Like most, Battle Born Batteries used to be our go-to for Lithium power. They still make excellent products, but time changes and other brands caught up in term of features, quality, and price. As we are getting into our second van conversion, it’s time to re-evaluate our options to get the most out of our money. Below is a straightforward list of lithium-ion batteries we would personally get and recommend.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click a product link and buy anything from the merchant (Amazon, eBay, etc.) we will receive a commission fee. The price you pay remains the same, affiliate link or not.
No Name, Cheap Knockoff
Made-for-Amazon brand names that sound like they just picked random syllables out of a hat. This is a no-go zone as far as we’re concerned; we’re not rich enough to waste our money and gamble our safety on these products!
Budget
LiTime | Chins
These are quite popular due to the low price point. Take the claimed specifications with a grain of salt (capacity, cycles, etc). We would personally spend a bit more to jump to the mid range…
Mid-Low Range
Renogy | SOK
This is where we’d start if budget were a priority. Renogy has been around for a long time, SOK is getting more and more traction.
Mid-High Range
Epoch
Epoch Batteries have caught our attention with their high-quality and features-packed builds. The model below includes a CANBUS communication port, allowing the BMS to connect directly with the Victron OS…
Top Tier
Battle Born
While Battle Born used to be competitively priced, you can now expect to pay about twice as much compared to a mid-to-high range battery… That extra cost gets you an excellent product, backed by a solid warranty and top-tier customer service.
| LiTime | Chins | Renogy | SOK | Epoch | Battle Born | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buy Link | Amazon | Amazon | Amazon | SOKBattery | EpochBatteries | Amazon |
| Capacity | 460Ah | 400Ah | 300Ah | 280Ah | 460Ah | 270Ah |
| Voltage | 12.8V | 12.8V | 12.8V | 12.8V | 12.8V | 12.8V |
| Cycles | 4000 | 2000-5000 | 5000 | 8000 | 4000 | 3000-5000 |
| Self Heating | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Charge Current | ||||||
| Recommended | 92A (0.2C) | ? | 100A-150A (0.3C-0.5C) | 56A (0.2C) | 100A (0.22C) | 135A (0.5C) |
| Maximum | 200A | 120A (0.4C) | 230A (300A@10sec) | 135A (0.5C) | ||
| Discharge Current | ||||||
| Continuous | 250A | ? | 200A | 200A | 100A | 300A |
| Maximum | 390A (5sec) | 250A (7.5sec) | 300A (25°C) | 500A (30sec) | ||
| Temperature | ||||||
| Charge | 0-50°C | ?-50°C | -20-55°C | -15-45°C (4-113F) | -20-60°C | -24-57°C (25-135F) |
| Discharge | -20-60°C | ? | -20-60°C | -20-60°C (-4-140F) | -20-65°C | -20-57°C (-4-135F) |
| Size (inch) | ||||||
| Length | 20.47 | 20.47 | 20.55 | 13.07 | 20.9 | 22.8 |
| Width | 10.59 | 10.59 | 9.45 | 9.52 | 8.7 | 7.1 |
| Height | 8.66 | 8.66 | 8.62 | 9.84 | 12.1 | 13.1 |
| Weight | 87 lbs | 85 lbs | 60.63 lbs | 73 lbs | 88 lbs | 81 lbs |
| Warranty | 5 Years | ? | 5 Years | 7 Years | 11 Years | 10 Years |
| Documentation | ||||||
| Data Sheet | ||||||
| Manual | ||||||
| Price (total) | $1,169 | $849 | $999 | $849 | $1,799 | $2,149 |
| Price per 100Ah: | $255 | $213 | $333 | $303 | $391 | $795 |
*The recommendations above are from real-world experience, and we’re also big fans of Will Prowse teardowns!
You might be interested in …
I have battle born batteries. And they are great.
BUT
you should consider LITHIONICS they are more $$ but might have some advantages in monitoring and safety.
Have been running four 208ah SOK batteries (this model was before their 280ah model came out) in parallel (824ah of 12v total) for my personal full-time van life electrical system. They have been absolutely flawless!
As expected, good to hear!!
Thanks for the feedback 🙂
thank you for writing up the alternative choices. i appreciate you pricing things out but it’s tough when I see battleborn at the ultra high end price range for not an equivalent upgrade in features.
it would be helpful to note which batteries have a high or a low temperature cutoff. I don’t think below the mid-high range in your example have both high and low.
also Will Prowse on youtube has informative teardowns on these batteries which are useful for informing a decision. thanks for the write up as always!
I think your SOK links goes to a Chins product
Fixed! Thank you 🙂