Thinking of replacing your lead acid or AGM batteries in your RV Camper (travel trailer, 5th wheel, house portion of a motorhome)? Have you ever spoken with a salesperson about getting RV batteries who has told you “sure, just drop in your Lithium battery into your RV camper/trailer and you’re good to go”?
When it comes to being an RV’er and switching to lithium batteries, think there’s MORE to the story? Well… there most definitely is! Let’s dive in and look at what is REALLY involved in switching to Lithium batteries in your camper. AND, NO, Lithium batteries are NOT just “drop in” if you want to get top performance out of these INCREDIBLY expensive batteries AND if you want to ensure you don’t DAMAGE YOUR CAMPER or truck (if you’re in a trailer.)
For your camper you want a battery that can deliver moderate amounts of electric current (measured in amps) for prolonged periods of time. In my world, this takes the form of a deep cycle “golf cart” or marine battery. This is in contrast to the starting batteries which are used to start a car, truck, or motorhome. Starting batteries provide a burst of energy needed to start your vehicle; deep cycle batteries as noted earlier provide power for a prolonged period of time.
Regardless of whether you have a motorhome (where we’re talking about the “house” battery(s) or a towable (travel trailer or fifth wheel), currently there are just 3 primary types of batteries available: flooded lead acid, AGM, and lithium. Lets take a brief look at each:
These are the “tried and true” RV batteries that have been in use for decades. Affordable and reliable BUT they do require routine “maintenance” as you have to check and add distilled water periodically. Some say monthly, but this has not been my experience. I check about 3-4 times annually and it takes a matter of minutes to check and fill. My batteries have lasted nearly 6 years to date, but everyone’s experience will differ depending upon climate and camping style. I full time in my camper and dry camp about 30 days each year.
My Trojan T-105 225AH* batteries – in service until yesterday (5/17/23) – they served me well and frankly were not yet at “end of life”, but I want to be prepared and gave new batteries in service, “just incase.”Lead acid batteries come in 12 volt and 6 volt “flavors.” I was once advised by someone “in the know” that the ONLY true deep cycle marine batteries are 6 volt “golf cart” type batteries. For this reason, I have a pair of 6 volt batteries wired in series. This produces 12 volts, as required by the camper.
I chose to go with Trojan 105 batteries as they have an outstanding reputation (and as noted earlier, have provided great service for me.) US Battery (model 2200) also has a good reputation. I’m learning that Duracell (EastPenn) are also worth considering. The12 volt Interstate “deep cycle” battery is the most common choice made by RV dealers to install because they’re cheap and readily available.
UPDATE: I just put in service a pair of Duracell 6 volt deep cycle (lead-acid) batteries yesterday! These are the 235AH “flavor” (they also make 230 and 215AH models.) Duracell are made by EastPenn, and are sold to Batteries Plus (this is the retailer, located in Idaho Falls, Id) whom I chose – I’d give them 5 stars by the way! You can also get the two lower power models at Sam’s Club. I chose Batteries Plus over Sam’s Club because they are battery specialists AND their inventory was fresher.
My NEW Duracell 235AH batteries – served up by Batteries Plus of Idaho Falls (and Pocatello, Id.) I did my “due diligence” and was satisfied they are equivalent to (or possibly better than) my Trojan T105’s which served me so well. As of this writing, the Duracell’s are $172.99 each and deliver 235 amp-hours.*Additional “good stuff” to know –
*A quick note on “amp-hours”, lets say you are dry camping and have a draw of 10 amps each hour, in 11 hours you’ll have drawn 110 amp-hours (10×11=110.) This would drain a 230AH lead acid battery by about 50% at which point it MUST be recharged.
Will you draw 10 amps continuously for 11 hours? Perhaps if you’re running your furnace, and a couple of other electric components/appliances, but I offer this simply as an example to understand what an “amp-hour” is. See my section on charging batteries to consider this point further.
The Battery Storage compartment on my 5th wheel. Note it is open to the ground and the door has vents. This enclosure would be fine for any battery – but – in the winter, a lithium may not perform. Read on for more details.Absorption glass mat (AGM) batteries are a newer design to batteries, available since the 1980’s. They are MAINTENANCE FREE (ie – no adding water) and may even withstand even lower temperatures than a lead acid battery. AGM batteries tend to cost about TWICE as much as lead acid batteries. For this reason alone, I’m not a fan of AGM as the number of amp hours is equivalent to lead acid, but the cost is much higher. In the AGM world, Renogy does make a highly regarded battery. This Renogy battery is 100 amp-hours, so you’re likely to want at least two, and its priced right (click link to see the current cost.)
If I were to get an AGM battery, this Renogy would be one of my top picks – click image to learn moreThey are also as heavy as lead acid. Their functional temperature range is similar to a lead acid, but they’re less prone to freezing. They DO require more voltage to charge them than a lead acid and as such may require a change in the charge converter (or just “converter”.) More about this device shortly!
AGM batteries just like lead acid batteries can not be discharged more than 50% without risking damage. If placed in storage (attention part timers!) they will discharge, like their lead-acid cousins, but they discharge at a slower rate. They are however more temperamental to charging and can be damaged if you overcharge them.
Lithium RV batteries are the new kid on the block and many rv’ers are considering employing them for their camper – hence the reason for this article! BEFORE you purchase lithium batteries, be sure to read the “rest of this article” as I tell you what you NEED TO KNOW to make an informed decision.
