What you don't realize now is that your 230 amp hour lithium (LFP or aka LiFeP04 chemistry) battery will have a load run time twice as long as a lead acid battery. You would need 460 amp hours of lead acid batteries to equal the output of the 230AH lithium battery. Not only does a lithium battery start out at a higher voltage, say 13.4 volts resting, it has a much flatter discharge curve than lead acid. You will be surprised that the voltage will stay above 13.0 volts even after heavy use. The lead acid batteries drop in voltage after heavy use such as a microwave oven and don't recover. After a heavy load, the lithium voltage will stabilize at a much higher voltage after you remove the load. Lithium batteries also recharge much faster than lead acid. The thing you need to be aware of is that LFP batteries can be destroyed if they are charged in below freezing environments. There are some quirks to LFP batteries but you definitely made the right decision. Make sure you put proper fuses and disconnects where needed. Also, in my projects, I tend to use the 500 amp shunt Renogy battery meters. They make a nice display with everything there on one screen including amp hours remaining, amps drawn, voltage, watts being drawn, and run time available in hours and minutes at the current inverter load condition. It constantly recalculated the time to fell discharge. You do not need to scroll between screens. EVERYTHING is there on the display. Worth the $80-$90 cost. Also, the Renogy shunt battery meter can tell you visually if the battery is charging from 30 feet away. The screen brightens and dims once a second when net amps are flowing into the battery. The time function also lets you know how long it will take to get to 100% charge in hours and minutes. This is an accurate gas gage for your battery and you will find its readings reliable. They make an additional Bluetooth unit as well, a BT-1 or BT-2 to read from your phone app. I have them both and rarely look at them on my phone. If you go with solar later you will need a charge controller between the panels and the battery. You feed power through the battery shunt so that the panel meter reads both directions, charging and discharging. MPPT types of charge controllers are the best. I have maybe a dozen charge controllers and favor the Renogy Rovers. They come in 30,40, 60, and even 100 amp units. They take care shutting off the charge when the battery is at 100%. I hope this helps!
There's no question that lipo4 or lithium batteries are the only option. They are extremely cheap now. A single 12 volt 100amp hour lithium battery is around 200$, but why choose 12 volt? You want 120v power so getting closer to that voltage is more efficient. Upgrade to 48 volt battery bank and a good victron 3,000 or 5,000 Watt inverter dependent on your needs for a 30 amp or 50 amp rv service. Your camper will buck down power for 12 volts from 120. You don't need solar panels or a charge controller unless you want to upgrade later. Run your generator into the inverter to charge batteries. Your generator will always be charging the battery bank regardless of what power your using or not. Id recommend a server rack 48 volt lithium Batts like aolithium, eg4 is good with breakers and spike voltage suppressors, fire suppression system and about 15 safety features, ECT.
What you don't realize now is that your 230 amp hour lithium (LFP or aka LiFeP04 chemistry) battery will have a load run time twice as long as a lead acid battery. You would need 460 amp hours of lead acid batteries to equal the output of the 230AH lithium battery. Not only does a lithium battery start out at a higher voltage, say 13.4 volts resting, it has a much flatter discharge curve than lead acid. You will be surprised that the voltage will stay above 13.0 volts even after heavy use. The lead acid batteries drop in voltage after heavy use such as a microwave oven and don't recover. After a heavy load, the lithium voltage will stabilize at a much higher voltage after you remove the load. Lithium batteries also recharge much faster than lead acid. The thing you need to be aware of is that LFP batteries can be destroyed if they are charged in below freezing environments. There are some quirks to LFP batteries but you definitely made the right decision. Make sure you put proper fuses and disconnects where needed.
Also, in my projects, I tend to use the 500 amp shunt Renogy battery meters. They make a nice display with everything there on one screen including amp hours remaining, amps drawn, voltage, watts being drawn, and run time available in hours and minutes at the current inverter load condition. It constantly recalculated the time to fell discharge. You do not need to scroll between screens. EVERYTHING is there on the display. Worth the $80-$90 cost.
Also, the Renogy shunt battery meter can tell you visually if the battery is charging from 30 feet away. The screen brightens and dims once a second when net amps are flowing into the battery. The time function also lets you know how long it will take to get to 100% charge in hours and minutes. This is an accurate gas gage for your battery and you will find its readings reliable. They make an additional Bluetooth unit as well, a BT-1 or BT-2 to read from your phone app. I have them both and rarely look at them on my phone.
If you go with solar later you will need a charge controller between the panels and the battery. You feed power through the battery shunt so that the panel meter reads both directions, charging and discharging. MPPT types of charge controllers are the best. I have maybe a dozen charge controllers and favor the Renogy Rovers. They come in 30,40, 60, and even 100 amp units. They take care shutting off the charge when the battery is at 100%.
I hope this helps!
@@kimmer6 WOW... Great information! Thank you for the info and time it took for the in-depth comment
@@LetsFigureThisOut You will like their extra power!
There's no question that lipo4 or lithium batteries are the only option. They are extremely cheap now. A single 12 volt 100amp hour lithium battery is around 200$, but why choose 12 volt? You want 120v power so getting closer to that voltage is more efficient. Upgrade to 48 volt battery bank and a good victron 3,000 or 5,000 Watt inverter dependent on your needs for a 30 amp or 50 amp rv service. Your camper will buck down power for 12 volts from 120. You don't need solar panels or a charge controller unless you want to upgrade later. Run your generator into the inverter to charge batteries. Your generator will always be charging the battery bank regardless of what power your using or not. Id recommend a server rack 48 volt lithium Batts like aolithium, eg4 is good with breakers and spike voltage suppressors, fire suppression system and about 15 safety features, ECT.
Thank you for the information. I really appreciate it.
@LetsFigureThisOut knowledge is easy, the money for everything is the hardest part! I need a loan!!