Update discount action
Supervolt is currently offering a discount until 13.11:
Use the code “GrandCali25” when ordering a Supervolt battery and get 25 euros off. You can combine this with the preorder discount on the site and the prepayment discount. In Summer you can get a discount of 60 euros.
Wait, wait, hold on… one thing in advance: We won’t go into the installation location or any pseudo problems with the Grand California in connection with lithium batteries again here. However, we have received many inquiries about the lithium test, so before we write about our experiences or rather our test with the Supervolt battery, here is a short Q & A.
Have any problems occurred in the last few months?
Absolutely no, the battery has always done its job without any problem.
Have you noticed any other limitations?
In fact, there is a new finding that only came to light during the course of the tests. The Grand California has an isolation relay, so far no problem. To charge the lithium battery, the battery button in the dashboard must be pressed anyway. However, if the battery is fully charged and you want to switch the “booster” off again, the cut-off relay trips and discharges the battery with -50 amps. This behavior is normal and everyone should be aware that if you want to have a 100 percent charged battery upon arrival, the battery button must remain on until the engine is turned off.
Has anything been adjusted on the solar system?
No, as already described, everything has remained in stock condition.
No question, but a final word on the subject of installation location and temperature
Often criticized and called absolutely negligent, the installation location under the hood. We couldn’t get rid of exactly this point, so we measured.
- The temperatures under the hood, among other things in the summer, in traffic jams, yes even in the summer in traffic jams 😅
- The temperatures in the technical cabinet, there should be the ideal installation location…
The dear technology cabinet was and still is touted as the installation location for the lithium battery. Drum roll 🥁, he is definitely not in the summer! At the height of summer, we had temperatures approaching 50 degrees in the interior and especially in the technical cabinet. Stupid or? The amazing thing, at the same time the temperature under the hood was 15 degrees lower. So if the vehicle is not air-conditioned, it makes no difference when stationary.
But what about while driving and in traffic jams? On the positive side, there were no high temperatures under the hood at any time during the drive. We have set the permitted 45 degrees according to the manufacturer as a benchmark here. However, one thing has been noticed, the accumulated heat of the engine after shutdown is already really extreme. So the temperature climbed from 25 degrees while driving, to 40 degrees when stationary, before settling down. The maximum temperature was briefly exceeded twice while stationary, which can be seen quite well on the screenshot.
Of course, we also had to contend with sub-zero temperatures, but the heating system integrated into the battery coped with this too without any problems. Exciting will be our January vacation in Sweden, where we will have temperatures around – 30 degrees. Under these extreme operations, the technical cabinet could prove to be the better installation location. However, we will upload detailed measurements for this upon our return and share them with you.
Okay in the end you have to admit we have of course again gone into the usual points 😅 but now to the main part of this post Supervolt!
Test Supervolt 100Ah Lithium Battery
We became aware of the Supervolt company through a loyal reader. Supervolt advertises inexpensive and good lithium batteries in different versions. Without further ado, we contacted Moritz, the owner of Supervolt, and asked if he would make one of his batteries available for a test in the Grand California.
The answer reached us promptly and a little later we had a package with a 100 Ah lithium battery with us.
At this point it must be said, we have not received this battery as a gift and are not paid in any form for this contribution!
The battery
The 100Ah battery comes in a H7 DIN case with dimensions of 318x175x187 mm and a weight of about 10 kilos. That surprised us a bit, because it is not only lighter, but also smaller than, for example, the variant from Wattstunde, which we have ourselves.
Technical data
- 100Ah
- H7 DIN housing
- DIN connection poles with M8 female thread
- Prismatic cells lighter, more resilient, easier to repair (4x100Ah prismatic cells in the 100AH battery).
- Powerful BMS with 160A / 2000W constant discharge capacity
- 3A active balancing module – for balanced cells and maximum capacity with longer lifetime
Supervolt App
A Bluetooth connection to the battery with a suitable app is almost mandatory. Supervolt does a lot right here. The app’s design may take some getting used to, but it makes up for it in terms of clarity.
All required information is displayed:
- State of charge
- Voltage
- Charge or discharge current
- Temperature
- Capacity
- Remaining capacity
- Remaining term
- Status
- Cell voltage
- Charging cycles
What we particularly like is the display of the remaining runtime and the voltage of the individual cells.
The Supervolt battery in the Grand California
Due to the size of the case, we were skeptical at first as to whether the battery could even be installed in the Grand California. Fortunately, the bracket also fits on the smaller housing and the 100Ah variant can be mounted without any problems.
The rest works just as reliably as we expected, the operation runs, as already with our watt-hour battery, without any problems. However, there was a small problem 😅 We received the normal version for our test and not the Polar version, which means the battery has no heating. It came as it had to come, in the Dolomites we had sub-zero temperatures at night. Most lithium batteries can be discharged to -20 degrees, as can the Supervolt, but not recharged. So we had to drive a few kilometers the next morning before the battery was ready to take charge again.
Conclusion
Now what conclusion do we come to after our tests over the last few weeks?! If we had the choice between the watt-hour and the Supervolt battery, with our current knowledge we would choose the Supervolt, and specifically the 150Ah variant. It is really very charming that Supervolt manages to provide a lithium variant with 150Ah, in the size of the AGM battery. The app seems more sophisticated and no pole adapters are needed.
Price-wise the Supervolt wins, the 100Ah battery costs 729 euros, in the Polar version 829 euros. All models have a five-year warranty. Our experiences match the predominantly positive experiences described by users on the Internet. Supervolt’s support was always available and helpful, which is another thing you can’t say about some competitors.
For our winter trip to Sweden, we are going to get a 150Ah Polar version and replace our watt-hour. The 50 percent extra performance is very convincing. How the battery performs in the long-term test remains to be seen.
Discount promotions
Currently you can get a maximum discount of 45 euros at Supervolt. If you order through our affiliate link, you will get the first 10 Euro discount, plus 25 Euro preorder discount and last but not least, if you pay in advance, you will get another 10 Euro discount.
So if you are up for a battery of Supervolt and want to support us a little, then use this link:
https://supervolt.de/ref/GrandCali/
For our discount you must use the code “GrandCali” !
