LifePO4 upgrade plus inverter

[mbee123]

It looks like my 130Ah Lead acid battery is U/S so I'm looking for a replacement/upgrade and also adding an inverter mainly for charging ebikes (Charger - 48V x 5A)

A couple of decent buys showing on EcoWorthy's website:-

12V 200Ah LiFePO4 Lithium Battery | ECO-WORTHY - £600
LiFePO4 12V 100Ah Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery | ECO-WORTHY - £310

A long shot but does anyone have the above 200 Ah and tried to install it across the width under the drivers seat as it looks really tight on width and height (365 x 194 x 252)

Would prefer the higher capacity which would enable me to charge 2 x bikes several times over a few days space permitting

I currently have a C-Tek D250SE with a 100 W solar connected so I do not have to change my DC-DC charger

I'm looking at the Renogy 1000W inverter at £130 which i believe would be ample for 2 bike chargers :-

1000W 12V to 230V/240V Pure Sine Wave Inverter With English Standard Socket (with UPS Function)

Whether for a van or a cabin, the Renogy 1000W Pure Sine Wave Power Inverter acts as a DC to AC converter that allows you to power your household appliances.

uk.renogy.com

16mm cables between C-Tek and battery and 30A fuses at present which hopefully would be adequate

Appreciate any advice, suggestions and any pitfalls or something i've missed that anyone can see

Thanks....

 

[Stay Frosty]

Put chunky wires between the battery and the Renogy inverter as I've got the 1000W and it pulls about 88A at 13.2 V when outputting the 1kw at 230Vac.
I've got to change the fuse type and holder on mine as I've blown an 80A and 100A on the leads to the inverter but the fuses were the glass tube type AGU that you might use on car audio, need to go midi, the leads are 16 mm2 but only about 400 mm long.
I've got the Roamer seatbase 230Ah but that Ecoworthy looks great value.

 

[roadtripper]

What's your current EHU charger (if any) as that will also need to be lithium compatible...

 

[roadtripper]

It's a shame there are not more 12v -> 48v DC-DC converters about as if all you want is a bike charger that's a lot less electronics than going 12v DC -> 240v AC -> 48v DC

You'd think ebikes on the back of a camper charging as you drive would be one heck of a sweet spot rather than lugging a tow car like some do?

 

[Dellmassive]

That d250 is ok for a 100ah lithium.

But if your looking at 200ah worth it might be a bit weak... 20A for 10 hour drive? . Per day, if you was to run the bank down each day?

So a good starting point, but you may quickly find out that it takes too long to recharge.


Same with the solar, 100w will be 6A max, but more like 4A during sunny day.

So you might need to split the solar off the D250 to a dedicated victron mppy, then add some extra mobile panels to help feed in enough power.

For example I run 230ah worth of lithium.

Use a 50A dc-dc charger set to 30A. ( charge when driving)

And a 400w panel array on the roof. ( when static camping)

1000/2000w renogy inverter.

That will see me self sufficient for most situations.

 

[mbee123]

What's your current EHU charger (if any) as that will also need to be lithium compatible...

Hi, I don't have an installed one, just a general one I use for everything which I am aware is not compatible, tbh I have only ever had to charge my current battery a handful of times as my B2B and Solar seem to give me what i need 99% of the time although as stated i am now looking at charging my ebike so there will be more demands on the battery

 

[Dellmassive]

I've not tried the Eco-Worthy lifepo4s.

But they have been around a while now and definitely at the lower end of the price scale.

I've seen a few people having them fitted.

You need to check the spec sheet with diligence.

Check the,

Charge cycles,
Charge rate,
Discharge rate,
Temp range,
Safety protections,
BMS features.

Most lifepo4s come with a Bluetooth APP so you can monitor the power and state of charge....

If that battery doesn't have one you can add a victron smartshunt to add that feature.... but it will cost £150, so weigh up all the pros and cons.

More info..

Dellmassive’s "How I Done It" blogs.

-- Dellmassive`s -- "How I Done It" -- thread -- ************************************************** Dellmassive`s -- "how I Done It" -- Thread ************************************************** Kit List And Stuff -- How I Done It & What I Use --...

www.t6forum.com

....

