Nah this is a legit battery. I remember thinking the same thing when i saw some US milwaukee tools at esk8con. We must have different housings here in Aus
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damn that looks cherry
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Swap those AGM’s out for LiFePo’s as soon as practical.
I’m still looking for a base Van for my build. Ideally I want to find one that someone started, almost finished, then “life got in the way” and they are selling it incomplete.
I’m dithering on how much customization I want to do vs. off the shelf.
Those Vevor diesel heaters are a hell of a find, I had no idea they were so cheap!
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I’ve gotten excellent cycle life from AGMs, but they are finicky SOB’s, and there is no shortage of bad info online about how to best treat them in both engine starting, and deep cycle applications.
Basically, ignore the low and slow crowd, regarding the proper charging them in deep cycle applications.
When deeply cycled often, without getting back to a true 100% full charge, their capacity drops off a cliff, and low and slow cannot restore them back to their full remaining potential capacity, ever.
The way to get them to their maximum potential remaining capacity and performance, is by draining them to nearly 10.5v, in 8 hours or less, then immediately apply No less than 30 amps per 100ah of capacity until they reach 14.4 to 14.7v.
Yes, they will get warm to very warm, but this helps dissolve the capacity robbing sulfation and forces electrolyte migration within.
If they get over 110f/43.3c at 30amps per 100ah of capacity in 25c ambient, stop charging, they are likely near end of life anyway, and start planning on new batteries.
Hold them at this absorption voltage until amperage tapers to 0.5 amps per 100ah of capacity. If, at any point, amperage at constant absorption voltage starts rising, stop charging. Temperature will rise quickly at that point, and they will not accept any more juice anyway.
The tools required to achieve no less than 30 amps per 100ah of capacity and to hold them at the proper absorption voltage until amperage tapers to 0.5% of capacity is where the frustration enters, especially when requiring the battery’s capacity that night.
When new and healthy it might take 3 hours for amperage to taper to 0.5C at absorption voltage. Nearer end of life it can take 10hours. At end of life amperage will start rising again before tapering to 0.5C.
Since Solar which can fit on a van roof falls into the low and slow arena, it can only properly care for AGMs as their only charge source, if they are not discharged very much the night before.
The deeper their discharge, the more important the high amp initial recharge rate from their most depleted state becomes, in their proper care and feeding.
My van now has two externally regulated alternators. Their external adjustable voltage regulators have added heatsinks, and fans, as they will get super hot feedng 8 amps of field current to the rotor. A potentiometer on my dashboard controls each alternator. Next to each Pot is an Ammeter, and a voltmeter.
When my 8 year old AGMs finally die, I want to do 4s2p of prisimatic Lifepo4 300AH cells, and be able to run a window shaker AC off battery power for several hours.
A van built for van life is a never ending project.
Mine has not seen much use for 2 years, but Is amazingly comfortable and capable, for a southern california climate. Not so much for Florida though, but I moved outta it when it delivered me and most of my stuff here.
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Lithium is great and all, but for the cost to capacity you really can’t beat a set of used AGMs from a cell tower. LiFePo4 is only about 30% better for over 3x the cost.
You are correct that used AGM’s out of a cel tower are pretty cheap, but that might not be the primary consideration when building out a van.
I’m a bit concerned about your numbers but LiFePo vs. AGM comparisons are plentiful on google.
LiFePo’s have a weight advantage as well, which is better for a mobile application - remember AGM’s are still Lead.
Tesla’s run on LiFePo (at least the newer ones do). And my motorcycle, which has a LiFePo starting battery in it, no longer needs to be kept on the trickle charger over the winter and the battery is significantly lighter (like less than half the weight) and has way more capacity.
Me Personally, I’m trying my best to get Lead Acid out of my life.
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Always happy for a good outcome in these situations.
fuck rust.
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This is absolutely on the cards, but not a complete dealbreaker for me right now. Along with the two x 100 Ah that came with the van, I also still have my 105Ah AGM that I was using for my spot welder. All 3 batteries are relatively new and likely have considerable life in them.
I am content to use these AGMs for the time being until they fail, or become troublesome or the capacity becomes a problem. Once it is time to replace, I’ll def move to lifepo4, get a new dc/dc charger and probably even add another solar panel as well.
I’ve looked into building my own lifepo4 battery, but the cost savings just aren’t really there. Here in aus we can get good quality complete batteries for the same cost as buying the cells and bms separately. The only reason I might build my own is to fit it into an obscure space, but I don’t think that will be necessary.
Haha yeah I have no desire to milk anything out of these. Once they become finicky, they will be dead to me 
only using them now because I am quite certain i should get at least a year or two out of them without any hassle (touch wood) and the costs for this build are already pretty damn stacked 
Oh absolutely. It killed the last vehicle for me, I hate it so very much.
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I’ll wait for the OnlyVans shameless plug…
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Get yourself a decent MPPT with the panels. My life entered a better age once I got my Victron 100|30
It’s like a Metr for your solar system, but also a quality MPPT that can exceed it’s spec by a few amps and be okay.
Also consider doing a higher voltage system like 24v or 48v. You can just series panels and batteries accordingly as long as your MPPT can handle it.
General rule of thumb is ¾ of an 18-22v of panel for each 12v battery in series past the second
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@glyphiks refresh my memory, why did you give up on esk8?
Because I fully intend to have a couple of boards and a bike in the van if all goes according to plan.
