nothing happened at all. No charging either from battery to power station nor power station to battery.
I switched to LiFePo4 batteries a couple of years ago and it has been great. One thing you did not mention about these batteries is how fast they can be charged. My charge controller can charge at 80 amps. If I need to run my generator to charge the batteries it only takes about 3.5 hours to fully charge them. Then I am good for about a week.
I have a Victron Energy MultiPlus Inverter/Charger 12/2000VA 120V 12-Volt 120V Pure Sine Wave Inverter 80 amp Battery Charger. It is a invertor/charger with a transfer switch. It is connected to shore power, the AC distribution panel and, the batteries (with 2/0 AWG cable). So it charges the batteries and passes power to AC distribution panel when were connected to shore power; it generates AC from batteries when not connected to shore power. It does it all automatically which is nice.
I think that the only thing that I would be worried about in your system is alternator charging once you have plugged into your truck. Unless the BMS is restricting charge rate I would think that your batteries should try to get to full charge pretty quickly after plugging in. Realistically the existing cabling would be quite undersized for that. Have seen a number of people install battery to battery chargers to resolve that possible problem.
Great video!! I switched as well but using the Renogy batteries. One thing they can't do is being hooked up in series, only parallel. I was surprised to see yours did both. One thing when seeing lead acid being taken down to 50%, really is just under 12v. 80% on lithium is around 10v. If using an inverter in the systems can't go below that, since inverters need a certain amount of voltage to work. Once you go down to that, the inverter will quit. Just something to keep in mind. Look forward to more of your adventures!!
As I understand it, lead acid and LiFePO4 drain very differently. Lead acid gradually loses voltage as it drains and may be down to 10V when 80% drained but LiFePO4 drains keeping the voltage virtually the same from 100% to about 2%, when it drops drastically. I drained them in a test at home and everything worked fine in the trailer right up to almost the very end. I had one AOLithium battery all the way down to 0.0Ah and the other at .23Ah and was able to turn on a light in the trailer.
My Victron Multiplus (12v) invertor/charger alarms at 10.9V and disconnects at 9.3V. . My SOK batteries BMS disconnects at 10.4V which is reached when the batteries are about 97% drained.
This is wild. I just ordered the same battery two days ago. now wondering if I should have two...plus I need the Smart WFCO distribution center. I have had the same experiences as you with one then two lead Acid batteries and now back to one lead acid that's failing after 2 seasons. Thanks for the video that I stumbled on by chance. Another Ontario River (Guelph). 🇨🇦
Glad you found us. The one battery you ordered is likely better than the two batteries you had before. For a big improvement you could get a second one. I put out the video just a couple of months ago and the price of the batteries has already dropped significantly. It's a no brainer now to switch from lead acid to LiFePO4.
@@CampingwiththeColes yes. I know I am debarring because I also need to change the converter to a lithium friendly one. So that’s another $260. We are leaving for the USA in 4 weeks so not sure I can get it all done in time. Brrrr.
The microwave only works plugged into shore power. If we want to use the microwave we plug the trailer into our Oupes power station then it works like plugged into shore power. None of the outlets work in the trailer if running off the batteries.
Great video. We just ordered an aolithium battery and used your code. $399 Canadian including shipping and taxes. Fantastic deal! Question, do you use a dc to dc charger from your tow vehicle? We are looking at adding this to our set up as well. Oh, and hi from KW as well!
I had a 240 Watt portable solar panel but it didn't do any good because of the thick tree canopy. I tried to charge up my portable power station with it but had no luck.
Uk1115 faulty Battery being treated badly by support can you look into it please saying i have to wait to February for a replacement even though there is still stock. Also no one will ship a faulty battery to return 😔
Hey Ben! Have you had many chats with folks trying to go the off grid route with a 12V only fridge? We can't even run our fridge for a full day with our original marine battery, and our roof panel catching good rays. Concerned that even upgrading to lithium ion, even x2, that we will continue to struggle with the huge fridge draw. (Missed you at Craigleith one time, then finally met at PF!)
