I'm doing a basic lithium upgrade on a 2005 Jayco Class C...using one SOK 12V 206Ah LiFePO4 Battery (with Bluetooth). My coach charger is an IOTA DLS 45 which has the capability to add their plug in IQ-LIFEPO Smart Charge Controller. After watching this video..I'm going to hold off on installing a Victron DC to DC Charger until I can see how my alternator performs. Great video...clearly explained. Thanks for the advice.
Interested to hear you say most recent motorhomes don’t need to change their battery charger. I’m looking to change to lithium and have a CBE CB516 which does have bulk and float voltages matching the battery I’m looking to buy. However the documentation also says it has a desulphation stage which charges at 15.2v - way higher than any lithium battery would like. Presumably any charger which has such a desulphation stage is unsuitable for lithium?
Hi Nigel great content and lots of useful information in the last part of this video I have that very same problem and I’m 2.4 amps even when the engine is running. I have a 2007 Rapido AClass Motorhome it has a ds250 Cbe control panel but I can’t find the split charger please could you help I’m at wits end and I’m off to Spain next Friday so I’ve just put myself in the wrong place many thanks Ray
I have been looking for a video like this thanks. I have a new to me 2013 Holiday Rambler 36 PFT diesel pusher. It currently has 800 AH's of lead and I would like to go to LiFPO4 and eventually a little solar. I like boondocking and I like to keep my generator charging to a minimum as fuel is expensive. My goal is to charge every 2-3 days as it works with my duration of camping. As for my components on board, I have a Magnum MS2812 (LiFePO capable) 12 V inverter, 160 AMP Alt, IDK if it is smart or dumb. We spend most of our time outdoors so we are not big power consumers, Morning coffee, 115 AC residential fridge, 12 V CPAP. I have fed spreadsheets to try and ascertain battery requirements, I am being told 1100 AH for 24 Hrs? With the difference in lead acid to LiFPO capacities, to me something does not add up. IDK if I have DC to DC or B to B components but I do have something called a "BIRD" or Bi-Directional Isolator Relay Delay (I think you spoke of this) which swaps shore and Alt power between house and chassis batteries depending if I am driving, on shore power or generator not to be confused with my transfer switch. So I am not sure this is what you were speaking to. Any how does this seem reasonable 1100 - 1600 AH? to get that 2-3 days.
We've retirees who have been living FT in a 35ft MH for the last 5 years. We found that we like to boondock a lot. In fact, we boondocked for 8 months straight last year, without hooking up once so we have lots of real world off grid experience. We started with a pair of lead acid golf cart batteries and custom built a 620-watt liftable solar array mounted on the side of our motorhome. We lift the array to the optimal angle to improve their output by 20-30% vs flat mounted panels - even more in the winter, when the sun is lower in the sky. It serves as a nice bedroom window awning too, practically lifting itself to the desired angle with a couple gas struts, and it's easy to clean with a windshield squeegee, standing safely on the ground. This set-up, while far from optimal, allowed us to begin boondocking till we could afford to do better. We finished the 12v part of our build last January, with the addition of a 560ah LiFePo-4 battery that we built with 8, 280ah "A" grade prismatic cells. We use a Heltec 330amp BMS, and a 5a active balancer to keep the cells synched up. We typically use less than 20% of their capacity daily giving us enough reserve capacity for about a week of bad weather before we have to run our generator for charging. We power our desktop computer and 55" TV most of the day from a 1,000w inverter. In your case you will need about twice what we have as we run our fridge off propane and don't have a CPAP. Your fridge and CPAP together should draw about 4.5 Kwh a day from your batteries. This should give you the 3 days of off grid power reserve you are looking for. If you don't want to run a generator for charging, I recommend at least 1,000 watts of flat mounted panels or 750 watts of liftable panels to keep these batteries fully charged - more if you like to camp in the winter or in northern latitudes. It cost us less than $1,500 to build our 560ah 12v (7.1Kwh) battery, including the high amp BMS and balancer. Battery prices have dropped in the last year, but raw cells are still your cheapest option. For instance, we just bought 16, 320ah cells from EEL batteries for only $1,726 with shipping from China (which takes about 6-8 weeks.) We spent another $140 for a 200a 48v Heltec BMS (as we're adding a 48v system to our rig, which is why we left the roof free for a large solar array.) If you want to compare that to a quality pre-built battery like the Battleborn Game Changer, it will take 4 of them to do the job at a cost of about $10,000. Or you can get 4 Ecoworthy budget priced 280ah batteries for about $2,500 with shipping. We chose the raw cells rather than a pre-built battery because they fit perfectly under the steps of our MH where our old pair of GC-2 golf cart batteries used to reside, saving 35lbs too. We insulated the battery compartment, cut a 1" hole in our step risers and installed a tiny computer CPU fan to keep this space at close to room temperature, so we don't have to worry about the BMS shutting down charging if they get too cold - or their life reduced from getting too hot. We use an 80A Progressive Dynamics LFP converter/charger, a 1,000w Renogy PSW inverter, an Epever 50a MPPT charge controller and a Lnex battery monitor. This entire 12v system cost us under $3,500 to build and takes care of all of our basic off-grid needs except for air conditioning and microwave use. BTW, we just received the 8, 550w Sungold Power solar panels (4,400 watts.) We are in the process of racking them on our roof now to charge our 48v battery 320ah and provide whole house 110v ac power including AC and supplemental heat from a 12K Btu 28.5 SEER2 mini split and one rooftop AC unit.
