Casita AGM battery Amp Hours

[bobwadeguitar]

Checking my facts: the AGM upgrade Casita offers is 190 amp hours. Does that sound right? THX

[Radar1]

Might be true, but doesn't sound right, since an AGM battery with double the amperage would also be double the size and weight. I see DEKA has a 12 volt/200 amp hour battery, but it weighs 129 lbs. They also have a 190 amp hour battery, but it's only 6 volts.
Might be best to call Casita to confirm since I don't see the description on their website.

[parmm]

Info I found is that Casita offers a optional Group 31 AGM battery. Most Group 31 AGM batteries range from 95 Ah to 125 Ah. A 190 amp hour AGM battery would weigh close to 200 lbs! You would need a very large alternator to charge something like that!!! Something like the alternator from a Ford F350 Super Duty pick up!

[Bob Penn]

Originally Posted by bobwadeguitar

Checking my facts: the AGM upgrade Casita offers is 190 amp hours. Does that sound right? THX

I purchased the Interstate AGM battery from Casita in 2019 when I purchased my trailer from them. As I remember, the battery is rated at 100 Amp Hour. Of which you can only use 50 amps of that power without damaging the battery.

My AGM battery weighed 71 pounds. There is no room for a much larger battery in the battery compartment of the Casita. I have since gone to two 105 amp hour lithium batteries that weigh approximately 41 pounds each. They can be discharged to 10 percent of their rated power. So I went from 50 amps of available power to over 180 amps of available power. I installed the batteries in the compartment located over the driver's side wheel well. This locates the batteries very close to the Casita power panel.

[bobwadeguitar]

Thanks - that seems more reasonable. I'll probably go with their AGM for starters and maybe switch to lithium down the road.

[bobwadeguitar]

Thank you - that seems more accurate. I couldn't find one searching online that seemed to match up.

[bobwadeguitar]

Thank you - helpful info!

[Casita Greg]

Something that hasn't been mentioned here, is that you can get one of those AGM batteries elsewhere for less cost than what Casita charges for it. My next question would be why do you even feel that one of those would even be necessary to begin with? Just sayin'.
And I will add, fwiw, that I've always used, and never had any trouble with, regular plain old cheap lead-acid batteries. I'm 70 years old, and I've been using them successfully for more years than I can remember.

[JoelInTexas]

Originally Posted by Casita Greg

Something that hasn't been mentioned here, is that you can get one of those AGM batteries elsewhere for less cost than what Casita charges for it.

Also, Casita charges extra for the AGM battery upgrade, but doesn't give you a credit on the standard battery they deleted.

So basically, you're getting double-charged.

Suggestion: Get the standard battery, and upgrade it when it eventually wears out.

[CHICO DAN]

90 usable AH in the same maximum G27 battery space.
LiPO4 batteries have very little voltage drop over the discharge cycle and float at 13.2 volts.
Lead Acid batteries are a thing of the Past.

[JJL2U]

I have to disagree to an extent. Casita’s upgraded AGM battery is a BEAST. No, it’s not on par with a lithium battery, but it is a SIGNIFICANT upgrade from the standard battery, and SHOULD last almost as long as a lithium, at less than half the price.

I think they offer a lithium battery for about $999, and if memory serves, the upgraded AGM was about $275, and you get a battery that if bought elsewhere, cost about $420, so l, it’s not a bad deal. Here’s the battery they offer:

Interstate Batteries Heavy Duty Marine Deep Cycle Battery 12V 100Ah 925CCA (31-AGM7) Pure Matrix Power Commercial AGM Cranking Replacement (Group Size 31) GEM Cars, Yachts, Extra Fuel Tank Trucks

[ShelbyM]

Originally Posted by JJL2U

I have to disagree to an extent. Casita’s upgraded AGM battery is a BEAST. No, it’s not on par with a lithium battery, but it is a SIGNIFICANT upgrade from the standard battery, and SHOULD last almost as long as a lithium, at less than half the price.

I think they offer a lithium battery for about $999, and if memory serves, the upgraded AGM was about $275, and you get a battery that if bought elsewhere, cost about $420, so l, it’s not a bad deal. Here’s the battery they offer:

Interstate Batteries Heavy Duty Marine Deep Cycle Battery 12V 100Ah 925CCA (31-AGM7) Pure Matrix Power Commercial AGM Cranking Replacement (Group Size 31) GEM Cars, Yachts, Extra Fuel Tank Trucks

A LiTime 100 Ah is under $200 and has nearly twice the usable Ah. No good reason to choose the AGM.

