Lithium batteries: never at the power pole again

Freedom, independence: campers love it and campers in particular like to be completely 'free', without having to roll out a cable to the power pole every time. The latest trend: lithium batteries. What should you pay attention to?

Campers are completely self-supporting: you have your own toilet and shower on board, you can cook with your own gas supply, you have hot water and heating, you get drinking water from your own tanks and waste water disappears into the waste water tank. Campers have two batteries on board for the electrical system: one to start the engine and keep the camper moving and the other is called the household or on-board battery. This provides the power supply when you are standing still. If you are about to replace that on-board battery, now is the time to switch to lithium.

The heart of the camper

The on-board battery is the heart of the camper. It provides the interior lighting, it provides electricity for the water pump, for flushing the toilet, for the ring heating and, for example, for listening to the radio and watching TV. With a special converter (also called an inverter) you can even get 230 Volts from your battery. So you can get a cup of coffee from your Nespresso machine, so you can charge your laptop and your e-bikes and so that the ladies on board can blow-dry their hair. And all this without being at the power pole. This ensures optimal freedom, so that you can stand in that one beautiful spot where no 230 Volt is available. The most modern variant of this household battery is the lithium-ion battery and it has many advantages.

Pay attention to safety

The market is flooded with what has come to be popularly called the lithium battery. Manufacturers and suppliers, especially from the Far East, are tripping over each other with price tags that the A-brands cannot match. No matter how tempting: if you are considering buying a lithium battery, it is important to pay attention to safety, if only because you also sleep in the camper. Not all manufacturers have their safety certificates in place, if they have a certificate at all. Established brands use iron phosphate as the basis for their lithium batteries, a material that is non-flammable, unlike the lithium batteries used in the automotive industry. These are based on nickel, cobalt and magnesium and can therefore catch fire if used incorrectly.

Many advantages

Why would you actually switch to a lithium battery? Because they have a number of important advantages for campers. First of all, it is the weight: a lithium battery saves tens of kilos of charging capacity because they are many times lighter than the traditional lead-acid or AGM battery. As an example we take the SuperB Epsilon, a Dutch (!) battery: those batteries are built in Hengelo.

The Epsilon has a capacity of 90 Ah (ampere hours) and that capacity is the most popular variant for the camper market. It weighs only 12,5 kilos and if you want the same capacity with lead-acid batteries, you need at least two of those heavy beasts that weigh 22 kilos each. This is because you can only discharge lead-acid batteries to half their capacity. For an effective 90Ah you must therefore install 180 Ah in your camper. Lithium batteries can be completely drained and the SuperB Epsilon really delivers what it says: 90 Ah. Another advantage of the lithium battery is that you can charge it very quickly: this takes 1-2 hours. Another advantage is that the energy from the solar panels is stored much more efficiently in lithium batteries than in lead-acid batteries. This means you can simply stay in that one place for four to five days, without having to move or move the power pole.

From camper to camper

A final advantage concerns the lifespan: a lithium battery lasts three to four times longer than a normal battery and in that respect SuperB is an outsider. The lifespan of batteries is expressed in charging cycles: the complete charging and discharging of the battery. Most lithium battery manufacturers guarantee a lifespan of 1500 to 2500 charging cycles. SuperB guarantees no fewer than 5000: twice as many.

This means you can fully discharge and recharge the battery five thousand times. This has to do with the high quality of the lithium cells with which the battery is constructed, the construction method and the built-in Battery Management System that ensures that the cells are discharged and recharged very evenly. This means that SuperB batteries can handle enormous discharge currents, up to 350 amps, allowing you to use an inverter of up to 3000 watts, enough to even run two hair dryers. Thanks to its long lifespan, you can easily move the SuperB Epsilon to your next camper, which explains the price difference with the competition.

Moreover, the Epsilon is 'plug-and-play', while with some other brands you still have to purchase a Battery Management System, for example. The brand from Hengelo has built up a considerable reputation in the camper world. If you order a new camper with a lithium-ion battery from brands such as Morelo, Carthago, La Strada, Rapido or Malibu, a Dutch SuperB battery will be installed as standard. German premium campers with Dutch lithium batteries – quite special.

Install

Replacing the household battery with a SuperB lithium battery is not very complicated. A modern camper - with a Euro-5 or Euro-6 engine - will probably require an additional booster; With older campers this is often not even necessary. After two hours of installation you are back outside. You can contact various camping companies to install a SuperB battery. You can find more information about this at www.caravan-campercomfort.nl

Overview of lithium batteries

Emergo PowerExtreme X125
Capacity 125 Ah
Max. continuous current 150A (peak 200A)
Max. charging current 100A14
Lifespan >1500 charging cycles
Weight kg 14,8
Price € 1429
emergoplus.com

NDS 3Lion 100 Ah
Capacity 100 Ah
Max. continuous current 100A (peak 150A)
Max. charging current 100A
Lifespan >2500 charging cycles
Weight kg 13,8
Price € 1464
www.ndsbenelux.eu

SuperB Epsilon 12V90Ah
Capacity 90 Ah
Max. continuous current 200A (peak 350A)
Max. charging current 90A
Lifespan >5000 charging cycles
Weight kg 12,5
Price € 1839
www.superb-accu.nl

Victron LFP Smart 12,8/100Ah
Capacity 100Ah
Max. continuous current 100A (peak 200A)
Max. charging current 50A (max. 200A)
Lifespan >3000 charging cycles
Weight kg 18
Price €1.390*
www.victronenergy.nl

*excluding battery management system

Wide range

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