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Old 02-01-2022, 06:09 PM   #41
JRTJH
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We regularly dry camp 2, sometimes 3 weeks monthly (4 day trips 2 or 3 times a month) and a 6-8 week trip in the winter where we almost always have full hookups. The rest of the time, our trailer is either plugged in beside the house or is in the pole barn in winter storage.

We spent $160 on two GC2 batteries in 2013 when we bought the trailer. We replaced them in 2021 because of a clearance sale at Sam's Club. Until I saw the special email pricing, I was not even considering replacement batteries until "a year or two from now". They were still performing well and, if we weren't taking the boat with us, we often didn't take the generator for those short trips. We'd just do without the microwave and use the Melita coffee maker.

We don't "skimp on battery use" but we also don't turn on the awning lights and go sit at the boat dock. We conserve but don't do without.

I've never had the battery voltage drop below 11.6VDC but it is often around 11.7 VDC by the time we pull in the slides and hitch the trailer to return home. That's discharging to a SOC of around 25% as an average.

Our experience has been that without any "solar influence" and without spending more than $400 for both sets of batteries, assuming (I know) that we get comparable service from this set as we did from the first, we'll have, 6 years from now, a total of 14 years of dry camping with a battery expense that's half the price of a single lithium battery.

As we both agree, battery choice is not a clear cut decision in selecting one or the other technologies. For us, the choice was different from yours. Reading about both experiences gives those who are in the decision process "real life accounts" on which to ponder their decisions....
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Old 02-01-2022, 06:49 PM   #42
sourdough
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Originally Posted by Javi View Post
Y'all have convinced me that I never, ever want to get more than 20 feet from a 50 amp pedestal without 20,000 amp hours of super magical Lithium iron batteries and a 300 acre solar farm. ��
You're right Javi; life will stop seems like if we all don't accept that the only way to get decent 12v power is to have several banks of lithium batteries/solar....sorry. People have been camping, on and off grid, for decades without thousands of dollars of solar panels OR lithium batteries. I'm good....
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Old 02-02-2022, 05:41 AM   #43
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Like most things in life it boils down to common sense. The "common sense" approach to me means the system should meet the needs, i.e find out what the anticipated useage will be and set up an appropriate system to fullfill those requirements. Like most things there is no "one size fits all". For the "average" owner there's no need for a fullblown, multi solar array and battery bank fit to run a submarine unless you either want to waste money, or you want to hold your croth and grunt while bragging about your "supersized" system.
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Old 08-02-2023, 06:29 PM   #44
Raptor 429
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I sure would like someone to explain why the big excitement about lithium batteries for RV's.
1. I can find 12 vt lithium batteries with about 100ah. but the cost is about 500 to 800 Bucs. I need at least 450 amps for my toy hauler to keep my fridge running all night without generator. Do the math. close to 3000 dollars if go with the supposedly top of the line
2. I now have 4 Trojan 105's that comes out to 450AH. Total cost of these batteries are 400. locally
Now. The Lithiums are much light sure, and supposedly last a lot longer. My Trojan's have always lasted me over 5 years. I've had 3 sets in the last 25 years. It just doesn't make sense to me to spend that kind of money, and probably need a different charger, just to "SAY" you have the latest and greatest.
PLEASE someone explain to me why I should get a much more expensive lower AH battery. Am I Missing something here. Thanks.. just trying to understand
So I have toyed with purchasing one of those large 50 amp home power packs. To me if your going to spend a few thousand dollars you should at least be able to run 1 ac unit. There are a number of them on the market. I just ran a search for 50 amp power station and the "ecoflow" brand popped up. Theirs is around $3000 for my requirements but I've seen other brands around $2500. If you don't want to mess with solar, just a decent battery pack can do anything from get you by to keeping all your creature comforts alive.

I would be interested to hear from anyone that has experience running off a power station during quiet hours and how well it works in real life.

I have a small pack to get us through quiet hours when we can't run a generator. It would be excellent to have ac, wifi and coffee before 7am.
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Old 08-03-2023, 05:29 AM   #45
foldbak
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BeemerJoe View Post
I sure would like someone to explain why the big excitement about lithium batteries for RV's.
1. I can find 12 vt lithium batteries with about 100ah. but the cost is about 500 to 800 Bucs. I need at least 450 amps for my toy hauler to keep my fridge running all night without generator. Do the math. close to 3000 dollars if go with the supposedly top of the line
2. I now have 4 Trojan 105's that comes out to 450AH. Total cost of these batteries are 400. locally
Now. The Lithiums are much light sure, and supposedly last a lot longer. My Trojan's have always lasted me over 5 years. I've had 3 sets in the last 25 years. It just doesn't make sense to me to spend that kind of money, and probably need a different charger, just to "SAY" you have the latest and greatest.
PLEASE someone explain to me why I should get a much more expensive lower AH battery. Am I Missing something here. Thanks.. just trying to understand

https://www.temgot.com/
I bought 2. Night and day from LA batts. 1/3 the weight, never fall below 12 volts, 20 mins of charging for every 10% of discharge, built in BMS and a good review on YouTube. Cost 1/3 of the Battleborns. But wait....here comes sodium-ion......game changer
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