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I just got bored of it if I’m telling the honest truth. I miss it every now and then but not enough to justify keeping a board around that I’d likely only ride once every 2-3months.
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I currently have the 25a version of this and it is totally fine, does its job without any fuss. Not sure what wattage my panels are, but if I add a third one, I’ll definitely want the bigger charger.
It says MPPT but the claim is dubious. If you ever need an upgrade look into some of the higher quality name brand MPPT units. Cool thing I love about Victron is the app and management suite and network connectivity included in pretty much all of their products. You can monitor everything from your solar throughout to your battery shunts and dc charging.
Typically DC-DC chargers are used to charge off your alternator, not solar, though this one looks to do both.
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There’s a whole bunch of snake oil in this industry and going on past experience, I’d rather buy the cheap stuff from Kings with great warranty than the more expensive “better” products that have left me up shit creek without a paddle.
The last time I spent money on “good” solar/12v gear, it shit itself within a year and the mfg was amazingly quick to put it down to ‘skill issue’ and be done with it.
Kings stuff is cheep and cheerful, does what it says on the box and if it doesn’t, they just replace, no questions asked.
I don’t really care for telemetry on this system, if I want to trouble shoot anything, it will all be set up with XT connectors to make it easy to stick a watt meter in wherever I need to.
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This is what I’m urging you to avoid, but if it works for you then power to ya
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The big Robot is good for info on solar charging
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Moving on to the rear! All the panels needed a decent clean and then wax and grease remover, before adding the butyl deadener and the insulation. Both products are adhesive backed, so with any luck they’ll stay put for the life of the vehicle.
I still haven’t finished with the insulation to the walls/ceiling/doors, but I have finished all of the lower sections for now.
I didn’t bother deadening the floor in the back, but I fully insulated it and then replaced the old thin Masonite floor with new 12mm ply.
I put the original rubber back in on top of the ply, but I wasn’t particularly happy with the amount of tears in it and opted to fully replace it with a cheap vinyl product from the local hardware
I didn’t permanently install the vinyl or the ply flooring, it essentially just floats on the insulation and the vinyl is just double sided taped down to the ply. It’s a little annoying as the ply buckles a little in hot weather, but I may be able to cure this down the track with the internal joinery.
I spent an ungodly amount of time building boxes to be able to ‘pocket’ into the wall cavities. This will definitely help with the electrical installation and provides just a few more useable cubic centimetres
The old wall panels used those stupid Christmas tree clips to attach to the van, I made new panels from 12mm ply and added rivnuts to the van so that the new panels can be bolted on.
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The drop in Lifepo4 prices are now certainly appealing.
Will Prowse on YT has a whole bunch of drop in Lifepo4 tear down videos. Some look good, good wire management and terminations, some not so much, some dangerously bad.
Some bms’ have their temp sensors not even attached to the cells, and just randomly floating around in the case.
Some of them when tested do not have low temp protection, though they prominently claim that they do.
There is usually a bunch of Foam, as wasted space to lock the 4 prisimatics within the group 24/27/31 sized cases.
Wasted space kind of drives me nuts.
My dual alternators can and do deliver 110 + amps each to my dual banks of AGM’s, whereas many Drop in Lifepo4s have a 50 amp charge limit, and triggering this limit could load dump and fry the diodes in the alternators.
I can choose Either of my AGM to start my engine, or run house/leisure loads, which is about 250ms of 220 amps then 120 to 140amps till the engine catches.
This current draw could also be too much for many drop in budget friendly Lifepo4’s BMS, or their suspect wire terminations to handle.
I am a ways away from retiring my AGMs, and adapting to a Lifepo4 house bank, but no way am I getting more AGMs.
I have only so much room for that house bank, and basically could fit 608 ah of 4s2p 304ah grade A EVE prismatics, where ~ 200ah of lead acid AGM now reside. I might be able to fit 240 ah of drop in Lifepo4 in my tray, vs the 608 ah if I assemble my own prisimatics with a quality Oversized BMS which is easily able to handle huge charging sources , and powering the huge engine starting loads, without stressing.
But desires and plans change. No idea if or when I will get a Round Tuit. My old finicky but relatively healthy AGMs might fall on their face as soon as they start cycling daily again, requiring all day held at absorption voltage for amps to taper to 0.05c.
The 100 amps from the dual alternators can get them to ~80% state of charge relatively quickly, but 80 to 100% SOC held at 14.4 or 14.7v takes 4+ hours, and 5 days in a row only getting to 94% will have them perform horribly, and then require 20+ hours held at absorption. If they dont get that 20 hours they will go tits up way prematurely. That degree of ‘finicky’ is just wastefully annoying to me.
Idling, parked, to run an alternator to charge big thirsty batteries can easily overheat the alternator. Even sub 40km/h driving was getting them up in the temperature danger zone in my engine bay.
I was in the Alternator cold air intake stage when I had to take a step back and re-examine my needs, vs desires.
The rust got in the way. One day there will be a fiberglass skeleton where the steel onto which it was laid once resided.
Fighting rust is a war one will lose, but the battle has to be fought anyway.
Damn Infuriating.
Never use expanding foam anywhere that will get damp, or wet, either from leaks or condensation. All those nooks and crannies in the ceiling bows and structure, resist the urge.
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I’m actually surprised you didn’t just fiberglass the motherfucker. Fiberglass doesn’t rust.
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