If you have the Intech factory installed off grid solar package option, it likely comes with a Expion 100 amp hour LiFePo4 battery, or two of those. Our 2026 OVR Navigate came with two of those in the factory option design, but our dealer had already upgraded to a Expion Model 360 battery, which is a 368 amp hour LiFePo4 battery.
To give you an idea of the tremendous capacity of the LiFePo4 battery technology, my personally conducted test of the fully charged 368 amp hour Expion 360 battery in the 27 foot OVR Navigate went like this:
- Trailer sitting at 90 degrees inside temperature in the late July heat, at noon on a sunny Florida day.
- With the shore power disconnected, the Xantrex 2000 watt inverter was started and the roof air thermostat was set to cool, hi fan, 75 degrees. The Xantrex remote display then showed that while powering the roof air, it was delivering 1,462 watts at 120 vac, while the battery current was 126 amps; battery voltage 12.6 volts, all while supporting the inverter’s roof air load.
- I let it run like this for one hour. The 400 watt rooftop solar was providing about 17 amps of the 126 amp drain. After one hour, I restored shore power from the line cord. The Expion battery meter said it had only gone down to 64 percent state of charge. The freon compressor on the roof air unit never cycled off during the hour - big camper, Florida heat soaked at the start...
- Temperature of the inverter compartment under the dinette seating was readable from the solar controller device in that space, via the SRNE solar app that the Intech youtube video suggests that you use. It was getting warmer as time went on (got to 120F), so I opened up the panel under the dinette seat cushions for the final twenty minutes of the one hour test run.
After restoring shore power at the end of the one hour inverter run, the big LiFePo4 Expion battery had the benefit of both the converter power supply and the solar controller working together to recharge it to 100 percent.
Our tow vehicle is a Ram 2500 diesel with a service body on it that has a 4300 watt, inverter type, gasoline engine 120 vac generator. We could 120 vac power the OVR with it. But so far we haven’t! As far as alternator demand goes, wire path conductor sizing inherently limits the delivered charging current by way of voltage drop. Intech is using 14 AWG for that, so the Lithium battery’s internal BMS (Battery Management System) won’t see the full alternator's output terminal voltage delivered to the trailer's battery during higher current demand from your alternator in your tow vehicle.
Having tested the battery/inverter combo as described above, our Florida summer operating plans have changed from our past motorhome/generator/two golf cart wet acid battery ops, as follows:
When leaving a “no sewer hookup” campsite, the inverter gets turned on after shore power cord stow, to keep the roof air going in the 90+F heat as we head to the dump station on the way out. After dumping, I go into the 73 degree air conditioned interior and run three bowls of fresh water down the toilet and add the treatment chemical, just as we always did in the motorhome, in which the motorhome’s Onan generator kept the air going for us. Now, after tank treatment is finished in the OVR, a flick of the inverter switch to off and out the door I go, all cooled off from being inside the still comfy trailer.
Compared to running the roof air conditioner, the current demand on the battery to boondock using the 12 volt Norcold compressor fridge in the OVR is a trivial amount. Run the numbers yourself, you will see. We have left the old flooded lead acid battery capacity worries behind, with Lithium changing the game from ye olde fridge support capabilities of no more than a day to more like a week now, not even counting the rooftop solar charge current contribution, which in full sun can do much more than just keep the fridge demand covered.
Enjoy your Intech camper’s off grid option package. Fridge support worry is pretty much over with!
