I wanted to circle around and report my findings one year after I purchased a 100Ah (1228Wh) LiFePO4 Power Station (PS) to see how I could integrate it into my campers electrical system.
1) My thought was to see if there is a way to "ease into" LFP batteries, aka "drop in solution", meaning using the existing setup in combination with LFP technology. Besides, I wanted some electrical backup for my home in case of power outages (to run the refrigerator and my aquarium pumps).
2) As you perhaps know, these Power Stations are basically batteries with an added inverter, MPPT solar charger, and a few other ins and outs so basically the campers inverter, SCC, etc are not needed and don't need to be upgraded to be Li compatible.
3) There are two issues I found with my particular PS, the first one seems to apply to most of them, while the second one just to this particular one:
a) The 12V output maxes out at 10A, so you can't pull much more than 120W on the 12V circuit out of them. Of course they deliver 1000W via the inverter, but that conversion/inversion wastes some wattage and I am an efficiency freak, trying to keep everything at the 12V level.
b) The max charge power for my particular PS is 180W, which makes recharging it via generator pointless unless you have it running anyway (for air condition, for example)
4) My camping energy usage is about 600Wh in 24h. That means, from a fully charged battery, I can run the camper for 2 full days without any recharging the PS. We almost never go to places where we can plug in, so shore power is pretty much not an option.
5) I have a 190W solar panel on the roof, and a fold-able 100W solar panel that I can strategically place on the roof or windshield or around the camper. There are many situations which affect solar collection, but in general terms, we usually camp in open areas, rarely see clouds, and in Summer, this allows us to easily keep batteries fully charged and boon-dock for unlimited periods.
6) In Winter, and in partially shaded areas, there will be less energy collection, but usually there is some which will extend the battery duration to around four days. If there is no solar collection, as mentioned above, I need to do something after two full days.
7) Besides solar charging (120W max), I can also charge via DC (120W max at ~24V, more like 80W at 13.5V) and USB-C (60W) via a socket I installed. Solar and DC is mutually exclusive, so it is 120W + 60W USB-C for a total of 180W.
8 ) All of this ignores the AGM coach batteries I have currently in the camper. I am planning to dump them when their lifespan is reduced (or now, if I can find an interested buyer), and replace them with a small (35Wh) AGM battery instead. This will act as a buffer, and allow me to charge the PS while driving, remove the PS easily as desired, start generator, extend awning, etc.
9) That is pretty much my LFP conversion.
I have considered adding another solar panel to the roof, or moving the existing one back a bit to add some distance from the AC box which shades it if the sun is low and coming from the front. Or add some brackets which will allow adjusting the panels angle to optimize solar collection. None of this is really necessary at the moment as most of the time, I only go camping for two days (Fri afternoon - Sun afternoon). Longer trips usually involve regular driving, so still plenty of opportunity to top off the PS.
10)
Everyone is different, your energy consumption and charging etc will all vary and may be completely incompatible with the ideas described in this post.
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