Direct swap of a caravan AGM battery for a lithium battery

[Hawkear]

Eagerly waiting to resume goldfield travel in our underused caravan.
Noticed that the existing AGM battery is on its last legs. Considering just swapping it out for a Lithium battery without changing anything else.
Would doing that cause any harm to the lithium battery?
I'd be quite happy to put up with an adequate performance even if less than optimal as we generally stay at powered caravan park sites.
The weight and longevity advantages of a Lithium battery seem compelling rather than spending on another AGM.
Any thoughts?

 

[Jaros]

Get the Lithium batt--just be careful keeping the charge up.

 

[PeterInSa]

Re Your Charger see below for additional info.

I think one of the important things with Lithium vehicle./van batteries is the Float Voltage , I have read this elsewhere as well as, from the article below

(A float is unnecessary, since li-ion batteries do not leak charge, but a floating voltage under 13.6 V is fine.)

So I would check your charger's Float Voltage as I have seem a Solar Regulator/AGM Battery at 14.0v on Float.

https://battlebornbatteries.com/charging-battleborn-lifepo4-batteries/
Note I am not a Lithium professional, like you, I am looking at going Lithium in our Caravan.

 

[Simmo]

The charging profile is different so you will need a DC /DC charger.
Get one with a solar input too.

 

[Nightjar]

AGM's , have served me faultlessly for decades, no change here.

 

[Kiwi01]

Eagerly waiting to resume goldfield travel in our underused caravan.
Noticed that the existing AGM battery is on its last legs. Considering just swapping it out for a Lithium battery without changing anything else.
Would doing that cause any harm to the lithium battery?
I'd be quite happy to put up with an adequate performance even if less than optimal as we generally stay at powered caravan park sites.
The weight and longevity advantages of a Lithium battery seem compelling rather than spending on another AGM.
Any thoughts?

You will need to change your battery charger over to one thats suitable for lithium. The agm charger will end up damageing your new lithium. If you have solar on the van make sure you have a good DC to DC regulator as well that can be set to lithium. Enerdrive have very good pdf's on there web site for how you should wire everything up. There are cheaper lithium products out there but I believe Enerdrive are one of the best, also with them they have people only a phone call away to help, you don't get that service from the cheaper ones.

 

[MadDoctor]

Eagerly waiting to resume goldfield travel in our underused caravan.
Noticed that the existing AGM battery is on its last legs. Considering just swapping it out for a Lithium battery without changing anything else.
Would doing that cause any harm to the lithium battery?
I'd be quite happy to put up with an adequate performance even if less than optimal as we generally stay at powered caravan park sites.
The weight and longevity advantages of a Lithium battery seem compelling rather than spending on another AGM.
Any thoughts?

Disclaimer; my knowledge is based on personal research when we upgraded to lithium 3 months ago. We tripled usable battery capacity and tripled solar input for a 25kg net gain.
There won't be any longevity advantage unless u set it up right, as mentioned by others above.
First thing u should do is work out how much usable capacity u are going to want. U may remember there's some other electric items you've only used in a c/park, but it'd be handy if u were free camping.
Next, look at the specs of the quality brands, like Mueller, Enerdrive, Custom, Powerpaul. Go through the specs and understand what they all mean, compare them to each other and what Ur needs will be. If the battery is tucked out of the way, how u monitor the battery is important too.
There is no such thing as a lithium battery that just be hotswapped or "dropped in" for Ur existing AGM battery. It is marketing hype, and all bs. A lithium battery's BMS doesn't have a DCDC charger built into it.
There is lots and lots of batteries out there, all diff specs. So now that u know how much capacity u need, and understand the specs, go shopping (we'll, look anyway).
Personally, I would steer clear of any orange branded batteries out of WA, other than that, I chose Powerpaul.
Setup:
* Watch Ur basics like adequate cabling.
* All charging equipment must have a lithium charging profile, otherwise Ur battery will not charge fully, and Ur wasting your money on capacity and the battery will not last. U won't have a warranty either.
* Yes, get a DCDC charger to suit the battery u want.
* If u have solar, u could get a DCDC charger with a regulator built in, or for an extra kilo or so, get a standalone Regulator and wire it up to add to Ur DCDC output.
*No-ones mentioned AC chargers. I assume if Ur in a CPark a lot u have an AC charger to top up Ur battery too? This also needs a lithium profile.

