Switch to Lithium Batteries

[TaxWonk]

Original set up, 2009 RoadTrek RS, 2 flooded lead acid batteries under the hood and 750W Tripplite inverter. I also started with the question, can I just replace my current batteries with Battleborns. They said yes, but that I would need to replace the battery separator with a battery to battery charger and that the temperatures under hood for the batteries would be on the high end and if exceed the batteries would protect themselves by shutting down. And the journey begins...

Before I get too far into the specifics let me say that in the long run it would have been much, much, cheaper and easier to put a couple of AGMs in, and it would have all worked just fine for our style of travel and camping. But I enjoy working on projects like this and I always want plenty of extra headroom on anything I do.

I had a couple of considerations:
1-My current batteries were swollen and needed replacing.
2-I had been monitoring the temperatures of the batteries and they were getting really hot. I live in Central Florida, not uncommon to be 94 F in July and August, add in a traffic jam, well, just too hot.
3-I wanted a pure sine wave inverter. Few will fit in the existing TrippLite space under the drivers seat. Roadtrek Modifications/ Mods, Upgrades, and Gadgets.: Search results for inverter This article from roadtreklife had me concerned if I purchased AGMs that I would be replacing them early as well.

I decided that if I was going to pay the price for the Battleborns that they had to go inside the rig. I needed an inverter charger that could properly accommodate LFePO4 and I would forget trying to get an inverter back under the drivers seat.

Since half of the price of the system was going to be for the batteries I elected to have Battleborn suggest the needed components. I wanted to get everything from one place so I did not have conflicts among the vendors. One of the advantages of buy the inverter from Battleborn was that they custom programed the inverter to match their batteries, one less thing to worry about.

I installed the following:
-3 Battleborn BB10012 100ah batteries
-Sterling Battery to Battery chargers BB1260 12v 60ah
-Victron inverter 12/3000/120-50 120v VE Bus (I should have gone with the 2000 watt inverter that Battleborn suggested, to save weight and space)
-VE Smart Bus dongle
I already had a Xantrex LinkPro battery monitor. If you need to buy a battery monitor, skip the dongle and monitor, consider getting the Victron Color Control GX, it makes seeing what is going on with the system and changing the current limits much easier.

The RoadTrek RS comes with two passenger seats just behind the front row or as an option a shelving unit and a hanging closet. Ours has the optional shelving and hanging closet. I installed the three batteries, shunt and cutoff switch in the seat base of the passenger seat just behind the driver and the inverter in the closet. This keeps my wire runs very short as most of the original wiring is under the drivers seat for the house side of things. I installed the battery to battery charger in the drivers seat base where the Tripplite had been. Again this was ideal because it was situated between the chassis and house batteries, keeping the wire runs as short as possible.

A couple of things that I had not considered when I started this build.

1. The generator starter is fed from the original house batteries at the front of the van. As with most starters feeds there is no fuse on this wire. Wires that are not fused make me nervous. I removed the original house feed that came from the original batteries up through a hole in the drivers seat base and fed the generator starter cable into the seat base. I have positive and negative junction blocks in the drivers seat base. I put a 300amp fuse on the starter cable and it has held for the few times we have started the generator so far (it has only been a couple of weeks since it was completed).

2. The Air Conditioner - We still have the original Dometic Penguin 11,000 btu unit. I did NOT want to run the A/C off of the batteries but I did want to be able to run the A/C when mooch docking on a 15amp hookup. The Victron has a current limit function where you can set the maximum amps/current to pull in on shore power and if needed any extra amps come from your batteries until the load drops. In order to make sure the A/C was not accidently run on the batteries, I wired the A/C on the inverter AC-2 output and installed a separate breaker since I could not leave it hooked up to the house panel that was fed from the inverter AC-1 output. The A/C started fine when plugged into shore power, but it would not start on generator power. I installed a MicroAir EasyStart 364 on the A/C, problem solved.

3. Maxxair Fan - Maxxair fans do not like anything over 13.9 volts and we would be charging at 14.6 volts so I installed a voltage regulator on the 12v supply to keep the fan control board from burning out.

No solar at this point and with our style of travel I do not think we need solar, but that has not kept me from looking, maybe next summers project.

I just finished this project a couple of weeks ago and we have not had the time to take it on an extended shake down trip. I have driven it around town and everything seems to be working as intended.

Hope this helps someone.

[rowiebowie]

Welcome to the forum TaxWonk!

Nice work. Another new member wants to do the same thing and has a similar model. Too bad you are a country apart.


https://www.classbforum.com/forums/f...ium-11319.html

[markopolo]

Re: the inverter/charger

If it's a Multiplus unit then the 3kVA model looks to be a good choice compared to the 2kVA model when looking at the watt ratings.

2kVA rated 1600W at 77F
3kVA rated 2400W at 77F

at 40C / 104F the output drops further
2kVA rated 1450W
3kVA rated 2200W

Often these units get tucked away in poorly ventilated areas so they tend to get very warm.

The 3kVA unit should be able to power items that use a 20A AC outlet (up to 2400W) like a convection microwave oven for example. Typical household items like a toaster or coffee maker that plug into 15A AC (up to 1800W) circuits should have no problem with the 3kVA unit.

Thanks for posting the info on the Maxxair voltage issue. I first thought that to be impossible and found support for that (quoted company emails) then found subsequent support (again, quoted company emails) that it is indeed a real issue.

[Rlum]

Originally Posted by TaxWonk

Original set up, 2009 RoadTrek RS, 2 flooded lead acid batteries under the hood and 750W Tripplite inverter. I also started with the question, can I just replace my current batteries with Battleborns. They said yes, but that I would need to replace the battery separator with a battery to battery charger and that the temperatures under hood for the batteries would be on the high end and if exceed the batteries would protect themselves by shutting down. And the journey begins...

Before I get too far into the specifics let me say that in the long run it would have been much, much, cheaper and easier to put a couple of AGMs in, and it would have all worked just fine for our style of travel and camping. But I enjoy working on projects like this and I always want plenty of extra headroom on anything I do.

I had a couple of considerations:
1-My current batteries were swollen and needed replacing.
2-I had been monitoring the temperatures of the batteries and they were getting really hot. I live in Central Florida, not uncommon to be 94 F in July and August, add in a traffic jam, well, just too hot.
3-I wanted a pure sine wave inverter. Few will fit in the existing TrippLite space under the drivers seat. Roadtrek Modifications/ Mods, Upgrades, and Gadgets.: Search results for inverter This article from roadtreklife had me concerned if I purchased AGMs that I would be replacing them early as well.

I decided that if I was going to pay the price for the Battleborns that they had to go inside the rig. I needed an inverter charger that could properly accommodate LFePO4 and I would forget trying to get an inverter back under the drivers seat.

Since half of the price of the system was going to be for the batteries I elected to have Battleborn suggest the needed components. I wanted to get everything from one place so I did not have conflicts among the vendors. One of the advantages of buy the inverter from Battleborn was that they custom programed the inverter to match their batteries, one less thing to worry about.

I installed the following:
-3 Battleborn BB10012 100ah batteries
-Sterling Battery to Battery chargers BB1260 12v 60ah
-Victron inverter 12/3000/120-50 120v VE Bus (I should have gone with the 2000 watt inverter that Battleborn suggested, to save weight and space)
-VE Smart Bus dongle
I already had a Xantrex LinkPro battery monitor. If you need to buy a battery monitor, skip the dongle and monitor, consider getting the Victron Color Control GX, it makes seeing what is going on with the system and changing the current limits much easier.

The RoadTrek RS comes with two passenger seats just behind the front row or as an option a shelving unit and a hanging closet. Ours has the optional shelving and hanging closet. I installed the three batteries, shunt and cutoff switch in the seat base of the passenger seat just behind the driver and the inverter in the closet. This keeps my wire runs very short as most of the original wiring is under the drivers seat for the house side of things. I installed the battery to battery charger in the drivers seat base where the Tripplite had been. Again this was ideal because it was situated between the chassis and house batteries, keeping the wire runs as short as possible.

A couple of things that I had not considered when I started this build.

1. The generator starter is fed from the original house batteries at the front of the van. As with most starters feeds there is no fuse on this wire. Wires that are not fused make me nervous. I removed the original house feed that came from the original batteries up through a hole in the drivers seat base and fed the generator starter cable into the seat base. I have positive and negative junction blocks in the drivers seat base. I put a 300amp fuse on the starter cable and it has held for the few times we have started the generator so far (it has only been a couple of weeks since it was completed).

2. The Air Conditioner - We still have the original Dometic Penguin 11,000 btu unit. I did NOT want to run the A/C off of the batteries but I did want to be able to run the A/C when mooch docking on a 15amp hookup. The Victron has a current limit function where you can set the maximum amps/current to pull in on shore power and if needed any extra amps come from your batteries until the load drops. In order to make sure the A/C was not accidently run on the batteries, I wired the A/C on the inverter AC-2 output and installed a separate breaker since I could not leave it hooked up to the house panel that was fed from the inverter AC-1 output. The A/C started fine when plugged into shore power, but it would not start on generator power. I installed a MicroAir EasyStart 364 on the A/C, problem solved.

3. Maxxair Fan - Maxxair fans do not like anything over 13.9 volts and we would be charging at 14.6 volts so I installed a voltage regulator on the 12v supply to keep the fan control board from burning out.

No solar at this point and with our style of travel I do not think we need solar, but that has not kept me from looking, maybe next summers project.

I just finished this project a couple of weeks ago and we have not had the time to take it on an extended shake down trip. I have driven it around town and everything seems to be working as intended.

Hope this helps someone.

Thanks for the write up. Very well done!

[booster]

I also find the Maxxair voltage issue very interesting. I am very surprised that we haven't heard of mass failures of units as nearly everyone charges above 13.9v and those with temp compensation often approach 15v.



We had an old Amperon voltage stabilizer that we had used on the 12v TVs when we had them, but it is gone now and I would be hesitant to use it anyway as it would be a continuous load, I think. The fan would have to be separately switched on with Amperon to eliminate that issue. I think any other regulator may be the same issue.


Marko, did the company emails give any details about the failure rate or root causes. Without the mass amounts of failures one has to wonder about other things teaming up with high voltage to be possible. The number one thing that comes to mind is ripple on the DC power which won't show up on a meter normally but can be quite large. Some of the charging equipment does not provide very clean DC power which can be an issue with a lot of electronics if they aren't protected.

[markopolo]

There are posts on a few forums. These two from RV.net seem to explain it:

https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/f...7.cfm#29936017

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fu...5.cfm#29936145

[booster]

The discussion those two posts came from is pretty interesting.


I totally agree with one that said he couldn't understand how any product for an RV could not handle the typical 16v and that over 13.2v is the norm, not the exception. The other point made about why Maxxair would actually put in writing that there units are not usable in essentially any of the vehicles they sell it for. Plus their literature doesn't say that anywhere so a buyer would know it.


This would appear, on face, to be an example of a small claims verdict that would be slam dunk and that any consumer protection department would be all over it.


It still doesn't explain why we haven't heard of lots of these failures. Our Maxxfan is of that style, with the full automatic and remote and has worked well for several years. It almost always sees above 13.2v when operating because the solar is normally putting out more than that voltage. We absorb at the typical 14.3/14.4v.



Not many of the posters there mentioned the conditions when the failures happened, but when mentioned it appeared to be at startup which may be a clue.


It appears to me that there is no question that Maxxfan needs to come up with a fix or recall as they have admitted in writing that the unit is not fit to use in the applications it is sold for. Pretty basic. Supply a regulator kit, new board, whatever, but it is absolutely their responsibility.


Perhaps it might be a good idea if the mods could move these last few posts about the fans to it's own thread so searches would find them and also not clutter up the OPs thread.

[booster]

Taxwonk, again thanks for the heads up on the fans.


What regulator did you use and where did you put it?



Did you use a separate switch to shut of power to the fan when not in use, to limit the parasitic loss from the regulator and the fan electronics?


It appears most of the buck converter types speak of 80-85% efficiency so would generate a bit of heat to get rid of safely.

[david@davidfischer.com]

Thanks Rlum,
Thanks so much for the useful information. This really helps. Originally I thought I'd keep the batteries under the hood (the original location of the lead-acid batteries), but since the Renogy inverter is HUGE, I'll install both the inverter and the batteries behind the driver's seat.
May I trouble you to post a few photos of your installation?
Again, I'm very grateful for the responses from this forum.
-David

[TaxWonk]

So in hindsight I probably should have put a switch in to shut the regulator off. Since I had the fuse panel pulled out, I put it behind the fuse panel. Not the best placement for heat as it is high in the van with no circulation. I figured I would try it out of sight and if I have to buy another, oh well.
I bought from EBay. I have no idea how robust it is, just that specifications fit the bill. Now lets hope the specs are actually correct.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/8-40V-to-12...72.m2749.l2648

[TaxWonk]

Good point on the 2000W vs 3000W as we do have a convection microware in the rig. The 2000W is a lot lighter and thinner which would have taken less space in the closet. I think we could have given up the convection for the space and weight. On a side note, we used the convection feature once on a summer day in Florida...never again. It was hotter in the van than outside. So now its only used is in the dead of winter.

[booster]

Originally Posted by TaxWonk

So in hindsight I probably should have put a switch in to shut the regulator off. Since I had the fuse panel pulled out, I put it behind the fuse panel. Not the best placement for heat as it is high in the van with no circulation. I figured I would try it out of sight and if I have to buy another, oh well.
I bought from EBay. I have no idea how robust it is, just that specifications fit the bill. Now lets hope the specs are actually correct.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/8-40V-to-12...72.m2749.l2648

Thanks, it appears nearly all of those types come from similar sources as they look identical and the case sizes are the same. Who knows what the guts are or if they are different between brandings.


They talk a about 120* internal case temps in some of the specs I have seen, with thermal cutout at 185*, so they can get pretty hot. I am hoping I will be able to mount it on top of the motor support platform, under the cover, if I can find room. I would add a small led indicator rocker switch to the inside flange. That would put it in cool air whenever in use which would be a good thing, I think. I hope there is enough space to do that setup.

[TaxWonk]

Originally Posted by david@davidfischer.com

Thanks Rlum,
Thanks so much for the useful information. This really helps. Originally I thought I'd keep the batteries under the hood (the original location of the lead-acid batteries), but since the Renogy inverter is HUGE, I'll install both the inverter and the batteries behind the driver's seat.
May I trouble you to post a few photos of your installation?
Again, I'm very grateful for the responses from this forum.
-David

David, I did not take any pictures as I was assembling the system. I will try to get some pictures posted but I am not sure they will help much as the seat box hides almost all of it.
Most of the wire runs from the holes from under the drivers seat between the back seat box and the outer wall. Down and back up the B-pillar for the shore power and from the air conditioner supply wire down to the inverter AC-2 (you may not have any need for this one). All the battery to inverter wiring is run through the large hole near the seat belt mount. Inside the seat box is the shunt, master cutoff switch, bluetooth doogle, three batteries and lots of 1/0 wire. It is ugly, but it works.

[markopolo]

Back to the Maxxfan issue for a moment - With lithium batteries, a silicon diode to cause voltage drop might be a option. 0.7V*5A so up to 3.5W dissipation (correct that if wrong). Two Schottky diodes in series could be a substitute.

The fan's PCB low voltage is 10.8V from what I've read. 10.8V+0.7V= 11.5V It's unlikely a lithium system would ever get down to 11.5V. If a lead acid system is high enough capacity then it's also unlikely to drop down that low. Maybe too low voltage doesn't cause damage anyway ? ? ?

Hopefully, someone with electronics expertise will see this topic & offer info & advice.

There are also some posts on forums that indicate newer revision replacement fan PCB's have higher voltage tolerance. One post I saw said 14.4V so a single Schottky diode could be used if charging to 14.6V for example. 1W to 2W dissipation depending on load if I calculated it correctly. That would all have to be verified.

[booster]

Originally Posted by markopolo

Back to the Maxxfan issue for a moment - With lithium batteries, a silicon diode to cause voltage drop might be a option. 0.7V*5A so up to 3.5W dissipation (correct that if wrong). Two Schottky diodes in series could be a substitute.

The fan's PCB low voltage is 10.8V from what I've read. 10.8V+0.7V= 11.5V It's unlikely a lithium system would ever get down to 11.5V. If a lead acid system is high enough capacity then it's also unlikely to drop down that low. Maybe too low voltage doesn't cause damage anyway ? ? ?

Hopefully, someone with electronics expertise will see this topic & offer info & advice.

There are also some posts on forums that indicate newer revision replacement fan PCB's have higher voltage tolerance. One post I saw said 14.4V so a single Schottky diode could be used if charging to 14.6V for example. 1W to 2W dissipation depending on load if I calculated it correctly. That would all have to be verified.

I did look at that also in relation to diode use to drop the voltage. I came to the conclusion it wouldn't work, as our temperature compensation has put at 15v at times, both on the shore power and solar, and the engine charging gets nearly there. I did not find those posts that listed the higher voltages though, so that might change things. I saw lots of different voltages from different contacts at Maxxfan, but all were in the 13.2v to 13.9v range.


If the new boards are higher voltage tolerant that would good and a diode would likely just make it for us. Of course, buying a new board costs more than a buck converter, but it would easier to do a diode installation.

[jakegw2]

TaxWonk - thank you for this writeup, your system is very thorough.

Two items that I thought of when reading:

Your DC-DC charger might not be doing any limiting of current since 60A is probably more current than your alternator has to spare, after feeding the chassis load, much of the time when you are driving. Your alternator (probably a 160A unit?) may be running flat-out when you are charging. My 220A alternator supplies between 65A and 85A when driving, depending on what else is running (it supplies as much as 120A at startup for a few minutes). I do not use a DC-DC charger. I don't know if the Sterling device lets you set a max current, but if it does you might consider dropping it to 30-40A so that the alternator does not run at max load.

The charger will still raise the charge voltage slightly to accommodate the LiFEPo chemistry, which can be important if you seldom charge off of other sources (LiFEPo needs the higher voltage to balance the cells - not all the time, but periodically to protect the battery).

You have capacity to power the AC if you wish. Based on my experience with two Battleborn batteries and a slightly more powerful AC I estimate you could get 2.5 to 2.75 hours of AC off your setup. You may not need it, but in FL it is really nice to be able to go shopping or in to eat at a restaurant and come out to a comfortable vehicle. Also great for rest breaks without having to idle the van.

[markopolo]

Interesting to note that the Sterling B2B units current rating are based on input rather than output. The BB1260 is 60A input and 45A or so output. -> https://faroutride.com/b2b-review/

In comparison, Renogy DCDC 20/40/60A models current rating is the output and you have to factor in for the higher input.

The Sterling BB1260 can be forced to 50% mode according to a manual I looked at but probably results in only 25A or less getting to the batteries.

[Rlum]

Originally Posted by jakegw2

TaxWonk - thank you for this writeup, your system is very thorough.

Two items that I thought of when reading:

Your DC-DC charger might not be doing any limiting of current since 60A is probably more current than your alternator has to spare, after feeding the chassis load, much of the time when you are driving. