After years of ‘messing around’ to find the right battery for our Sprinter 4×4, we installed a Roamer lithium LiFePO4 battery in January 2022.
Not just any lithium battery but a very special one that can withstand the cold much better and can even charge at temperatures down to minus 40 degrees.
So, how does the Roamer perform up to now? Although it has been only three months since we installed the Roamer, our first impressions are very good.
We made four trips to the Alps and had some very cold nights, especially in Eastern Austria. In the past, with the AGM batteries, we experienced a strong drop in power when we had the Webasto running high, fridge, some lamps and the 3000 watt Victron inverter – making Nespresso coffee.
This posed a real problem for the batteries, especially after a cold night. The coffee machine would stutter and you could hear the Webasto having difficulties as well. Watching the Victron BMV you would see the voltage collapse.
We have not experienced anything like this with the Roamer battery. It did not collapse once and we can use all the appliances at the same time without losing power or having hiccups.
Voltage drop (during extreme use) is much lower and only noticeable when you look at the BMV. Recovery of voltage is quick. When driving, the battery seems to charge much faster than the AGM batteries we had in the past.
We have not been to the limit yet as we have only been down to about 55% of the capacity but this is already further than we did with the AGM batteries. The 200AH capacity feels like much more as you can drawn it way further than other type of batteries.
It is a serious investment compared to other type of batteries, but when you are looking for lightweight top performance there is no way around a Lithium battery in our opinion. The Roamer battery is all about value for money and with a 10 year guarantee backup.
To be continued!
2 Comments
Lemuel
Highly descriptive blog, I enjoyed tht bit. Willl
there be a part 2?
admin
Thanks Lemuel, there we a part 2 and probably 3 next winter.