Lithium- probably the best decision I have made!

I have a lithium battery as well. On its second year now without any problems even when using the motor mover.  Mine cost less than £1000 new but it has other savings as well considering it weighs a lot lot less than a conventional leisure battery and the dimensions are smaller also. I can lift this one and take it into the garage easily which is a major benefit to me over the standard batteries.

It isn't always about just being one above anyone else.  Its a strength issue with me. I can't carry the same weight as I used to (Knee replacements)

I'm with you on this one Merve Worth every penny as far as im concerned

As a prospective future adopter, I've been digging and have formed the following thoughts and opinions.

A consideration is how you use your battery, most  on gridders using hook ups probably don't cycle their battery more than 20% which means in reality a 100 ah lead  acid battery is overkill and a similar capacity lithium even more so. So a 60 ah lead acid or a 45ah lithium would do. At this cycle rate lead acid will last 1000's of cycles and lithium probably much more.

For off gridders the situation is slightly different. Cycling a lead acid at 80% capacity can reduce lead acid battery life to less than 1000 cycles maybe even 500 especially in climates over 25C . Also the higher the discharge rate with lead acid the lower the available capacity so a 100ah battery may only deliver 50ah at a high current eg with an inverter running, hence the need for more batteries. In this situation lithium makes a lot of sense as at even higher current rates over 80 plus% of capacity can be had plus they can deep cycle with much less impact on life and are less susceptible to high temperature effects. So in reality you don't need to replace like for like Ah capacity when changing from lead acid to lithium, I reckon a 70 Ah lithium would do a much better job than a 100ah lead acid in off grid situations. This makes the cost less and the weight saving more attractive, something to consider when deciding to change or not. Or maybe it would make sense to use weight saving to upgrade solar to give faster charging depending on priorities.

Personally I will hang on a bit until more is known about real lifetimes of lithium in user applications, about when my current lead acid gives up I suspect!

A good considered posting IMO, "viatorem"; the main gainers are without doubt going to be the off EHU campers.

Points I would add:-

There can be complications with sorting suitable charging, from mains, from towcar and from solar if the correct charging electronics are not already integrated into the Lithium battery's BMS itself. All kit now readily available but adding cost and probably making already owned kit redundant.

I also feel that  the usable capacity, if the claimed longevity is to be yielded needs to both limit the maximum charge adopted and limit the depth of discharge. So you ought use a figure quite a bit short of the label value.

It would be interesting to do a cost comparison. I know Lithium may provide excellent service in less than ideal circumstances for the humble lead alternative but i'm not convinced of the considerable extra costs involved. I also acknowledge that for some environments the lithium route is also advantageous. However, In 40 years+ I've never had a battery fail and with only just a few instances of compromise have we ever really missed a single household appliance or entertainment device. Yes, I've exchanged like for like batteries on exchanging vehicles at no additional visible cost so possibly I've been lucky.

We have really enjoyed adopting that old fashioned 'caravanning' mentality of finding alternative solutions to living in our van probably as much as others enjoy providing that all signing, all dancing carry on as at home approach to our commonly held leisure activity.

For a constructive price comparison, it would be best first to state the requirements one asks of a 12 volt system.

If for example you want it to power any 240 VAC kit you might use, say a microwave, a toaster or domestic vacuum cleaner and so support a 2kW inverter. Here the DC current drain will be so high that with any realistic weight of LA batteries you might carry they will be so abused that they will need replacing in very quick order. So, given the 20/25 year Lithium life claims one could argue you would be buying a lot of LA batteries over that period and structure a case.

However, many in my circle of off EHU friends find we get along quite adequately with lower aspirations, forging an electric toaster, the microwave etc, the very high drain items. We have a couple or three of hours of TV in the evening, recharge any USB devices, use the LED lighting, power the heater from our generally single battery, and get 6 to 8 years of decent charge retention if we buy carefully and treat them kindly. Plus, our van's come configured to charge LA batteries when on a home EHU, when towed and more recently from solar.

Good as Lithium technology is, I would suggest for the second type of user I described, at the current pricing of it and its associated kit, it presently has no cost advantage, very much the opposite.

Hopefully things will change, but unless my pattern of usage radically alters, it is quality LA for me currently on a cost basis. The techno anorak in me would love to go Lithium, but I could only do so if kidding myself and my accountant it was not actually too expensive.

Merve, I spoke to Road pro and asked them to price the parts that I would need for a lithium set up. The battery, charger, charge controller and inverter came out at £3,700. That was without the solar panel and fitting.

I thought this to be a bit on the pricy side.. You mention it cost you £1500. I would happily pay that. Could you let me have a breakdown of what you have and what each part cost.please. I am very keen on the idea but there are limits. Thanks in advance.

Mitsi, I do apologise for not checking this thread and replying. Please contact me at ynotkickaroonow@hotmail.com and I will give you the details gladly. Please indicate on the thread that it is you that has sent me the email. 

In 5 years time you may well have 200+ kwh of batteries sitting in your car next to your van in which case the whole game will change - you probably won't even need a battery in the van and solar panels will be a total waste of time.

I suspect in our case we will not, even if there is that option, the implicit depreciation on our new Disco would ensure it will still have to be towing our van. That makes buying into lithium look like petty cash.

Merve, can you not detail the costings of your whole lithium conversion for all of us to see, to substantiate your earlier claim "I can assure you that I spent less than £1500 all in."?

From your other postings of the specific kit you have, I simply can't get near that price, even with normally possible discount levels.