RV LIFE Podcast
The RV LIFE Podcast, created by one of the premier companies in the RV industry, is for the RV Community with a mission to Educate, Entertain and Explore the RV Lifestyle. The Podcast will explore all things RV Life: living, working, exploring, learning. With hosts Dan & Patti Hunt, full time RVers, content creators, educators and explorers.
RV LIFE Podcast
Powering Your RV: Everything You Need to Know About Lithium Batteries
Unlock the secrets to powering your RV adventures with cutting-edge lithium battery technology in my latest episode! I sit down with Ruben Macias, a business development manager at Lithionics, who shares his expertise on the transformative power of a 640 amp-hour lithium battery system. Discover how these advanced batteries can streamline your setup, reduce the number of batteries needed, and ensure you have enough power for essential comforts like air conditioning. With Ruben's insights, you'll learn about the critical role of battery management systems in maintaining safety and efficiency, protecting against overvoltage and high temperatures.
From understanding RV electrical systems to mastering the nuances of power needs for specific appliances, we break down the complexities into manageable insights. Whether you're powering a cappuccino machine or ensuring your air conditioner runs smoothly, we guide you through the often-confusing world of watts and amps. Safety and reliability take center stage as we explore the importance of selecting high-quality lithium batteries for your RV.
Have questions about RV battery systems? Leave a comment below or reach out to Reuben directly at reuben@lithionicsbattery.com or 813-335-8346.
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What do you need to know when thinking about powering your RV? I'm Patti Hunt and you're listening to the RV Life Podcast. I've been living on the road for over three years and having enough power to run things like the heat and the AC and, more importantly, my espresso machine, takes some navigating, takes some thinking about what kind of power I need. Now I'll be honest this is not a topic that I am an expert at. It is certainly not something that I ever really knew a lot about when it came to power, and that is why today's episode I bring on an expert who will talk all things battery power, so you have all the right information Now. Lately I've been traveling a lot by car and plane I'm not in the RV right now and I've been staying in hotels, rv campground cabins and I had the opportunity to stay in a yurt. And a couple weeks ago I was at America's largest RV show in Hershey and had the opportunity to sit down with RV battery expert on how to power your RV. I figured I'd sit down and ask him all the questions that I wasn't sure about, because I figured my listeners would need to know. Now, don't miss the wealth of information that Ruben is going to share with you in the interview that was pre-recorded at America's largest RV show in Hershey.
Speaker 1:The RV Life podcast was created to educate, entertain and explore the RV lifestyle, with the mission to inspire you to live life to the fullest. This week, on what you Need to Know, it's brought to you by Open Road Resorts with six amazing locations, and its newest location is in Santa Fe, new Mexico, and it is called Santa Fe KOA Journey. That campground looks amazing. It is a great place to slow down, relax, recharge and enjoy so much that is being offered in the area. It is open year round. There are some limits during the winter months, but you could go to openroadresortscom to check it out.
Speaker 1:Let's get into our guest. Ruben Macias is a business development manager at Lithionics, where he has excelled for over five years. A proud parent to a spirited four-year-old son and happily married for eight years, he has a deep love for connecting with people and building lasting relationships Outside of work and family. He enjoys boating, jeeping and unlimited Greek food. Business Development Manager at Lithionics. We are going to hear from Ruben. Here we are, like I said, at America's largest RV show, and this interview starts out with us sitting under the slide of a new air by Newmar, of a new air by Newmar.
Speaker 2:We're here under the slide of the new air and what we have in front of us is a battery module. It's 640 amp hours, and so this one is an aluminum alloy enclosure. It's fireproof and crushproof. Typically, what you'll see is, if you don't have a lithium battery, you're gonna open up the battery compartment. You'll see anywhere from six to eight batteries all parallel together. You'll still, even though you have six to eight batteries, you're still going to have a lot of limitations with that. But this is a single battery connection. So, again, 640 amp hours. This would be equivalent to 12 batteries, if not more. But you're doing a lot of work with a single battery. So 640 amp hours. What would that do? So 640 amp hours would give you almost overnight air conditioning, depending on how many air conditioners that you have.
