Lithium Batteries for Beginners
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The lithium batteries below are considered "Drop-in Lead Acid Replacement" because you can use them with standard 12/24/48 volt solar charge controllers/chargers/inverters and more. Simply hook them up to your system in the same way you would a typical lead acid battery.
These lithium batteries out perform lead acid in every regard (even price!) and once you buy one, you will never go back.
These lithium batteries out perform lead acid in every regard (even price!) and once you buy one, you will never go back.
Best value LiFePO4 12V Battery: SOK Battery
$570 for 100Ah 12V
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This battery has the components of a $1000+ LiFePO4, at a fraction of the price. I have not found a better battery w/ warranty for the price of the SOK. Check out these stats:
And it is well engineered! It is a tank of a battery, and can handle abuse for years. And it is a fraction of the price of other batteries! Buy the battery direct from SOK for a cheap price: 100Ah SOK Battery Click Here $.44 per Wh 206Ah SOK Battery Click Here $.39 per Wh Note: Frequently out of stock due to high demand. Every shipment gets sold out in a week. Second Supplier: Click Here to Purchase And the SOK has been cycle tested. Here is the life cycle curve where it is cycled 3500 times! Check it out:
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High Quality Budget battery
without low temperature charging protection: Ampere Time
$859 For 200Ah 12V
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If the SOK is out of stock, this is the next best budget battery. But it is lacking a basic safety feature: low temp charging protection.
What this means is that you need to keep the batteries warm 24/7. If you try to charge these batteries when they are cold, they will be destroyed instantly. You will have permanent degradation, and it will not be safe to use. If you buy a victron solar charge controller (click here), you can program a low temp charging protection feature. You will need to buy a temp sensor for the controller to enable this function: Click here Or you can mount the batteries in a warm location and you will be set. As long as these batteries do not reach any temperature below 32 degrees F, you will be good to go. Besides the low temp charging issue, it is a great battery! I did a full tear down and it was really nice inside. A very well made battery that should last a long time. Click here to purchase 12V 100Ah Click here to purchase 12V 200Ah Click here to purchase 12V 300Ah |
Long Lasting and Marine Grade
12V LiFePO4 Batteries:
Battle Born
$950 for 100Ah 12V
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Battle Born 12 volt 100 amp hour
Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery Good battery, but pretty expensive. If you want something that works great for years (or decades), buy this battery. I have not heard of a dissatisfied battle born battery buyer. It just works. I would go with the SOK/Ampere time battery above unless I needed a sealed battery, for marine application. The battleborn has the best case and terminals around, and can handle high moisture environments. It is also ideal for high vibration systems, such as RV's and vans.
These are safe to parallel connect in chains (to increase capacity of your system) with standard battery cables. If you plan to power large loads, you will need multiple batteries (for each 1000 watts required, use 1 battery. Example: 4500 watt load will require 5 batteries wired in parallel). Click Here to buy it directly from Battle Born $.70 per Wh Click Here to buy it on Amazon.com If you plan to use the battle born in freezing temperatures, there is an optional 12v heater pad. Click here |
Battle Born GC2
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Same stats as the model above, but this battery can be connected in parallel with bus bars. If you have a large bank and plan to use solid copper bus bars to attach everything, use this one.
Click here to buy the GC2 $.81 per Wh |
24 volt Battleborn Batteries
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Battle Born 24 volt 50 amp hour
Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery
Click Here to buy it directly from Battle Born $.78 per Wh |
Cold Temperature 12V 150/300Ah
LiFePO4 Battery: KiloVault
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This battery is impressive! In my testing, I pulled full capacity at -20 degrees Celsius. I was not expecting it to work that well!
It has built in electric heaters that will activate when the temperature is below 0 degrees C. So if you try to charge in the cold, this battery will divert power to the heaters 100% until the pack reaches a safe charging temperature. This feature will usually be used during charging, because LiFePO4 can discharge at pretty low temperatures. The internal build is impressive and it can be connected in parallel or series to 48V. If you plan to build a solar power system in a frigid cold environment, this is the battery for you. These cost more than an SOK, but less than a Battleborn. So pretty good considering the features! Click Here to purchase 100Ah Cold Rated KLV $.82 per Wh Click Here to purchase 150Ah Cold Rated KLV $.69 per Wh Click Here to purchase 300Ah Cold Rated KLV $.62 per Wh |