Renogy Core Mini 300Ah battery review
The 4WD and camping world is now well and truly hooked on lithium batteries, and lets be honest; they’re a massive improvement on lead acid batteries that were the norm for so long. We’ve been running lithium batteries for many years in several different setups, and when Renogy offered to send their new Core Mini 300Ah lithium battery across for testing, I was over the moon.
If you’ve been following along for some time, you’ll know that we took two Renogy 170Ah lithium batteries around Australia with us in our Reconn R2 hybrid camper trailer, with 720W of fixed solar plus alternator charge keeping them full. They were used extensively in every possible way you could look at it, from running an induction cooktop full time, to all of our lights, water pumps and everything in between. In just over two years, they did just over 1000 KWh, or roughly 80,000Ah.
They did tens of thousands of kilometres of rough roads and tracks all over Australia, and I never had a single issue with them. Now, Renogy don’t sell these anymore, and we’ve sold our Reconn R2 so any further comment is unlikely, but its not the only Renogy gear we’ve had. Again, if you’ve been following along you’ll know our 600W of solar was from Renogy, we’ve had two blankets/portable panels, a 60A MPPT solar regulator, two inverters, shunts, displays and a couple of DCDC units too.
The only issue we’ve had with their gear (which thus far has primarily been paid for) was a failed 2000W inverter, which I’m still not entirely sure of the cause. We did relatively recently receive a 100Ah lithium from them a while back that was somewhat ‘loose’ inside its casing, and whilst it never caused any issues, they sent us another one regardless.
We didn’t pay for this battery
As usual, I like to be up front with our audience. You should know that we didn’t pay a cent for the 300Ah battery being reviewed today. You should also know that there’s never any agreement to write good things about any products we receive (which are few and far between these days). If the product was absolute rubbish, we’d have no qualms saying that. I don’t make a habit of taking products that I’m sceptical of, and frequently turn down offers for all sorts of random things.
Who does this battery suit?
The Renogy 300Ah Mini core is a 12V battery, suited for most 12V applications. It’s really small for a 300Ah battery, meaning if you wanted a decent secondary battery in your 4WD, its within the realms of a lot of installations. Alternatively, you could easily fit one, two or even more in a camper trailer, RV or caravan depending on your electrical requirements. I’d happily fit it to our new camper trailer if I suspected we had need of such of a large battery, but its probably overkill for a lot of applications. This would happily replace how most people use a 500Ah AGM or lead acid setup.
If you had a granny flat, or off grid house, a couple of these would go a long way to powering a fairly regular lifestyle!
They’re very light
I want to make an additional point around the weight of these batteries. Traditionally a 100Ah lithium is about 11kg, which means 3 would be 33kg, but this only weighs in at 25kg. It’s heavy to carry around, but when you realise its lighter than a 100Ah AGM or lead acid battery, its almost hard to fathom. That’s 3 to 6 times the usable capacity (depending on how you use it), for less weight!
Specifications on the Renogy 300Ah battery
These are quite an impressive battery, with the below specs:
- 25kg
- 384mm x 194mm x 253mm high
- Good for 5000 cycles at 80% DOD
- 3840Wh of usable power (100% DOD)
- IP65
- M8 terminal bolts
- 5 year material warranty
- 200A maximum continuous discharge, with 380A peak for up to 10 seconds
- Maximum continous charge of 150A
- Able to be connected in parallel or series up to 48V, with a maximum of 4 unless its a series/parallel connection and then you can go to 16
- Not bluetooth compatible; you need to use a shunt for accuracy.
- Decent rope and plastic carry handles to move them around as needed.
What have we used it for?
This battery arrived not long after we’d moved home, sold our Reconn R2 and had no camping setup at all. Initially, I had it in the shed, running various appliances as a trial, and then I’ve moved it inside, running a mini off grid system that powers our study. There’s two laptops, 4 monitors, and a 150L chest freezer.
This is running through our 2000W Renogy inverter from the Dmax (which isn’t getting used much these days) a 150A fuse, and being charged via a Victron 30A 240V charger. I’ve got it set up through a Tapo smart plug, which comes on when our rooftop solar system is giving us free energy, and turns off as the sun goes down.
It’s run our portable induction cooktop, various battery chargers and other bits and pieces in the shed. I’ll happily admit it hasn’t been tested under our normal circumstances off road, but below shows that its getting well used inside.
I don’t actually have a shunt, so I have no idea what percentage the battery is at any given time, but the Victron unit logs how much power goes in, and its almost always full again by the time the sun goes down again.
As a rough calculation, it’d be getting down to 45 – 50% each day, on average, before being full charged back up again.
Thus far, we’ve put about 11,000Ah through the battery, with nearly 1,200,000Ah left, or 16 years at the current use, according to specs.
Capacity testing
Whilst I’d have loved to run a formal, accurate capacity test, I don’t have the gear for that. Instead, I did flatten it completely (until it shut off!), and it took over 300aH to charge back up again, which I was impressed with. There are a couple of formal tests online, that come back in at around 4000Wh, so they’re very accurately marketed (unlike some orange lithium batteries on the market!).
What’s our thoughts?
I’ve always thought of Renogy as a decent, but very affordable brand. We’ve had an awesome run from their products, and given the size, weight and specs of this lithium battery, its a brilliant option. No, I’m not suggesting they’re the top of the line electronics company, but their pricing well and truly reflects this.
Pricing and two discount codes
These batteries retail for just over a thousand dollars, which is exceptional value. Even my DIY 230Ah lithium battery was about the same price, and took far more effort to make happen.
Most alternative brands are between $1500 and $4500, which is a significant difference.
Now, you’ll know I’m not a fan of discount codes, purely because of the sales pitch that comes with so many. I’m not here to sell you anything, but if you do decide to get one, I have a discount code that will get you 10% off, bringing it down to just over $900, which is insane.
If you want the 300Ah Renogy Mini core battery, use 4WDINGBATT as the code
If you want 6% off anything else on the Renogy website, use 4WDING
See you out there!
