Lithium Battery anyone?

[Farnarkler]

My Disco 5 has been showing signs of a battery on the way out. Even after a long drive, it only takes a few door openings to bring on the "Battery Low - Start Engine Now" warning.
Would it be smart to install a Lithium battery? I know they are expensive but it might be a good investment. Probably not worth it for me to install a second battery as I only go "camping" once a year and even then, there is always a power point in sight.

[scarry]

If the vehicle has a smart alternator,which it probably has,lithium is not the way to go.
A search on here will reveal other threads on Lithium batteries for late model LR's.

[SBD4]

Have a read of this thread from the L494 forum:

Fitted LIPO4 Starter Batteries (https://www.aulro.com/afvb/l494-range-rover-sport/292654-fitted-lipo4-starter-batteries.html)

[Farnarkler]

If the vehicle has a smart alternator,which it probably has,lithium is not the way to go.
A search on here will reveal other threads on Lithium batteries for late model LR's.

I tried searching, I really di, but I just don't ever seem to find what I am looking for. I used to be an active member over on bimmerboard.com when I had my beloved 7 series BMW but it will likely take me a while to become familiar with this site.
Thanks everyone for your help.

[Numb Thumbs]

Have you had your earth lead connection recall done? I had the same issues until they finally installed the new earth lead connection to the body. I had two replacement batteries in the first year - mine is a late 2019 so it spent most of the first two years in lockdown in the garage here in Melbourne.

These so-called "smart" alternators are a pain. I can drive for 8 hours, non-stop, at 110 km/h and the battery is still under 80% charged. My auxiliary lithium battery, on a DC-DC charger, is always at 100%.

I have found that leaving the car unlocked in the garage keeps the state of charge much higher than locking or double locking it. When locked or double locked I had to put it on a charger every week or two. Unlocked it is fine for months. Go figure...

The joys of modern cars.

Cheers
Numb Thumbs ;)

[Graeme]

If you have a diagnostic tool that can do it, set the battery indicator to a new battery so that smart charging doesn't reduce charging for an older battery.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

its not good for lithiums to be pushed to 100% every day, (like agm's and lead acid). Its a thing we need to get our collective heads around.

[PhilipA]

Has anyone experimented with placing a DC/DC charger between the alternator and Lithium battery?
I would think a 50amp DC/DC charger would surely keep the battery fully charged even with a smart alternator.
Even if the alternator was charging at say 12 volts the DC/Dc charger would boost it up to 14.4-14.6 V.
In any case I would think that the load of the charger would cause the alternator to up its charge rate.
I don't know what the ECU would think of that but perhaps some sparkie on the forum could nut it out.
Regards PhilipA

[drivesafe]

Has anyone experimented with placing a DC/DC charger between the alternator and Lithium battery?
I would think a 50amp DC/DC charger would surely keep the battery fully charged even with a smart alternator.
Even if the alternator was charging at say 12 volts the DC/Dc charger would boost it up to 14.4-14.6 V.
In any case I would think that the load of the charger would cause the alternator to up its charge rate.
I don't know what the ECU would think of that but perhaps some sparkie on the forum could nut it out.
Regards PhilipA
Hi Philip and you must NEVER have your motor running without having a battery, lead acid or lithium, connected to the alternator.

Disconnecting the cranking battery while the motor is running can very quickly lead to your vehicle’s electronics being damaged or destroyed by the the alternator’s VERY high voltage spikes.

The cranking battery in all vehicles acts as a huge voltage spike suppressor, filtering out the 60+v spikes that all alternators creat in normal operation.

I suspect this is the reason lithium batteries are not used by vehicle manufacturers as cranking batteries, because lithium batteries can shutdown in over voltage situations or if they are discharged to low.

Even a lead acid battery with a dropped cell will still act as a voltage spike suppressor because it is very rare for a lead acid battery to go OPEN CIRCUIT but it is common place for faulty lithium batteries to go open circuit.

[PhilipA]

A DC/DC charger will activate immediately the ignition is turned on and create drain, or can be wired to the accessory circuit etc.

There should not be an open circuit with the engine running as long as the voltage is above its lower cutoff point which is usually in the 9Volt range.

Just as a not exact example, the DC/DC charger in my van is wired through a relay to turn on activated by acc, although the source is my house battery.

It (and the fridge) immediately pulls the house battery down so is drawing heaps of current with engine off.( about 20+14amps)

And yes I realise that the circumstances are different hence the inquiry.
I am interested even though I have a dumb alternator.
Regards PhilipA

[Graeme]

Even if there wasn't a need to have a battery as a buffer for the alternator, these vehicles' alternators don't have their huge output capacity for no reason so the battery would soon be flat only being supplied with 50A.

[Bails]

If the vehicle has a smart alternator,which it probably has,lithium is not the way to go.
A search on here will reveal other threads on Lithium batteries for late model LR's.


I have a Range Rover Sport with Smart Alternator and use iTech Lithium smart drop in starter batter. Is a great way to get rid of weight. Works well now 6 months no issues.

[drivesafe]

I have a Range Rover Sport with Smart Alternator and use iTech Lithium smart drop in starter batter. Is a great way to get rid of weight. Works well now 6 months no issues.
What year model?

[drivesafe]

I have a Range Rover Sport with Smart Alternator and use iTech Lithium smart drop in starter batter. Is a great way to get rid of weight. Works well now 6 months no issues.
If your RRS is the D3 version then while it has a SMART alternator, the D3 alternator never operates below 13.4v, which is fine for lithium battery use.

If you have the D4 ( or later ) version of the RRS, then you will have potential problems on long trips.

The Lithium cranking battery will be fine around town as you will be able to get a reasonable charge in to it because of the short driving, where the alternator gives a high voltage "burst" directly after each start.

But any trip of 2 hours or more risks flattening the battery.

This is a double problem in that if the battery gets to low, it will turn off, and that in itself can be a problem with many of the lithiums on the market require a jump start from another battery to turn them back on.

But you also have a far more serious potential problem, if the battery gets so low that it turns off while you are driving.

This situation can lead to damaged vehicle electronics.

Even the hybrid vehicle manufacturers, where they have lithium storage batteries to drive the vehicle and a small motor to charge them. The motors starting battery is still a lead acid battery.

They just don't trust lithium batteries as start batteries.