Speaker 2:Some have put two 3,000-watt inverters, one for each air conditioner. Will the battery run that that? Yes, so it's one battery module, but over here in the corner that you see the 12 volt logo sticker on it, that is the battery management system. I'm going to bring that out because that really sets the limit of what you can do. The battery module sets the limit of how long can you do it for. So the battery management system is capable of 400 amps, that's 5,000 watts. So going to 3,000 watt inverters. It's slightly above the threshold, but it has been done, it has been tested, so still functions fine. So that's the battery management system. It does all the protection. It's protecting the battery from over voltage, under voltage, hot current, low current or high current, low current, high temperature, low temperature, anything that would damage the lithium cells. The BMS is going to protect it. In other words, it'll cut it off. System is like the jockey. This is the horse. So that's the controller, this is the one that's powering the whole system. So again, it's very small. It's 21 inches, I'm sorry, 21 inches by 12 inches. If you notice what they did with Newmar, they left a space to add another 320 amp hour, so this is 640. You can add a second module right next to it. It's already prepped for it. So that's really nice for upgrading your system.
Speaker 2:So again, your battery management system, your battery module. You'll see a lot of connections here. It's very simple. Those are CAN control systems, so our BMS can link right into their wiring and this is how our battery data gets sent to the panel inside of the coach. Lithionics will integrate right into the coach and the panels will be able to control the inverter charger, control the solar charge controller. That's how simple integration is to simple plug and play right into the CAN communication.
Speaker 2:But that's what you're seeing here. You're seeing a battery that is big enough to power an air conditioner. You're seeing the capabilities of modulating, adding on another module. And then what this is going to give you and the reason why people are going to lithium is while you are driving, the alternator is charging the lithium battery bank and then if you want to run your air conditioner in the house, you can without your generator, your alternators providing the charge. This is enough power to run the air conditioner while you're driving and then when you park, now it will just the air conditioner power, so that battery will power the air conditioner right when you park. No need to run your generator while you're driving or while you're parking.
Speaker 1:Now, if you're looking to purchase a new air or any new Mara product, you want to go to National Indoor RV Centers. They have six locations across the country and they carry new Mars. You can either there's a couple ways you could do it you could visit one of their locations or you could go to their YouTube channel, nirvc, check out all of the inventory that they have. Angie Murrell gives you a complete list walkthrough of the RVs that they have in their locations and then you could do a fly and buy. All of that is at NIRVCcom. You could check all of that out. It's time for Ruben and I to head inside. We're sitting down at this beautiful table inside this new air. It is absolute luxury in here and it is a great place for me to continue this conversation. Well, we had to stop recording because Carl had some questions for you. Talk about what he asked and how you answered him. I think I know our listeners are going to want to hear that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure, so Carl had, Carl had believe. What did he have? What coach was it?
Speaker 2:pleasure, pleasure way, yes, and he wanted to add to a system. So the biggest understanding of lithium in general is we make modularity very easy to add on to systems. What people find out is that as you add batteries to a system, they have to do all these terminal connections, parallel series, and every time you do that is really just a place where there can be a fault. It can be an issue there. So what we've designed in the system is quick connects, really a combiner box and y harness to make the modularity easier.
Speaker 2:Um, so what carl realized is that hey, uh, I have this amount of amp hours, yet I know I need another. Uh, I need to improve that because of his living. Um, how can I do that easier and what part is needed? And so we went into the process of well, what do you have now? What can you fit that's already pre-made, just like you saw, uh, below in this coach? Um, what is there that you can just simply fit a second module or second battery, and then describing them how everything connects that you can do without tools. You literally put the battery down, you strap it and then we provide all the quick connects. So it was nice. It's a simple conversation. He liked it um, but he appreciated the fact you can add on to it and how one battery replaces multiple batteries, especially if you're going from lithium to AGM, but even if you're going from lithium to lithium. Lithionics has made single battery solutions to where you don't have to do multiple batteries. So it was a good conversation. He recognized that he knew a lot about Lithionics.
Speaker 1:I was impressed and he had very specific questions about the cost and things like that. He also mentioned that he was very happy because Winnebago bought Lithionics and for those people that don't know, we are in the New Marne New Air and they are also owned by Winnebago, so that's a win-win, so he was very happy about that. Okay, so here we are, just to give our listeners a background. You can see we are sitting in an RV. This is the 35-foot New Air and it comes with the Lint Theonix battery.
Speaker 2:Now, is that an option or they automatically come with it? Talk a little bit, yeah, so a lot of them are coming with it, so it's part of that package. However, what I'm seeing is amazing rooms where you can design your. Coach newmar has made it such a fun environment. Um, so they, they are able to you choose your power systems, even if you choose a smaller power system, just because you don't know what your living is going to be like. You don't know if you're going to be boondocking or you really don't know the advantages quite yet. Um, you can start small and add on, as we talked about. So many people think that you know what. I just need something to know. If I'm going to go on walmart, I want my, my dogs and my cats to feel comfortable and that's all I want to make sure and the refrigerators still be working right, yeah the refrigerator, the air conditioner, the lights.
