Are Battle Born Lithium (LiFePO4) batteries superior to AGM batteries for electrical system of campervans, RV, boats, etc? To find out, we replaced the battery bank of our campervan (230Ah AGM) for Battle Born Batteries (200Ah LiFePO4 Lithium) and we've been testing them FULL TIME since June 2019. Here is our review.
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1- Jumping to Conclusion
"Technology has come a long way. Going for Lithium (LiFePO4) these days is a no brainer as it provides more usable capacity in a smaller package. We, ourselves, upgraded from AGM to Lithium and we're glad we did. Highly recommended!"
What We Like
- HUGE weight saving over AGM!
- Reach 100% charge faster than AGM.
- Last many years more than AGM.
- Cheaper than AGM in the long run (that's right!).
- Built-in BMS for safe operation and self-balancing cells.
What We don't like
- The upfront cost is high.
- Cannot be charged below freezing temps (but can be discharged).
- We wished BattleBorn had a more detailed specification sheet. (specs are all over the place and hard to find).
2- Where to Buy Battle Born Batteries
3- Battle Born Batteries Specifications
BMS Parameters
The Battle Born BMS won't allow charge/discharge out of these values:
- High Voltage: 14.7V-15.0V
- Low Voltage: 9.0V-10.5V
- High Temperature: 135F
- Low Temperature: 25F charge / -4F discharge
- High Current CHARGE: 100A for 30s / 200A for 0.5s
- High Current DISCHARGE: 100A continuous / 200A for 30s
Discharge
- 100 amps continuous.*
- 200 amps surge current (30 seconds).
- 1/2 second surge for larger loads.
- Usable Capacity: 80Ah (80% D.O.D. is best for economics), but can be fully discharged without damage.
- Lifespan: 3000 cycles.
Charge
- Bulk: 14.2V-14.6V.
- Float: Not required, but 13.6V or lower won't hurt the battery (the BMS will turn off the charge).
- Current: 50 amps for maximum lifespan (but can be charged up to 100 amps).
- Profile: Same as AGM (can be charged with any smart charger with AGM settings).
- Automatic cells balancing.
Temperature
- Charge: 25 to 135F (-4 to 57C).
- Discharge: -4F to 135F (-20 to 57C).
- The BMS will not allow charge/discharge out of this range.
Others
- Weight: 31 lbs.
- Dimensions: 12.75in x 6.875in x 9in.
- Terminals: 5/16" bolts included.
- Built-In BMS (Battery Management System) to prevent out-of-range operation.
*100 amps continuous discharge current PER BATTERY (parallel). This means:
| BATTERY QUANTITY | CONTINUOUS DISCHARGE CURRENT ALLOWED | MAX INVERTER CAPACITY |
| 1 (100Ah total) | 100A | 1000W |
| 2 (200Ah total) | 200A | 2000W |
| 3 (300Ah total) | 300A | 3000W |
| etc. | etc. | etc. |
4- Lithium (LiFePO4) VS AGM
Comparing a 100Ah Battle Born Lithium battery (100% usable capacity) with a 200Ah AGM battery (50% usable capacity):
| 210Ah AGM | 100Ah LITHIUM | |
| USABLE CAPACITY | 100Ah | 100Ah |
| WEIGHT | 133 lbs | 31 lbs |
| TOTAL LIFE CYCLE* | 1200 | 3000 |
| UPFRONT COST | $650 | $950 |
| COST PER CYCLE* | $0.54 | $0.32 |
| LENGTH | 21″ | 12.75″ |
| WIDTH | 8.5″ | 6.875″ |
| HEIGHT | 9.5″ | 9″ |
*For full time Vanlife (1 full cycle daily), it means an AGM battery will cost roughly $200 per year to operate and will last 3.5 years; while a Battle Born Lithium battery will cost roughly $120 per year to operate and will last 8 years.
5- Camper Van Wiring Diagram & Electrical System
Designing and building the electrical system of a camper (van, skoolie, small RV, etc.) is by far the most overwhelming task of a conversion… trust us we’ve been through that! To get you started, we made our own wiring diagram available and wrote an extensive Electrical System Guide:
6- Reliability of Battle Born Batteries
Battle Born Batteries come with 10 years warranty.
We installed our Battle Born Batteries in June 2019 and they’ve been working flawlessly since then. Subscribe to our Mailing List to be notified if anything happens!
