If you are on the fence about upgrading to Lithium!

[dkoldman]

Ted, you missed something. I upgraded the Converter and also installed a 100 amp bulk charger. Below is a photo of the 100 amp charger in one of the outside storage compartments. I have a switch on it and only turn it on when dry camping to reduce generator run time. It does much better than the truck alternator for building back up the batteries. All other times we just rely on the Converter, 900 watts of solar, and the engine alternator for charging the batteries. When dry camping the generator and the bulk charger are the fastest way to get the batteries built back up after going all night with the residential frig, the Starlink, lights, laptop computer use, and watching several hours of television plus making two cups of coffee with the Keurig. By morning we are down about 180 amp hours. Even with the 100 amp charger it takes almost 2 hours of generator run time.

It took a blowout tire and a damaged inverter for me to start looking at my setup, but short the Solar we basically have the same setup. My Charger is the Victron Orion XS (50amps) Like you, I also installed in an outside compartment adjacent to battery banks. So far we only consume about 90ahs per night. We have both fridges running, but despite the available battery capacity (300ah), I see no reason to not use the propane for 2 way fridge inside. The outside fridge is residential though. We have Home Internet (2.8ahs) but no coffee maker. 2 laptops and normally 2 TVs running out of the 3.

I have yet to have a specific need to run the genny to recharge, because thus far (Summer until now) the AGS runs the genny automatically for 4 - 10hrs per day anyway for the ACs to cool. Maybe in Jan when winter kicks in that may change, but even then; my AGS will not kick in until my battery banks is down to 14% SOC. Time will tell, but as part of my new Lithium setup, I may find myself manually turning the genny on for an hour each day. That will be big change for me, because you also need to manually turn it off

Note: I did disconnect my alternator charging flow through the trombetta via a toggle switch I can turn on / off. So I don't worry about any thing there. My DC2DC is set for 50amps max.

It is nice to see on Victron Battery monitor how much current is going in and out of battery banks at any specific moment. But what I really like is how it tells you how long before the house batteries will get down to 14%. I figure to use that during winter when I know I may next plan to drive the RV relative to what the remaining capacity is to avoid having to manually start up my genny.

 

[16ACE27]

Ted, you missed something. I upgraded the Converter and also installed a 100 amp bulk charger. Below is a photo of the 100 amp charger in one of the outside storage compartments. I have a switch on it and only turn it on when dry camping to reduce generator run time. It does much better than the truck alternator for building back up the batteries. All other times we just rely on the Converter, 900 watts of solar, and the engine alternator for charging the batteries. When dry camping the generator and the bulk charger are the fastest way to get the batteries built back up after going all night with the residential frig, the Starlink, lights, laptop computer use, and watching several hours of television plus making two cups of coffee with the Keurig. By morning we are down about 180 amp hours. Even with the 100 amp charger it takes almost 2 hours of generator run time.

Yeah, I must have missed something. I thought David was asking about the bulk charger.

 

[BuzzDoc]

What did you actually do?

We are in the middle of a 5 night camping trip at Cades Cove where there are no hook ups, over the air television, or any form of cell service.

This is the first time boondocking since upgrading to Lithium and installing the Gen 3 Starlink. I love the Lithium's not only for the State of Charge but absolutely love the fact that the lights no longer blink every time something turns on and off like the water pump. We can watch television and have cell phone service here and have no problem waiting until generator hours to charge the batteries back up. This is even with making two cups of coffee with the Keurig before daylight. I am writing this post via Starlink. So to me it is worth the upgrade to Lithium, even if you only install a single battery, to not have to suffer with the lights blinking all the time.

Bob. Can you please list exactly what you had before and what you removed and added to your coach to accomplish this. Make and model of components would be appreciated.

I have a 2016 Thor Windsport on F53 chassis. Everything stock except now have two 135ah AGM batteries and BIM instead of Trombetta with a Zantrex 3000 watt inverter.

 

[Bob Nodine]

Bob. Can you please list exactly what you had before and what you removed and added to your coach to accomplish this. Make and model of components would be appreciated.

I have a 2016 Thor Windsport on F53 chassis. Everything stock except now have two 135ah AGM batteries and BIM instead of Trombetta with a Zantrex 3000 watt inverter.

Are you asking about the Lithium upgrade or the Starlink or both? We have totally different motorhomes so not sure how relevant a detailed description of my modifications would be.

 

[BuzzDoc]

Lithium upgrade

Are you asking about the Lithium upgrade or the Starlink or both? We have totally different motorhomes so not sure how relevant a detailed description of my modifications would be.

I understand there are differences. I’ll keep doing my research.