Make Factory Lithium 3rd Battery Upgrade truly "plug-in-play"

[MarkMaxPayne]

If Newmar is going to claim that the upgrade from the Factory Lithium option is "plug-in-play" in its marketing literature then it should do the following:
1) I should not have to purchase a battery combiner device. From the factory the two 320Ah batteries should be combined using the Lithionics 3 battery combiner vs the Y cable, leaving the 3rd port empty for plugging the 3rd battery into it. If the factory is instead using the combined 640 Ah battery, then have the 2 battery combiner installed.
2) I should be able to order the 3rd 320Ah battery directly from Lithionics (or any other authorized Lithionics retailer) vs paying Newmar 3x the price for the same Lithionics battery available from others (a $5K MSRP bumped up to $14K MSRP gold plated markup between other Lithionics dealers and Newmar).
3) I should be able to install myself vs being required to go through the dealer (it is truly < 1 hour plug and play if you can get your hands on the combiner and the battery).
4) Should come with the instructions to update the SilverLeaf settings to bump up the onboard Ah from 640Ah to 940Ah.

Today, this upgrade to 3rd lithium battery capability is advertised plug-in-play, but it is anything but that for the consumer. This is due to intentional obfuscation vs design.

Best,
-Mark

 

[Neal]

I believe SES does the install for Newmar. I suggest bypassing Newmar and reaching out to Solar Energy Systems in Nappanee.

 

[Rich-MLsRV]

Mark,

Just notice your comments. Definitely unfortunate that Newmar says plug N play in their literature but it's not. What a bummer.

 

[MarkMaxPayne]

Mark,

Just notice your comments. Definitely unfortunate that Newmar says plug N play in their literature but it's not. What a bummer.

I think Newmar is simply copy/pasting Lithionics marketing literature into their own as they know consumers believe this is a good thing. It is indeed easy plug-n-play from Lithionics if you are a certified dealer/installer. However, Winnebago/Newmar policies are what makes it not so much so for their own customers. With these policies in place I believe Newmar should either remove the copy/paste marketing slogan or, more preferably, nuke the policies and live up to the marketing bullet.

Best,
-Mark