Best Batteries for my 2022 BT5230

[Ronald1955]

My single battery will only hold 50 percent charge and I have already rule out the Lithium battery due to charger limitation.
I am looking at best upgrade conventional two battery set up.

 

[Ronald1955]

I just installed two Group 27 AGM batteries in our 2022 BT5230.

SLI27MAGMDC Duracell Ultra BCI Group 27M 12V 100AH 620CCA AGM Deep Cycle Marine & RV Battery.​

I am thinking about adding solar panels to the roof.

 

[George and Kim]

Just wondering why you are ruling out the LiFePO4 because of the stock charger.? That Duracell is going to give you about 50ah before what would be in my case the inverter low voltage alarm goes off. If you only get 80% of a LiFePO4 you are still getting 80ah with a whole lot more cycle times.

A better argument might be that you would fry your alternator, but I remain unconvinced on that one given the 210A SRC in the Ford, the BMS on the 2 batteries, and the decent wiring run from the motor to the house.

My plan is to drop 2 125ah LiFePO4's in my 5245 with the stock charger and no dc to dc. I'll just top them of with a lithium charger before I hit the road and call it a day.

 

[Ronald1955]

That does sound like a good upgrade on your 5245. I am working with my budget to add two solar panels and a 3000 watt inverter. The invertor will power the CPAP machine I use at night and keep our phones and iPads powered up. I did look at the specs on my charger and decided to go with the AGM battery that should match the main vehicle battery in charging rate. I do need to get the house entry door adjusted, it drags on the latch and is hard to open. Let me know how the LifePO4 performance work with dry camping.

 

[Just two]

I added two 110 amp hour lithium batteries and changed the house battery charger $90. It has a profile to charge lithium. I kept the connection from the alternator that was in the RV that seems to be charging these batteries fine.

 

[Ronald1955]

Thank you for information; during my time as a mechanic (46 Years) we always tried to match the batteries to keep the charge rate of the alternator at the same rate.

 

[Just two]

We just got back from a trip to Hershey RV show. We spent 2 nights at camp in a camp spot mostly in the shade. We parked at the show in the sun and enjoyed engine charging on the hour drive to and from the show. The 12 volt lithium batteries never went below 70 %. Batteries ran the 8 cubic foot 12 volt Norcold refrigerator, several fans, lights and stuff. No problem.

 

[Just two]

Thank you for information; during my time as a mechanic (46 Years) we always tried to match the batteries to keep the charge rate of the alternator at the same rate.

I guess that would be a good reason to switch the old charge system for a B2B.

 

[Ronald1955]

We just got back from a trip to Hershey RV show. We spent 2 nights at camp in a camp spot mostly in the shade. We parked at the show in the sun and enjoyed engine charging on the hour drive to and from the show. The 12 volt lithium batteries never went below 70 %. Batteries ran the 8 cubic foot 12 volt Norcold refrigerator, several fans, lights and stuff. No problem.

 

[Ronald1955]

Our rig is getting the solar upgrade with three 220w solar panels and the Victron Energy components on the 22 this month. The system will have the inverter as a separate system, so the microwave and a/c will need to be powered by the generator. We are also adding two 12 cigarette power plug and additional usb ports.
The system is programmable for battery type. So we will use our two AGM batteries for now and then upgrade to lithium batteries later. We also may downsize the large 115v Tv to a 32 inch 12 volt tv. see the attached website. Solar charge controllers | Victron Energy

 

[Just two]

Ron thank you for the link. It was right on time. Good site to size a system. Are you thinking about a way to monitor your system? I mean other then Bluetooth? I guess you can always add that later.

 

[Ronald1955]

It should be the BMV-712 round battery monitor with bluetooth