2017 Melbourne 24L House Battery

[72buickgsconv]

Hi, my house battery is located on a slide out tray left of the entry door. It houses 1 12 volt deep cycle battery. I just don't think that's enough battery! The slide out box really isn't big enough for another battery or (2) 6 Volt golf cart batteries. Has anyone tried to remedy this by doing something else? Not sure what can be done?

[TLF]

Replace it with a lithium battery. That's what I did. It basically doubles the capacity, but it still isn't enough. Battle Born is the way to go, but I went with Renogy cuz it was cheaper. the new Renogy batteries have integrated bluetooth, and their app is decent. If you're going to be camping in cold weather make sure you get heated versions, which take an hour to heat up (a long time running a generator before getting a charge going). you'll want some sort of solar, as well, even if it's just a portable 100W unit.
Wanna support local? Zamp Solar and/or Battle Born.

[bluztoo]

My Melbourne came with two deep cycle, lead batteries - under the step. I replaced them with four lithium batteries. I turned the spot under the step into some storage and still kept all my electrical connections there. I put the batteries in a storage bay on the driver's side. If you replace one 100 watt lead battery with one 100 watt lithium battery you have almost doubled your available power. Lead batteries can only discharge to 50 percent without injury. Lithium can discharge down to 80 or 90 percent. Lithium is generally about 1/3 lighter too. As already pointed out lithium has it's own issues. The cheap Chinese batteries on Amazon don't have low temperature cutoffs. Not okay. You want a battery to have both low and high cutoffs. My batteries will discharge to -22 degrees without a problem. However, all lithium batteries need to be charged above 32 degrees. So as already pointed out, you'll want to be able to heat them. Battleborns are the standard with the heaters built in and apparently Renogy has that too. But I did not want to pay that much and got SOK batteries for almost half of what the Battleborns cost and heat my batteries with a tank heater pad. I just did a test in Duluth last weekend below freezing and it worked. Here's a guide to what current prices were about a month ago: Battleborn heated batteries - $999 each. SOK - $570. Ampere Time (on Amazon) $369. Note that the cheap battery has no temperature cutoffs that I can discern. There's also the question of warranty. Battleborn has 7 years (plus 3 for limited replacement then), SOK has a 7 year and the Ampere Time purports to have a warranty but I can't really tell from how they explain it. I don't think they have a warranty. Why are the batteries so expensive? They last at least twice as long as AGM lead batteries. Likely they'll last longer. So when you cost it out lithium it is now competitive based on the life expectancy. Within a few years it will be all lithium and solar panels. Right now it is still a project to convert to lithium but it's not that hard. Also, lastly, these are known as LiFePo4 batteries because they are Lithium Iron batteries, not Lithium Ion. The latter uses nickel and cobalt, stores more energy, is lighter, and also has caused Chevy Bolt and Tesla S's to start on fire. Lithium Iron is much more stable. If you search around these forums you'll find at least a dozen people in the process of upgrading their rig right now. Lot's of information but don't let any of it dissuade you. It is worth doing. Best and happy new year.