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Post by belinda on Sept 3, 2020 17:38:31 GMT 10
The 2004 battery I originally put in the Atlantic has long gone to God, so what type of battery is considered the bees knees these days? And what is the best way to extend a battery's life when the van doesn't go out much?
The battery won't need to power anything fancy - principally it will run one or two high-efficiency light globes when we are somewhere without power.
Small/lightweight is a desireable feature.
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Post by redmr2red on Sept 3, 2020 18:01:01 GMT 10
If you got 16 years out of the battery stick with that brand. And tell me what is was so I can get one. hehehehehe!!!!!!
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Post by Roehm3108 on Sept 3, 2020 18:40:56 GMT 10
I bought a gsm deep cycle battery. I was advised not to buy cheap Chinese one so bought a Century brand. A year later and so far all's good. Mine is only a 64 amp hour as I only have light and occasionally the fridge.
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Post by belinda on Sept 4, 2020 15:27:53 GMT 10
Thanks for the pointer Roehm. Starting with your advice, I did a bit of homework and contacted the Rainbow Power company. I've bought stuff from them before and have been really happy with their products and advice.
I'm now leaning towards getting a smaller lithium battery rather than a larger gsm battery:
- advantages among other things are these batteries are a fraction of the weight of traditional batteries and you can drain them almost empty, whereas a gsm battery lasts longest if you only drain it 20% and then re-charge. RPC also felt that this sort of battery would deal better with periods of inactivity.
- a disadvantage is that they cannot be re-charged from the car's alternator.I will need to use a trickle charger connected to mains power or a solar panel with a controller
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Post by Mustang on Sept 4, 2020 16:09:33 GMT 10
Hi Belinda, If you have a DC-DC fitted, you should be able to charge from your car, providing your charger is equipped for Lithium? The little black box in the top left hand side of the image.  |
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Post by Koala on Sept 4, 2020 17:37:10 GMT 10
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Post by belinda on Sept 4, 2020 17:54:35 GMT 10
The guy I spoke to was going to do some more research, but h had been advised that the voltage from the alternator exceeds what the battery could take. He will talk some more with a colleague and we'll talk more about it on Monday.
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Post by Koala on Sept 4, 2020 18:09:45 GMT 10
[quote author=" belinda" source="/post/139655/ had been advised that the voltage from the alternator exceeds what the battery could take.[/quote] I think that you need to find another electrician.  The DCDC charger is there to regulate the charge and connection to the car battery. Koala |
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Post by grandad on Sept 5, 2020 8:50:07 GMT 10
The Rainbow Power Company is a very well known and respected alternate energy reseller. (Not bad for a couple of hippies)
But, lithium or LifPo4 is a whole new world that many in this industry are not conversant in yet.
By all means, purchase from them but don't expect their knowledge in lithium to be right up to scratch in all areas. You've already had alternate information provided re DC/DC charging. There's much more to back that up once you get out there and look.
Jim.
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Post by belinda on Sept 5, 2020 9:05:58 GMT 10
Thanks so much for all of that. As with much of waht we do, getting 2020 technology to fit with 1950s technology is always going to need a bit of thinking outside the box. That give me a lot of info to go on with.
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