In case anyone is interested, Renogy has an outstanding deal on Ebay for their 100Ah self heating LiFePO4 battery. I paid about $600 last summer, after a $50 deduction for slow shipping. They were listed in an Ebay "flash sale" 5/1 to 5/7 at $600. On 5/8 they dropped to $534 --. This is an excellent deal ($180 less than Amazon) on a warrantied (5 year prorated), 4,000 cycles at 80% DOD pouch cell battery. Mine has been flawless. Parallel connect only, but I don't know any van folk running series batteries. I bought another one to support a 2000 watt PSW inverter I decided to install. And it does support 50A charging, despite the confusing manual -- I know because I've tested it. I owe Renogy nothing. The one time I called to complain about a slow delivery, I got an immediate response and $50 off.
I'd buy this any day over some Ali or Amazon prismatic cell clone. Even Will Prowse likes them.
Definitely a chore to redesign and rebuild. I have room in my battery box -- which was designed for the Autozone "Duralast" twin of the factory auxiliary battery -- and now houses the first Renogy LiFePO4, but I too am rebuilding the whole thing with aluminum extrusion -- after my summer trip in June.
My kid took the van for this last weekend. Parked 36+ hours, 40 amps total draw, mainly from Iceco, which I previously measured at 1.15 amps/hour on eco. Conclusion: 100 Ah is sufficient for a non-solar weekend with no inverter draw. 200 Ah will allow lots of inverter use if needed (hot plate inside on rainy days.
What are you using to monitor and keep track of historical data? I use the Victron BMV...knowing your total draw over the course of an outing makes for perfect future trip planning power needs.
What are you using to monitor and keep track of historical data? I use the Victron BMV...knowing your total draw over the course of an outing makes for perfect future trip planning power needs.
I use the Renogy BT2 bluetooth transmitter connected to their "communication hub," which looks like an 8 port Ethernet switch. You plug all their devices into it, connect the primary port to the bluetooth transmitter and it sends data to your phone. When I initially bought the Renogy products in fall 2020, the phone app just plain didn't work. Since then they have an app called "DC Home" which is excellent. I posted some screen captures a while back. The app has since been updated to show the heated batteries and whether they are heating.
I also have an AiLi shunt & monitor, which works fine, and I like in case of phone failure.
Here's the hub:
I am considering getting the Renogy battery monitoring screen which plugs directly into their batteries, so I can dump the shunt for my new build, but I need to call Renogy to see whether the monitor will work via the communication hub.
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