Upgraded to lithium battery

[pllaz]

We had been thinking about upgrading the battery of our 17B but because the battery was just replace last year by the previous owner, we wanted to wait for few more years. With the tariff war looming, we decided to go ahead and upgraded to 300Ah lithium.

The total cost is about $650. The battery is a no-name brand from Amazon, $350. The rest went to Victron battery monitor, solar change controller and misc. parts. It took us an evening to make a platform holder for the battery and shunt and a morning to remove old batteries, redo the wiring and install.

We removed the GoPower solar controller, covered the hole with a wood panel and mounted the Victron battery monitor on it. The battery has a tall form factor and fits nicely next to the inverter. The shunt was mounted on a vertical wood piece fixed onto the battery platform. This allowed us to place all wires in the safe space between the battery and the trailer wall.

 

[alanmalk]

Just a FYI for readers: I have a couple of no-name 300 AH batteries now, and previously a couple of low-end name 100 AH batteries. The things everyone should be aware when buying no-name batteries is to confirm that the BMS, "A"- has a low temperature charging cutoff, "B"-has a max continuous discharge current that meets the requirement of your inverter. Especially with the no-names, this information can be hard to find.

For example, my newest 300 AH have a cutoff of 150 Amps on discharge. Two batteries in parallel easily meet my inverter requirements. But I have seen 300 AH batteries with only 100 Amps continuous discharge. So you have lots of energy at your disposal but can not take it out in big chunks.

Watch those details.

 

[pllaz]

The battery we brought has a 200A max continuous current and low/high temperature protection. I have seen some cheap ones without low temperature protection in Amazon. Since we do not plan to replace the 1500w inverter, 200A is enough for us.

We couldn’t find the same form factor from more reputable brands. Don’t know why. For our 17b, the more popular form factor will take too much storage space. In the end we decided to take the risk. We mounted the battery on a platform, which is fixed to the floor with thread inserts. If we need to change the battery and go with a different foot print size, we can just modify the platform without drilling more holes in the floor.

 

[splitting_lanes]

Looks good. I did a similar setup years back. 300ah, shunt on wood next to the battery, etc…. It’s worked out great.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

I opted to get 2 x 206AH because the SOK 206AH battery got extensive testing on a reputable youtube solar channel, they also opened a couple up and inspected and documented the internal construction quality.

 

[Lanark Camper]

We had been thinking about upgrading the battery of our 17B but because the battery was just replace last year by the previous owner, we wanted to wait for few more years. With the tariff war looming, we decided to go ahead and upgraded to 300Ah lithium.

The total cost is about $650. The battery is a no-name brand from Amazon, $350. The rest went to Victron battery monitor, solar change controller and misc. parts. It took us an evening to make a platform holder for the battery and shunt and a morning to remove old batteries, redo the wiring and install.

We removed the GoPower solar controller, covered the hole with a wood panel and mounted the Victron battery monitor on it. The battery has a tall form factor and fits nicely next to the inverter. The shunt was mounted on a vertical wood piece fixed onto the battery platform. This allowed us to place all wires in the safe space between the battery and the trailer wall.

Thanks for the post. We also have a 17B. It has the original 6vx2 batteries so are looking at updating them. I like the clean install you did. We have the full time bed.
What are you doing for charging from the mains ? Did you change out your converter ?
Bob

 

[pllaz]

We replace the converter with the auto-detecting converter but did not get a chance to fully test it yet. We are in Arizona. Our escape factory solar panel generates about 800Wh electricity every day at this time of the year. It is more than we usually use. The battery is always full by the end of a sunny day. If we had to do it again, we probably will skip the converter upgrade.

 

[Shiny]

Thank you for the post. I am starting down a similar path.

I bought 2 100AH batteries, keeping the 1500W inverter installed by Escape, hoping to get away with the existing converter, on the fence with solar controller.

Did you stick with 2 gauge cables to the inverter? GoPro says that's enough but I'm not confident. With the extra 100AH capacity, we may actually be able to use the inverter for something useful (coffee!).

If you have more photos of cable routing, battery restraints, connections, etc., please share. It all helps.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

re inverter wiring, I have a 2000W Renogy PureSine inverter, it came with DC cables made from 2 each AWG 2 wires that were just the right length, so that's what I'm using. I note the newer versions say to use 1/0 but 2 x AWG2 is about the same capacity. in truth, the max load it will ever see is my wife's hair dryer, or our electric drop coffee maker, which is 1500 watts (higher than most as this dripper heats the water to the proper temp for a good extraction from fresh ground coffee). My two batteries are each wired to the + and - bus bars I installed using AWG 2 quality copper wire so that too should handle the 200A or so load of the inverter at full output. Each battery has a 150A fuse to said + bus bar.

 

[Shiny]

re inverter wiring, I have a 2000W Renogy PureSine inverter, it came with DC cables made from 2 each AWG 2 wires that were just the right length, so that's what I'm using. I note the newer versions say to use 1/0 but 2 x AWG2 is about the same capacity. in truth, the max load it will ever see is my wife's hair dryer, or our electric drop coffee maker, which is 1500 watts (higher than most as this dripper heats the water to the proper temp for a good extraction from fresh ground coffee). My two batteries are each wired to the + and - bus bars I installed using AWG 2 quality copper wire so that too should handle the 200A or so load of the inverter at full output. Each battery has a 150A fuse to said + bus bar.

Thanks again John

I think 2 gauge wires will be OK between batteries and bus bar, then 1/0 to the inverter since I have to replace the existing anyway.

The bus bar connectors are stupid expensive and I will make sure they are copper. I think 250A rating is good enough.

 

[John in Santa Cruz]

Thanks again John

I think 2 gauge wires will be OK between batteries and bus bar, then 1/0 to the inverter since I have to replace the existing anyway.

The bus bar connectors are stupid expensive and I will make sure they are copper. I think 250A rating is good enough.

I used these for my high current connections...

Amazon.com

 

[Shiny]

I used these for my high current connections...

Amazon.com

Thank you.