You're the first person to say anything to us about real world experience with a 12V only fridge. We went to the Fall RV in Toronto and almost all new trailers come with a 12V only fridge. I spoke to a salesman about it and he said that they are so efficient these days that they hardly draw anything so they are fine for boondocking. I immediately knew that that was sales talk for "just buy the darn trailer already". My thoughts based on common sense is that the fridge would be the biggest power draw in the trailer. I know I can go about 5 to 6 days with my two 100ah LiFePO4 batteries with my fridge on propane. I'm guessing I would get less than half that with a 12V fridge. The salesman said that you can upgrade to a Electric/Propane fridge if you want. I didn't ask how much that would cost but I'm guessing a premium price. Our friends with their Trillium Trailer (Trailer Tour video coming out next weekend) have a 12V only fridge and a 100ah AGM battery with 200W of solar panels. When we camped with them on a dark and rainy weekend, they ran out of power on day 2 so I loaned them my 1200W power bank. I plugged it in and saw a 240W power draw! My trailer normally has about a 20W - 40Wdraw with the max I've seen with all the lights, fan and water pump on being at about 80W. My power bank lasted them overnight and I had to recharge it the next day and give it back to them for the next night and day. I think I would definitely go with the electric/propane fridge upgrade in a new trailer. Thanks for letting me know how it's working out for you.
And thank YOU for sharing that little tidbit of your experience with the 12 V fridge draw. It's very telling to me! Lines up with what I have suspected. Funny... we were also skeptical of the sales pitch when we bought our trailer and were told the solar set up it came with would run the fridge (and water pump, water heater, lights, awning etc) for a few days off grid. We have a 100ah gel battery with a 100W solar panel on a '21 Wolf Pup 16BHS Black Label and it's not even close when the fridge is involved. Despite that though, it's still been the best purchase of our lives, just need to get this one piece sorted out. Thanks for all your videos, keep 'em coming!@@CampingwiththeColes
Thanks Ben. Very useful information. I was hesitant about the cost difference when I replaced my battery (I bought a new lead-acid because of time restrictions) Absolutely something to consider next time around.
Thanks for the video. I think I would add a nonconducting material under the lid of the box. If there are clamps inside the box I would still do so as some wrecks could dislodge them. I guess that your 97% reading was for power used setting up the camper after disconnecting from the vehicle. Did you use air conditioning on this trip? That is a nice price for lithium! Thanks again!
The nonconducting material under the lid is a good idea. There are no clamps, the cables are bolted onto the posts so they'll only come undone if there is enough force to rip them right out of the battery. I put the Styrofoam from the original package the batteries came in, on top of the batteries. That way if I throw a wrench or another tool into the box I won't accidentally contact the terminals. The air conditioning only works on AC current and since I didn't install an inverter I don't have any AC current to run the air conditioner. Also, without the inverter I don't have any AC outlets or microwave working on just the batteries. I have a 1200w solar generator that I can plug the trailer into to get AC current and it will run the microwave but I'd need over 2000w to run the air conditioner.
You have them wired incorrectly and that is why one battery shows 8% lower than the other. First, wire the batteries in parallel, just like you did. Now to hook the 2 batteries to the coach is where you made a slight error. You need to take the positive from one battery and the negative from the other battery. One connection at each end of the chain. If you were running 3 batteries in parallel, you'd connect the + to one battery and the - would go to the battery on the other end of the chain. This ensures all batteries are drained and charged equally..... The other thing most folks miss is the plug going from the coach to the tow vehicle. While that is plugged into the tow vehicle, it is being charged thru that really long cable that goes from the battery area of the tow vehicle all the way to the battery of your coach. There are actually 2 problems with this. The voltage drop on those long tiny wires is substantial. That's why lots of folks running lead acid claim that they get to the campground and the batteries go flat real fast or were never fully charged. The 2nd issue is that when charging LifePo4 batteries they will accept or draw about as much power as they can. This can appear as a short circuit on the tow vehicle charging wire. It looks like a dead battery because it is prepared to draw 80 amps or more and that tiny wire isn't designed to provide much current. Even when using lead acid, the tow vehicle should never be hooked up to a trailer with a dead battery and there are several warnings found on the internet about this. Here's one I copied from a web site: Important! When using the auxiliary pin in the 7 pin box, It is not recommended to connect a vehicle with charged batteries to a trailer with discharged batteries (below 12.5 volts.) The fuse will protect the circuit, but current flow can be very high. Charge the trailer batteries first, and monitor their state of charge. If you have a nice size solar panel or two and a charge controller, you can get away without having to charge your new LifePo4 batteries from the tow vehicle, generator or shore power most of the time. There are times when parked in the trees and in those times, you can fire up the generator and plug in your LifePo4 charger and top things off.
Thanks for your detailed info. If you have another look you'll see that they are wired correctly. The positive cable from the trailer goes to one battery and the negative cable from the trailer goes to the other battery. It's my understanding that the difference in the battery drain is caused by the slight differences in the cells in each battery. Renogy, on their website says "This is a very common and typical occurrence. Even the slightest disparities in internal cell voltages, state of charge, cell resistance, BMS resistance, and even the voltage drop of the mosfets can result in the two separate battery strings carrying different amounts of current." Your other point about charging the batteries from the tow vehicle is valid. I've seen a lot of discussion on that topic and possibly damaging the alternator. When it comes to using shore power, I've discharged the batteries down to 0% and recharged them from shore power and didn't have any problems other than the fact that it took a few days to charge them right up as opposed to about 10 hours charging them directly with a charger. Thanks for checking my work. I'm certainly not an expert at this.