Speaker 2:They don't want to walk into something hot. So yeah, in other words, everything functions as they would on a generator or shore power.
Speaker 1:And to your point. I like the idea that you said the add-on to being so important. When I started full-time RVing three years ago, we bought an RV not knowing a whole lot of anything. We bought something inexpensive because my husband didn't think I'd stay in it for very long, so that was a whole nother thing. But as you go along you realize certain things. So for us, we actually went to a campground for 30 days to just get ourselves set up. It was right near where our home had been, just to get set up, and it was in a park in Las Vegas. And it came around. There was no power. We were boondocking, little did I know.
Speaker 1:Now I will say over time I've gotten spoiled. I like the hookups, but we had a residential refrigerator. We wanted to keep the air running, computers, whatever needed to be running, and having the lithium battery certainly would be a big deal, right, okay, so let's talk a little bit more about there are now companies, not only Numar but other companies that are putting lithium in their RVs on the OEM side, and I'm going to be honest when, when I look at a company totally transparent here, I look at doing my research, doing my due diligence, and I've talked to Casey Tubman, president of Newmar, and he said yes, we decided to put lithium batteries in some of the coaches as well as offer them. Well, that was good enough for me. They did more due diligence than I'm ever going to be able to do You're going to have that when engineers are involved?
Speaker 1:Yes, they did my work for me so I was happy about that. So talk about you know, will people find lithionics in other manufacturers?
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. 2025, this year coming up, we notice a big growth in many different classes. The predominant class is Class Bs. So Class B, your Mercedes Sprinters, your Transit, your Pro Masters, but even outside of that, or the Super Cs, c-class, it's all about how customers, which customers are buying, c-classes, which customers are buying as, and understanding how they're living. But all in all, many people are just tired of replacing their AGMs, they're tired of the life cycle of an AGM battery, they're tired of the maintenance. So even then it becomes irrelevant.
Speaker 2:But in 2025, you're going to see many come on board with Lithionics. Why? It's because Lithionics is very premium, not only the name, not only the engineering, but of course, even the pricing is very premium. When it comes to the pricing, but our customers, our OEM customers, our consumer customers, are realizing it's because we are advancing technology. So you're not just paying for the product, we're paying for future advancement. And so this year we had advanced a lot in the alternator space, in the charging space, in the inverter space. We advanced the footprint. Now we have a module I can do in a subfloor to help the balancing of coaches. So yes, in 2025, you're going to see a large advancement in the big OEMs.
Speaker 1:Now for our listeners. Let's talk about what that means. Some of our listeners are not aware. Oem is.
Speaker 2:Original Equipment, manufacturing and.
Speaker 1:I remember it's yeah done at the factory, but I don't remember the out. Yeah so okay, originally put in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, yeah so lithium says really we haven't really focused on aftermarket, going direct to consumer, which is a lot of your. You know the people that support you. They're on the road, hello, by the way. Keep looking at the street. So they, you, they're on the road. Hello, by the way, keep looking at the street. So we haven't really got into the consumer side, and the reason why is because we have a saying that batteries don't die, they're murdered. And it's the wild, wild west sometimes when it comes to electronics, they do the wrong size cabling, do the wrong size fusing. They're not torquing down the bolt. So we've been very cautious on who we sell to and cautious making sure we have an application engineering to go in there and edit the install, because we're very high end.
Speaker 1:So somebody who has a coach already could buy the lithium lithium batteries and then they have to go to a certified. How does that work? I guess I'll ask you to explain.
Speaker 2:So they will contact lithium ionics so they um could either call us, email us, fill out an electronic form and it gets assigned to a product manager. The product manager reach out to the consumer and help them spec out the system that they want according to their needs. Then we're going to say are you know you're gonna do this? Install yourself. No, I need an installer. Where are you located? So they give us the location. And then now we're creating a network of certified installers, certified dealers that have been vetted, that have been trained, and so they'll be able to go right to them to actually do that actual install and that's great.
Speaker 1:So people have the opportunity if they've bought. And just to let my listeners know, we are in an RV, we are at the America's Largest.
Speaker 2:RV Show in Hershey and it's large.
