Battle Born or SOK? Bigger and bigger lithium batteries continue to enter the RV market, as more and more RVer’s head to the hills for some backcountry boondocking. If you’re shopping for a big battery for your RV, you’ve probably looked at the two popular RV lithium battery manufacturers’ largest batteries: Battle Born’s 270Ah 12V LiFePO4 Deep Cycle GameChanger 3.0 Battery (GC3) and SOK Battery’s 12V 280Ah Lithium Battery. Both lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO₄) batteries contain an internal battery management system (BMS) which balances the battery’s cells in addition to providing protection against low and high temperatures, low and high voltages, and short circuits. At the end of the article, you’ll decide who wins – Battle Born or SOK?
Price vs. Capacity
The biggest difference between the Battle Born 270Ah lithium battery and the SOK 280Ah lithium battery is the price per amp hour. At $2,499, the Battle Born battery is over two and a half times the cost of the SOK battery ($999)! Despite the increased cost, the Battle Born 270Ah battery lacks the built-in heaters and Bluetooth that come standard with the SOK 280Ah battery. Battle Born Battery does sell heater kits for this battery, but they are an additional $100 per battery.
Size & Weight
The literal biggest difference between the Battle Born 270Ah battery and the SOK 280Ah battery is the overall size. This SOK battery is only sixty percent of the size by volume of the Battle Born battery! The SOK battery is 0.71 cubic feet and weighs 73 pounds, while the Battle Born battery is 1.23 cubic feet, and weighs 80.8 pounds. The SOK battery has a more standard cuboid shape, but the Battle Born battery has a unique long, tall, and narrow rectangular prism shape.
Why such a large difference in volume between two batteries with identical cell chemistries and similar power storage capacities? SOK Battery uses prismatic cells, whereas Battle Born Batteries uses cylindrical cells. The use of prismatic cells allows SOK to achieve greater power storage capacity in a smaller footprint!
Charge & Discharge Power
So far, the SOK battery seems to be the obvious winner. But how much room do you have for your house battery bank? Are you going to have multiple batteries, or only one? If your answer is the latter, then the Battle Born battery may be the better choice for you, depending on what you’re aiming to power.
Both batteries have a similar charge rate, although Battle Born’s is higher at 135 amps, compared to SOK’s at 120 amps. However, the Battle Born battery can discharge continuously at a rate of 300 amps, and the SOK battery can only discharge at a rate of 200 amps. What this means is that, with a single battery, the Battle Born can power up to 3,600 watts at any given point, and the SOK can only handle up to 2,400 watts. Most off-grid RVer’s have an inverter sized between 2,000 – 3,000 watts, so this may or may not be a factor in your choice.
| The commonly used Victron Energy MultiPlus and MultiPlus-II 12/3000 are 2,400 watt inverters.
Plastic Case vs. Metal Case
The Battle Born 270Ah battery is contained within an ABS fire-rated case, and is sealed and water resistant, although it’s non-submersible of course. The case of the SOK 280Ah battery is all aluminum, with a detachable cover and replaceable battery management system (BMS), and replaceable cells. The SOK case is rated at IP50, which means it’s only dust-resistant, not water-resistant like the Battle Born case. If you have only one location in which you can store your house batteries, and don’t want to make or install special housing, this may be the deciding factor for you.
Lifespan & Warranty
Both lithium batteries contain Grade A cells (manufactured overseas, of course), so we would expect the lifespan of the batteries to be similar. SOK Battery states their 280Ah battery is capable of 8,000 to 12,000 life cycles. Battle Born Batteries states only 3,000 to 5,000 life cycles for their 270Ah battery. Both manufacturers offer a lengthy full replacement manufacturer’s defect warranty on all their batteries. SOK Battery offers a 7 year, transferable warranty, while Battle Born has an even longer warranty at 8 years, plus two additional years at a prorated rate, although their warranty is non-transferable.
Life Cycle: A discharge of the battery from 100% charge to 0% charge.
Lithium Batteries Comparison At A Glance
| SOK Battery | Battle Born Batteries | |
| Model | 12V 280Ah Lithium Battery | 270Ah 12V LiFePO4 Deep Cycle GC3 Battery |
| Heated? | Yes | No* |
| Bluetooth? | Yes | No |
| Price per battery | $999.00 | $2,499.99 |
| Price per amp-hour | $3.57 | $9.25 |
| Amp-hours | 280 Ah | 270 Ah |
| Watt-hours | 3,584 Wh | 3,456 Wh |
| Dimensions | 9.52” x 9.84” x 13.07” | 22.83” × 7.09” × 13.15” |
| Volume | 0.71 cubic feet | 1.23 cubic feet |
| Weight | 73 lbs | 80.8 lbs |
| Charge current | 120 amps | 135 amps |
| Discharge current | 200 amps | 300 amps |
| Life Cycles | 8,000 – 12,000 | 3,000 – 5,000 |
| Warranty | 7 years, transferrable | 8 years, +2 years prorated |
*Heater kits are available for an additional cost of $100 per battery.
Which Battery Do You Choose? Battle Born or SOK?
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