Great video, and thanks for the explanation! I have a 2005 camper and am considering the swap. I understand that the converter I have now will only charge the battery to 80%, but would it be ok if I also added a 200 watt solar panel with a charge controller in conjunction with the on board converter? Would that possibly help with the charging of the LifePo4 battery? We only use the camper on Saturday nights at the racetrack and the camper will not be used all week until the following Saturday. Just curious of your input. Thanks a bunch!
I'm not an expert in this field. As I understand it the lithium batteries need a higher voltage than lead-acid. I think they need at 14.4 volts. If the converter isn't designed to provide that, it doesn't matter what the power source is. Now, if you bypass the converter completely and charge with a portable smart charger like this one amzn.to/3RoVKL0 that you connect directly to the lithium batteries, it will top them up for you.
Do you not have solar panels on the roof of your trailer which would put some charge back during the day? Roof mounted solar panels are common on our caravans in the UK. We go off grid most of the time and our batteries recharge quite quickly as the sun rises in the morning. I am looking to change my batteries to lithium at the moment, I think they are the way to go nowadays.
I've never installed solar panels on the roof. We mostly camp in Ontario Provincial Parks. Most sites are under a tree canopy with very little sun coming through. The rays that do come through are constantly moving as the day progresses. In most cases I think I would only get a small charge each day so it's not worth the expense. That's why I went with a portable solar generator. At least I can move the panels into the sunshine as it moves on through. I can also take it to the beach with me and charge it up in full sunshine.
Jan 28 - tried booking a Canada Day Weekend Provincial Park campsite - woke up bright and early - tried to reserve at exactly 7am and the few remaining sites (ppl book a longer stay and cancel the unwanted dates later for a small fee) were gone immediately! This really makes a point to buy lithium as when I check non-electrical sites, there are plenty still available. It's become really competitive now for electrical sites. I see the price you reviewed has dropped to $357 for the 12v since your review ($619), but alas, sold out. There's another model available, but no Bluetooth, which I really want. I also noticed they sell a 24V model - would this be a good option rather than buying 2 x 12v batteries?
I hear what you're saying. Now that we have the 2 LiFePO4 batteries and a 1200W power station with solar panel we can do extended stays without power. It's much easier to get a reservation for a non-electric site. The price on the LiFePO4 batteries is really dropping. Around Christmas time I saw on Amazon.ca that they were selling two AOlithium 100Ah batteries for $635. That's half the price from what it was when I made the video in September. I don't think I should mention the price anymore because it becomes out of date so quickly. I don't think you can use the 24V model as you need it to be 12V for your system. You can get a 12V 200Ah battery then you only have one larger battery rather than two batteries. I'd definitely get one with the Bluetooth. It's invaluable to see how much of a draw is coming out of your battery when different things are turned out. It really helps with power conservation. I just looked online and it looks like AOlithium is sold out everywhere. Maybe try for another brand that offers Bluetooth. I can't recommend any off the top of my head. You'll have to do some research. Or, hold off because we have a few months before camping season and maybe they'll become available again. Good luck and happy camping!
@@CampingwiththeColes Thanks very much Ben - I've sent them a message through their website asking when they'll replenish. That was crazy this morning. We generally camp for 4 days max, so the batteries should do the trick most of the time. Also, once the work week begins we can always shift to an electrical site!
I am guessing you saw Will Prowse test these batteries out ?? I am in the market for some LiFePO4 batts as well, I have found his videos excellent to learn from. We currently have an OffGrid trailer with 200ah of "Flooded" batteries so 100ah useable. I added 200 watts of solar to keep our batteries charged as we drive between sites, we have a small Dometic bar fridge in the galley as well as a Truma fridge/freezer which runs off our house batteries as well as the MaxxFan for comfort at night. We tested at Charleston Lake , with overcast skies we only lasted 3 days before moving our food back to coolersI am assuming you are only running lights and some minor appliances on those batteries ?? and the fridge runs on propane ? Are you considering rooftop solar to augment being in an non-electric site ? Hopefully we get to bump into you guys one day, keep up the great work !!
