Lead to Lithium ?

[Sackmycook]

I have an Exide ER350 80ah marine and leisure batterywhich seems pretty puny. I believe this a Lead battery but not 100% sure.
Looking at dropping a 100ah Lithium in instead. Photo shows the battery and the charger. Would this charger work happily with a new Lithium?

 

[doncarlyon]

Can't find much online about that charger. But it appears to be an AC to DC charger meaning it will only work from the mains.

You're better off replacing it with a suitable DC to DC charger.

 

[Sackmycook]

Jeez, I thought the LB would be charging as I drove along. Thanks for that

 

[Rioja John]

It most probably is as you drive with a split charge relay which aren’t brilliant.
Better off with a Victron Orion 50 amp dc to dc charger.

 

[doncarlyon]

Aye looks like you have a split relay on the floor, with a post-it saying "30" on top of it.

What year is the van?

 

[Sackmycook]

Eu5 2016 T6

 

[Sackmycook]

There are 2 of those relays and I have no idea of what they are for....

 

[doncarlyon]

Supposed to charge the leisure battery from the alternator, but I doubt it will work very well with a T6 due to the smart alternator.

If you want to go lithium, you need a new charger regardless so can rip all that out.

 

[Dellmassive]

Eu5 2016 T6

Dc-dc charger needed to a add in a lithium.

 

[Sackmycook]

What would be the best non-lithium battery option if I keep the charger set-up as is?

 

[doncarlyon]

You may need to look at adding a pair of batteries if you want more capacity without going lithium.

Looks like you have a decent amount of space.

 

[Sackmycook]

Yes, loads of space and it seems to work reasonably well as is, but the leisure battery drops from 100%SOC to 65% with sitting still for 4 days, voltage from 13.2 down to 12.4, so I'm guessing its not in the best condition.
Happy for recommendations for Non-Lithium.

 

[Dellmassive]

A pair of 100ah AGMs.

Ie the loach Xtreme.

 

[Ayjay]

Maybe I got unlucky but my van was fitted with a Leoch which lasted under 3 years before a sudden death - It was always looked after and never allowed to run down too far. When it died, I swore a lot because we had just started out on a long trip but then took opportunity to upgrade to a Renogy Smart Battery along with a new DC/DC charger when we got home and haven’t looked back.

 

[CAB]

What fridge do you have, is it the 3-way?

If so, you probably won't need extreme capacity.

I'm sure ours was a 72Ah lead acid, and it was still 12.3v after 2 nights off grid, even using the diesel heater.

 

[Sackmycook]

Yes, 3 way fridge

 

[CAB]

So, unless you want to go down the inverter route, a single battery should suffice.

Presumably just lights, phone chargers, water pump, diesel heater?

Even though we only had the split relay and smart alternator, I never thought the leisure battery was undercharged. I was worried about the mains charger, which was different to yours, as it seemed to keep the battery at very high voltage at times. But yours looks designed for the job, mine was described as a Caravan power supply!

Edit: and if you ever do go Lithium, you'll want to keep the split relay to power the fridge when driving.

 

[Sackmycook]

Hmm, that's interesting. We won't have anything above what you mention needs wise and also have the Jackery 500 which I'm hoping could give battery a boost via the EHU and the jackery solar plugged into it. Just a bit concerned about the battery losing charge whilst it sat for a few days. Maybe I'm worrying too much.
Hopefully going away for a week in Sept so that will be a good test