cborrman
Active Member
yep that!
next task is to do just that, put a relay between main 30ah and second 20ah and put an inverter in that space on 20ah battery
yep that!
next task is to do just that, put a relay between main 30ah and second 20ah and put an inverter in that space on 20ah battery
cborrman
Active Member
A quick google search shows me lead crystal batteries in £ so assume they are for the UK??? They are all however more expensive than what I paid for lithium.
I am not sure the lifetime to recoup investment is true any more; I was going to get an optima battery that cost above £200, has 60-70ah lead acid, so 30ah usable and around the 700cca of the powerlite 30ah lithium, also above £200, slightly more, but comes with a free quality charger
cborrman
Active Member
yep, see video, straight(ish) swap - apart from some posts and a shim I made with copper pipe as I did not want to take the connectors off, but tbh I should have just taken the old connectors off and wired straight had I known it would be such a good result 10,000 miles later
Si Click
Well-Known Member
Can you send a link? These people list products but not prices and will not respond to retail enquiries http://lead-crystalbatteries.co.uk/ They state that all products can be bought from Elfa Elementenfabriek, but when you go to their website their lead crystal link takes you back where you started.
These people show both products and prices for Galax-E, but "cannot supply for the time being." http://www.motorcaravanning.co.uk/shopuk/leisure_batteries_lead_crystal.htm
An extensive Google did not show me any other suppliers for suitable automotive lead crystal.
Powerlite seem to be focused on replacing starter batteries rather then leisure, so a comparison with lead crystal is pointless as they are aimed at leisure batteries - high Ahr values and little requirement for CCA. The smallest Lead Crystal Galax-E for sale is 60 Ahr is listed at £148 inc VAT, but they do not quote CCA, although it should be comparable to an equivalent lead acid. Until they do I would not consider one as a starter.
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If I understand correctly you bought the standard (not PAC) 20 Ahr version at 630 CCA and £209. That would probably be a bit too small for my D2 TD5 with the extra electronics over a Defender and I would be going for the 30 Ahr with 800 CCA at £250. But neither will last very long running anything with the engine off.
A suitable lead acid comparison would be Halfords Yuasa HSB013 62 Ahr and 620 CCA - £112 retail, (£88 with a Trade Card) comes with 5 year guarantee. So I guess if the powerlite lasted around 12 years it would break even against the lead acid. Powerlite are certainly much closer to a sensible economic case. No one is doing the same for leisure batteries - for 100 Ahr deep cycle the comparison is stark.
Lead Acid - TB25MF 110 Ahr from Amazon £80
Lead Crystal - Galax-E GLX-E - £248 comes with a 4 year warranty (if you can buy one)
Lithium - NX AML9138 - £859 could not see a guarantee. Cheapest I could find in UK from here; https://www.allbatteries.co.uk/lithium-iron-phosphate-battery-lifepo4/12v/100ah.html
cborrman
Active Member
This is the lead crystal one I saw
https://www.allbatteries.co.uk/lead-crystal-battery/12v/40ah-amc9013.html
From what I could gather, and again this is from the internet so caveated as usual:
1) the cheapo halfords one is not a like for like comparison, as if you start actually using those 31ah available on a regular basis the lifecycle will go through the floor and/or it may not recover from that state, most likely on a rainy night in the middle of Wales... A 60ah(is) lead acid where you can regularly and reliably use the 30ah is something like an optima.. which is in same price bracket but still only likely to last half or a third of lifecycles.???
2) because LiFePO4 does not really care if you use all 30ah and leave it 6 months, etc. there is no difference in lithium world really in terms of being a deep cycle or not. I plan to use the 20ah as a leisure battery and will expand if I need, or just become more efficient.
3) the voltage drop-off is much less, so you are getting a flatter, more usable 30ah with lithium
again YMMV lol
https://www.allbatteries.co.uk/lead-crystal-battery/12v/40ah-amc9013.html
From what I could gather, and again this is from the internet so caveated as usual:
1) the cheapo halfords one is not a like for like comparison, as if you start actually using those 31ah available on a regular basis the lifecycle will go through the floor and/or it may not recover from that state, most likely on a rainy night in the middle of Wales... A 60ah(is) lead acid where you can regularly and reliably use the 30ah is something like an optima.. which is in same price bracket but still only likely to last half or a third of lifecycles.???
2) because LiFePO4 does not really care if you use all 30ah and leave it 6 months, etc. there is no difference in lithium world really in terms of being a deep cycle or not. I plan to use the 20ah as a leisure battery and will expand if I need, or just become more efficient.
3) the voltage drop-off is much less, so you are getting a flatter, more usable 30ah with lithium
again YMMV lol
My Fil has a leaf and has just reached the end of the pcp and paid it off so he can keep the car, no mention of the battery?
My milwaukee cordless tools at work are ageing nicely now, probabaly 7 maybe 8 years old and they certainly get some grief/dropped/temperature changes/wet etc and still work pretty much as they did when new.
I have no idea how many times they have been recharged in that time.
In my opinion the very best thing about lithium batteries is the amount fo time the tool can be left unused, then put to use with full power available, whereas with the old nicad which if left alone for a week ot two would go flat just when you wanted them.
In fact the 1/2 gun will still undo a truck wheel nut, which is my go to test for any so called quality 1/2 gun, if they can do that then they are pretty decent.
mick 1986
Well-Known Member
It may have changed, but I know the battery used to be a lease item, 10 years I think it was.
It may be worth asking about the battery.
Thanks I will ask, Iirc the car is a 2016 0r 2017 and he could keep paying for it monthly, hand it back or pay for it outright, paying for it made sense so we lent him the money to do so.
mick 1986
Well-Known Member
Just done a quick google search, mainly to make sure I wasn’t giving **** advice. Found this. Haven’t read it all, but seems it may be out for 2017/18 onwards.
https://evfleetworld.co.uk/nissan-abandons-battery-lease-for-new-leaf/
That may explain the pcp monthly price hike as it was 250 quid per month and nissan wanted 520 quid for his possible next car, so that does make it sound like the battery is not actually his!
Pretty certain his is the previous shape.
Hes 80 and only does 5k ish per year so that is why I said to him buy it and just pay us what you are paying now and if after 4 yrs its totally shagged who cares? as it will techinically be free compared to the cost of a new one on pcp lease.
Si Click
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the link, but at 40 Ahr that does not have the capacity I am looking for as a viable leisure battery.
You are missing the point about a starter battery; the Yuasa (decent make BTW) from Halfords will only start to sulphate if it is discharged below about 50-60%. That should never happen for a starter battery; as long as it is used as a starter and kept charged it is no more likely to fail early than your lithium. Even if it does, it comes with a 5 year guarantee and Halfords will replace it free of charge. The point is that most of the benefits of lithium over lead acid are irrelevant in a starter battery because that is a charge/discharge cycle that suits a lead acid.
BTW I'm not sure I share your confidence in Optima. The spiral design is excellent and gives great vibration resistance, but there is a view that quality dropped significantly when production moved from the US.
I agree Lithium works well as deep cycle, the issue with powerlite is capacity not chemistry, 20 Ahr is really small for a leisure battery. Though I guess it depends what you intend to run. If you are planning to overland and run a fridge, lights, charge laptops, phones, cameras etc then I would say 50 Ahr (usable ie. 100 Ahr AGM or 60 Ahr lithium or lead crystal) would be a reasonable minimum if you want to stay put for a couple of days. A 100 Ahr lead crystal with solar input would be perfect....if I could find one.