Yep, I saw the Will Prowse video with all the tests he did. With our set up we ran the fridge and water heater on propane. We had the water pump on, used the lights when we needed to and often had the radio on. I installed a DC plug and two DC USB ports a few years ago, so we charged our phones, watches, many GoPro batteries and even a small charging block to assist in charging up more electronics. I left our auto cooler in the truck. It ran every time we drove somewhere, which was fine just to keep some drinks cool. I didn't bother plugging it into the trailer because I know it's inefficient and draws a consistent 48 watts. The first night we got there we used the furnace but I didn't include that first night in the test because the batteries weren't fully charged when we arrived. The next morning I charged them up with my solar generator to 96% before starting the test. I thought about rooftop solar but decided against it because we are usually camping in Ontario Parks and for the most part the sites are under a tree canopy. I can't see solar being all that useful under those conditions. If we were camping in open RV parks or many of the state parks we've seen, they would be helpful, but no so much here. Our friend's have a little Trillium trailer and I was very surprised to see that they had a fridge that only operated with electricity. When the fridge was on, it was pulling something like 240 watts. If trying to be efficient off grid, I'd be swapping that out with a propane/electric fridge real fast. If you see us out in the wild, don't hesitate to say hi.
Thanks for the very informative video Ben. I've been wanting to switch over for some time now. I'm curious in your 72 hour test, other than lights and the slide, were you running your AC, fans, heaters or microwave during the 3 day test?
The AC, heaters and microwave in our trailer only run when plugged into alternating current (shore power). They don't work on direct current which is what the batteries are. In order to get them to run we'd need to install an inverter and they go for about $1300-$1500. From my research it sounds like even if I installed the inverter I'd only get about 30 minutes of air conditioning per 100Ah battery.
@@CampingwiththeColes Good to know buddy. That makes sense. I'm pretty sure mine will be the same as yours. Thanks again for the info. Hopefully we can try to get together next year for a video.
What about the 7pin tow connector trickle charge. I've heard you have to do a DC-DC inverter or it can cause problems with the draw from your vehicle alternator. Did you just disconnect the 7pin charge while towing and do only Campsite/Solar?
I didn't add a DC to DC charger and I don't take any extra steps when towing. As I understand it the DC to DC charger is necessary to protect the alternator when charging house batteries on a motorhome but not for charging trailer batteries when towing. I'm not getting the batteries fully charged when towing but I'm okay with that. Here is a video that explains it best ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-unCm8M-0F0o.htmlsi=FsvHKTnnGXTj8PK3
Great video what does your fridge run on? Our fridge is 12v and I have been looking into this and solar. Fridge is by far the biggest draw. Our older popup had a propane fridge so power was not as big a concern.
Our fridge is dual power sources, propane and AC electric. A lot of RV fridges nowadays seem to be coming out electric only. Not very good when trying to go off grid.
Thanks for the video. How would you go with charging phones / laptop / camera equipment? would you need an inverter to use the 110 outlets in the trailer or am I missing something?
That's correct, you would need to install an inverter to use the 110 outlets. We used a 1200 Watt power station to take care of all of our 110 needs. We'd plug phones, laptops, camera equipment and even the TV directly into it. If we wanted to use the microwave we plugged the trailer directly into the power station with a 30 amp to 20 amp adapter. If necessary we could use the power station to charge the batteries and recharge the power station with the 240 watt solar panel that we have for it.
@@CampingwiththeColes Thanks Ben. Our scenario would probably be 3 nights max without electricity to help us be more flexible with reservations. We currently have a Starcraft Launch 16RB hybrid trailer. I wonder what would be the most sensible setup in terms of price and efficiency for un-electric camping. Our needs would be the regular - water pump & lights, as well as charging our devices since we take our work with us. So would 2 Lithium batteries and a 1200Watt power station be enough? how much chrging power would 2 laptops and 2-4 phones need for 72 hours? Going the inverter route now seems like an overkill....
@@dmdesign We did 3 nights camping at Killarney without any hook ups. At the end of the trip we still had 54% battery life left. We have two 100ah AOlithium LiFePO4 batteries hooked up in parallel. LiFePO4 batteries can be drained down to 0% so we didn't even use half the available power. We had our water heater and fridge on propane. We had the furnace on for two nights. It only draws power to spark the igniter and the fan to blow it through the vents. Most new trailers now come with a 12V only fridge as opposed to the old standard of 12V/propane. I would think that the 12V fridge would significantly cut down the length of time you could go on just batteries (hopefully yours has the propane option). If you have a fridge you can switch to propane, having the 2 lithium batteries will be plenty of power for you for a 3 day trip. You could probably get away with a smaller power station than our 1200 watt one and save some money. If your just charging up your laptops and phones you could probably get a 300-600 watt one and be fine for the 3 day trip. If you haven't seen our Killarney video you can check it out here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UH-QwaaIXFk.html. At around the 34 minute mark I talk about the battery set up and how well they worked on the trip. I'd say you should be good to go for maybe 5 days with that set up.
