NEW V2 EPOCH 460Ah 12V LiFePO4 ELITE Battery (Connects to Victron Cerbo GX)

[@RVwithTito]

⚡Shop here for EPOCH 460Ah 12V Batteries and you'll Buy me a Beer🍺 rvwithtito.com/EPOCH (Affiliate Link - Thanks!)

[@ryanh4889]

Thanks for the info Tito. About to buy that 460 for my 78 VW camper van.

[@RVwithTito]

Nice! I drove a 1970 Camper van for 11 years. Should have kept it :)

[@ryanh4889]

@@RVwithTito Im also installing 450 watts of flex solar panels along with a 12vdc roof ac/heat pump over the cab.

[@RVwithTito]

@@ryanh4889 That'll be a nice little camper when you're done. 👍

[@davidl1338]

@@ryanh4889 I would love to know how you are going to find the space on the roof for that lot??

[@ryanh4889]

@davidl1338 Wait and see! I will be documenting the installation on KZbin.

[@doughinkle2947]

Impressive as usual, Bryan. If I hadn't found a great deal on EVE cells, I'd definitely be looking at this battery.

[@RVwithTito]

Who knows. Maybe I'll switch, but my batteries are working just fine as well. I did pay much more though.

[@danieldifede9532]

Do we like this more than the EG4 server rack batteries?

[@RVwithTito]

EPOCH also has a 48V IP67 100Ah Elite battery. I guess it depends on your application, inverter and comms. Check it out at rvwithtito.com/EPOCH

[@michaeldean3771]

Epoch told my buddy it works with V1 NOT. He has 3 V1's then added a V2 crap hit the fan. Thinks the BMS flipped out and crashed took out one of his V1 as well.

[@RVwithTito]

I was also told the V1 and V2 comms aren't compatible with each other. You'll have to buy a V1 (which they have) or just use a Victron Shunt instead. I wrote a little about this in the video description.

[@Thesaltymedic36]

That’s wild. Plug and play it seems.

[@RVwithTito]

Yup. Pretty easy to setup.

[@jasoncr8419]

Does the heater actually work this time? Did the BMS do a good job balancing the cells during the initial charge? Does VRM show cell data?

[@RVwithTito]

Looks like the work. I didn't do a deep teardown to test it, but Lithium Solar did and saw the pre-heat kick in (kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKmsaXWDrJWapNUsi=NhHOwfIiyc7QwR83&t=888). The cells are pretty well balanced. I don't think VRM shows each cell. The remote console will show High/Low cell voltage and temp but not all cells.

[@jasoncr8419]

@RVwithTito thank you for the link and update.

[@bobt1931]

I have a couple of questions. The heaters on my V1 don’t seem to work. Have you tested the heaters with different chargers? Others have similar issues and we don’t know if it’s the battery itself or the charger we are using although one guy on Facebook is using Epochs charger. Also not sure if there’s a remote way to test the heaters. The other question I have is if you know how to connect the battery BMS to a Raspberry Pi running Venus OS. Thinking I may need a CAN Hat but then not sure what is compatible with the Epoch BMS.

[@RVwithTito]

I haven't been able to test the heaters. My understanding is that they suspend charging below the set low temperature and pre-heat. Charging resumes once the temp reaches a safe level. I have seen discussion on the Victron forum about CANbus on Rasberry Pi with Venus OS. I think you're right. It sounds like the key is choosing the right CAN hat to use. Personally, I haven't done it.

[@vincentp.chianese2873]

Any way to make the program useable with a Magnum 2K inverter? There are a lot of Newmar and other brands as welll with that inverter, all prewired. It would be great to not to have to rewire a coach and be forced to Victron systems.

[@RVwithTito]

Can't say. This battery uses CANbus communication. I don't think the older Magnum inverters support that, but newer ones might.

[@Jimmy_Jim_Jim_1234]

I have a 460ah Essentials and COULD NOT be happier with it. I might get a second just for fun.

[@RVwithTito]

That's a good one too at a great price.

[@Jimmy_Jim_Jim_1234]

@RVwithTito And the Bluetooth app is really good. No Victron connection, but its really not needed with the app.

[@edharvey-yn8un]

I have a 39Rkfb with 3 ac's and residential refrigerator how many of these batteries and what Watt inverter would I need for off grid

[@h2o100c]

You will need more than batteries and inverters. Start with 2000 watts of solar, 10 460ah batteries and three 3000 watt inverters, and 100s of feet of 3/0 wire. Approx cost $20,000 +.

[@RVwithTito]

An efficient fridge may average 150Ah per day, but the A/C units are the killer. If you could limit the use to one A/C at a time during the day, then 920Ah (two of these), two 3000W inverters, and at least 2KW of solar would be a start. High efficiency 12V A/C units are preferred these days if you want to run them off-grid.