Speaker 1:People are coming through this new air. It seems to be very popular. So there is a background noise. I just want to let people know. But it is good to know that somebody who's bought an RV has the option. One of the things and you and I met in Tennessee at the Music City Motorhome Expo, which is an amazing event put on by National Indoor RV Center, so give a shout out to them. And the big thing for me. So again, my husband handled the inverter stuff, the battery stuff. Sure, I didn't do a lot of that, I'll be honest. I needed to know when we pulled into a campground and we were hooked up can I run the cappuccino machine at the same time as the air conditioner, or did I have to turn it off because our batteries were not?
Speaker 2:the best, not able to do it, so it was all about the cappuccino machine, so we met there.
Speaker 1:The big thing for me, and I think for everybody, was the safety feature of this particular battery. I know you touched on it a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course, what you're hearing a lot is that I mentioned about the battery management system being the jockey right. He's the controller, and then you have the battery management system being the jockey right. He's the controller, and then you have the horse, which is the lithium. What's happening now in this space is that people will market a battery and they claim it has a battery management system, but it's really a battery protection system. In other words, it just turns off but you don't know why.
Speaker 2:You don't know why it turned off. Was it because it reached a high voltage? Was it because it was too low? Was it because the current got real high in a charging component spiked? So what our system is designed to do is not only protect, but it's also going to give you the reason why. A fault code it's going to tell you why it disconnected and let's just say that it reset itself somehow. Well, that didn't solve the problem necessarily. It may have been a reset that you did and it just. But it's going to happen again. Well, we have a last fault code. So it's like a bad toothache that went away when you got there at the dentist's office. Always, yeah, always, yes, yeah. So this one is going to store in the system. And then, even if you say, well, my battery system turned off because or did this when I? Then we're going to ask you to make it happen.
Speaker 2:So our batteries are safe, not just because we put them in aluminum alloy enclosures and fireproof and crush proof enclosures, not plastic. It's not just because of where you all certified for 19. That was the highest level of UL. It's not just because we can replace this entire coach with our own insurance, product liability insurance. It's simply because we are not just a battery protection, we're a management system. We're gonna report what it is and we can troubleshoot it.
Speaker 2:So it may not be the battery's fault, it could be the inverter's fault, but we'll know based on that fault code, we'll know based on the data logging from a customer and we can troubleshoot that in the field. So we have the most advanced battery management system that, even on the panels, will tell you if there's a fault and why there's a fault. So that's the premise behind us is that we really wanted a UL certified battery. Now, why is it UL? Because your motive You're driving down the street, right, and if you're driving down the street, then there's an opportunity of something you know, a wreck, that never happens. And then there's an opportunity that even an outside fire can go through a plastic enclosure and affect the cells.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I want to talk about that for a minute just to make it clear, and I like to clarify things. So lithium batteries and we'll talk about this they can catch on fire. Okay, but if a lithium battery catches on fire, the enclosure that lithium batteries are in is going to keep it contained.
Speaker 2:Do I have that right? You have redundancies there, you have multiple redundancies. You have the external battery management system, right. Then you have inside of each shell has an set and each case has the cells and on top of the cells has a mini BMS. So there's the mini BMS recording what's going on with this cell. Every second reports to the big BMS. So it's saying, hey, this is what's going on. Next cell, this is what's going on with this cell. Okay, every second reports to the big bms. So I'm saying, hey, this is what's going on. Next cell, this is what's going on. This is what's going on, this is what's going on. They're all reporting, right. So, and then inside of the cell, our technology is, uh, it's it's known as like the stoba effect. It has a kevlar curtain shut down. So we've had someone that put a screw through, like through a case battery, through a battery to mount a siren, like just just weird, wow, and it broke it. It went through the cell and that one cell shut down. So cells have their own protection.
Speaker 1:Many bms's reports to the larger bms, so everything is protected within itself so your chance of a fire in this particular battery is slim to none. Somebody's doing something like drilling into it.
Speaker 2:Please, people, do not do that Don't mount anything on your battery. Don't mount anything on your battery. I don't even, didn't even touch it, believe it or not, it has happened. Yes, I believe that.
Speaker 1:So now you're talking about if there's a fire outside of the battery, which could happen for various other reasons.
Speaker 2:Now that's not gonna penetrate through the battery case and affect the cells and cause a thermal runaway, event which a normal fire extinguisher cannot put out To talk about a thermal runaway event.
Speaker 1:it's not the happiest of topics, but let's talk about that, because that's where you see an entire RV, just melted down Within minutes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there's not much you can do besides. Just there's a lot of engineering tied to how to put out a lithium-5, which I won't even get into because I don't know the advancement of that. But yeah, that's the biggest protection that we want is that we do not want a thermal runaway event to happen. So that's why we use really premium cells, that's why we use our BMSs the mini BMS, large bms to event all that from happening. And then, if something does happen, we've had it to where um they mounted, or that someone put a screw through a cable right somebody else.