You can spend a fortune on the battery. It's the heart of Ur system. Depending on Ur budget, don't skimp too much. It's not an ad, but we went with a Powerpaul Australia Mercury 330A battery that was locally assembled, used the same cells as Enerdrive and was about half the price.

Goodluck

 

[MadDoctor]

Disclaimer; my knowledge is based on personal research when we upgraded to lithium 3 months ago. We tripled usable battery capacity and tripled solar input for a 25kg net gain.
There won't be any longevity advantage unless u set it up right, as mentioned by others above.
First thing u should do is work out how much usable capacity u are going to want. U may remember there's some other electric items you've only used in a c/park, but it'd be handy if u were free camping.
Next, look at the specs of the quality brands, like Mueller, Enerdrive, Custom, Powerpaul. Go through the specs and understand what they all mean, compare them to each other and what Ur needs will be. If the battery is tucked out of the way, how u monitor the battery is important too.
There is no such thing as a lithium battery that just be hotswapped or "dropped in" for Ur existing AGM battery. It is marketing hype, and all bs. A lithium battery's BMS doesn't have a DCDC charger built into it.
There is lots and lots of batteries out there, all diff specs. So now that u know how much capacity u need, and understand the specs, go shopping (we'll, look anyway).
Personally, I would steer clear of any orange branded batteries out of WA, other than that, I chose Powerpaul.
Setup:
* Watch Ur basics like adequate cabling.
* All charging equipment must have a lithium charging profile, otherwise Ur battery will not charge fully, and Ur wasting your money on capacity and the battery will not last. U won't have a warranty either.
* Yes, get a DCDC charger to suit the battery u want.
* If u have solar, u could get a DCDC charger with a regulator built in, or for an extra kilo or so, get a standalone Regulator and wire it up to add to Ur DCDC output.
*No-ones mentioned AC chargers. I assume if Ur in a CPark a lot u have an AC charger to top up Ur battery too? This also needs a lithium profile.

You can spend a fortune on the battery. It's the heart of Ur system. Depending on Ur budget, don't skimp too much. It's not an ad, but we went with a Powerpaul Australia Mercury 330A battery that was locally assembled, used the same cells as Enerdrive and was about half the price.

Goodluck

Another quality brand ... Victron. I think this might have been the brand that used the same cells as my Powerpaul one for half the price.

 

[Ridge Runner]

AGM's , have served me faultlessly for decades, no change here.

I desided to keep the FLA in mine because they are rated down to -18*c according to the CCA Rating, Plus mine has a Motor Mover on it, Also it comes with Charging from my Van and when you hookup to a Shore Power hookup on Site it has a 230/240v 12A Charger factory fitted, Plus Solar if I need it,

 

[Ridge Runner]

For anyone interested, AGM's do fool around if you don't use them much, But I discovered how to bring them back to life after I replaced the One in my Van,

My Van is a 2017 ( Demcember ) and the battery all but died so I bought a new one because the old one was not lasting when sitting outside,

Anyways I charged it with a regular charger and then charged it with a NOCO 15A Smart Charger and even though the Charger Fan stopped making a noise the charger kept making a Clicking noise for the next 35/36 hours and then I ran the Repair mode twice in a row and then I flattened it down by 30-40% and then recharged it by the NOCO again until it stopped clicking and ran the Repair again and I ran it down again and rechared it again with the NOCO and then I ran the Repair mode 2X and the Battery woke up, to the point of being just as good as the New One. It now actually charges like a Good AGM Should.

The Old battery will be 7 years old this Christmas and it is still going strong, And I also did the same with the new battery after 3 years of Ownership and it come back up to what it was new, But you must run them down to about 40% and hit them with a 12A old style Charger first because they ignore the BMS and wake the battery up, Anyways I hope that helps, Yes it's a bit of stuffing around but it does work,

Just thought you'd like to know. RR.