Are there any real life experience with any of the lithium "generators"? I'm thinking of such as Anker Power House 400 Watt, or Suaoki 400 watt portable solar generator. I don't see how they could be good for a van dweller. Any experience?
Are lithium power packs good for House Bank?
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Trebor English
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Given your request for "real life experience" and no responses I think a lot of people are put off by the prices. Premade battery box systems, agm or lithium, tend to be expensive compared to the price of roll your own systems that only include the parts the individual builder wants.
From looking at their web pages my take away is that charging these things is an afterthought.
From looking at their web pages my take away is that charging these things is an afterthought.
XFILE36
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Weight said:
I have one under a different manufacturer. I have used it at home, but not out in a vehicle, YET. I think they're expensive, but I like the idea that you can discharge it almost all the way, unlike lead batteries that can only be discharged 50%. You also don't need to worry about off-gassing in a lithium. I think someone said you can have them in any position, i.e., vertical/horizontal, for space sake. The life span is supposed to be about 10 % longer too.
slynne
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I have been thinking about buying one now to be used as backup for my CPAP machine and then later moving it into a van.
Headache
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I just bought this one and LOVE it as far as keeping my phone charged. I'll be testing it soon regarding charging my craptop.
https://www.amazon.com/Poweradd-ChargerCenter-50000mAh-Generator-Smartphone/dp/B06ZYKQT98/
https://www.amazon.com/Poweradd-ChargerCenter-50000mAh-Generator-Smartphone/dp/B06ZYKQT98/
jonyjoe303
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On the amazon reviews I saw the inside of one of the anker power house, it's 36 x 18650 laptop batteries connected together in 3 rows, aka a 3s 12p 11.1 volt (fully charge 12.6 volt) battery pack. 434 watt hour equals 36 amp hour battery pack. Each individual cell is about 3000 mah which is top of the line as far as laptop batteries.
From the pictures I saw it's a complicated piece of equipment with lots of circuit boards. For me it's very limited in how to charge it, I myself would want to connect it to my mppt. If it wasnt for the cost it would be better to buy a lifepo4 12.8 volt battery and just use that as a house battery, its practically a drop in replacement for an agm. If I was going to buy a power pack, I would make sure I can connect to my current solar system, like a any regular battery. One of lithiums strong points is that you can charge them quickly, so waiting 10 hour to charge one is a deal breaker.
My experience with lithium is I've built my own 3s 11.1 volt 94 ah battery from 168 laptop batteries. I've been using it nonstop as a house battery for the past year. All I can say is once you go lithium you'll never go back to lead acid.
You don't really need any special chargers, I've been using my ecoworthy 20 amp mppt (240 watt panel) to charge it. All I have to do is adjust the absorb voltage, if I want to fast charge it I set the absorb to 14.4 volts (and I can get up to 15 amps), to slow charge I set absorb to 13 volts (and it gets about 4 amps). The battery bms will shutoff the charging when the battery is full, I also have a overvoltage relay to disconnect the solar panel if the battery reaches 12.6 volts.
Lead acid require alot of care and proper charging to make them last. Lithium don't go over 12.6 volts and don't go below 10 volts, you don't have to charge them every day. Everything that worked on lead acid, works with my slightly lower voltage lithium. The only thing that couldnt handle the lower voltage was my triton2 charger that I use to charge my 18 volt cordless tools, it shuts off with a input voltage warning.
The heart of the lithium battery pack is the BMS, it won't really balance the battery pack, but it will keep the battery pack from being damaged from going out of balance by shutting it down. The best way to charge it is with a balance charger, but it's not required. In the year that I had my lithium it's never gone out of balance, and I never used a balance charger.
One thing I notice with lithium is I'm getting full performance from my solar panel/mppt. With lead acid I rarely saw 12 amps when charging, with lithium I get up to 15 amps.
This is a picture of the voltage/balance LCD on my 94 ah battery pack, its actually 2 x 84 cell battery packs connected together. One LCD per battery pack. Perfectly balanced.
From the pictures I saw it's a complicated piece of equipment with lots of circuit boards. For me it's very limited in how to charge it, I myself would want to connect it to my mppt. If it wasnt for the cost it would be better to buy a lifepo4 12.8 volt battery and just use that as a house battery, its practically a drop in replacement for an agm. If I was going to buy a power pack, I would make sure I can connect to my current solar system, like a any regular battery. One of lithiums strong points is that you can charge them quickly, so waiting 10 hour to charge one is a deal breaker.
My experience with lithium is I've built my own 3s 11.1 volt 94 ah battery from 168 laptop batteries. I've been using it nonstop as a house battery for the past year. All I can say is once you go lithium you'll never go back to lead acid.
You don't really need any special chargers, I've been using my ecoworthy 20 amp mppt (240 watt panel) to charge it. All I have to do is adjust the absorb voltage, if I want to fast charge it I set the absorb to 14.4 volts (and I can get up to 15 amps), to slow charge I set absorb to 13 volts (and it gets about 4 amps). The battery bms will shutoff the charging when the battery is full, I also have a overvoltage relay to disconnect the solar panel if the battery reaches 12.6 volts.
Lead acid require alot of care and proper charging to make them last. Lithium don't go over 12.6 volts and don't go below 10 volts, you don't have to charge them every day. Everything that worked on lead acid, works with my slightly lower voltage lithium. The only thing that couldnt handle the lower voltage was my triton2 charger that I use to charge my 18 volt cordless tools, it shuts off with a input voltage warning.
The heart of the lithium battery pack is the BMS, it won't really balance the battery pack, but it will keep the battery pack from being damaged from going out of balance by shutting it down. The best way to charge it is with a balance charger, but it's not required. In the year that I had my lithium it's never gone out of balance, and I never used a balance charger.
One thing I notice with lithium is I'm getting full performance from my solar panel/mppt. With lead acid I rarely saw 12 amps when charging, with lithium I get up to 15 amps.
This is a picture of the voltage/balance LCD on my 94 ah battery pack, its actually 2 x 84 cell battery packs connected together. One LCD per battery pack. Perfectly balanced.
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DLTooley
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The ~ 400 wh Anker had an introductory price of $339, it is now $500. The similar Suaoki is $400.
I have a drop in replacement LiFePo 100 AH 12V battery from Ebay for $650. My solar controller charges it well, just had to drop charge voltage to 14v. So far it seems to work very well, I haven't had any problems with it. Harder to monitor as there is really no voltage sag as it drains. It is about the size of a grp 27 battery even though it said it was grp 31. It weighs about a 1/3 the weight of a lead acid.
For simplicity I believe the 12v replacement LiFePos are better than the generators setups, you can using a conventional programmable solar controller or aftermarket charger to recharge the LiFePo.
For simplicity I believe the 12v replacement LiFePos are better than the generators setups, you can using a conventional programmable solar controller or aftermarket charger to recharge the LiFePo.