Speaker 2:So screw through a cable now, yeah, but then something overheated and you can see the burn mark on the outside of the battery case. If that was a plastic enclosure, the battery case would have melted and would have got to a cell and in that situation you only have one redundancy, so hopefully you have a cell that shuts down itself. So that's what we really designed to do. Now we're so sure of our batteries. As I mentioned, we put a liberty mutual insurance. So if you buy ul battery we give you a five million dollar product liability insurance. So if our batteries would catch on fire in this coach, I don't want to see what the sticker tag was, but we can replace the whole coach.
Speaker 1:But that's how sure we are about UL batteries Wow, okay, I need to break that down. So, liberty Mutual, if something happens with the battery, that's not somebody screwing the screw in taking the casing off because they don't like the color or something like that yeah, and this whole coach burns down and I think it's somewhere, I'm going to say somewhere around the threes, and I'll be specific they will pay for the coach.
Speaker 2:Lithionics insurance would cover the entire coach. That is how confident they are. No one else has that. No one else has that. It's just how sure we are of our batteries.
Speaker 1:It's that time where we have to take a quick break for my sponsor. It is because of my sponsors that this podcast is able to exist. Let's talk about clear 2-0. They have filtration system that is above and beyond any filter system. When living or traveling in an RV, clean, fresh water is most important. Clear 2.0 does it different. Most of the water filtration systems out there have granular carbon. When you put water through granules it runs through very quickly. What Clear 2-0 does different is they have a solid carbon block. It is the carbon that cleans the water and when water goes through the solid block it stays there longer, cleaning the water to about a half a micron. The lower the micron number, the more clean and fresh and safe your water is. You can visit them at clear2ocom and check out the show notes for the discount code.
Speaker 1:Anybody looking to spend time in their RV in the colder climates needs air skirts, needs air skirts. Air skirts are these gray, large, torpedo-looking things that go under your RV so they form around any size RV, making a complete seal, keeping your RV warmer. These torpedo-like objects inflate easily and then they deflate, so they're quick and easy to assemble, quick and easy to take down and easy and compact to store. Go to airskirtscom and the coupon code is RVPOD, that's R-V-P-O-D and you get $100 off a kit order. Let's get back to that conversation with Ruben on powering your RV. Let's talk more about the most important thing in my coach other than me is my cappuccino machine. And again, for me, I always like breaking things down. I really don't understand electricity. I could if I wanted to. I just don't want to. I want to know when I would stop at a campground and we'd be on 30 amp or sometimes just regular plug-in. I needed to know what I could run, when I could run my hair dry or when I couldn't. You're the expert you bring it out for people.
Speaker 2:It's funny because people, this market, the electric market, has worked off of watts and amps right, so then they'll go well, what's amp hours, well, what's watt hours? And it just gets really entangled.
Speaker 1:So it's not just me, it's confusing.
Speaker 2:No, it's very difficult because it's again. Everything that you have in a vehicle is known as amps. Everything you have in a home is watts. Oh, that's why it's confusing, because now this is my home, it's a mix look at okay yeah, so your air conditioner is measured in watts, your coffee pot's measured in watts it's not a coffee pot, it's a cappuccino.
Speaker 1:Cappuccino specific espresso okay yes, and I'm sure it's got more power to it that we could see behind you and I'll do video. The residential refrigerator, yeah, yeah, it's watts, got watts. But my, when I get my car, that's amps yeah, everything up front and the chassis is amps.
Speaker 2:Okay, right, a battery is dc power, dc current, so that's always going to be measured in amps okay right, because it's what you would typically find under a hood.
Speaker 2:Um, but now, since there's a blend, now, now using these batteries for the home or for your house battery? That's why it's almost easier to deal with watts, right, so we'll deal with watts. Okay, right, so you have watts, which is the amount of power at one given moment. Watts, right, if you turn on your cappuccino maker, it'll pull about a thousand watts, right, right then, and there, um, same air conditioning this one has a bigger air conditioner probably pull 1500 watts. Anything that generates heat is a lot of watts because it's generating heat. So how you spec out a system, the air conditioner is 1500 watts. Your cappuccino maker, when it heats up, is probably going to be anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 watts, so there's 3,000 watts right there. So if you have a 3,000-watt inverter, that's just enough for the air conditioner and the cappuccino maker.
