Umrüstung auf Lithium

[admin]

Ich plane im nächsten Jahr von Gel auf Lithium umzurüsten und starte hier mal einen eigenen thread dazu.

Von den verschiedenen Arten von Lithium-Akkus werden zur Zeit nur solche mit Lithium-Eisenphosphat (LiFePO4) für Wohnmobile angeboten, hauptsächlich wegen der Sicherheit. Auf der Suche nach einem Hersteller/Händler meines Vertrauens, bin ich bei der Firma TransWatt in Soest gelandet. Denen habe ich zusammen mit Spacy und Manfred Ermel in der letzten Woche einen Besuch abgestattet.

TransWatt baut selbst Lithium-Akkus und vertreibt die Produkte der Firma Victron Energy.

Laut Manfred Ermel, passen in den NCV3 zwei Produkte, die von Transwatt angeboten werden. Mit leichten Anpassungen am Batteriegestell können zwei 90Ah-Akkus von Victron eingebaut werden. Mit einem neuen Gestell auch zwei 100Ah-Akkus von TransWatt.

Diese Zahlen erschienen mir auf den ersten Blick sehr gering. Man muss aber bedenken, dass die nutzbare Kapazität (bei Rücksicht auf die Lebensdauer) von Gel-Batterien bei 50% liegt. Aus den 2 x 85 Ah sind also nur 85 Ah nutzbar. Die Lithium-Akkus können bei gleicher Schonung (80% Entnahme) 144 Ah bzw. 160 Ah liefern. Wenn das nicht reicht, kann man noch einen dritten Akku irgendwohin bauen.

TransWatt hat mir ein Dummygehäuse des Victron 90 Ah mitgegeben, den bring ich zum Treffen Wittmund mit. Der ist erstaunlich klein und passt in jeden Schrank. Da dann nur ein Drittel des Stroms (< 60 A) über einen Akku läuft, müssen die Kabel auch nicht super Dick sein, 35mm² reichen.

Wir testen gerade das Kochen mit einem 1200 W Induktionskochfeld. Wenn sich das bewährt, fliegt die Gasflasche raus. In den Schrank passt so ein Akku locker.

Zu den Ladegeräten.

Ladeströme und Ladekennlinie sind bei Lithium anders. Die meisten Ladegeräte können damit nicht umgehen und müssen ausgetauscht werden. Bei mir war der alte Ladebooster defekt und musste sowieso getauscht werden. Jetzt habe ich das Lithium-Modell von Votronic verbaut.

Der Solarregler kann vermutlich bleiben. Ich habe jetzt den 100 Volt MPPT Regler von Victron wegen der Aufrüstung auf 300 Wp. Im Datenblatt ist nichts besonderes zu Lithium erwähnt.

Landstrom hatte ich bisher einerseits benutzt, um die Batteriepflege zu betreiben, d. H. einmal im Monat zuhause über 24h Laden. Mit Lithium fällt das weg. Die andere Anwendung war uns jährlicher Silvester-Urlaub. Da standen wir zuletzt 8 Tage auf Sylt. Mit nur 100 Wp im Winter blieb da nichts anderes übrig, als ein Kabel mitzunehmen Bin mal gespannt, ob das im nächsten Winter anders wird. Mal eben ein halbes Stündchen fahren (und wieder zurück) sollte 45 Ah bringen.

Gruß
Peter

[fleep]

Hi,

This is a very old thread, but was this ever completed? I have just purchased 3x 138ah LiFePo4 batteries for the JC. I will be starting this install soon and it would be useful to know how other owners have moved to Lithium now that the price is more affordable.

Thanks!

[Vtxbe]

as fleep; my next set of batteries will be lithium.
I search any helpfull information.

[fleep]

Hey everyone,

So, the lithium conversion is underway. Because lithium requires more care than lead or Gel batteries, I am also installing a Victron battery monitor and low voltage disconnect device.

One question I have is about the factory cables. I have a large power cable with a 100A fuse that was connected previously. I cannot understand what this is for, although I imagine it may be the battery relay charge from under the driver seat. The cable is 25mm squared, so capable of more than 100A easily. Is this standard or has a previous owner added this?

The JC has a number of extras such as solar panels, a 1500w Dometic inverter and a roof cooler. So there is a lot of cables and I am tidying the old ones now, but this large power cable seems non factory. The JC power cable going to the battery switch above the batteries is only 16mm square cable.

Thanks!

[fleep]

Hi,

Great, thank you. Is this the charge cable from the alternator?

[fleep]

Ok, conversion done.

