Lithium Batteries

[lonewolftx]

Originally Posted by Salty25

I have a 2021 24RDS; it came with a solar system installed. The solar has been good at keeping the batteries charged since we purchased it.

I am thinking of switching to Lithium batteries; the Battleborn with onboard heater.

The 5er has a Zamp ZS-30A and a Xantrex Freedom X2000.

I went to CW to find out getting the batteries and having them installed. They suggested I get the Expion 360 batteries, since that is what they sell, instead of the BB. They also said I may have to get a different charging system for the Lithium batteries.

I have seen threads of others that have put the BB batteries into their Cougars but no mention of if they had to install a different charging system. I know Lithium batteries need a different charger than AGM or Lead Acid batteries but thought either the Zamp or Xantrex, if not both, only needed to have indicated in their settings.

CW quoted me $3500 min to get this done. Is this what is normally being paid? I was thinking about $2000 for the batteries and a couple hundred for install. Only reason I considered going to CW was to have them deal with disposing of the batteries after they are removed.

Thanks for any tips or info.

Here the 9/1/2022 bill from costco

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by lonewolftx

You can get 2 Lion 105 AH lithium bats for around $1,300 shipped to your house. Worth joining if you aren’t a member. Great batteries and get very positive reviews by utubers. I turned my agm bats into a national auto parts store For a $10 credit each.
https://lionenergy.com/collections/batteries

Wow! $1300 for 2 batteries?
Last rv FLA group 27 batteries I purchased were $130 each at Sam's Club, that's 10 batteries with 2 at a time in my 5er for a minimum of 5 years that $1300 is 25 years worth of batteries, not to mention the price of the converter replacement to charge the lithium.
But the clarify my last 2 5ers never spent even 1 night boondocking, always connected to shore power.
But to each their own!

[Old_Stevenick]

Again the Ampere Time batteries are just as good and much less. Now $349 each.

https://www.amazon.com/LiFePO4-Batte...17e03685&psc=1

[GHen]

Since our current government shut down US lead mines, we still recycle lead, but all new lead comes from other countries, lots from Mexico.
Lead has increased by as much as 40%, at least the type used for ammunition.

I would expect any batteries using lead will continue to increase in price making Lithium batteries more comparable in pricing.

[ScottA]

This is the one I got a few weeks back and very happy with it. Will Prowse tested the version 1 and both liked and didn't like it. This is now version 2 and from a YouTube tear down it looks like they fixed all the problems with version 1.


The price is pretty close to 2 golf cart batteries for the same useful capacity, way more cycles and probably less than 1/3 the weight.

https://www.vatrerpower.com/collecti...-100ah-lifepo4

[vampress_me]

I will second the Lion Energy lithium batteries from Costco. We picked up a pair in ?July?, 2021 for the new Paradigm, and I absolutely love them! They have worked great boondocking when we go up in the mountains. (I do have to admit, with the Paradigm we do just have a switch on the converter/ battery charger between LA and LI).

And, for me, I love the weight of them. Since I’m the one that hauls the camper down to our storage facility for tucking in over winter, I get to remove batteries myself, and reinstall the next spring. Our old Cougar with its one LA battery was a chore for me to get out of the camper. These 2 lithium batteries are a piece of cake to get out and back in the next spring in comparison.

Then, there is the bonus - hubby has retired his sheriff’s badge of the light police when we boondock. He used to police our usage of electricity to the point I would almost want to smack him over the head…

ETA - I just went looking. We bought them in April, 2021, and the price for the 2 was $1399.99. They didn’t raise their prices between us buying them and September, 2022.

[Salty25]

Originally Posted by lonewolftx

Here the 9/1/2022 bill from costco

Must be a local option. The Costco here say they can only get Interstate batteries. I tried the item number online and it comes up with nothing as well.

[Salty25]

Originally Posted by vampress_me

I will second the Lion Energy lithium batteries from Costco.
…

ETA - I just went looking. We bought them in April, 2021, and the price for the 2 was $1399.99. They didn’t raise their prices between us buying them and September, 2022.

Just spent 10 min chatting with online customer service and he said they do not sell those batteries and it must have been purchased at a special event.

Maybe Costco is so big they can't track everything they sell.

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by Salty25

Just spent 10 min chatting with online customer service and he said they do not sell those batteries and it must have been purchased at a special event.

Maybe Costco is so big they can't track everything they sell.

We've been Costco members for a long, long, time, back to when they were Price Club even. I've learned one thing over the years and that is if I'm in there and see something I want I by it right then. All too often it's gone a week or two later and doesn't return. Just my experience.

