How to thrive on a non 240v site!

Should still be in warranty it's 10 year.

Is this one of the blue ones Tirril? If it is, I hope mine doesn’t develop the fault. I’m sure Safefill will assist. 

No tin hat needed , just the realisation that in some far distant future when the equipment that is needed for what you desire, will be light enough when fitted to LAs that are far lighter than now on the market and all batt powered ,you might not be far wrong,  but until then you can but put it on your wish list

I have just attended a webinar held by Relion Batteries called ‘A deep dive into the advantages of Lithium batteries ‘ This was talking about the Lithium Ion Phosphate Battery  or LiFePO4. They will be holding more webinars over the next few months. All I can say is thank goodness I made the switch. The advantages over the standard Lead Acid Battery are amazing. Half the weight, safety in that they are totally dry so no spills of acid or any fumes given off, (and no fire risk) deep cycles in their thousands, if charged- discharge at 2-3% a month, the ability to be able to partially charge a Lithium without damage unlike the LA which need a full charge,   the amount of power available to the user far outstrips a LA battery,  10 times and more the life expectancy of LA batteries, making Lithium over a 10 yr period half the price and indeed less than that of a of a Lead Acid or AGM when maintenance costs and replacements are taken into account.  The Lithium Battery is truly a leap forward. Don’t look at the initial price difference- look at, and research,  the big picture and you will seriously think about getting one. They work out much cheaper in the end! 

If my age wasn't against me, I could be convinced notwithstanding the substantial capital outlay. Those of us with medical issues also are unable to project that far ahead to make it viable.

+1 Merve👍🏻, in the future Batteries will(literally) become the new fossil fuel, it will sound the death knell of oil as a fuel.

I sympathise with you Cyber and understand where you are coming from. Age, is something we have no control over but at 66 I thought it a move worth making and so far🤞- I am happy- very happy with it. I could have easily posted in the ‘tips to save money’ thread but it would have seemed strange to be promoting an item of £1k to save money but it really is cheaper if you are of an age to take advantage of it- I can only hope that I see a few years yet. Lithium phosphate batteries or LiFePO4 are, at the present time, the future but as I have said before, battery technology is moving very quickly  and the chance of further discovery’s  being made is higher than it’s been for quite some time. With the advent of the EV, needs must! It remains though, that at present, the Lithium Phosphate battery is, without doubt, vastly superior in every way to its old forbear- the Lead Acid. 

I sympathise with you too Cyber and wish you well.  We do not know for whom the bell tolls and we could all find ourselves looking up at the underside of a bus 

I too am looking into a lithium ion battery for when my lead acid battery gives up the ghost but note the exorbitant initial outlay.  I wonder if I could set up crowd funding to pay for it?  While I get further advice on that I have commissioned an architect to design a large extension to my money box.  But things are looking up - only this afternoon I received notification from Euromillions that I had won the princely sum of £3.  Sadly no zeros followed that digit but it was still a lovely surprise!

DD 

"10 times and more the life expectancy of LA batteries, making Lithium over a 10 yr period half the price and indeed less than that of a of a Lead Acid or AGM when maintenance costs and replacements are taken into account."

Not knocking LiFePO4 technology but how can this claim be possibly justified?

I suggest most users will get 5 years from a £120 lead acid leisure battery. Therefore, in ten years have a capital cost of £240. I am not seeing an addition maintenance cost over that of LiFePO4 other than a £1 bottle of deionised water if not buying into VRLA sealed technology.

So, the LA user in 10 years has a cost of £240, where is that  LiFePO4 battery for half that cost?

I accept if into running a microwave that will hugely abuse any realistically sized LA batteries, thus getting a few months life from them, the arguments change, but not for the typical user.

Hi Ocsid. Yes, I absolutely agree that the ‘normal user’ should get 5 years from a £120 Battery- I’d  be miffed if I didn’t! But he’ll never do anything exceptional with it. He’ll take minute amounts of power from it to power his lights and pumps and probably his television and all the time have a 240v cable stuck in the side of the van. 

However, let’s not compare apples with oranges. I know by experience that using a lead acid battery in the same way as I use my Lithium would damage that LA Battery in short order. I’ve done it. When they are new they are fine but they very quickly start to lose power. On a lead acid battery - even the best have about 300 deep cycles and each cycle will reduce the capacity of that battery. With the lithium those deep cycles are in their thousands and with no damage or at least no damage of any significance. 

So, try using a lead acid in the same way as I use my lithium and very quickly, you will find that you are beginning to notice a reduction of power in the lead acid. To continue to get what I get out of my lithium time after time, you will need to go and spend another £240 on two batteries because don’t forget, you will need 2 LA batteries to acquire the same power  because they are flat at 50% whereas the lithium (100ah) will go on right up to about 5% SoC without damage and can be quickly recharged and off we go again. They are amazing and they are the obvious choice for someone like me who has chosen to be offgrid. They are the natural choice. Now to deal with the cost comparisons. 

Lithium they say, have a useful lifespan of 20- 25 yrs. the capacity is not degraded quickly like the LA. It keeps its capacity and even after 4 or 5 years, they are still at 99% capacity! Try that with LA that has been used in the same way! How many LA batteries are you going to have to buy in 20yrs to continue being offgrid efficiently and keeping up with the Lithium? £240 x 6? 7? 8? 

That is where the 1/2 cost comes in and that’s not counting the small fortune  saved by being able to use non EHU sites. Take us for an example. We are away about 60 nights a year. Instead of £15 I normally pay £5 or £6 but if it’s  an exceptional site it might be £8!  (but if it had EHU it would be £18) so I reckon that a saving of £10 a night is about right but let’s say £8 just to be conservative. £60 x 8 is £480. Now you will know that some of us are away many more nights than 60 so the savings increase. Even 60 nights has recouped almost 1/2 of my battery cost in ONE year has it not? So not only is my battery  being paid for by site fee savings, I am also able to enjoy what the EHU supplies. But at a massively reduced cost. The famous saying is- “It’s like wild camping with hook up”

Your last paragraph says it all and thank you for that.  You can’t compare apples with oranges or LAs with Lithium. Just as a footnote, I remember talking about lithiums few years ago and the overwhelming opinion at that time was that they were dangerous due to them having a safety issue regarding bursting into flames, The LiFePO4 battery or the Lithium Ion Phosphate Battery is not the same beast and is totally safe. It does not suffer with thermal run away. It’s the battery off gridders have been waiting for!