5.0 Lithium Battery Upgrade

[Stu]

I am going to do a lithium battery upgrade to our 5.0. I am interested in what others have done. Are there specific batteries that fit in the existing battery box? Did you choose 2 100 amp batteries or one 200amp? Pictures of any installations would be appreciated.

[C&G in FL]

I removed and cut the battery box on a table saw to create a battery “tray” with @ 4” sides and use the lid and retaining mechanism ETI to “cover” the batteries and hold them in place. Two 100 amp hour Battleborn batteries fit perfectly. You will have to set your solar controller (if you have solar) to a different profile and your converter to handle the higher voltage lithium requires. Lithium batteries are energy hogs and they can pull high amperage while charging so if the charging wiring is 10 AWG you would be wise to upgrade it to 8 AWG. I was able to purchase 8 AWG primary wire by the foot at my local NAPA in both black and red color. If you have a MaxxFan with a remote control, some have reported that the fan’s circuit board in that model cannot handle the higher voltage of lithium and fail. A $15 module that limits voltage to 12 vdc can address that problem. Finally, I capped the charging line coming from the tow vehicle. The demand from lithium batteries has been known to “overpower” marginally rated alternators and burn them out. The charge line in my F-150 never contributed much to my batteries anyway. You can, however, install a Renology DC to DC charger that can be throttled down to 10 amps from the tow vehicle. However, a DC to DC charger restricts flow on the charging line to one way from the tow vehicle to the DC to DC charger that should be installed as near to the batteries as possible. The problem with that is the emergency brakes (break-away switch) is powered by the charging line from the trailer batteries. Restricting the flow to one direction only does not allow current to flow to the trailer’s brakes if the hitching mechanism fails. Using a DC to DC charger (which acts like a step-up transformer by raising the delivery voltage) would require a separate (recommended) 10 AWG wire from the battery to the break-away switch. Some members have added an additional “umbilical” cord from the tow vehicle to the trailer to overcome the emergency brake problem.