Need help on choosing among of batteries

[czunc]

I am in the process of adding lithium batteries and a victron Mulitplus II to our 25fb airstream. I already purchased a 400 amph battery and cant decide if I want to add a 2nd while they are still on sale. We rarely boondock longer than a week at a time so I'm not sure if I need that much power in reserve. We only carry 400w of solar on the roof so theres no way our solar would recharge 800amph of batteries.

These batteries are 21"l x 11"w and weigh 80lbs each. I'm installing under the bed so I have room but not sure its worth the extra weight

any recommendations??

[Bill M.]

electric fridge or propane?

I think only you can decide. And you know the weights. It would be a nice rig with that much power. My 2 agm batteries weight 70 lbs each. Our 25' has about 600 lbs overhead left after we are loaded.

[1StreamDream]

If your trailer is a 2017 I am guessing that means propane fridge ? I have a 2015 flying cloud, 25' RBT, and I have also converted to lithium, but I have 3 x 100aH of individual batteries, so my total is 300aH and I feel like I have plenty to go days on end, so long as we are being conservative in electrical usage. If you are like me, 400aH should be way more than adequate, but if you want to watch lots of TV, power a satellite dish, run the microwave lots, then perhaps you might benefit from having a larger battery bank. It really comes down to your individual usage profile ... if your electrical use is conservative, I think you have more than enough at 400aH. The weight should not be an issue, lithium weighs less than lead acid by a wide margin, but I don't have specifics to offer on that.

[czunc]

We have the stock propane fridge but I do plan to install a new compressor fridge soon. The absorption fridge struggles in Texas heat.

I currently have 1, 400ah lithium battery form Ampere Time. adding a 2nd wouldn't be that big of a deal except for the loss of storage space under the bed

fyi, I've known several people that have had really good luck with these batteries

[Tyler2you]

I think I'd run with the 1 400 AH battery for a season and see how it works for you. I wouldn't worry too much about a sale price as it seems like prices are still ticking down a bit on the Chinese LifePO4 batteries. If you think you might add more solar down the road, maybe consider adding the extra capacity at that time.

[Glen Carter]

Only you can decide. Part will depend on the sale price and the need for more power... Where do you conserve energy and where would you use the extra capacity.... The MPII has more 120V capacity which can run the microwave and the A/C (with soft start) and if Airstream is rewired for that, and how you intend to use it. Budget too!

I will be installing 800Ah in my motorhome, however it'll be 100% electric, no propane. 1600W solar.

[davetoregon]

I don't have any technical expertise on why but several Li battery manufacturers that I have contacted say "don't mix battery brands". I have LifeBlue and wanted to add a Chinese direct battery at half the price. But LifeBlue and the Chinese manf. said "no, not recommended".

[richard5933]

In my experience, the more battery capacity we have the more it frees us up to do different types of camping and to roam further from hookups.

Although your solar alone may not be able to fully recharge the expanded battery bank, it will still give you an extended range if fully charged before leaving home. You can also charge while driving with the right setup on a DC-to-DC charger.

I've also seen that we don't tend to dry camp/boondock for days and days on end, as we need to come to a site with hookups once in a while to dump, fill water tanks, etc. During those times you can fully charge as well.

My thought would be that if you have room, and if you have 80 pounds of spare weight capacity, go for it.

[ASFC25_2019]

I would go for it too! More power storage the batter. While you are at in the add-on DC-DC charger, I have installed https://www.redarcelectronics.com/us/, which is the 50 Amp chargers. Most alternators can handle the load. We have 960 Ahs of battery storage with 800 Watts of solar. It takes four days to charge up to 100 percent when not using the trailer. So the DC to DC charger helps. I would add two chargers if your tow vehicle can handle the load. Those are much better than solar. : cheers and good luck with your decision.

[steilkurve]

I would go for it. When I did my upgrade, I was planning on going from 200 to 400AH. Along the way, I decided I had the space to add a 5th Battleborn battery. I now have 500AH and don't regret it at all. If you spend any kind of time off grid, you'll never complain of having too much stored power!

[sandman227]

Originally Posted by czunc

I am in the process of adding lithium batteries and a victron Mulitplus II to our 25fb airstream. I already purchased a 400 amph battery and cant decide if I want to add a 2nd while they are still on sale. We rarely boondock longer than a week at a time so I'm not sure if I need that much power in reserve. We only carry 400w of solar on the roof so theres no way our solar would recharge 800amph of batteries.

These batteries are 21"l x 11"w and weigh 80lbs each. I'm installing under the bed so I have room but not sure its worth the extra weight

any recommendations??

Depends on what you are intending to run on battery power (add up all the watts and see if you have enough battery capacity) But my general rule of thumb is to have at least 2X the solar wattage as the battery amps. So for 400 amps of battery you need at least 800 watts of solar and so forth. Your current solar setup with 400 watts of panels is probably providing about 33 amps/hr of recharge so it would take about 12 hours of sunlight to fully recharge your current batteries depending on the power draw.

[JohnTF]

A question with no data = is unanswerable !

Measure & record your power consumption - then like some posts have stated ---- only you can answer the question

[TouringDan]

You can never have too much battery capacity or solar, especially if you are planning on going to a compressor fridge. It also frees you from the need to always plug in.

We have 300 Ah of lithium and 400 watts of solar and never plug in unless we need air conditioning for more than one night.

We also have the ability to charge the lithium batteries from the converter when we are driving, just like being plugged into shore power.

Dan

[OTRW22]

We upgraded to our Victron system with 600w of solar and 500ah of Battleborns. In addition to the solar we have a 40a DC/DC charger running from the TV. We also replaced the condenser refrigerator with a 12/120v compressor unit. We unplugged the compressor fridge from AC and run only on 12v to avoid conversion loss. Being able to easily boondock while traveling between points A and B without worrying about running out of juice is great. But what is probably even better is the fact that our Victron system supplements shore power when needed. Our trailer is 50a and in the heat of summer we run both AC units. When shore power is limited to 30a our batteries make up the difference. This got us through some pretty intense heat waves in Southern California this last summer. Similarly, we weathered some bad ice storms in Oregon this winter on 30a shore power while using an electric space heater when temps weren't below freezing - of course we ran the propane furnace when temps dipped below freezing to heat the belly pan. We have no regrets on the considerable amount of money we spent on our electrical system upgrades.

[steilkurve]

Originally Posted by OTRW22

But what is probably even better is the fact that our Victron system supplements shore power when needed. Our trailer is 50a and in the heat of summer we run both AC units. When shore power is limited to 30a our batteries make up the difference.

I second that. The power assist feature of Victron MultiPlus devices was almost as big for us as the AH bump!