Speaker 2:Make sense 1,500 here Don't turn the hair dryer on. Don't turn the hair dryer on because you're at 1,500, 1,500.
Speaker 1:Don't turn the hair dryer on.
Speaker 2:Don't turn the hair dryer on because you're at 1,500, 1,500. That's 3,000. You have a 3,000-watt inverter. That means that's how much current it's going to convert from DC current to AC current. So there's your limiter there, okay. So your limit is your inverter. Your limit is also your battery system. Your battery system has to be able to handle 3,000 watts, Right so? Thousand watts, right. So your battery is three thousand watts. Inverters three thousand watts, your AC and your coffee pot three thousand watts.
Speaker 1:that's all streamlined okay, so let's, let's talk about somebody come and again, we're at the America's largest RV show in Hershey, often called the Hershey show, and people are looking at. We've have many people coming through here looking at an RV. I would think, when people are looking in an RV, for that salesperson to help guide them. So if I say hey, I boondock 95% of the time. What you need, what kind of battery, what kind of solar, all of that is going to be really important.
Speaker 2:It's going to be really important and that sounds like 10, I don't want to talk anything, but that's an expertise. Someone will really have to know electrical systems to get that right. So in this, in this coach, there's 640 amp hours, so that's where it gets kind of complicated, right, um so, and I can do the math really quickly for you calculate the math I'm going to calculate the while you're calculating, you have to take amp hours to the watts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I know what I can. I don't know if you're calculating, you have to take amp hours to the watts, so I know what I can run.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you're going to see this on there or not?
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, let me turn it. Let's turn it.
Speaker 2:Okay, go ahead, type it in and then I'll show you how to do it. Okay, so if you do 640 amp hours times 12, which is your volts, that's 7,000, 7.6 kilowatt hours. So now, remember I told you that you have 1500 watts, the air conditioner. So let's just say we're running the 1500 watts but we have storage of 7.6. So how long can that air conditioner run? Well, if you take 7.6, now divide that by 1500 watts, so now 5.2 hours.
Speaker 1:Okay, so now we're doing math. So now we're doing math. So that's how we transition.
Speaker 2:So if someone said, okay, how, how long can this air conditioner run? Off of 640 amp hours, I'm to convert amp hours to watts, okay, and I'm going to say well, how much does that air conditioner pull? I know it's going to pull about 1,500. Okay. So all I did was take 1,500 watts divided by 7,600 watt hours and that gave me the five hours.
Speaker 1:Right, so I'm not really big on doing all the math. Are there charts for this? Yeah, are there cheat?
Speaker 2:sheets to it. Um, so that's why most people are going kilowatt hours instead of amp hours. Okay, so if you say I have, then these coaches, you can have, let's say, 10 kilowatt hours. Oh, 10 kilowatt hours. So divided by you know, 1500, that's a lot. It's eight hours of ac runtime, not more and that's good for you know.
Speaker 1:Somebody says, hey, I want to be in florida and I stay there in the warmer months. I was in las ve Vegas once in the middle of the summer. And yes, las Vegas gets to 115, 118. You want to make sure you can run those air conditioners unless you're plugged in?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Okay, yeah, the question you always want to ask a salesperson is saying well, how many? What's the battery system? First question is going to be is it lithium or is it AGM? If it's AGM, it's not going to run electric. You're going to have to run your generator or be on shore power period. It's not going to be able to do it. If it's a lithium, some people don't even run the air conditioner off lithium. They just put lithium in there because it has a longer life.
Speaker 1:But if it has lithium.
Speaker 2:Now you can ask well, does it run the ac? Yes, now you're asking well, how long can I run my coffee pot and my air conditioner? To both support, to the most important things? Yes, the answer is yes or no, and typically it's going to be a yes because both is going to be about 3 000 watts. So if they have a 3 000 watt inverter then you're good. But unfortunately, the oem market, when they don't think about off-roading, we don't think about overlanding or boondocking, they put a 1,000 watt inverter in there, 1,000 watt inverter which will run nothing. They're banking on you, the consumer, to run your generator or shore power. Okay, the 1,000 watt inverter is only going to run these pod lights and maybe an outlet, but not an air dryer or anything like that.
Speaker 1:And again, just to get people to understand, I had a generator, big generator, in my RV. I could tell you what it was. I just knew it was a big or not, size wise, but what it accomplished. And I don't think you could run the air conditioner for any period of time and then you could only run a generator and a lot of campgrounds for certain hours of the night because they're loud. So that's something to consider. So for those consumers looking to buy an RV, these are conversations they want to have. A lot of people come in and, like you see, people have been walking in and out. They're looking at the floor plan, they go wow, like you said, unless of course they plan on going to campgrounds with full hookups and they're plugging in all the time.
