Lithium crank battery

[lpollen]

Hi all. Super new here. Have a 2023 dt 1500 Laramie sport. Aus ram..
Would.like to know if I can change out the factory lead acid crank battery for an itech under bonnet lithium crank battery??

 

[beetlespin]

Why would you do this? You use them in a boat to save weight. Not sure of the benefit with a truck.

 

[CHeYeNNe71]

Why would you do this? You use them in a boat to save weight. Not sure of the benefit with a truck.

better performance and longevity over lead acid, or even AGM, but costly still. The automotive is seeing more people converting to Lithium

 

[n8zcc]

better performance and longevity over lead acid, or even AGM, but costly still. The automotive is seeing more people converting to Lithium

What do you mean by "better performance"? A crank battery either cranks or it doesn't. In today's vehicles, the computer won't try to engage a start if the battery falls below a voltage threshold.

Longevity, I think this has yet to be determined and, this chemistry has a nasty habit of catching fire albeit isolated. You can replace with several quality AGM batteries for the cost of one lithium battery. Even AGM may be overkill if you are only interested in a cranking battery.

I use AGMs in my diesels and lithium in my boat for weight savings.

 

[CHeYeNNe71]

What do you mean by "better performance"? A crank battery either cranks or it doesn't. In today's vehicles, the computer won't try to engage a start if the battery falls below a voltage threshold.

Longevity, I think this has yet to be determined and, this chemistry has a nasty habit of catching fire albeit isolated. You can replace with several quality AGM batteries for the cost of one lithium battery. Even AGM may be overkill if you are only interested in a cranking battery.

I use AGMs in my diesels and lithium in my boat for weight savings.

Do your research and you'll see why they're better performing and AGM is definitely not overkill. Lead acid is old technology and with these big computer vehicles now days.

 

[jimothy]

First, a nitpick: AGM is a type of lead acid battery.

I put in a LiFePO4 starter battery in my truck a few months ago. Too soon to say whether I’d recommend it. I wouldn’t not recommend it so far, but longevity remains to be seen.

My reason for going lithium is to power my camping/overlanding/glamping stuff. The replacement battery is dual purpose: starter and deep cycle. I can charge the battery both from the truck (eTorque, so DC-DC rather than alternator) as well as solar panels; I have 350W on my rooftop tent.

Biggest disappointment so far is that I haven’t been able to get the truck to charge the battery to the levels I want; it usually settles around 13.2V, which is around 70% charge. That’s fine for normal usage, but if I’m pulling into camp after sunset, pretty low (although still more than enough to power my fridge, heated mattress pad, etc. through the night).

Can you run a lithium starter battery? Absolutely. Should you? Jury is still out.

 

[CHeYeNNe71]

Many in the offroad community are running Lithium batteries, Jeeps. The cost factor isn't there for me to do. If they come down quite a bit when I'm ready, then maybe.

 

[boogielander]

the why should you do:
ran LiFEPO4 on my previous rig and with a 100w solar panel i can run my fridge/ freezer for days no problem. even when there's overcast or rain and the panel's not getting all the juice, I can go 3 days before battery dies.
In addition, the LiFEPO4 has an individual "self jumping" bank. If you drain your battery, the BMS keeps a separate bank inside the battery for you to start the vehicle one time so you can drive it to charge it.
Weight-wise, LiFEPO4 is way lighter (i think almost half of the weight) compared to same sized battery. Does that mean anything for the truck? not really, but it makes swapping battery a breeze, especially when you're lifted.
LiFEPO4 also has longer life, if used correctly. More drainage percentage compared to regular batteries too. That don't mean much if you don't hook up accessories that run off the battery when the vehicle is off though.

I thought about running it in the truck and was able to get a free one as sponsorship, but ultimately decided to call it off until @jimothy comes out with a conclusion (i let him do the "f around and find out" aka research and experiment lol thanks dude!!).
My reason for NOT doing it is that LiFEPO4 that I was getting needs to be kept at 14v plus when charged to be kept happy, and I'm not sure how it would behave with long term exposure to low 13v, high 12v when the engine's off. The e-torque part is what makes me feel iffy about putting one in.

bottom line:
if you don't have e-torque, go for it.
if you have e-torque, wait for @jimothy to complete his experiment.

 

[jimothy]

the why should you do:
ran LiFEPO4 on my previous rig and with a 100w solar panel i can run my fridge/ freezer for days no problem. even when there's overcast or rain and the panel's not getting all the juice, I can go 3 days before battery dies.
In addition, the LiFEPO4 has an individual "self jumping" bank. If you drain your battery, the BMS keeps a separate bank inside the battery for you to start the vehicle one time so you can drive it to charge it.
Weight-wise, LiFEPO4 is way lighter (i think almost half of the weight) compared to same sized battery. Does that mean anything for the truck? not really, but it makes swapping battery a breeze, especially when you're lifted.
LiFEPO4 also has longer life, if used correctly. More drainage percentage compared to regular batteries too. That don't mean much if you don't hook up accessories that run off the battery when the vehicle is off though.

I thought about running it in the truck and was able to get a free one as sponsorship, but ultimately decided to call it off until @jimothy comes out with a conclusion (i let him do the "f around and find out" aka research and experiment lol thanks dude!!).
My reason for NOT doing it is that LiFEPO4 that I was getting needs to be kept at 14v plus when charged to be kept happy, and I'm not sure how it would behave with long term exposure to low 13v, high 12v when the engine's off. The e-torque part is what makes me feel iffy about putting one in.

bottom line:
if you don't have e-torque, go for it.
if you have e-torque, wait for @jimothy to complete his experiment.

