LiFePO4 Battery? 12V 100Ah

[Sierra]

Any easy way to REPLACE the OEM Jeep JL Battery with a LiFePO4 12v 100ah battery to a jeeps 12v system without damaging the alternator?

I found 12V 100Ah LiFePO4 Lithium Deep Cycle Battery, Rechargeable Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery, Built-in 100A BMS, Perfect for RV, Solar Power, Home Energy Storage, Off-Grid Applications on Amazon https://amzn.to/2Z6OVpF
It supposes to be "compatible"

The battery has a full management system but I've read the problem is more on the alternator side of things.
I've read you can connect a lifepo4 to the starter battery to avoid issues between it and the alternator but then I assume more issues arise?

If anyone can give me any advice it would be greatly appreciated.

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[vf171ohio]

Are you wanting to use the LiFePo4 battery to start your wrangler, replacing the lead acid battery? Or are you wanting to keep a LiFePo4 battery topped off/charged to use for other things? I use LiFePo4 batteries for amateur radio off grid so a bit of experience using them as power for that type of gear.

 

[GATORB8]

Is 100 amps enough power to turn the starter?

 

[Grimmjpr]

Issue with lithium under the hood is the temperatures will exceed the working temperature of the battery and at well above the high temp range of the battery, fire is a huge concern.

 

[MandrewSD]

Don't.

The LiFePo4 is great as a "house" battery for running lights, fridges, etc. but will not survive as a starter under the hood. Get a good AGM battery to handle starting and winch duty. If you have loads you want to run while the engine is off without draining the AGM starter battery then add a LiFePo4 "house" battery, mount inside the cab and add a DC to DC charger in between. There are tons of videos on YouTube on how to do this properly.

 

[Fast-n-Furious]

I’m considering a dual battery setup. Will the LiFePO4 battery as the second battery mounted in cargo area be good for air compressor without engine running to charge? Assuming it’s a fully charged one.

 

[GATORB8]

I’m considering a dual battery setup. Will the LiFePO4 battery as the second battery mounted in cargo area be good for air compressor without engine running to charge? Assuming it’s a fully charged one.

You’ll need a DC to DC charger for it to charge from the vehicle, but as long as the BMS on the battery can handle the compressor amperage, you should be good.

It’d be a lot of cost compared to just running the compressor off the battery/alternator.

 

[jjvincent]

I’m considering a dual battery setup. Will the LiFePO4 battery as the second battery mounted in cargo area be good for air compressor without engine running to charge? Assuming it’s a fully charged one.

I would look into what the RV people do. Tons of information. This is because in an RV, you have the regular battery for the vehicle and then the others for the house. You'll need a DC to DC charger for the Lithium battery (as was previously mentioned) if you want to charge it up while driving. You can overload the alternator due to the different charging characteristics and thus, burn it up.

I'll go with Lithium batteries on my RV sometime down the road but due to the costs, I invested in 800W of solar, a 4000W inverter/charger and two 6V golf cart batteries. I'm lucky because I have a generator but can go to places for a few days and not bother others with firing up the generator.

 

[Viking Jeeper]

I did some testing with the following equipment:

Viair 88P compressor
LiFePO4 50 ah battery
35 Inch ridge grappler (spare on my JL) all tests started with this tire at 10.0 PSI and the compressor was run for 2.0 minutes.

First I hooked up the compressor to my 2006 LJR with engine idling (I use this compressor for air ups frequently like this).
-After two minutes the tire was at 21.3 PSI.

Then I hooked up the same compressor to the same tire and the 50 ah battery.
-First fill after two minutes 20.9
-Second fill after two minutes 20.6
-Third fill after two minutes 20.5
-Fourth fill after two minutes 20.4

So the compressor did fill faster hooked up to jeeps electrical system and engine idling but the difference was not significant.

The subsequent fills went slightly slower.

I dont have a suitable battery monitor for the battery so I cant state how much capacity was used up in the 8 minutes it was run but the Viair should draw less than 20 amps (never blew the 20 amp fuse). My 4 amp AC-DC charger says there was somewhere over 50 % of capacity used but I dont really think I believe that. Real test will be how long it takes to get back to full capacity.

A battery like this is suitable for filing 4 tires after off roading but if you are counting on it for refrigerators etc it might be best to hook up to the jeep and let it idle.

I have an ARB single in the JL and will try same test with that compressor but it will have to wait until another day.

Update: My 4ah AC-DC charger had the battery back up to full charge in less than 50 minutes.

 

[Fast-n-Furious]

I did some testing with the following equipment:

Viair 88P compressor
LiFePO4 50 ah battery
35 Inch ridge grappler (spare on my JL) all tests started with this tire at 10.0 PSI and the compressor was run for 2.0 minutes.

