9th Annual Lithium Report

[Winston-ClassB]

Our lithium pack consists of 20 - 100ah Chinese GBS cells arranged in a 4 high, 5 wide matrix. When installed, this pack netted 515 ah of capacity. We lost an additional 30 ah of capacity this 9th year - - down from 380 ah after 8 years, to its current 350 ahs. That's just 70% of its original advertised capacity. Should we attempt to squeeze a 10th year of use? Or, bite the bullet? Beginning some serious research of options.

 

[booster]

Tough question and based on what we are starting to hear and see you may be on the top end of age related failure time.
Out of curiosity, it might be interesting to plot the capacity loss per year over time to see the shape of the curve, and perhaps that curve could help you decide what year 10 would bring.

 

[Winston-ClassB]

We're wandering in frozen Michigan at present . . . but will make a plot when back home. Difficulty is - - as reported in our 8th Annual Lithium Report - - loss of capacity is only one consideration. We're more troubled by the significant increase of pack internal resistance (never actually measured) that results in significant voltage sagging under heavy loads - - more like a lead-acid battery. Fortunately we can enable our 2nd alternator/inverter combination to bypass this 'sagging' if required - - reducing the urgency for lithium replacement.