Move to Lithium

[Richpatty]

As an addendum to this thread, I thought I would add some "in progress" pictures and the steps I took along the way. I probably should have posted back on post #27, but better late than never.

First step was to power everything down, disconnect and remove batteries. Good riddance to these rust creating beasts...

Next I removed the tray which is actually only held in with two bolts in the bottom. Gravity does much of the work. It needed some cleanup and scraping of rust. I did coat some of it with paint afterward.

Next step was the installation of insulation. I used standard 1 inch foam insulation with foil on one side (facing out). I ran the insulation up as high as I could and used foil tape to seal up the compartment.

I then overlaid the insulation with plywood which I had painted previously so I would be completely dry for installation. I used screws to attach to the metal sheeting behind and below, but it is mostly held in place by the corner brackets used throughout.

Once the plywood was in, I had to get all the wiring back in place. This included moving the solar controller from the basement to this compartment. I did this for ease of access. This is where I also added the vent in the back. I may add fans some day, but I have not as of yet.

I also added busbars to simplify the wiring and make the power flow as efficient as possible,

Then the batteries went in.
First with the back row. I added a strip of foam to keep the front and back sets from getting to close together (not visible in this picture).

After all 8 were installed, I added L brackets to hold them in place with strips of foam insulation as a buffer. I also added 2 straps that go over the top of each sets of batteries to keep them in place.

I hope this helps anyone who is looking to do this themselves. It was not hard, but was a lot of time and effort.
Let me know if I missed something or if there any questions.

Rich

 

[Neal]

Outstanding follow-up - thank you @Richpatty

 

[J&JD]

Beautiful job, beautiful.

 

[calendarboy]

Although I have never done a lithium conversion, I did upgrade my previous coach setup to 6 large 430 amp batteries. My thought process was the less resistance, the better, so I used 2 gauge wiring. Might have been overkill, but it made me feel better.

Did you really use 2 gauge? Or was it 2/0 gauge?

 

[Jim]

Did you really use 2 gauge? Or was it 2/0 gauge?

I'm sorry CB, but it's been a couple of years ago and to be honest, I don't think I know the difference. But I went to Lowe's and had the fellow sell me X# of feet of 2 gauge wire. I can tell you that it was about the same diameter as my little finger. Pretty robust stuff.

 

[Richpatty]

Probably 2/0 then….

You can never go to heavy…

 

[Jim]

As an addendum to this thread, I thought I would add some "in progress" pictures and the steps I took along the way. I probably should have posted back on post #27, but better late than never.

First step was to power everything down, disconnect and remove batteries. Good riddance to these rust creating beasts...
View attachment 15013
View attachment 15014

Next I removed the tray which is actually only held in with two bolts in the bottom. Gravity does much of the work. It needed some cleanup and scraping of rust. I did coat some of it with paint afterward.

View attachment 15015

Next step was the installation of insulation. I used standard 1 inch foam insulation with foil on one side (facing out). I ran the insulation up as high as I could and used foil tape to seal up the compartment.
View attachment 15028

I then overlaid the insulation with plywood which I had painted previously so I would be completely dry for installation. I used screws to attach to the metal sheeting behind and below, but it is mostly held in place by the corner brackets used throughout.View attachment 15019

Once the plywood was in, I had to get all the wiring back in place. This included moving the solar controller from the basement to this compartment. I did this for ease of access. This is where I also added the vent in the back. I may add fans some day, but I have not as of yet.
View attachment 15021

I also added busbars to simplify the wiring and make the power flow as efficient as possible,
View attachment 15024View attachment 15027

Then the batteries went in.
First with the back row. I added a strip of foam to keep the front and back sets from getting to close together (not visible in this picture).View attachment 15025

After all 8 were installed, I added L brackets to hold them in place with strips of foam insulation as a buffer. I also added 2 straps that go over the top of each sets of batteries to keep them in place.View attachment 15026

I hope this helps anyone who is looking to do this themselves. It was not hard, but was a lot of time and effort.
Let me know if I missed something or if there any questions.

Rich

Wowzers Rich! That is so far over the top it should be in a magazine!

 

[Richpatty]

Thanks! You are making me blush…

 

[boondocker]

@Richpatty

As some of you may know, I am in the process of upgrading to Battleborn lithiums. I have an older (2017) magnum MS 2812 charger/inverter. For those of you who have Magnum inverters (without a built in lithium setting) what setting do you use? I have heard you can use AGM2, but was wondering if custom was a better option.
Thoughts?

Thanks
Rich

Rich, I saw another post you had about the ms2812 magnum that wasn't lithium ready. Were you able to use that with your lithium battle born via the custom profile setup or did you end up using a different charger / inverter? What settings did you ultimately land on?

 

[Richpatty]

Hi. I did post my answer here….

Old Magnum MS2812 and new Lithiums

I see a possibility for a feed back loop at the transfer switch, the AC side to the DC side. Some inverters have an issue with such a feedback while others don't. BUT! At this time it's a trouble shooting effort. If you want to shield the inverter,then use the ground lug on the inverter...

rvforums.com

 

[RollingManCave]

OK! I FINALLY got some time (over the course of two weekends) to complete my Lithium conversion. It went pretty well, but it was more time and effort than I expected. I would say the effort was comparable to my solar installation.

The rebuild of the battery compartment took some effort. As I had mention in my plans, I removed my battery tray, cleaned out the compartment and added 1 inch insulation and 1/2 plywood (which I painted white prior to installing). This was challenging, but it makes for a much more sealed and nice looking compartment. I ran the insulation up to the top of the compartment to seal it off the best I could. I added foil insulation tape to close it off at the top.

Summary of the changes/improvements I made (in no particular order):
- I re-used the 3/0 cables that Newmar had used for the batteries for the short connections between the batteries and and the runs between the banks of 4.

- In trying to best balance the charging and discharging of the batteries I used a method which breaks down the 8 batteries in 2 sets of 4 and has the negative and positive leads come off separate sides of the bank. I attached a picture of an example.

- I added busbars for both the positive and ground connections to make connections easier and more standard.

-I moved my Victron solar controller from the first storage compartment to the new battery compartment to make it easier to get to and also shut down when needed (my RV has a covered port which stops the solar).

- I added (finally) a new cutoff switch to shut down the 12v in the RV. This will help with parasitic loads when stored.

- I added a small (2x10) floor vent to the back of the compartment for ventilation in hot weather. It can be closed (like any floor vent) for winter. I also have a magnetic sheet that will go over it to help seal it when I want. I also have plans to put two computer fans on the back of this vent (12v) and set them to a thermostat to run when the temperature becomes warm.

- I purchased/installed a Victron Smart Shunt so I can see SOC via Bluetooth. I wired my Magnum shunt receiver to the Victron Smart Shunt (although I removed the actual Magnum shunt) so the Magnum will still be aware of (and calculate) the SOC.

- The new batteries are held in place on three sides by 1 1/2 aluminum L-bar. I also added 1/2 hard foam insulation between the batteries and the bar to make sure there are no ware points as we bounce down the road. I added insulation between the two banks of four to also avoid rub points, but also to add space for the cables that run to each battery. I also added a strap for each row of batteries to hold them down.

- I will be installing a Lithium BIM in the next week or so as an insurance policy. I am not really worried about losing any charge time from the alternator (due to the Li-BIM) as I have the solar to depend on. Also, the Lithium's charge pretty quickly, so you would not have to be on shore power or generator to top them off.

I think that is it... I will post something else if it comes to mind.

The finished product is below.
I am glad it is done!

Rich
View attachment 11279
View attachment 11280

Nice!