That’s a sound analysis. It might be a while—years, perhaps—before I reach a verdict. I’m still glad to be the lab rat.

The IBS settings I’ve changed with JScan appear to have no impact on how the truck charges the 12V battery; maybe they apply only to non-etorque vehicles. Or maybe I just haven’t tweaked the right settings yet.

I haven’t put my rooftop tent, with 350W solar, back on my truck since I put the battery on, mostly because late spring and summer aren’t my favorite times for East Coast camping and I’m not making my Rocky Mountains trip again until next year. So it may not be until fall until I tear solar charging while driving. (I have tested solar charging while parked, and it works, as expected, without issue).

I do periodically (once a week or so) charge the battery to 14.2V using a 20A charger, to top things off. No problems with this approach either.

But the highest voltage the truck will apply is 13.8V, and at high current: using the battery’s Bluetooth BMS, I see the charge current regularly reach 80A, and occasionally 100A. The battery can handle such currents, but it’s not the best for longevity. This high charge current, plus heat, is my biggest concern. I’m not worried that the battery will catch fire; LiFePO4 is reasonably safe. But if my battery life falls short of the expected 10 years, that would make this an expensive alternative to SLA or AGM.

Draw on the battery is usually around 25A, sometimes double that for short periods of time. 25A is just about what I’d get from 350W solar in near ideal conditions, which means the solar could keep the battery state of charge about constant, but not top it off unless etorque decides to kick in some current of its own. I expect it won’t; the truck will decide the 12V battery is sufficiently charged.

That means solar may only add to the battery’s SOC when I’m parked. That’s still useful, but the jury is out whether this setup completely eliminates my need for a second battery for longer camping trips. I think it will suffice for my case, but the idea that I’d arrive at camp with a battery nearly fully charged by the truck, turned out not to be the case.

On the positive side, with solar providing a more modest current (under 30A) as long as the sun is shining (and the RTT is in my rack), the truck shouldn’t need to provide higher current as often.

None of this sounds relevant to the OP. If you don’t have 12V accessories you’re powering, I’m highly skeptical you’d see increased performance from a lithium battery. If you’re not camping/overlanding with your truck, you may not see any benefit. But if you want to spend some money and join my experiment, I certainly won’t tell you not to.

 

[boogielander]

That’s a sound analysis. It might be a while—years, perhaps—before I reach a verdict. I’m still glad to be the lab rat.

The IBS settings I’ve changed with JScan appear to have no impact on how the truck charges the 12V battery; maybe they apply only to non-etorque vehicles. Or maybe I just haven’t tweaked the right settings yet.

I haven’t put my rooftop tent, with 350W solar, back on my truck since I put the battery on, mostly because late spring and summer aren’t my favorite times for East Coast camping and I’m not making my Rocky Mountains trip again until next year. So it may not be until fall until I tear solar charging while driving. (I have tested solar charging while parked, and it works, as expected, without issue).

I do periodically (once a week or so) charge the battery to 14.2V using a 20A charger, to top things off. No problems with this approach either.

But the highest voltage the truck will apply is 13.8V, and at high current: using the battery’s Bluetooth BMS, I see the charge current regularly reach 80A, and occasionally 100A. The battery can handle such currents, but it’s not the best for longevity. This high charge current, plus heat, is my biggest concern. I’m not worried that the battery will catch fire; LiFePO4 is reasonably safe. But if my battery life falls short of the expected 10 years, that would make this an expensive alternative to SLA or AGM.

Draw on the battery is usually around 25A, sometimes double that for short periods of time. 25A is just about what I’d get from 350W solar in near ideal conditions, which means the solar could keep the battery state of charge about constant, but not top it off unless etorque decides to kick in some current of its own. I expect it won’t; the truck will decide the 12V battery is sufficiently charged.

That means solar may only add to the battery’s SOC when I’m parked. That’s still useful, but the jury is out whether this setup completely eliminates my need for a second battery for longer camping trips. I think it will suffice for my case, but the idea that I’d arrive at camp with a battery nearly fully charged by the truck, turned out not to be the case.

On the positive side, with solar providing a more modest current (under 30A) as long as the sun is shining (and the RTT is in my rack), the truck shouldn’t need to provide higher current as often.

None of this sounds relevant to the OP. If you don’t have 12V accessories you’re powering, I’m highly skeptical you’d see increased performance from a lithium battery. If you’re not camping/overlanding with your truck, you may not see any benefit. But if you want to spend some money and join my experiment, I certainly won’t tell you not to.

glad you're doing the research for us.
but to be honest, at this time I am quite happy with my dual systems that I've put in.
I have a few locations where I'll establish "base camp" mode and a few days that I'm only moving ~60 miles a day for my upcoming big trip, and with the dual systems I have the peace of mind of being able to run starlink and my laptop to backup all the videos and photos while still powering the camper lights and the fridge, as well as charging drone batteries, camera batteries, etc.

i'm so satisfied with it that I'm starting to think adding the LiFEPO4 probably won't help me much with my overlanding use. the only benefit of me adding the LiFEPO4 would be to replace the stock battery lol