[CHICO DAN]

My Casita has been turned in to a Lithium powered Solar Generator that allows me to leave my portable generator at home for long term Boondocking.
My daily electrical Solar Input needs are Minimalist at 10-20Ah/Day and 2-3hr/Day sunshine with 200W solar suitcase and 100Ah LiPO4 Smart battery.
This is all possible with 1280Wh Lithium 90-100%DOD storage battery.
AGM 100Ah battery is 600Wh at 50-60%DOD.
Lithium voltage output is steady at 13.2V...AGM voltage drops constantly.
Lithium 4000 charge cycles....AGM 500-600 charge cycles.
And most importantly Lithium batteries are able to take a 50% capacity input charge for fast efficient charging. AGM is limited to 25% capacity input charge and will stall charging to a trickle taking valuable generator run time on the last 10%.
Yes run your existing AGM batteries until their lifetime is over.
My recommendation is to replace 100Ah AGM batteries with Smart 200Ah LiPO4 at that time for typical Casita long term camping

[CHICO DAN]

One thing I did find out about Lithium batteries is that they need a 14.2-14.4V charging cycle. Your AGM battery vehicle alternator levels out to 12.8V as the battery is fully charged on driving. This is not adequate voltage to charge a Lithium battery. You need to install a 20A (minimum) 12V DC/DC battery charger from the vehicle output to boost voltage for Lithium charging while driving. All part of the long term Boondocking strategy.
Other electrical system notes:
1. Lithium Smart batteries don't mix and match...Stay with like battery additions
2. 120V/20V to 5V Fast cell chargers don't work on standard Lithium device batteries.
3. PWM chargers on Solar Suitcases are Junk ! Remove and install a Smart Solar MPPT charger wired direct to the Casita battery input.
4. Install a minimum 1000W 120V/12V inverter with Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) wired direct to the Main Panel for simple and efficient switching from Utility/Battery/Generator power.

[CHICO DAN]

The 2014 Casita Spirit 17 comes with a standard Parallax 7300 45A single stage Lead Acid/AGM battery 120V/12V Converter-Charger.
I immediately changed the Converter-Charger out to a PDI PD4600 three stage Converter-Charger. I had not changed to a Lithium storage battery in 2018. Luckily the 2020 PDI model had a DIP switch to change over to Lithium battery charging at a constant 14.5V.
I would recommend to verify your Converter-Charger model has Lithium battery charging capability before you change out to Lithium batteries.
You will definitely need a Lithium battery compatible Converter-Charger regardless.
Another current RV trend is the installation of electric induction stovetops and compressor driven refrigerators. This will increase your electric loads beyond Boondocking ability and force you in to RV Park hookups for any length of time. Specifically the big electrical loads required by the induction stovetop.
As a Camp Host I noticed the compressor driven refrigerators appear as the standard installation for new RVs in the last few years. My guests immediately started complaining of drained batteries without generator input.
Compressor driven refrigerators consume 50-100Ah/Day and are beyond the output capability of 200W Solar/200Ah Lithium storage to keep up with demand without generator input for any length of time.
Plan your Boondocking and Boondock your Plan

[Perryb67]

Originally Posted by CHICO DAN

You will definitely need a Lithium battery compatible Converter-Charger regardless.

We haven't had a "Lithium battery compatible Converter-Charger" since 2020 and don't miss it. We don't need a DC-DC either. When the WFCO charger in our 2018 Escape 5.0 crapped out on us, ruining our AGM batteries, we disconnected the WFCO charger and charged with a single 170 watt rooftop panel and a 100 watt portable (that was rarely used) that fed 260 ah's of SiO2 batteries. And guess what, it worked great.

An existing non-lithium charger will charge a Lithium battery to 80% and with lithium it won't hurt anything to charge to 80%. We use our solar to balance the batteries. After three years with lithium batteries we have always been able to balance the batteries with just solar.

Later we decided to install a 1,500 watt inverter, so added 300 additional watts to the roof and were just fine.

Our current Bigfoot 25RQ has 600 watts on the roof, 412 ah's of LiFePO4 batteries, and a 2,000 watt inverter, yet we still don't have or need a converter/charger or DC-DC. We don't want a compressor fridge, since we boondock 60-70% of the time. We used the portable twice in the past 1 1/2 years.

We did spend money on a Victron 30 amp IP22 portable charger that has been used twice in the past three years only because we wanted to see how it could charge the batteries. We also have a Wave 6 heater for use in the winter to reduce amp usage, or when the furnace fails.

If I was the OP I'd just add a couple of panels to the roof, and see how it goes before investing in items he may not need. We started small and worked up over the years to accommodate our retirement camping.

We're currently in week three of thirteen weeks in the SW and have had nights from -2F to 34F (only one night above freezing) so far.

We did our homework and found we didn't need a converter/charger and still we use an induction plate or butane burner for our cooking needs.

If you don't have solar that would be my first investment. However, the OP should figure their needs first and then, and only then, purchase what will fulfill those needs.

Enjoy,

Perry