[@fkwvdpol]

When running large loads like those described by @edharvey-yn8un it makes much more sense to move to a 48V system. Since the current will be four times less your wiring and power distribution will be much more manageable for the large amount of power; will safe you a lot of headache and money - thick copper is expensive.

[@522Shelby]

Great review! I want to get 2 of them, but need to pre-wire where they will go now. Can I use a standard ethernet (cat-5/cat-6) wire to run between the battery and the Cerbo? If not, can I run bare cat-5/6 wire and wire the connectors to work? Do you daisy chain the 2 batteries w the can ports (black and blue? ) Keep up the great work!

[@RVwithTito]

I'm not sure about the first question (battery to cerbo) because I just use the wiring harness provided. The answer could be Yes. For the second, third, etc. battery, I believe Yes. You can use any straight RJ45 cable from black to blue. Because of the second answer, I'll bet the first has to be true. Yes? I just haven't tried it because I only have one V2 battery. Hope that helps.

[@522Shelby]

@ thank you for the reply!!

[@davidl1338]

Looking good there 👍. I've actually got a question on the Cerbo though .... I see you were using a regular HDMI connected screen and a mouse (?) to navigate? I do that with mine on the traditional GUI, but the mouse doesn't work on GUI-2 and that is on the Victron "to do" list to fix. Have they now fixed it or have you found your own workaround?

[@RVwithTito]

I just plugged a wireless mouse into one of the USB ports on the Cerbo. In the video I'm actually using a wired USB touchpad. This is the latest Cerbo GX MKII model with the latest firmware. It should work with the previous one too I think.

[@davidl1338]

@@RVwithTito Thanks, Brian. Just looked and my Cerbo is on 3.50 and latest is 3.60. I'll check the change history and give it a go tomorrow after an update anyway. Also using a pretty old Cerbo (nearly 5 years old now) so possibly a factor. I have been using a wireless mini-keyboard with touchpad and a USB dongle. was great on the old GUI. I have generally transitioned to a old mobile running Victron KIOSK mode now which is actually really handy and probably better then my connected screen anyway. I'll let you know how I get on if of interest?

[@rvlifediy]

I like that it's UL Listed. I wished that was discussed more or featured more in the literature. It seems all new RV/Boat/Mobile manufacturers use batteries that are UL Listed only, like Dragonfly (battleborn), Relion, Lithionics, and a couple of others. All those type of batteries seem to be at a much higher price point. I wonder if any RV manufacturer will jump to Epoch. I have (3) of the 300ah essentials which are not UL Listed, and that was the only negative drawback that I saw (besides not being IP 67 rated which I did not need).

[@lindanadaud9698]

Thanks for the video.

[@RVwithTito]

You're welcome!

[@campnut6076]

Brian, this seems like a perfect opportunity to hook this battery in parallel or series with a different brand LifeP04 battery and do some tests. This battery tech is increasing so quickly and the prices are coming down. It would be a waste to throw away 2 year old Battleborn's to upgrade to this. In my uneducated mind, if the individual batteries are protected by a BMS, why wouldn't they play good together? Great video Brian.

[@58gposton]

You were going to show us how to hook two batteries together. That would have been interesting.

[@RVwithTito]

Since I only had one V2 battery to test, I thought I could connect the V2 battery with the V1 battery using the VE.CAN. I later found out that it's not possible. The comms aren't compatible. I did a little writeup about it in the video description though. You can still use them together in parallel, but you'll have to use a Victron Shunt and have it report state of charge to the Cerbo.

[@h2o100c]

Series. Black to black, red to red .

[@RVwithTito]

You meant parallel right?

[@MarkSpencerAZ]

Can these be used in series to create higher voltage?

[@RVwithTito]

Yes. Sure. You can connect 2 for 24V or 4 in series for 48V. You could also do a series/parallel setup for a large capacity bank.

[@arriagada1957]

Nice equipment

[@RVwithTito]

Agree. It's pretty well built.

[@flaminraymin8]

Where is it made?

[@RVwithTito]

EPOCH is a US company located in Georgia. The batteries and components are built overseas like the rest.

[@fkwvdpol]

These Epoch batteries are made in China. I believe RoyPow builds those - a company with a strong reputation for golf cart, forklift and marine batteries.

[@SpykersB]

How much? Usa$ How tall, long n wide? Weight? Thx 🍻

[@stevespawn1]

Chins has 400ah for $999-I got one -ok so far

[@unyalliman]

my god man you did not "PUSH" current! Power is "DRAWN".

[@RVwithTito]

Yes. True. I stand corrected.