4 - 50AH vs 2 -100AH Batteries ?

[GoingMobile]

Its getting to be time to buy batteries in my Transit build. I'm looking at LiFePO4 Lithium batteries. I want to start with 200 Amp Hours but think I will possibly want to add to it later. I have 400 watts of solar on the roof.

Would it be a pain to wire 4 50ah batteries? Any advantage/disadvantage to 4 50ah vs 2 100ah? or 1 200ah for that matter?

[size=medium][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I have a shoulder injury that is currently very painful and lifting heavy things particularly at awkward angles is a pain, which led me to this question.[/size][/font]

 

[PlethoraOfGuns]

If possible I would keep it simple and get one big battery, if you have the room obviously. The lithium batteries weigh 1/3 of what a regular lead acid would weight. Technically, once you install the battery, it should stay there for the next 10-20 years. Less batteries means less wiring, less connections. More wires, more connections, more fuses, etc means more money too. The little things add up. Care and maintain less batteries would let me sleep better at night.

 

[jonyjoe303]

It shouldnt make a difference, my 220ah lifepo4 is 4x 55ah lifepo4 connected together in parallel. I been running it that way for the past 3 years. My 312ah li-ion powerbank is 12x 26ah packs connected in parallel.
On my lifepo4, each battery has an xt60 connector, I just connect them that way. Once connected together in parallel, it acts as one large battery. Doing it this way you can add more batteries as needed to increase your capacity. On my li-ion batterybank I started with 4 batterys (104ah) and then added another 8 batteries.
I use the xt60 connectors because they are cheap and somewhat easy to build, they can handle 60 amps and are easy to connect and disconnect. If you do the 50ah batteries you just need a 4 way connector to connect them together. Then if you decide to add 4 more, connect them with another 4 way connecter, and then connect the 2x 4 ways to a 2 way connector. It doesnt get any easier then that. Just make sure all the batteries have the same voltage before you connect them together.


Picture of a 2 way connector (xt60)