Firefly battery technology

[noteven]

Anyone using Firefly batteries? The technology looks interesting for us cold country people vs lithium...

[Lou Schneider]

I haven't tried them, but they seemed to work fine for Malcolm Reynolds.  😁

[sushidog]

Maybe they will work in my coach.

[Kirk W]

I wonder if the Tecnomadia  has ever reviewed them? I have read a little about them but I really don't stay on top of things the way that I once did. With the price of them, I'll be quite interested to hear more of their use in RVs.

[oldjohnt]

It looks like there are later and ever changing combinations of Lithium and other metals in order to improve them over the current Lithium based batteries used in RV's which are problematic at low temperatures and have a few other problems (but hey doesn't any technology, old or new, have the same).  I'm willing to wait for the technology and safety and cost to settle down. Below is just one of several examples of improved Lithium combination batteries (don't  look like its big enough nor RV ready as of yet) I came across on another Forum (no idea of its accuracy or credibility, only a copy n paste) and I believe GE is developing a different improved Lithium based battery.

  Lithium Titanite "...………...  finally an Li battery that can be charged at -30, with an operating range of between -50 and +60 C (-58 to 140 f) Toshiba’s lithium-titanate (LTO) batteries, making the company something of an outlier in the electric vehicle sector. Lithium-titanate batteries can charge at temperatures as low as -30° Celsius, don’t need a heating circuit, and are highly regarded for their durability and very high resistance to catching fire. It looks as if these are similar in cost to the liFEPO4, but have ten times the cycle life. They can be discharged at C10 which is pretty amazing...……….."

https://www.ev-power.eu/LTO-technology/

I love technology but get impatient waiting for the absolute best to emerge, safety to improve, and cost to come down. Looks like I'm stuck with (but hey they perform great) AGM for a few years but  mine are brand new and should last until the Lithium saga sorts itself out.

 

John T 

[noteven]

Reading a bit more about Firefly they are AGM. It looks like the tech development was promoted by Caterpillar looking for battery tech that can be ignored, frozen, left partially charged, subjected to vibration, recharged quickly by an alternator, not leak, not sulfate when stored partly discharged...good for many cycles...I’m like, that’s how I “manage” my batteries 😀

[Kirk W]

56 minutes ago, noteven said:

that’s how I “manage” my batteries

I did my share of serious battery maintenance many years ago on submarines but am more like your pattern today. We did our serious boondocking with tents and backpacks but with our RVs we tend to have hookups most of the time so have never gotten into battery dependance situations much. As a result, I now believe that the extra battery life from doing specific gravity measurements and such doesn't match the cost of the clothing that battery acid would eat holes in. That battery had great appeal to me up to the point that I read the price!

[Al F]

With lithium batteries the topic of not charging in freezing temps comes up frequently.

Bottom line:  It is the temperature of the battery that dictates if the battery can be charged or not. Not the air temperature.

If you have the batteries in an enclosed compartment you should be good down into the mid to lower teens, overnight,w/o a problem.  Keep in mind if you are using the batteries they generate some heat, also when charging the generate some heat.  Also all lithium batteries should come with a BMS (battery monitor system) with a remote you can check the battery temp. 

You can use (discharge) the battery down to 0 F or lower.

Are you really going to be happy dry camping or boondocking in your RV at those temps?

 

[Pat & Pete]

1 hour ago, noteven said:

Reading a bit more about Firefly they are AGM. It looks like the tech development was promoted by Caterpillar looking for battery tech that can be ignored, frozen, left partially charged, subjected to vibration, recharged quickly by an alternator, not leak, not sulfate when stored partly discharged...good for many cycles...I’m like, that’s how I “manage” my batteries 😀

I just replaced a Cat 8D AGM that we used as the house battery .

 It wasn't totally dead , but , not too long for a decent service life anymore .

It was 4 years old when I installed it . That was about 8 years ago . I never , in that 8 years , touched it , other than to dust it off .