Lithium Battery to replace AGM

I bought a fridge so have been seriously considering buying a X2 rebranded Northstar 27f for $300. But, with considering I will then need to buy a charger, we are getting somewhat close in cost to a Lithium battery which is now the latest and greatest, but cost $500 - $800 for a 50 amp hr.

Any early adopters out there? At this point there isn't really any information installing a lithium LifePro4 battery or older tech as a starting battery. There are many companies who sell the product.

https://antigravitybatteries.com/productline/starter-batteries/

http://www.a123systems.com/automotive/products/systems/12v-starter-battery/

https://www.lithiumpros.com/product/lithium-pros-m3180-12v80ah-starting-lithium-ion-battery/

Any experience or thoughts would be appreciated.

 

I have experience working on these large lithium batteries on a hybrid ship. They are an amazing product and are the real deal, though expensive. I haven’t used on one in a vehicle yet. They are extremely light. Might solve the taco lean without a spacer.

 

How well does this perform in cold weather.

I tried the AGM, but the cold weather here just kills them. I can't imagine a lithium battery doing very well in the cold and heat. I hear that the ones I use for my RC cars are only really good for so many cycles before they're no good

 

AGM is just a regular old lead acid battery stuffed with fibreglass matting. It is not a different chemistry. They may be more affected by cold if poorly designed. Did you buy a good brand?

 

Lithium batteries absolutely suck in cold weather just ask all your Tesla buddies. I’m sure it’s fine as a car battery though.

What’s the charging requirements for the Lithium? Our alternators don’t charge AGM batteries well so I’m curious how that effects lithium.

 

It depends on how they engineer those batteries - surely they included some management electronics in them for safety purposes, but depending on how extensive they are it could be really good or awful.

I would be inclined to just get a good agm at this point and let that technology mature longer. People install them in motorcycles, but the main advantage there is weight and most people don't ride when it's that cold.

 

Interstate replaced the AGM battery twice and the third go around they replaced it with an Optima at my request. The truck was sold and it needed to be loaded on a transporter.

It can be below freezing in ND for months on end. Results might very for others, but I wasn't impressed. I'll just stick to my OK Boomer lead acid batteries

 

Huh. My truck has an agm and it spent most of its life in Northern Canada. It's roughly 5 years old and works fine. That said, the truck is equipped with a battery heater blanket, so that might be part of it.

 

LiFePo4 plus capacitor. Perfect combo. Expensive though.

 

Like I said, results might very for others. I wasn't installing a battery heater to babysit a battery

 

Those are both shit batteries made by Johnson’s controls, likely manufactured in mexico. I think Optima was the worst battery I ever purchased, I got a new one every year under warranty until I said the heck with them.

I would get a battery manufactured by East Penn

 

I bought a new truck, so if the battery croaks it's Toyota's problem. I don't think these bespoke batteries yield instaham points anyways

My Tacoma is made in Mexico. I guess I should get a frontier or ridgeline

 

You can get lithium batteries that do just fine in cold weather (well in to the negatives). Lithium isn't new tech, it's been used for a long time in solar applications, motorsports, and industrial applications. The tech won't mature by waiting, it may get cheaper but the tech is the tech. There are some big advantages of lithium to be had, more than just weight savings. Lithium DOD is between 80-90%, AGM is around 50% before permanent damage starts to occur. This means the chance of a dead battery is much less and the chance of damaging a battery from a dead battery scenario is much less. You could almost do a single Lithium and get most of the benefits of a dual battery system without the added complexity of a dual battery system. Obviously you miss out on the n+1 factor so I don't think I'd personally skip the dual setup if you are in situations where you could be solo and out of reach for a period. Lithium also does way better with vibrations and shock than AGM or Lead.

 

What are those batteries? I'd be very butt hurt if I dumped the kind of coin on that kind of battery and the performance was not up to snuff. The one link he posted is for a boat. I can't imagine most people use boats when it's stupid cold outside.

 

I am currently in the process of dealing with undercharged agm batteries on my 2017.

It isn't touched on to much but the smart alternator in our truck is not putting out enough voltage for agms or lithium batteries to properly charge them.

If this is a dual battery setup you have the potential of charging agm or lithium batteries properly with the correct DC -DC charger but to the service battery only.

2nd gen tacomas and 5th gen runners have a mod that can crank up the voltage from the alternator but 3rd gen tacomas as far as i know don't have this option. If someone somehow managed to figure out how to crank up the voltage on the 3rd gen tacomas i would love to know how but i can't find anything on it.

I have spent a bit of money on my current dual battery setup and am just starting to find out that i did it wrong because this info wasn't touched on much 3 years ago.

 

If it's LiFePo4, and you're in cold, don't do it. Typical LiFePo4 cold weather requirements are cannot charge below freezing and cannot provide power below 0° F.

Looks like at least antigravity is LiFePo4.

 

We're all in the same boat here...sucks...

 

There are a bunch, here's the first one from google. https://relionbattery.com/blog/lithium-battery-cold-weather .

 

There’s cold weather boats

 

To my knowledge LiPo4 discharges well below freezing (still a capacity loss, but the >80% DoD is nice), but cannot safely charge in freezing temps.

The other consideration is peak cranking amps, but cell construction can overcome that without too much difficulty.

I'll be replacing my house battery with a lithium bank in October, but will continue to run SLA for starter