The look new. Alibaba? That is really cheap. The cells in the Lion battery look a lot like Shenzen Lithium co. cells. I see they have a 100ah/3.2v for 54 bucks. That would be 100ah for $216. Shipping doesn't seem included though and that can add up. I paid $550/100ah. Prices have been falling as more Chinese manufacturing ramps up it seems.
https://advancelithium.en.alibaba.com

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. — Ray

They are new and they all came matched.

The look new. Alibaba? That is really cheap. — Greg F

aliexpress sells them cheap but shop around because they always go on specials and they will also offer free shipping.
Important thing to check is the attachment bolts size. Always message seller and ask whats the largest bolt size you can get because some of the large AH have tiny little screw to attach 4/0 wires :s
CALB have large bolts but cost more.

I have CALB cells now and am very happy with them. They are less than 2 years old so I suspect they will be replaced by way of desire over necessity if a better tech comes along that can charge faster, has better capacity for less weight and space. We should be good with our levels of discharging for 3000+ days of normal use. I don't even see myself using the same RV in 3000 days. Hopefully I will still be kicking around myself then. Dry cell Lithium should be interesting or maybe something else that isn't even on the radar right now. I am also interested in some of the hybrid battery super capacitor systems that could be possible.

There is a pretty big incentive to improve battery tech worldwide. I suspect that my current lithium bank arrangement will be considered somewhat a boat anchor in the next few years. :)

In this video, I conclude my initial review of my new Lion Energy Safari UT 1200 lithium batteries.
See full blog post and review Information - https://www.loveyourrv.com/battery-review-lion-energy-safari-ut/

I enjoyed all of your Lion battery review videos. Well done, complete, unbiased and interesting. I think these are a great option for people looking for a drop in lithium battery. Looking forward to the follow up video on your next road trip.

Heck even a plane landing on water in this video. :D

Thanks. :) That reminds me I had some footage of a floatplane coming in really close to our RV site. Kind of freaky the first time it happened.

lol. We stayed at a Harvest Host up against a crop last year. They really should have told us that they crop dusted at night. :o These guys operate with some pretty close tolerances.

Fun to watch

Even at Saddle Mountain, a crop duster flew right over my RV … on the way back, I could actually see the pilot and waved … he dipped the wings in response.

Hi Ray, I watched the series and really liked thevideos … especially when you opened it up to take a look inside.

Question for you; did you ever try running the batteries right down to see if the BMS would restart the batteries?

I've read that some BMS' need a special procedure to get the batteries activated. The brand I use don't need any User intervention should they drop down to 0.

Question for you; did you ever try running the batteries right down to see if the BMS would restart the batteries? — Steve S

Yes, during some tests I ran them all the way down till the BMS low voltage cut off kicked in. I found to get them going again I had to charge with just 5-10 amps for a bit until they recovered, if I tried to throw say 50 amps at them they kept shutting down and cycling on and off

I think the pilot enjoys buzzing the campers. I probably would. :) Thankfully there are some power lines that limited how close he could get to us. Hopefully whatever he was spraying wasn't too unhealthy. Harvest Host at a cauliflower and cabbage farm.

Thanks Ray … that's not a big deal even if boondocking. Solar, generator or going to an RV park would all get them going again.

Ray, thanks so much for doing an extremely detailed review of those batteries. I found the videos to be very well done, entertaining, and informative- as usual.

Ray, Another job well done. Thanks for the info. Guess I'm still on the ole Handy Bob band wagon.

Lion Safari install


Stand alone lithium install with factory Winnebago system intact. Basically two separate systems.

Photo shows 150a draw bc I have plugged shore power cable to inverter, started and running a soft start 15000 btu ac.

340w on roof with a 140w Suitcase

Nice job at fitting all the gear into a small space. Looks like a great system. :) You don't see many Winnebago fifth wheels.

Thx Ray... it helps when your business partner is a union master electrician. He used half the space I thought we would need and it seems to be working fabulously.

I looked at most lithium options. Almost when with 2 Dakota 170ah same size as a T105 but saw these Safari group24 size batteries and ordered three exactly one week before your YouTube video.

The little Micro Mini now has almost 400 usable ah between the Trojans (front) and Safari (side)

Will update with a post after I use them for awhile.

Will update with a post after I use them for awhile. — Annie and Alfie

Please do. Also, how do you like the Samlex inverter? I was considering one of those if my old inverter bites the dust.

Samlex seems solid so far. Needs a good pull to get the fans going... in fact I became worried not hearing them after running it on medium loads. It wasn’t hot enough I guess. So I ran electric water heater for 15 minutes at about 130A !!! They kicked in after 5 min.

Having the components mounted on unistrut exposing all sides may improve heat dissipation also.

I’ve been told they don’t inflate the advertised numbers it will produce like most Chinese inverters.

I think I gave $500 u.s. during a deal of some sort but seen as high as 8 or so.

That reminds me I had some footage of a floatplane coming in really close to our RV site. Kind of freaky the first time it happened. — Ray

Like watching them but not working on them. They flew us over to do a inspection to the engine.

Lion Safari install — Annie and Alfie

I have the same solar controller but I use the bluetooth adapter & app. Works great

I struggled through the obsolete info provided like the rar file but finally got it. EpEver needs to update website lol other than that it’s a awesome controller

They are a lot bigger! close up, looks like lots of climbing up and down. :)

See where Costco is selling Lion Batteries $649.

Maybe they are selling off stock, I see on the Lion website they say the UT1200 is sold out and there are also several new models https://lionenergy.com/collections/batteries

WOW That sure sound good !!

Just wanted to share what I found. We sticking with our ole out dated FLA.

In this video, I give you a quick look at the new Lion Energy UT 1300 lithium RV battery. I’m swapping out my model UT 1200s for this latest offering.



The new model is the same footprint but about 3 lbs heavier. However, the capacity has been upped from 90 amp hours to 105 hours and 1344 Watt-Hours. Nominal Voltage is 12.8 VDC.

See my previous Lion Energy videos and the full review - https://www.loveyourrv.com/tag/lithium/