REVIEW EDITED, THIS IS NOT A SELF HEATING BATTERY.
I purchased a 12V 200Ah PLUS LiFePO4 Battery this week from Power Queen. The price seemed reasonable, taking note of positive Amazon reviews.
Shipping was very quick, shipped on Monday, arrived on Tuesday via Fed-ex.
This lithium battery is to compliment my 400 watt solar array on the top of our 5th wheel Rv. I have four 100 watt Renogy panels with a Victron 100/30 Smart Solar controller. It works very well keeping the batteries full. I do not use the house charger anymore and disconnected it as it will not work for lithium batteries anyway.
I also run full time a small 410 watt 110 volt inverter for the TV and 4G internet modem. This draws about 3.5 amps. I also use a 1200 watt inverter for when boondocking, for making toast and coffee when off grid.
While lead acid batteries work well enough, they have their own issues, mainly, having to maintain with adding water and cleaning off the corrosion and acid that always leaks from around the fill caps. Also the two golf cart batteries I had installed are very heavy, used, and of questionable history. And at 50% SoC where it is every morning is about dead. I know from experience deep discharging/recharging of lead acid batteries too much and too often just kills them.
With the deep discharge/recharge cycles of my solar system, lithium was the ultimate solution.
The 12V 200Ah PLUS LiFePO4 Battery came neatly packaged with good protection in a tough cardboard box. I liked the lightness of this battery, it is the size of a 4D battery for those who know what that means. I also ordered some battery straps to hold this down, as it only weighs 48 lbs.
The battery came with two extra bolts that should of been a bit longer. Anybody with a solar array is going to have to stack connections on a battery post. The supplied bolts are a bit short, and I need to buy some longer bolts. There was a short and incomplete manual supplied in that I had to rout out the Float voltage settings (13.8 volts). But this is minor, any default charger settings will work as long as a Lithium charging algorithm is chosen.
It took a day of full charging (over 1.7 kwh for day one) to get near full, topping off the next day. I was impressed on how much energy was soaked up by the battery. This is day 3 in the morning, and SoC (Stare of Charge)of the battery is still at 13.2 volts, or about 70% left in the battery, after an evening of tv, internet device, lights, fans, and furnace, all of those are 12 volt. I do not use a 110 volt battery charger, don't need it. This saves me money on the power bill at the RV park were currently at.
Impressive indeed. The two previously installed 6 volt Trojan T-105 lead/acid batteries would be down to 12.1 volts, or about 50% of SoC. Experience tells me those lead acid batteries were being used hard and life is compromised.
<EDITED, I incorrectly stated this battery was self heating, it is not.> For any cold weather events, solar charger is set to turn off at or below 32 F (0 C) at the battery.
The supplied instructions were a bit lacking for the full charging parameters, I had to glean from the internet the "float" voltage, which is 13.8 volts per answered questions from Power Queen.
For my Victron 100/30 solar charger I use these settings;
Absorption voltage set at 14.6 volts <EDITED, I since lowered this to 14.4 volts for better inverter function.>
Float voltage set at 13.8 volts
Tail Current set for 4 volts
Turn OFF the Equalization mode (only for lead/acid flooded batteries)
Low Temp cutoff set at 32 F. (0 C.)
I got a call from Power Queen last night and it went to VM. While I appreciate the reaching out to see how it's going, and no doubt the Asian lady who talked is quite proud of her English, it was tough to hear and understand clearly. The phone call was unneeded, but appreciated. Nice to know this company stands behind their product, which was one of my buying decisions.
REVIEW EDITED, THIS IS NOT A SELF HEATING BATTERY. This is of no issue for us. Just make sure your charger setting will turn off at >32 F(0 C) degrees.
I will add that after a week of using this Power Queen battery, it works very well. Every morning now, after a night of furnace running, modem, tv, lights, fans, other 12 volt devices, I still have 75-80% charge left before the sun turns the solar charger on in the morning. By 1 pm it is fully recharged. We only use shore power for hot water and the fridge(cheaper then propane). All 12 volt power comes from the solar array.
I am very satisfied with this product so far, and it has exceeded my expectations.
UPDATE: May 6, 2024 It has been well over a year since buying this battery. It has so far performed without flaw. I ran the battery down to zero in a attempt, trying to run the fridge with the solar array via inverter, while the experiment failed (to many amps over time), the battery recovered on it's own from the Victron MPPT SmartSolar Charger without intervention. We live full time in this 5th wheel, and use the solar array heavily, even when parked for extended periods. Half our electric bill is free.
My only regret is not buying a bigger D8 size battery.
| Manufacturer | Power Queen |
|---|---|
| Brand | power queen |
| Model | 12.8V 200Ah PLUS LiFePO4 Battery |
| Item Weight | 49.5 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 20.94 x 8.14 x 8.46 inches |
| Country of Origin | China |
| Item model number | 12V 200Ah PLUS |
| Batteries | 1 Lithium Ion batteries required. (included) |
| Manufacturer Part Number | 4 |
| Amperage | 200 Amps |
| Voltage | 12.8 Volts |
