Can’t Run Your Appliances on Your RV Batteries? (This is Why!)
When our solar system was installed, back in 2018, lithium batteries were really expensive. We didn’t know how well our solar system would work or how much we would use it.
We installed 4 6-volt Full River AGM batteries.
Total capacity of our system was 500Ah. Unfortunately, with lead acid batteries you only have approximately 50% use of that capacity. They really don’t like to be discharged more than 50% without severe degradation of the cells.
That left us with 250Ah of usable capacity.
And for almost 8 years they actually worked GREAT!!
Boondocking Heaven
Boondocking quickly became one of our favorite types of camping. We were able to use all of our appliances just like we were plugged in at a campground and we were out enjoying nature.
Sure, we had to watch our usage, especially during several days of cloudy weather. We went several months during our 2018 trip to Alaska, without ever having to fire up our generator.
IT WAS AWESOME!
No generator noise disturbing our neighbors or mother nature and no cost for fuel!
Time For a Change
Fast forward to 2025 and we decided we wanted to spend more time dry camping and wanted to upgrade our batteries.
We didn’t seem to have a problem getting our batteries charged with our 1,050 watts of solar panels, so the logical next step was to increase our capacity.
Lithium battery prices had been steadily dropping over the years so we knew we were going to look at lithium.
A few months earlier OKMO batteries had reached out to collaborate, but being in Mexico, we couldn’t get lithium batteries shipped to us without enormous cost.
We reached out and, fingers crossed, hoped they would still work with us. AND THEY DID!!
We received 2 12.8V 280Ah beasts. We were super excited and got them installed while at a campground. The following week we went out into the woods up in Big Bear Lake, excited to try them out.
That night everything went well and we were able to watch TV, use our laptops, etc.
We didn’t have any issues running any appliance in our RV with our AGM batteries.
I didn’t realize that would change once we installed lithium batteries. I know just enough about this stuff to be dangerous. 😊
The morning after arriving in Big Bear, CA, Lorena started cooking breakfast and 30 seconds after the induction cooktop was started, all of our power went out.
I thought maybe it was a glitch. A spike that was an isolated incident. Or it would only happen with the induction cooktop.
Later we tried doing something with the microwave and the same thing occurred.
The Number That Matters Most
After doing some testing, I noticed that the power was cutting out when the current draw hit just about 160 amps. Obviously it wasn’t a problem with our AGM batteries.
I knew a little about the BMS on a lithium battery, but I thought it was more about balancing the cells inside the battery. I went to Youtube university and started doing some research and found that the BMS did much more than that.
The batteries we had installed had a 150 amp BMS meaning that if the current draw on those batteries was more than 150 amps, the BMS would kick out and stop current from flowing to protect the cells.
Not good for running higher powered appliances like microwaves, induction cooktops, air fryers, etc.
We thought we were upgrading and stumbled into a problem we never even thought about.
We had been so focused on capacity and going from 250Ah to 560Ah, we didn’t even think about the Max discharge current. Lithium batteries were supposed to help run things longer and in the process caused another problem.
We couldn’t run the appliances we used the most.
The Upgrade to Our Upgrade
We made it work by running our microwave at 60-70% power or running our generator when using our higher powered appliances.
But that wasn’t ideal.
We knew we needed to upgrade…AGAIN!
Almost one year after installing our first set of lithium batteries we got an email from Li-Time Battery Company.
It was perfect!
They were looking to collaborate and we were looking for an upgrade.
Li-Time supplied us with 2 320Ah Bluetooth Minis. We’ll have 640Ah total.
BUT! The most important number the Li-Time lithium batteries have is the 200 amp BMS. That SHOULD allow us to run any of our appliances without any issues. Only time will tell.
We are going to put these batteries to the test over the next couple of months and we’ll let you know what we find out.
In the meantime if you want your own Li-time 320Ah Mini lithium batteries you can find them on our website at https://paulandlorena.com/litime.