So I ended up installing the batteries and additional components under the dinette seats. Overall, I'm happy with the outcome. I decided to invest in a little more 2/0 wire and store the batteries on the curb side where Escape had placed the original battery to utilize their ground wire out to the frame and to keep the inverter I purchased on the road side. This used up about half the space on each side (see pics).
I decided to go with the Progressive Dynamics PD1620A inverter which has a built in ATS and only wired in one of the 120v circuits wired by Escape to include the microwave outlet in the cabinet above the wardrobe and the 2 outlets above the bed on the road side. The install instructions from PD specify NOT placing the inverter next to the batteries because their unit is not" ignition protected". I don't think this would have been an issue with LiFePO4 batteries nor with the original lead acid battery in a ventilated box but it wasn't hard to comply with this specification once I made the decision to run 2/0 wire from the curb side seat to the road side seat.
Once chosen, the PD1620A deleted the need for a subpanel if I could live with only one 120V circuit energized with the inverter. After talking it over with the "boss", we decided that would work for us - the inverter is for periodic use of the microwave and hair dryer (definitely not at the same time). I only had to remove the romex from that circuit and route it to the PD1620A and run a short length of new romex from the breaker in the converter box to the PD1620A.
I also decided to add a Victron solar charge controller along with the Victron DCDC charger, and adding this all to the road side dinette seat area just makes sense and allowed me to mount both those units vertically to an aluminum panel (painted black in the photo). My solar charge controller just feeds out the "enlarged" existing hole for the converter box ground cable to a home fabricated bracket holding the heavy gauge SAE connector (I only have 200 watts of solar panels and do not want to mount them on the trailer).
You may notice I added two new switches. An A/B/Both switch near the batteries allows me to balance the two 280 ah batteries by charging them independently every so often as specified by the manufacturer. I decided to keep the Escape installed cutoff switch to allow me to separate the batteries from the converter if we are attached to shore power. Adding a second cutoff switch brings the converter 12v power around the first cutoff and to the input side of the DCDC charger. So with the first cutoff switch "off" and the second cutoff switch "on", the DCDC charger is fed from the converter and will charge the batteries. I like the Victron charging profile and its adjustable parameters much better than the "automatic detection" profile in the WFCO converter.
The hardest part of this whole job was fishing the needed wire up to the electrical connector to energize the emergency brakes going around the DCDC charger, but this was doable with patience. What worked for me was removing one of the back panels in a lower cabinet and fishing a string attached to a piece of romex forward from the dinette. If I'd have had Escape install the DCDC charger, I'd likely have had to move its location anyways.
I decided to go with the Progressive Dynamics PD1620A inverter which has a built in ATS and only wired in one of the 120v circuits wired by Escape to include the microwave outlet in the cabinet above the wardrobe and the 2 outlets above the bed on the road side. The install instructions from PD specify NOT placing the inverter next to the batteries because their unit is not" ignition protected". I don't think this would have been an issue with LiFePO4 batteries nor with the original lead acid battery in a ventilated box but it wasn't hard to comply with this specification once I made the decision to run 2/0 wire from the curb side seat to the road side seat.
Once chosen, the PD1620A deleted the need for a subpanel if I could live with only one 120V circuit energized with the inverter. After talking it over with the "boss", we decided that would work for us - the inverter is for periodic use of the microwave and hair dryer (definitely not at the same time). I only had to remove the romex from that circuit and route it to the PD1620A and run a short length of new romex from the breaker in the converter box to the PD1620A.
I also decided to add a Victron solar charge controller along with the Victron DCDC charger, and adding this all to the road side dinette seat area just makes sense and allowed me to mount both those units vertically to an aluminum panel (painted black in the photo). My solar charge controller just feeds out the "enlarged" existing hole for the converter box ground cable to a home fabricated bracket holding the heavy gauge SAE connector (I only have 200 watts of solar panels and do not want to mount them on the trailer).
You may notice I added two new switches. An A/B/Both switch near the batteries allows me to balance the two 280 ah batteries by charging them independently every so often as specified by the manufacturer. I decided to keep the Escape installed cutoff switch to allow me to separate the batteries from the converter if we are attached to shore power. Adding a second cutoff switch brings the converter 12v power around the first cutoff and to the input side of the DCDC charger. So with the first cutoff switch "off" and the second cutoff switch "on", the DCDC charger is fed from the converter and will charge the batteries. I like the Victron charging profile and its adjustable parameters much better than the "automatic detection" profile in the WFCO converter.
The hardest part of this whole job was fishing the needed wire up to the electrical connector to energize the emergency brakes going around the DCDC charger, but this was doable with patience. What worked for me was removing one of the back panels in a lower cabinet and fishing a string attached to a piece of romex forward from the dinette. If I'd have had Escape install the DCDC charger, I'd likely have had to move its location anyways.
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