First I hooked up the compressor to my 2006 LJR with engine idling (I use this compressor for air ups frequently like this).
-After two minutes the tire was at 21.3 PSI.

Then I hooked up the same compressor to the same tire and the 50 ah battery.
-First fill after two minutes 20.9
-Second fill after two minutes 20.6
-Third fill after two minutes 20.5
-Fourth fill after two minutes 20.4

So the compressor did fill faster hooked up to jeeps electrical system and engine idling but the difference was not significant.

The subsequent fills went slightly slower.

I dont have a suitable battery monitor for the battery so I cant state how much capacity was used up in the 8 minutes it was run but the Viair should draw less than 20 amps (never blew the 20 amp fuse). My 4 amp AC-DC charger says there was somewhere over 50 % of capacity used but I dont really think I believe that. Real test will be how long it takes to get back to full capacity.

A battery like this is suitable for filing 4 tires after off roading but if you are counting on it for refrigerators etc it might be best to hook up to the jeep and let it idle.

I have an ARB single in the JL and will try same test with that compressor but it will have to wait until another day.

Awesome tests!

 

[Fast-n-Furious]

I would look into what the RV people do. Tons of information. This is because in an RV, you have the regular battery for the vehicle and then the others for the house. You'll need a DC to DC charger for the Lithium battery (as was previously mentioned) if you want to charge it up while driving. You can overload the alternator due to the different charging characteristics and thus, burn it up.

I'll go with Lithium batteries on my RV sometime down the road but due to the costs, I invested in 800W of solar, a 4000W inverter/charger and two 6V golf cart batteries. I'm lucky because I have a generator but can go to places for a few days and not bother others with firing up the generator.

I’ve been doing research on the RedArc BCDC charger.

 

[jjvincent]

I’ve been doing research on the RedArc BCDC charger.

There are a number of them. If I was going to have an aux battery, I'd try to mount the battery and charger in the engine compartment (due to limited space inside the vehicle) then mount a nice 12V plug by them to make it handy to plug in the compressor. Plus, you could use that plug when you go camping for other items (in this day of age, charging cell phones). Thus never running down the vehicle battery. Planning it out is key. Might as well make it multi purpose.

 

[GATORB8]

I did some testing with the following equipment:

Viair 88P compressor
LiFePO4 50 ah battery
35 Inch ridge grappler (spare on my JL) all tests started with this tire at 10.0 PSI and the compressor was run for 2.0 minutes.

First I hooked up the compressor to my 2006 LJR with engine idling (I use this compressor for air ups frequently like this).
-After two minutes the tire was at 21.3 PSI.

Then I hooked up the same compressor to the same tire and the 50 ah battery.
-First fill after two minutes 20.9
-Second fill after two minutes 20.6
-Third fill after two minutes 20.5
-Fourth fill after two minutes 20.4

So the compressor did fill faster hooked up to jeeps electrical system and engine idling but the difference was not significant.

The subsequent fills went slightly slower.

I dont have a suitable battery monitor for the battery so I cant state how much capacity was used up in the 8 minutes it was run but the Viair should draw less than 20 amps (never blew the 20 amp fuse). My 4 amp AC-DC charger says there was somewhere over 50 % of capacity used but I dont really think I believe that. Real test will be how long it takes to get back to full capacity.

A battery like this is suitable for filing 4 tires after off roading but if you are counting on it for refrigerators etc it might be best to hook up to the jeep and let it idle.

I have an ARB single in the JL and will try same test with that compressor but it will have to wait until another day.

Update: My 4ah AC-DC charger had the battery back up to full charge in less than 50 minutes.

IIRC, resting voltage of LIFEPO4 12V is around 13.6V, compared to a charging voltage of around 14.4V for a non-smart alternator. Probably explains the increased efficiency of the compressor there. Of course, the back to back reduction in fill volume may be related to the compressor heating up.

 

[Viking Jeeper]

IIRC, resting voltage of LIFEPO4 12V is around 13.6V, compared to a charging voltage of around 14.4V for a non-smart alternator. Probably explains the increased efficiency of the compressor there. Of course, the back to back reduction in fill volume may be related to the compressor heating up.

Agreed. I had mentioned those voltages but perhaps it was in a similar thread on the 392 forum. As far as heating the compressor up, there was some cooling time while the tire was aired down but I did not measure the temperature or keep exact track of cooling time. I do run the compressor for 8 minutes straight when airing up my LJR and have not noticed a big difference between first and last tire but I will have to check next time.

 

[GATORB8]

I’ve been doing research on the RedArc BCDC charger.

Redarc is sure proud of their stuff. May be worth checking out Renogy on the entry end and Victron seems to be the standard for solid equipment.

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