This is a contentious subject, and to be fair tons of conflicting advice on the web.
Simple answer: to get the most out of your battery it should be charged correctly.
What tools do I need to put electrics into my van?
We often get asked what tools we recommend to build offgrid power solutions in vans. Over the years of working with building electrical systems in vans/boats/cabins/overlanders, we've used a wide range of tools to build our solutions. A lot of these tools are not common tools that you can just buy in your average hardware store and unless you live in a big city that has specialist tool stores, it's likely that you'll be ordering the products off Amazon (or online) as we do regularly. We know what it's like buying tools from the internet - you find one that has good ratings, read the ratings and often take a punt and hope for the best. Sometimes it works out and other times it flops.
We decided that we would list some of our favourite electrical tools that we use when we build custom offgrid power solutions for the campervans and boats that we work on.
Beware of junk lithium batteries!
There are a gazillion options when it comes to purchasing LifePO4 (or any other Lithium-based) batteries. Some (maybe even MANY) of the options are so well priced that they are too good to be true. There are certainly good deals to be had, but if a deal is too good to be true it probably is.
Why is this?
Put simply there are great differences in the quality and build of batteries. There are different grades of cells that make up the batteries and of equal importance, there are so many options of battery management systems (BMS) that are of varying quality and functionality. So in a nutshell: Cells and BMS!
How to fix a stripped terminal on a LiFePO4 battery cell
f you've ever worked with cheaper LiFePO4 battery cells, you'll know the concern of stripping the threads in the battery terminal. Well, I sadly had this very experience recently and after much research and thought about it, figured I could fix it and document the process to be able to help you, in case you ever find yourself in the same boat.
Considerations when buying and installing an inverter
Inverters are handy when you are offgrid and need to use appliances that run on normal grid power (110v AC in the USA, 230v AC in most of the world).
After all, just because you’re offgrid it doesn’t mean you should be without good coffee!
Basically, an inverter converts 12v DC to 110v or 230v AC. There are inverters that use other input voltages (24v, 36v) but in this article, we discuss only 12v.