Speaker 2:Of course they plan on going to campgrounds with full hookups and they're plugging in all the time, yeah, yeah. So it's good, it's good to know what the possibilities are, and and unfortunately, I'm hearing more and more how um, I think the word is but even for campsites, rv parks, the electrical grid can completely conk out. Um, and so what happens? Is it automatically transfers to the battery system. So many people say, well, I don't, I don't go boondocking, well, that's fine, we'll think about the what ifs, you know. So it's, it's, it's, it's it's smart to think about absolutely and to have that backup, great.
Speaker 1:Anything else our listeners know you've given them so much, I know.
Speaker 2:I'm so sorry. No, they can contact me at any time. Feel free to list that. Yeah, so I use my cell phone because I'm the business development manager, so I'm typically always on the road, work remotely. I do factory visits, I do a lot of these expos, visit customers, and so my cell phone is easy to be used. It's 813-335-8346.
Speaker 1:Now, there's not many people that just give their phone number straight out. It's good. People can leave you a clear message. Put the question in there.
Speaker 2:That might be easily answered my direct email is Ruben, which is like a sandwich R-E-U-B-E-N at Lithionics Battery. If they have questions and they just wanted to know, well, how does this function, how does this work? If they're not understanding the math correctly or they want to know which OEMs have our systems, we'll let you know. And a lot of the question is well, how do you store it? Very simple, those questions can be very simply answered, but there is a lot of false information that's out there. There's a lot of imported batteries that are out there and they say, well, lithium is so expensive. I think that's the wrong statement. I think they need to ask themselves why are lithium batteries so cheap? So, if you're having something so expensive but something so cheap, instead of saving the dollars, realize you're in a mode of application and you're sleeping in a coach with a lithium battery that's not even allowed to be on a consumer airplane. Why do you want something that's safe, right?
Speaker 1:So let's talk about that a little bit because it was a safety feature. I was talking to somebody and they said we were looking at this battery company, so it's lithium battery, different company, I won't name who, it's a big company and they were less expensive than the lithiumics. And I said but the safety, safety feature, when you're talking about being on the road, when you're talking about living in something that will burn, sometimes, unfortunately, before you can get out that to be, yes, it's safety. And then the fact that it's backed up with the Liberty Mutual five million dollar product liability insurance product liability insurance.
Speaker 1:Thank you, I wanted to make sure I said it right. I'm sure Liberty Mutual did their due diligence and they're willing to, because they don't ever plan on having to pay it out. Let's get real and they're like sure we'll cover it because we've looked at this and we don't ever have to pay it out.
Speaker 2:Yeah so you have the safety features, and then then you think about it too well, is every lithium battery the same? Is my 500 amp hours the same as your 500 amp hours? So we have a, we have a customer uh, we have an oem customer that does 540 amp hours and their runtime on their air conditioner is one hour and 45 minutes that is not helpful now.
Speaker 1:Now let's just five hours okay, and let's talk about that. We're in pennsylvania and it is the middle of september. We're having indian summer. It is 80 something degrees. So a lot of times our beers will move based on the weather. They don't want to be where it's hot, stay in 72 degrees, but in Pennsylvania at this time of year it shouldn't be. Really. It's iffy. I've lived in Pennsylvania pretty much all my life so it can get super hot and it is hot today. An hour and 40 minutes of air conditioner is not going to cut it. It's a teaser.
Speaker 2:So the minimum AC run time that we typically do would be three to five hours. Three to five hours is kind of where everybody starts, and then overnight air conditioning. But I bring that up because, no, if you say that well, this 300 amp hour is two grand, but your 300 amp hours three grand, four grand, well, your Zappos and this situation, they're just looking at the amp hour per amp hour and that's not the smartest way to go about it. Not the smartest way.
Speaker 1:So great. And, again, this show is about education and we're looking for the right information to be armed when they go in and they're looking for, you know, something of this caliber to be safe, to be what they're going to need. There's nothing worse than saying, well, I wanted a boondock in the middle of Arizona and not be able to turn on an air conditioner. That's important to people. So thank you for so much incredible information and I can't wait to see you next time. This is the second time we just saw each other, in June in Tennessee.
Speaker 2:Yep, there'll be more. You come into florida so hopefully we'll get you into the factory then to the factory.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, I'm going to do that sooner than later okay, that sounds great. I love that clearwater florida area so I would love to do that.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for joining us, thank you, thank you for all your, your customer base and your listeners too, very happy to be able to be here. You're welcome.