 

[Stay Frosty]

Hi, I don't have an installed one, just a general one I use for everything which I am aware is not compatible, tbh I have only ever had to charge my current battery a handful of times as my B2B and Solar seem to give me what i need 99% of the time although as stated i am now looking at charging my ebike so there will be more demands on the battery

Have to agree with the need for a lithium profile charger as I've only used mine once prior to actually using the setup when actually camping, since then the battery hasn't dropped below 86% full.
My ambition is to get rid of the gas bottle especially with the Renogy 2kw inverter being £230 and the 3kw £250, it's just the siting of the fairly hefty sized inverter close to the battery due to those mahoosive incoming 13V feeds.

 

[mbee123]

That d250 is ok for a 100ah lithium.

But if your looking at 200ah worth it might be a bit weak... 20A for 10 hour drive? . Per day, if you was to run the bank down each day?

So a good starting point, but you may quickly find out that it takes too long to recharge.


Same with the solar, 100w will be 6A max, but more like 4A during sunny day.

So you might need to split the solar off the D250 to a dedicated victron mppy, then add some extra mobile panels to help feed in enough power.

For example I run 230ah worth of lithium.

Use a 50A dc-dc charger set to 30A. ( charge when driving)

And a 400w panel array on the roof. ( when static camping)

1000/2000w renogy inverter.

That will see me self sufficient for most situations.

Thanks for taking time out to respond

I tend to use my van for two separate roles:-

1 - General camping where the current battery/solar set up has been fine in all but a few occasions but obviously the extra capacity of either the 100 or 200 Lithium would be a bonus
2 - Mountain biking for a day or two when I would like to charge the bike battery 2 times max I would think so I don't think I'd need it to put all the charge back in quickly

My mate who I go biking with has a Jackerey 1000 Wh which has a built in LifePO4 46.4Ah and 1000W inverter, which gives a single charge to his 750 Wh battery in a real scenario, so using a very basic calculation a 200 Ah battery should give me 3 charges and enough left to do the rest (Fridge, USB, lights etc) without taking into account any help from the solar/DC-DC.

Using the same thought process a 100 Wh would give me one ebike charge and enough to do the rest

Let me know if the above sounds correct please

 

[Stay Frosty]

@mbee123 I should have said but I've got two Renogy 175W flexible panels on the pop top so on a sunny day I can be banking 10A on top of the Waeco pulling nearly 4A.

 

[mbee123]

@mbee123 I should have said but I've got two Renogy 175W flexible panels on the pop top so on a sunny day I can be banking 10A on top of the Waeco pulling nearly 4A.

Yeah, I know there are limitations with the C-Tek re Solar input hence me going for a 100W (and it was cheap!!) but I could add a panel in the future

 

[roadtripper]

Thanks for taking time out to respond

I tend to use my van for two separate roles:-

1 - General camping where the current battery/solar set up has been fine in all but a few occasions but obviously the extra capacity of either the 100 or 200 Lithium would be a bonus
2 - Mountain biking for a day or two when I would like to charge the bike battery 2 times max I would think so I don't think I'd need it to put all the charge back in quickly

My mate who I go biking with has a Jackerey 1000 Wh which has a built in LifePO4 46.4Ah and 1000W inverter, which gives a single charge to his 750 Wh battery in a real scenario, so using a very basic calculation a 200 Ah battery should give me 3 charges and enough left to do the rest (Fridge, USB, lights etc) without taking into account any help from the solar/DC-DC.

Using the same thought process a 100 Wh would give me one ebike charge and enough to do the rest

Let me know if the above sounds correct please

The lower power inverters can be cheaper and a lot easier to deal with the wiring and heat.

The spec of your current charger is 48 x 5 = 240w, apply an 80% fudge factor for losses in the inverter and charger and we get 300w.

So you could look at a 300w inverter, maybe a 500w with some headroom.

Having said that the 1000w Renogy is a decent price right now, has the very neat mains transfer switch (they call it UPS but that alone can cost as much as the inverter as a seperate unit) and 1000w is a sweet spot for enough mains power for most things without having to use cables that look like garden hose pipes.

 

[mbee123]

The lower power inverters can be cheaper and a lot easier to deal with the wiring and heat.

The spec of your current charger is 48 x 5 = 240w, apply an 80% fudge factor for losses in the inverter and charger and we get 300w.

So you could look at a 300w inverter, maybe a 500w with some headroom.

Having said that the 1000w Renogy is a decent price right now, has the very neat mains transfer switch (they call it UPS but that alone can cost as much as the inverter as a seperate unit) and 1000w is a sweet spot for enough mains power for most things without having to use cables that look like garden hose pipes.

Yes seems a decent price and would enable me to charge 2 x ebikes at the same time