Grit dog
Black Diamond, WA
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^True stories. It’s called cost benefit ratio, which many people not only don’t know how to analyze but don’t even understand the concept.
It’s seemingly very strange that 30+ years ago when I was in high school and even today, there was/is no practical economics class that just teaches young adults to use that 5the grade math they learned and some basic cognitive skills to determine best value in normal everyday financial decisions.
Plenty of people do analyze things but more than plenty don’t.
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pianotuna
Regina, SK, Canada
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Joined: 12/18/2004
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Veebyes,
Well said.
Regards, Don
My ride is a 28 foot Class C, 256 watts solar, 556 amp-hours of Telcom jars, 3000 watt Magnum hybrid inverter, Sola Basic Autoformer, Microair Easy Start.
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StirCrazy
Kamloops, BC, Canada
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Joined: 07/16/2003
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Veebyes wrote:StirCrazy wrote:Veebyes wrote:
Cost much more than wet cells but much less than lithium.
This isn't true anymore and hasn't been for a long time. sure there are some outliers like battle born and such that are way over priced still, but if you look at your battery for example it's what 215AH, so that is about 110AH usable for the longest life. a single 300.00US LFP will replace that and do the same job for 20 years. when you work out the usable capacity over the life span LFP are actually very cheep.
my 5th wheel has four 6v batteries which cost 1200 bucks (cdn) for me to do a couple years ago. This gives me 460AH total but 230 Usable, for the same price I could have three of those batteries (Canadian price is around 400) and have more usable power that would probably outlast three sets of GC2's easily. instead I am building three of my own that will cost me about 2000.00 cdn , but give me 840 usable AH.
Steve
There are loads of variables to consider when choosing a battery bank.
If you are a weekend warrior, always using a FHU site, it makes little sense to spend the money on a battery bank system best suited for dry camping.
If you have an old rig, mine was built 2007 and has had more than 2500 nights on the road, it makes little sense to spend the money on a battery bank that will last 20 years. The trailer will be gone long before that, unless it goes to a seasonal CG for it's retirement years, in which case it won't need lithium batteries.
If my rig was ten years younger and my plans were to keep it at least another ten years doing my current travel habits, which include a fair amount of dry camping, I'd be giving lithiums a serious consideration.
I don't question that lithiums are the best right now. But best for who and in what application?
Hmm my rig that is on LFP right now is 32 years old, I fail to see how the age of the rv fits into this scenario. in fact, the older rigs are the ones you will get the most benefit from as it is a huge space and weight savings as well. Take mine for example, they had a battery door on the outside of the camper that was made for 1 12v battery. I took up a storage space on the outside to fit two 6V batteries and when I went to LFP I made a false bottom in the hall closet (right beside the power center and furnace) and put the LFP battery in there. It was a bit of wasted of space to begin with, only reduced the height of my closet by 8" so it still functioned well, and those two outside spaces are for storage now. The other benefit is I reduced the overall weight of my camper by 120lbs and went from 105 usable AH to 280 usable.
the only time age would come into the equation would be your age not the units. me, Im 56, so I probably have about 30 years of camping left. and treaded right my battery might last that long. so, what do I do if I buy a newer camper, I keep the battery that's in my old one and put it in the newer one. a LFP battery could go through 3 units or even 10, the way some people buy new units every few year.. every time you get a new RV you spend money on new batteries, now I can tell the dealer to keep that crappy 80ah battery they are overcharging me for and I'll bring my own.
as for not needing a battery if you're in a park. That's a load of bunk, you still need batteries and that's all LFP is, a battery. There is a reason why most solar battery banks are moving to LFP now. how long they last is one, and size constraints is another. You still get power outages in trailer parks, so you still need batteries. This gives you more capacity for when that power is out, which you need because everything you put in those units is 110V normally.
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pianotuna
Regina, SK, Canada
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Joined: 12/18/2004
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My goals have changed. My first rv was a used class c (circa 1987) in 2000 and I was 52. It came with 60 watts of solar that cost $1700.00. I used it for 9 years and drove it 140,000 miles.
In 2009 I moved to a newer (2005) class C and spent 1700 on 256 watts of solar. I've done many upgrades. I've driven it 160,000 miles
Now I'm 75. What made sense at 52 doesn't at 75. There won't be upgrades unless something fails.
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Grit dog
Black Diamond, WA
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@stircrazy, don’t worry, you make perfect sense….others not so much.
Like I said above, the concept of cost benefit ratio is lost on so many. Not to say LFP is everyone’s answer nor is it THE answer for every situation, but those who fail to recognize when something is a value usually end up getting less for more in the end.
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Veebyes
Bermuda & Maryland Eastern Shore
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Joined: 11/24/2003
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pianotuna wrote:My goals have changed. My first rv was a used class c (circa 1987) in 2000 and I was 52. It came with 60 watts of solar that cost $1700.00. I used it for 9 years and drove it 140,000 miles.
In 2009 I moved to a newer (2005) class C and spent 1700 on 256 watts of solar. I've done many upgrades. I've driven it 160,000 miles
Now I'm 75. What made sense at 52 doesn't at 75. There won't be upgrades unless something fails.
Exactly. So many variables. Everyone thinks that whatever they have is the cat's meow. It is not. It is what they have and hopefully it is what suits them best & not simply following the crowd.
Hopefully, I have at least four years left in my AGM. I have had a good run with my Alpenlite since 2007. Well over 2500 nights on the road, 5 trips to Alaska, 2 to Newfoundland, 260,000 miles on the truck. Likewise at my age I can't see going too many more years. The body complains now after crawling around underneath the trailer for some reason or another. I am not a credit card camper.
Someone will get a nice 5er with life in it cheap, though it will probably need a new battery. They can decide what route that they go to suit them best.
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