Speaker 1:Ruben gave us an incredible amount of information and I have to say that the whole energy watts and amps has always been a little confusing for me. Amps has always been a little confusing for me. I wanted a chart where I knew whether I could run the air conditioning and my espresso machine. Can I run my hair dryer, can I run my curling iron without it being a problem? Ruben did a great job breaking all of the information down that's needed for you to choose the battery power that's right for you.
Speaker 1:Lithionics Battery is a battery company that I truly believe in because number one for them is safety, as you heard Ruben talk about it. Now, if you have any questions about batteries, about lithium batteries, about any kind of batteries, go to the show notes. Wherever you're listening to the podcast, go to the comments, put your question in, put your comment in. I truly want to hear from you. If it's a question for Ruben, I will make sure he gets that question and he will answer all of your questions. He gets that question and he will answer all of your questions. So I greatly appreciate you putting anything you have to share in the comments on the podcast platform you are listening on.
Speaker 1:But it is now time for the question of the week, and that is brought to you by Open Roads Fuel Card. The Open Roads Fuel Card is for diesel fuel users, and this fuel card saves you money every time you go to get diesel fuel. The card is free to sign up for. You have an app that when you are in an area and you are looking for diesel fuel, you go to the app and it shows you exactly how much diesel fuel is going to cost you. I know over the last three years I've saved anywhere from five cents all the way up to a dollar a gallon. It is huge savings for those of us that are diesel fuel users. Now, open Roads also has innovative toll solutions, and this is a toll pass that costs $24 a year and it covers all 48 states One toll pass for the entire country. It is great. I have been using it for about eight or nine months. It has been easy to use One toll pass, no problems at all. If you should encounter a problem, they have concierge service that is going to help you through it.
Speaker 1:The question of the week today I'm going to answer, and the question I usually ask my guests, is what is on your bucket list Now. I've checked a lot of things off of my bucket list, and every time I check something off, I add more things on. There's so many incredible places to visit, both in the country and outside of the country. But one of the things on my bucket list that I've been thinking about is you know, it's starting to get cooler. We're looking at fall leaves. I haven't necessarily been a fan of the colder weather, but now that I'm going to be in Pennsylvania for the winter, I am embracing it. And on my bucket list is sitting in a cabin by a lake, watching the colors of the fall leaves while drinking a nice hot cup of hot chocolate, complete with lots and lots of whipped cream. I'm not a marshmallow person, I'm a whipped cream person. Again, put it in the comments what do you prefer Marshmallows or whipped cream in your hot chocolate? But this is something on my bucket list to just unwind, relax, recharge and just enjoy nature.
Speaker 1:It is now time for the featured campground, and that is brought to you by RV Life. Today's campground is Tahoe Valley Campground in South Lake Tahoe, california. This is a Thousand Trails campground with 439 sites. Tahoe Valley Campground is true luxury. Beauty surrounds you and there's so much to do in the campground, but there's also lots to do in the area. So whether you go to the beaches or you take a long walk by the river, there's a lot of beauty and a lot of amazing things to do in this area. This campground is open year-round and, while it is a Thousand Trails Campground, you do not need to be a member. It offers full hookups, pull-in sites, dog park, cabin rentals and so many more features. Tahoe Valley Campground has a solid 7.4 rating on RV Life Campgrounds with 184 reviews. Visit campgroundsrvlifecom and then type in Tahoe Valley Campground. When you get there, there is a huge book now button. It is red and you click that button to book your stay at this campground. It's so easy. You could also see photos, tips and a full list of amenities about this property.
Speaker 1:Rv Life Campgrounds is part of RV Life Pro and it's the most comprehensive source of RV parks, campgrounds and resources, as well as city, state and national parks, corpse of engineer properties and so much more. Visit RV, visit I'm sorry campgroundsrvlifecom. And if you're not part of RV Life products, you could go to the show notes for a 25% discount. And so what a great episode. I have to thank Ruben. So much for all of his incredible information. I'm sure this podcast will bring up some other questions that you, my listeners, have and I'm gonna say again leave comments, leave questions here on the podcast page, or you could go to our social media at Instagram or Facebook, and that is RV Life Podcast. Any questions you have that are for Ruben, I am happy to pass them along. I will also put his information in the show notes and you could contact him directly. You have been listening to the RV Life Podcast. I'm Patti Hunt saying have a great rest of today and an even better day tomorrow, thank you.