Battle Born Batteries

Has anyone replaced their two 6 volt batteries with the drop in replacement GC2 12 volt Battle Born lithium batteries. Looking for any reviews and experiences with these batteries.

Thanks, John

Hi John,

Are your 1 year old original PC 6V wet acid batteries failing already?

I understood a pair of Li-Ion batteries are terribly expensive, like $2000 expensive.  THIS VIDEO says they offer double the power and half the weight.  Do they recharge slower, the same, or faster than conventional batteries?  I'd have to research it, but I don't think my PC inverter or external charger has a Li-Ion setting.  I see the Battle Born is offered 12V only.

Have you considered 6V AGM batteries?  Sam's Club sells the Duracell brand for around $180 per battery.  $360 and I've had more power for 4 RVing seasons now and counting.  But I am all ears for "Affordably Better".

This could be a very interesting subject.   

Ron Dittmer

Several of the Winnebago Fuse owners have replaced their 12V wet cells with Battle Born Lithium batteries.  A purchase price on special was less then $1000 for two batteries.  Not sure the size, which is measured in Watts not amps in many cases.  I'll see if I can find a thread on them.

In the meantime this webcast on a Travato was on yesterday.  Pull up a chair and pour yourself a beer as its quite lengthy....real interesting.

https://www.lichtsinn.com/about-us/video-library/live-streaming-videos/live-webcast-archive

At the time we were ordering our PC, lithium batteries were pretty high on my want list. They make sense, although cost is high, weight to power ratio is great, life is suppose to be good also.
PC would not consider that as an option, and I believe that they were correct in not making it an option. They don't have the desire to open a new can of worms. Depending on where you live and how you use your vehicle, charging can create problems. You cannot charge them in cold temps, so an entire climate controlled battery box needs to be engineered. After watching the Travato vid, it appears they have addressed this issue, although I'm still not completely clear on all the safeguards . I probably missed something though.
If you were to retrofit a PC, and were ever going to be in temps below freezing you would need a fail proof system. Those batteries hang out in all the elements, and they are not cheap.
I am convinced its a great way to go, but lets face it, most of the RV industry is still using plans and components from 1965, so I'm not holding my breath.
Doug

No my batteries are fine. I am looking for more amp hours & faster recharge for boondocking. I am aware of the temp issues with Battle Born but we don't do camping in cold weather or try to avoid it LOL. To add more batteries seems to be a major project. Our factory installed solar system (2 160 panels) is less than stellar. The panels are shaded at times by the luggage bar thing and the fan cover (I remove it when boondocking). I wired the controller to accept a 100watt portable panel with pushes the amps up to recharge faster. To do it over again I would have a solar installer do the solar or do it myself. Heading to Quartzsite in January so I am going to put the system to the test.

Thanks for everyones input, John

In addition to cold temps, you also have the address high temps.  Lithium does not perform well and longevity is impacted with high ambient temperatures.  While you will get the power/weight ratio, to get the full benefit out of lithium, the overall system (including controller output, charger profile and wire sizes/lengths) needs to be optimized.  The factory installed controller and charger will not cut it.  If you are going lithium, you might want to consider a larger overhaul.  I have been doing a fair amount of investigation including doing a system design to meet my needs. There are some good websites to get further info.  Let me know if you are interested.

John,
I don't know what the cabinets are like in the 2552 but we installed another set of six volt batteries under the sink in our 2350. We had the work done, but it would not be that hard to do. Something to consider without major changes or expense. If I were to do it all again I would not order a Gen, spend the money on more solar, and mount the extra batteries where the generator would have been. Even so, I'm happy having more power and less storage space.
Doug