Every RV owner, be it of a motorhome, camper van, or travel trailer, inevitably ponders whether or not to install additional batteries, or change to a larger one, or even make the switch to Lithium batteries.
There is no easy answer to this, and it largely comes down to a personal decision when you consider the age of your rig. If you have an older motorhome, switching to Lithium could be an expensive conversion, requiring not only some expensive batteries, but also new converters to charge them. This gets even more complicated if you’re adding solar panels, in which case you will also need a battery management system (BMS), and a charge controller.
However, if you have a newer travel trailer (2024 or newer), which have modern converters that can charge Lithium batteries already installed, all you have to do is replace your stock lead acid battery with a Lithium one. Just drop it in, and you’re done. In this case, the cost is quite reasonable.
Lead Acid batteries only last 4-5 years, so replacing them is a matter of routine maintenance. Since the price of Lithium batteries have come down in price to the point that makes them actually reasonable, it’s not hard to justify spending a tiny bit more to drop in a Lithium battery. Especially since it could last over 10 years, and provide 2-4 times the usable power per charge.
One of the big downfalls of Lead Acid batteries is that if your drain them below 50%, it can seriously compromise the life, and efficiency of the battery. But with a Lithium battery, you can drain it completely dead and not affect it at all. But a downfall to Lithium batteries is that you can’t charge them below freezing. For most of us though, this isn’t really an issue. Seriously…most people don’t camp in their RV in sub-freezing temperatures. Ok, ok….many people do, but not most.
So before you go and add a second battery, which should match exactly in specs and be purchased at the same time, maybe consider taking the leap and upgrade to Lithium.
If you have an older RV that requires a newer converter (usually located behind the fuse panel), you can find them on Amazon, and easily install one yourself. If you aren’t comfortable doing it yourself, your service centre can do it for you in less than an hour.
