Max Amp Hours you can fit in a Slee 2nd Battery Mount?

[Otter]

Super cool install thread. That does take up less space than I thought it would--nice work on the 4x 25Ah cells. Do you think it'd work to stick a redarc BCDC and four cells inside an ammo box?

You could probably fit that in a box, but not an ammo can. Why would you want to? Bcdc needs some cooling, so it'd be better in the open somewhere.

Only reason I put my cells in the ammo box was so I can remove the battery when summer temps get too hot here in Phoenix.

 

[dividedan]

So what about the lithium and charging below 30°F. Do y’all ever camp in the cold?

 

[Otter]

So what about the lithium and charging below 30°F. Do y’all ever camp in the cold?

I camp in the cold. Battery management system will not let the cells charge below freezing. Mine are inside near my fridge vents, so that helps. Mostly, the car is off at night and no solar available, so no charging anyway. Once I start driving, the truck will warm up the batteries before they accept a charge.

I'm not camping below 20F, so discharge isn't really a problem. Some people in really cold climates, set up a battery warmer.

 

[mdcoa]

Ok, so it’s time for me to replace my super tired 60 AH deep cycle battery so I’m under the hood with a tape measure again.

My latest plan:
1: cut the lip and steering reservoir off the inboard end of the Slee mount.
2: chop the factory reservoir mount down by removing all but one plane of the bracket.
3: drill this plane and the Slee mount under the compressor and bolt the trimmed-down factory mount there. This will return the reservoir to its factory orientation.
4: put in an 85 AH Group 25 battery! Which should only hang off the edge of the mount about 1/2”. Wish Slee would’ve designed these around an actual deep cycle battery instead of that hybrid thing….may reach out to them and suggest this, as the mount would only need to be expanded a little to greatly increase utility.

Pink lines show chop/drill points.

Any reason this is a dumb idea, other than the loss of the lip on the Slee mount and the need to therefore check to ensure the battery isn’t creeping engine-ward?

 

[arkmm]

Maybe they were worried about hitting that AC line but if you feel like its secure with the rest of the mount I think it might work out. I banged my head on a wall for a while trying to figure out a way to get more than 60-70 AH battery in that spot. I gave up and put it in the back when I put a drawer system back there. Now I have 100AH LiFePo4 back there. The slee bracket definitely has room for improvement though.

 

[mdcoa]

It fits!

Cutting the end off the Slee tray and modiying the (saved, thank goodness) factory PS reservoir mount left me plenty of room for a Group 24, 85 AH AGM battery. That's just over a 40% more power than my 60AH wheelchair battery held (when new--goodness knows it doesn't hold that much now . . .

This setup enabled me to restore (2/3 of) the vibration isolators from the OEM mount.

Side note on lithium batteries--we're arranging to ship the 100 to Europe in a couple weeks, and the shipper today said, "you don't have lithium batteries, do you?" Apparently it's a completely different level of cost and complexity, as they're hazmat. Glad I've just got good old fashioned AGM.

Some pics:

 

[Otter]

Side note on lithium batteries--we're arranging to ship the 100 to Europe in a couple weeks, and the shipper today said, "you don't have lithium batteries, do you?" Apparently it's a completely different level of cost and complexity, as they're hazmat. Glad I've just got good old fashioned AGM.

If that's the case, I'd look into getting a lithium locally.

 

[mdcoa]

If that's the case, I'd look into getting a lithium locally.

Yeah, would certainly make sense for someone with just one.

 

[NearJetties]

Follow up, has anyone said f-it and put a LiFeP04 under the hood?

I ask because:
-redarc bcdc charging range is only list as up to 176F
-with prices down it seems like a better value than an AGM even if the lifespan is shortened

 

[willyroo]

the lifespan is shortened

This.

There is one here in the land of Oz - Itech 120AH LiFePo4. However warranty is only 12 months, and lithium doesn't seem to like big temperature changes. I had a 100AH LiFePo4 in the back of our previous hunjy, it was tucked in one of the drawer wings along with a Redarc 1225 BCDC.

 

[gungriffin]

I will toss out that Dirt Sunrise used a lithium for their primary battery. It was a fancy design by a company making lithium starter batterires, but it was a lithium none the less. It worked well enough...

I would say it is time to try it.

You could EASILY fit a group of 300 Ah lithium batteries in that space.

 

[NearJetties]

I forgot to post this here but posted it in the what’d you do to your 100 this week thread. Going to start wiring things up this week.

Plotting some new territory and feeling very aerospace at the moment

I’m using a Slee dual battery mount and their Redarc BCDC mount in a different orientation.

I’ve seen a few videos of people running Lifepo4 batteries under the hood despite it not being recommended. With prime day sales I said f it knowing I may well cook it at some point.

To combat this I went with a smaller 54ah Dakota Lithium battery which gave me plenty of room to build a heat shield using Design Engineering form a barrier. It was easier to work with than expected and for a first try came out pretty good. May redo it and/or add their gold reflective tape in the future.

54ah lithium had more capacity than the group 35 AGMs Slee recommends. I’ll also be running an Ecoflow Delta 3 power station in the rear with their alternator fast charger (their version of a Victron DC converter). That will be wired to the house battery so the start battery is isolated. It’s a bit redundant but I like that. Can add solar to charge the EcoFlow or the Dakota battery via the Redarc BCDC.

Right now I’m just test fitting everything. I’ll do a dedicated post when I have everything done.

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