[Stircrazy]

Originally Posted by travelin texans

Wow! $1300 for 2 batteries?
Last rv FLA group 27 batteries I purchased were $130 each at Sam's Club, that's 10 batteries with 2 at a time in my 5er for a minimum of 5 years that $1300 is 25 years worth of batteries, not to mention the price of the converter replacement to charge the lithium.
But the clarify my last 2 5ers never spent even 1 night boondocking, always connected to shore power.
But to each their own!

you kind of are looking at it wrong, your costco deep cycle batteries are only 208AH and if you want the full life of them you can only usw 50% of the capacity so thats 104AH you can use if you buy two. so 260. and that will last aproximatly 680 cycles. his Li he bought are 100 ah each so 1 will replace the deep cycles you bought so now we are at 650 vs your 260, but at 100% usage the li will last between 3000 and 4000 cycles depending on the brand and type so lets say 3000 so 4.5 ish (i am not doing the exact math) times more cycles , so that like buying 4 to 5 sets of the costco batteries so your 260 is now over 1000 vs 650 for the Li. plus one thaing that people don;t understand is how the cycle life of a LiFePo4 battery differes from a lead asid, a lead asid will not be able to hold a charge at the end of its life and will esentualy be junk. the LifePo4 cycle life is how many cycles it takes to reduce the battery to 80% capacity so after that 3000 cycles you still have a 80AH battery or in the original posters case would be reduces from 200Ah to 160AH after about 10 to 20 years depending on the usage..

Steve

[vampress_me]

Originally Posted by Salty25

Just spent 10 min chatting with online customer service and he said they do not sell those batteries and it must have been purchased at a special event.

Maybe Costco is so big they can't track everything they sell.

They do these specials on the Lion batteries a few times a year, for a couple of weeks. We were not able to buy ours in the store, but had to order them online Costco when the special was going on. If you do a Google search of “Lion energy Costco sale”, the following link is to a Costco page showing when/ where the batteries will be selling. https://www.costco.com/lion-energy-schedule.html

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by Stircrazy

you kind of are looking at it wrong, your costco deep cycle batteries are only 208AH and if you want the full life of them you can only usw 50% of the capacity so thats 104AH you can use if you buy two. so 260. and that will last aproximatly 680 cycles. his Li he bought are 100 ah each so 1 will replace the deep cycles you bought so now we are at 650 vs your 260, but at 100% usage the li will last between 3000 and 4000 cycles depending on the brand and type so lets say 3000 so 4.5 ish (i am not doing the exact math) times more cycles , so that like buying 4 to 5 sets of the costco batteries so your 260 is now over 1000 vs 650 for the Li. plus one thaing that people don;t understand is how the cycle life of a LiFePo4 battery differes from a lead asid, a lead asid will not be able to hold a charge at the end of its life and will esentualy be junk. the LifePo4 cycle life is how many cycles it takes to reduce the battery to 80% capacity so after that 3000 cycles you still have a 80AH battery or in the original posters case would be reduces from 200Ah to 160AH after about 10 to 20 years depending on the usage..

Steve

Actually wasn't even concerned with amp hours, just dollars, $1300 per pair compared to $260 per pair.
But thanks for the amp hour comparisons, someone wanting lithium will appreciate the differences explained.

[Old_Stevenick]

$700 for a pair if you buy Ampere Time or another brand that is less than the overpriced Battleborn ones.

[Salty25]

Originally Posted by vampress_me

They do these specials on the Lion batteries a few times a year, for a couple of weeks. We were not able to buy ours in the store, but had to order them online Costco when the special was going on. If you do a Google search of “Lion energy Costco sale”, the following link is to a Costco page showing when/ where the batteries will be selling. https://www.costco.com/lion-energy-schedule.html

I came across that page a few days ago. The time that they are close to me the pass is normally closed due to snow.


The only other option I can think of is if I can buy them at a TX event and have them shipped to the local Costco for pickup.

[vampress_me]

Originally Posted by Salty25

I came across that page a few days ago. The time that they are close to me the pass is normally closed due to snow.

The only other option I can think of is if I can buy them at a TX event and have them shipped to the local Costco for pickup.

Check online during the timeframe for the “local” Costco by you, as you are signed in to your account. Unless they changed something, I could not find them in-store because the Costco close to us was not on the list of store for the in-store special, but one 2 hours south of us was. When I logged on to the Costco website the night before we were going to drive down, I was able to purchase them online at that time. So I did because it saved me a 4 hour drive when I needed to be working.

[Salty25]

Originally Posted by vampress_me

Check online during the timeframe for the “local” Costco by you, as you are signed in to your account. Unless they changed something, I could not find them in-store because the Costco close to us was not on the list of store for the in-store special, but one 2 hours south of us was. When I logged on to the Costco website the night before we were going to drive down, I was able to purchase them online at that time. So I did because it saved me a 4 hour drive when I needed to be working.

The closest one to me would be a five hour drive one way. They gave you a ship to home or ship to store option when ordered I take it.

[haulinit]

An FYI: if you can’t see or read the labels, take a picture with your phone, zoomed in, then you can enlarge your picture and probably read the labels. Sometimes the picture is blurry. Just keep trying until you can read it.