Lithium batteries are EXPENSIVE – Battleborn, Lion Energy, and Renogy all tend to sell for about $900. for a 100 amp-hour battery. BUT as you’ll read below – there ARE additional expenses you’ll encounter. I will get into the chemistry of Lithium batteries (and compare them to those made for vehicles) later in this article.
The Renogy, Battleborn, and Lion Energy are regarded by many as the top choices in lithium batteries. At the time I released this post, Amazon had an amazing deal on this battery at about $640. Click image to see current price.The arguments FOR Lithium batteries include
*Some quick math here: If your lithium battery is rated at 100Amp-hours, you get about 90 usable amp-hours from it. A 200 amp-hour lead acid (or AGM) battery will give you 100 usable amp-hours before it is 50% discharged (which is the maximum safe discharge for these types of batteries.)
The arguments AGAINST lithium batteries include
I’ve talked about amp-hours here. This is essentially the delivering of energy or electric current (measured in amps) over a period of time (in this case, hours.) All batteries discharge over time, whether in use or in storage. When in use, you can recharge your batteries in a number of ways:
Special note: If you’re dry camping and need to run the furnace all night, you’re placing a big demand on your batteries. Furnaces draw about 8 amps (or more) per hour. Add to that any of the following: lights, a laptop, your fridge, etc. and you’re easily over 10 amps per hour. Do the math and you can see its easy to drain a small RV battery system (like my two 6 volt Trojan 105’s – or my new Duracell’s) in just one night*. One action that will change the equation is to run a generator (for at least a few hours) overnight, BUT you then have two new concerns: the generator may run out of fuel and it creates noise – which may not go over well if you have neighbors!
*Do the math: If you draw 10 amps per hour for 9 hours, that’s 90 amp hours, remember, a lead-acid or AGM battery only has a “usable” amp-hours at 50% of the rating. So… in my case, with 235 AH on my new Duracell’s, they will be 50% discharged when they have provided 117 amp-hours of energy. If I draw 10 amps per hour for 9 hours, I’m getting close!
In my experience, I RARELY draw 10 amps per hour while dry camping. But it all depends upon what you want or need to operate.
Give some advance thought to what you need or want to operate while dry camping (no shore power available) and how you plan to charge your batteries (eg: solar? generator?) The more components/appliances you plan to operate, the greater the demand. The system I designed for myself was based upon the goal of keeping my batteries charged and using (primarily) only low-wattage appliances (eg: laptop, cell phone charger, TV, fridge), with little (or no) need to run the furnace.
I find that between June and September, there’s plenty of solar energy provided to the panels each day (as long as the sun is out!!) to ensure the batteries are at 50% or higher (ie – fully discharged) by the next sunrise.) For those with greater energy needs, you’ll want to consider a larger battery bank (ie – more storage.) This is why some RV’ers instead of having 2 6 volt lead acid batteries as I do have 4, 6, 8 or even more.
Example: If I needed more energy, I could have purchased a bank of 4 Duracell’s and I would have a total of 270 AH available. These are then wired in series-parallel. (There are plenty of videos that provide advice on how to wire such a system.)
The lithium battery you’ll purchase for your RV Camper is a LiFePO4 battery. In english, that means lithium iron phosphate. The iron is the key. It creates a chemically stable compound which is NOT prone to catching fire, emitting excess heat or exploding.
Lithium batteries for vehicles tend to use cobalt or manganese instead of iron in the chemical formulation and THOSE are the batteries that have produced some headline grabbing fires and explosions. So… long story short, Lithium batteries for RV’s are generally regarded as safe. That said, nothing has a 0% risk of fire or explosion.
This section is a BIG deal and THE main reason I’m NOT switching to Lithium batteries for my 5th wheel rv camper.
As noted earlier, lithium batteries are expensive. And they’re not really “drop in replacements” for your existing lead acid or AGM batteries. Here are the additional expenses you should expect to encounter when you install lithium batteries (some of which the rv battery salesman may not even know about!)
This battery isolator relay can save your vehicles alternator from the action of your campers lithium battery This is a Lithium compatible charge converter – your camper may need this when you switch to lithium if you want to optimize the performance of your new battery(s)at least
$75. (plus the house call fee) to get these things installed (and potentially wired) in.The top 3 names in the industry are Battleborn, Lion Energy, and Renogy (in my humble opinion!) Click on each in the prior sentence to learn about each manufacturer and model.
As I noted earlier, NO! In fact, by the time you read this, I already chose a new set of lead-acid batteries. My current pair lasted nearly 6 years, so I have NO complaints!
Its possible that lithium batteries may be outdated before they really catch on! Do some research on sodium ion batteries. Sodium Ion batteries are still in the research/early development stage. This much is known: Sodium is far more abundant than lithium, therefore costs are MUCH lower. Once developed and released, costs could compare to or be lower than lead acid batteries.
Next, and this is REALLY speculative. Low energy nuclear reaction batteries. I’m no expert, but this may be (finally) an outgrowth of the 1989 Pons and Fleishmann experiment. Published findings indicated Pons and Fleishmann produced nuclear fusion energy in a coffee cup. While their work was widely denounced by the scientific community in 1989, these researchers may in fact have been onto something. The more recent low energy nuclear (fusion) reaction or LENR technology may be along similar (or the same) lines.
Either way, if and when this technology becomes commercially viable, it is environmentally clean and produces virtually limitless energy! Time will tell if a “low energy nuclear reaction rv battery” is in our future! But for now, I’ll stick with lead-acid batteries for my RV camper!
Note: If and when LENR batteries become available, this technology will literally change everything – and be applied to everything, far beyond RV’s and campers!
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