Battery upgrade
July 7, 2023
Finally upgraded the house battery from lead acid to Lithium!
The new battery is 12v 150ah by Cloud Energy (http://www.cloudnenergy.com). Approx $450.
The old battery, I'd had for 3½ years; I generated 114kwh with my solar panel(s) to it. But it was not powerful enough to keep my refrigerator going through the night, nor to run my heater more than once in the morning; definitely not both.
I do intend to expand my battery and solar bank over the next several months, taking three or four months between each upgrade. My goal will be 24v 300ah battery bank with 1020w solar generation. Four batteries, four solar panels. But to do that, I will be needing a DC to DC converter, and then an inverter of probably 800w. I do want to have more power coming in than I am using. I need to be able to run my refrigerator on the batteries rather than propane. And I don't currently have enough solar power for that; I used to, but my second 255w panel flew off my roof while I was driving...
November 2024
That single battery was also not enough. I bought another, but the new and old batteries are not compatible, the nature of lithium batteries, and got the company to send me another one, using the warranty from the first to replace it. But the battery weighs too much to send back, so I have three, but only two connected together. I may use the other one with my 100w portable and flexible solar panel for some things outside while camping in places that I can stay and feel comfortable outside (few other people around). We'll see if 300ah is enough.
I got a 1000w inverter, and it struggles to run my dishwasher, but does so.
October 2025
300ah was not enough. Finally, a year later, I've bought four 314ah batteries. I figured 1242ah should be enough. But, of course, installing didn't go smoothly, and I lost one of the battery terminals... So I have only three of those batteries hooked up at the moment, I didn't feel like undoing the new install to reinstall the old two 150ah batteries. Of course, I did that right after making a long drive to town, currently camping about 75 miles from town...so I wasn't about to drive back to a hardware store. I have to wait until November when I'll have the gas money to refill my tank.
I've also had to change solar panels since starting out. I now have a 395w solar panel on the currently three 314ah batteries. I also have four 100w solar panels hooked up to a 150ah lead battery for the house/aux battery, since lithium can't be used as an auxiliary start battery for the RV's engine.