A couple more questions Ben if I may......... Are you showering in the RV and washing dishes in the RV and therefore using the water pump? Also, are you producing hot water in the RV, if so I would assume via propane? Do you disconnect the batteries via the switch when travelling so that your truck alternator isn't working to charge them up? My one battery arrives today via UPS and I already purchased the same charger as you from Amazon. For the time being, I won't have the same capacity as you do with the two batteries. I'm looking for a battery box like yours; Princess Auto is sold out of them currently..... Thanks a lot
We had the water heater on the entire time on propane mode. I had one navy shower in the trailer and we used hot water to wash up and dishes. The pump was on most of the time. The fridge was also on the whole time in propane mode. We were actually at the park for 4 nights but it turned out that one of my batteries wasn't fully charged when we got there so I charged it up then started the test the next day. That first night it was cold and we had the furnace on. So running on one battery only for the first 17 hours of the test, using the furnace put the one battery down to 75%. I would think that if you conserve a little you should be able to get at least 3 or 4 nights out of it before it needs to be charged up again. Longer if you don't use the furnace. I read a lot about the truck alternator working to charge up the batteries and I don't think that's much of an issue. I didn't disconnect them at all. I'll see how it goes. The battery boxes on Amazon are a lot more expensive than princess auto. Too bad they're out of stock. I love it as I can store my wheel chocks, jack wrench and WDH wrench and level in there when travelling and my WDH torsion bars in there when parked.
@@CampingwiththeColes Thanks for answering all my questions, I appreciate it and thanks for doing this video too. I'm looking forward to the switch in batteries for next camping season. Looks like you guys had a really busy and fun season...... nice to be retired!
Unfortunately the company is almost impossible to contact them , i phoned them they responded with a text message 1/2 day later , I tried there online chat and got response a day later ,to me this isn’t a chat more like a email , tried contacting them( 3rd time )again 2days later still no response from them , there web site has a lot of wrong information . Be ware !
With a LiFePO4 battery the voltage stays consistently high until the last few percent when it drops off drastically. With a lead acid battery the voltage gradually drops as the percentage goes down. That's a big difference between the two types of batteries.
I've heard a lot of mixed information about that. I haven't done anything to my system and I haven't had a problem yet. I don't expect there to be any issues.
Great video Ben, very well explained! In your research did you discover how you can tell if your stock inverter is lithium compatible? My RV is a 2021 Coachmen Freedom Express 192RBS. Thanks
I opened up the fuse panel area and took a pic of the model number of the converter. I then searched the model number on the manufacturers website. It showed that model just charged lead acid and showed a replacement model that does LiFePO4.
@@CampingwiththeColes Update: Hi again Ben. My '21 Freedom Express came with the same converter that you ordered so no need to upgrade. I just finished placing an order off their website, using your Discount Code. Thanks again for providing this info. It's gonna feel good to replace that SLA battery.
@@CampingwiththeColes You're right! I opted to just go with the one battery, for ease of maintenance and better performance, and will look at a second installed in series maybe later on. I drive an F150 hybrid and it has massive amounts of electricity for us to use when we dry camp.
Your prices quoted seem very high. Ive purchased 5, 12 volt lifepo 100 ah batteries off amazon and ebay recently. The most expensive was $259 US. Cheapest was $219. Lead acid has a big advantage at low temps. Other than that Lifepo is much better.
The price of the AOLithium battery was given in Canadian and US dollars. Everything else was just given in Canadian dollars. Maybe that's why the prices seem high.
@@CampingwiththeColes I just bought 4 more 12 volt, 100 ah Redodo batteries off Amazon for $206 US each plus 7% tax with free shipping. Maybe by the Spring they will be $150 each! ;-) Great name by the way. I am also a Cole. I have some Cole relatives in CA. Vancouver Island area. They migrated from Lacombe.
It is not an easy swap for your starter battery. Internal resistance of lead car batteries is much higher than of lithium batteries. This means much higher current at similar voltage. You simply destroy your alternator and fry your electronics swapping lead for lithium.
From my research, what you're saying is true if you have a motorized RV like a Class A, B or C. It's not the case if you have a trailer. The wiring connecting the trailer to your tow vehicle is too small to allow the amount of current necessary to fry your alternator. Here is a video from the National RV Training Academy on the subject, that I found very helpful.