My advice to anyone looking to do this is to make 100 percent sure that the new batteries are the exact size as the original Gel batteries. My ones are very slightly larger (maybe 5 mm too large), and this caused total chaos with the conversion. I also added additional equipment such as a battery monitor and also a low voltage disconnect system, and this simply does not fit the battery box. The conversion has taken many long evenings, but it is now complete and I will test the system to see how it works compared to the old batteries. I now have 260ah of lithium, and have a spare 130 ah lithium battery that I will Fit under the microwave when I get a chance.

All in all, this was not fun but hopefully will be worth the effort.

[Jake.Coffee]

Moin or hello.

You installed two 130AH batteries?
If you took pictures, would be great if you could share them.
Is your battery pack build from 2 x 12V or 2 x 4 3,2 Winston batteries?

A possible place for an additional battery would be in the engine compartment, there is a place for an additional battery holder, originally Mercedes Benz ... this should be able to be installed and capable to carry the additional (3.) battery.

Best Regards

[fleep]

Hi,

I do have some photos but I will take some more when I get a chance.

The batteries are Valence UCharge XP27 LIFEPO4 cells. I have these installed in the standard locations, in parallel. They are 12 V units, with the battery protect set to cut power from below 12 V. Fully charged they are at 13.5 Volts.

The key problem I had was the physical size of the cells, as they are very close to the original size, but not quite. The large steel plate that holds the batteries in the van was shorting out the battery terminals, which is a huge problem. I needed to modify the plate to make it fit and be safe. I did look at Winston or Sinopoly cells but these batteries were available at a great price and have a great reputation.

[Vtxbe]

Hi Fleep,

Could list your new equipment ?

Do you change something on the charging ( by alternator ) line ?
Why do you stop the discharge at 12 V ? I had the feeling that lithium batteries support very well discharge ?

Vincent.

[fleep]

Hi,

The equipment is as follows:

2x Sunpower flexible solar panels on the roof
Victron 100/15 MPPT Bluetooth solar charge controller
Victron BlueSmart IP22 3O ampere charger (3 output)
Victron BMV 712 battery monitor
Victron 220 Smart battery low voltage disconnect
2 X 130A Valence XP27 lithium batteries
Waeco / Dometic MSP1215 1500W inverter.

I will be adding a battery to battery charger from the alternator / starter battery next. I need to see how much space is free under the driver's seat for one first. Probably a Sterling Power 60 ampere one. I also need to add a Victron smart battery sense to transmit the temperature to the solar charger. I will also see if I can fit a third lithium battery under the passenger seat as I have a spare one.

The 12v cutoff is recommended for lithium to preserve the life of them. They can go down to 10 volts but it isn't recommended. The float is 13.5 volts so higher than lead or AGM. And they hold that voltage for a long time. I used the van this week in the new cells, and after discharging to around 40 percent they were still on 13.2 volts...

[Hani]

Hi fleep,

your picture from the cables looks very similar to what I found when I removed the interior
You did a nice conversion, I'm keen to see some pictures. But I have one question: why did you chose 3 batteries with 130 Ah? I guess with 3 LiFePo4 batteries you can get power for one week without recharging!

Do you consume so much power or do you want to be independent as much as possible? What power consumers do you have installed?

This is no criticism, I'm just curious because I also think about a battery swapping but much smaller.

[fleep]

Hi,

I was offered the batteries at a crazy low price. They come from an electric van conversion, and each battery when new is around 2500 EUR. I paid around 350 EUR each, and they had 6 cycles only (the batteries have a BMS that can read this). When I checked the specification for the batteries they are supposed to be the correct physical size for the JC, but actually are a few millimetres larger which is a pain.

So, I bought three as a deal, and used two so far. To be totally honest, I don't think I would exhaust them during a normal trip (especially with a 60A battery to battery charger). But, I like to push the boundaries and this may be possible to add the extra cells.

The biggest power use this week was charging my electric bike. This has a Bosch 500wh battery pack, and I was able to recharge this from almost empty and it consumed 13 percent of the lithium bank in the JC. Once I did that a few times it takes the battery bank wire low. The other large consumer is a 24 inch TV and a PlayStation 4 .

In the future I would like to have a roof AC unit capable of running when parked, and this will require a LOT of energy, so a third or fourth pack will be great. I might need a second battery charger then.

I will get some photos soon

[eppyranch]

Hi Peter
I received the james Cook with no battery’s so I need to put something. Better for me to get the right system
Can you tell me the parts you used
Hope your well
Thank you
Mark & Cynthia in US

[admin]

Hi Mark,
in my first 14 James Cook years, I was very happy with the original Exide ES950 gel batteries. When I installed a big inverter I needed more and installed 90Ah-Akkus by Victron.

Everything was built in by Manfred Ermel.

Peter