Just got a special Love Your RV discount on the Safari UT battery all setup. Makes the price $799
Basically matches their dealers lowest advertise prices but deal direct from Lion Energy company.
Click this Link Then during the check out enter the coupon code – LYRVUT1200

SWEET !!!! Want to lend me oh about 6000 US. L
O
L

If you want to see inside the battery case...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJaK7fJ4gQU&feature=youtu.be&t=279

Looks pretty decent in there, glad to see some heavy wires. I was surprised by the capacity test of only 80AH. I just did a low amperage drain test over the last 5-6 days on my three battery bank. 270 AH rated capacity and came in at 267 AH according to my Trimetric and the BMS hadn't cut out yet, but the battery voltage was 11.5V so I called it quits. I'm getting ready to do a high amp discharge test next so will see if I get similar results pulling a hundred amps.

Discharge rate will vary the achievable capacity. I saw the above posted video earlier today. What does Lion rate the 1200WH at? 1C discharge? If so the YouTuber has a point about their claims. I had a feeling something might give by how light the battery is. Looking inside it just looks like 4 prismatic cells connected in series with a BMS mounted in the case as well. I think he stated they were 3.2v @90 AH on the cells so connecting 4 in series should build a 90ah battery, not 100.

Nothing wrong with 90AH and cells like these are available in different capacities. Really it comes down to $/AH. 90ah for 800 dollars is 8.88 dollars per AH. A battle born 100AH. battery at 950 bucks is $9.50 per AH so the Lion is cheaper. Just buy more units to make the bank what you need.

For those inclined building a battery like this isn't hard. You can see just how simple the components are in the video. It's just a matter of connecting together cells in series and adding any number of aftermarket BMS. (4) 3.2v/100AH prismatic cells, busbars and BMS should be in the 600 dollar range. That would be a very high quality cell that have capacity beyond the nominal rating. Our 100AH cells all produce 15% or more than the 100Ah rating.

You will need to build a box or have a place to secure them in the RV.

Just for fun here is a pic of a friend building a battery bank for his truck camper. They are building an expedition vehicle using a Ford F550 and a Host Mammoth. This bank is 1440 (not a typo) AH using (32) 180AH prismatic cells. He has 1200 watts of solar. This is sort of like my system on steroids.

This what 400 pounds of lithium power looks like. He had the box custom made. I think that should be enough for a truck camper. :)

I just got an email from Lion that they are changing their marketing to now state 90Ah and 1100 Wh. I remember when I first read the manual it said 90AH rated capacity and pointed that out to them. Came up again when I was setting my Trimetric capacity and was advised best to set to 90AH rate.

Just finish a fairly high amperage test. Fully charged one of the Safari UT batteries until the BMS cut the charging voltage then added a continuous load of around 82 amps using my inverter powering a space heater set in 900-watt mode.
My Trimetric battery monitor was showing 0.00 AH to start the test, at the end of the test when the battery alarm went off and BMS cut off for low voltage the Trimitrec monitor read 87.5 amp-hours used.

Will continue doing several more tests I have planned. Likey publish a full testing and demo video next week.

Good test! You are close to 1C discharge rate and the battery produced very close to that 90Ah rating. Sounds like a successful test for Lion. I imagine you may get over 90Ah with a lower C rate. Look forward to the results video.

Hows the floor repair going?

Hows the floor repair going? — Greg F

Ok, not in a big rush as we are here for a few more months. I got rid of all the rot. Looks like I have about 16"x36" to replace out our 12"x3" side, so not too bad.

Now that I have installed and begun my review of the Lion Energy Safari UT lithium iron phosphate (LIFePO4) battery, there have been quite a few questions popping up from my LYRV readers and viewers. Rather than continue to answer the common questions over and over, I've decided to publish Q & A type post to consolidate the answers in one place.

First up is a video with me going through the various questions and below that the same in text form.  I've consulted with the company to make sure my answers are correct. Going forward I'll update the text portion as newer questions arise and once there are enough I'll maybe add a second video.  Cheers, Ray



See Blog Post on LYRV for the full text of questions and any updates - https://www.loveyourrv.com/lion-energy-safari-ut-lithium-battery-q-a/

Completed several Lion Safari UT tests - https://www.loveyourrv.com/testing-lion-energy-safari-ut-12v/

Great job on the videos. Your tests seem to confirm the manufacturers claims almost exactly. Impressive.

cool vids. Would they be able to start a 5.5kw genset ?

Looks like there doing good under the conditions. Still worried about the cool weather though. Recently seen one set of lithium that recommend not to get below 45 F. when charging.

Would they be able to start a 5.5kw genset ? — RVsolar

I would think so. They are rated at 250A for a minute, 3 paralleled would be 750A. They use these quite a bit for dump trailers supposedly. Since they have good current output.

Will be giving then the cold weather test this fall. Going to leave them in the front bay an see how they perform. Specs say 32F is when the BMS cuts off charging.

Thanks Ray man if it's that cold I am moving south LOL.

They make small battery blanket heaters that one could install. They use about 50 watts so not too much power to run it a couple hours in the morning before the sun comes out and solar charging begins

Our battery bank is in an exterior compartment and we have camped with overnight temps below freezing without an issue. The coldest I have ever measured the battery was in the mid 40's. Our basement is heated and there is a small amount of residual heat that gets into the battery compartment. For you guys in your fifth wheels that have heated tanks I bet you could just install a small 12v fan to get warm air into that front compartment.

If you camp where it is very cold for prolong periods duct some heat to the batteries, use a blanket, or install them in a heated space.

One great thing about these BMS controlled batteries is that they do protect themselves so in the rare event it really gets that cold for that long the battery won't hurt itself. My system doesn't have that safeguard. When it's going to be that cold overnight I disconnect my panels until I can check battery temps in the morning. They have always been fine.

Typically if it's that cold we will be moving along to shorts and t shirt weather. :)

If cold becomes a problem I could move the batteries on the other side of the storage bay wall into the center pass-through storage bay. Its much more insulated has living area above and heated underbelly and tanks below. Also, the bedroom heating duct passes through there.

This user has been deleted and all their posts removed.

Yes, I can relocate or insulate if I needed but doubt it will be a problem for us. We move north and south following mild temperatures. Usually, if we hit any freezing temps during the night in the desert when we aren't charging anyway. The batteries will still discharge fine all the way down to -4F -20C.

I installed 900 watts of solar this year and had to install a second trimetric controller to handle the load. It worked as promised and will use them to control the lithiums if I can ever justify replacing my 6 crown 235APH

Cool, thanks for the feedback :)

Hi Ray
Glad you are reviewing the lithium batteries. You will like them the more you use them.
I am glad I went with lithium over the lead acid.
James

In this video, I remove the outside cover and we take a peek inside a Lion Energy Safari UT lithium battery. Inside we find 4 LiFePO4 (lithium iron phosphate) prismatic type battery cells, a robust-looking BMS (battery management system, heavy-duty connections, and wiring. Overall I'm impressed with the components and build quality of the Safari UT.

Impressed with a few things. The laser welded bus bars. That's pretty neat and insures a secure connection forever essentially.

I liked the aluminum cases for the 3.2v cells. That is something that normally costs more per given AH. Aluminum case is supposed to dissipate heat better.

It was also good seeing the (4) 8 AWG cables per terminal. I understand why they need multiple cables for flexibility. (4) 8 GA cables is less than 1/2% volt drop at 150Ah. That's a very good number at such a high rate. Heck they could have used just 2 cables and still been under 1% at 150AH. Commendable. It looks like they built these very well and designed to be used hard.

I wonder if they are considering some larger batteries. It would be great for people looking for 200, 300, 400 AH systems to be able to buy a single battery instead of multiple batteries with multiple BMS.

Good stuff! It will be interesting to see how they perform next winter compared to your old battery system using solar power.

yes very interested how they will do as well.

I wonder if they are considering some larger batteries. It would be great for people looking for 200, 300, 400 AH systems to be able to buy a single battery instead of multiple batteries with multiple BMS. — Greg F

i paid $550 for 4x @ 200AH each. I have another set of 4 @ 200 each but i haven't installed them because thats going to be my winter project.

very nice sure would like to check them out if you have link.
Just PM me .

Good deal, seems really cheap, even for raw cells, are they used? I'm just asking because I notice at the bottom of the spec sheet they listed appearance.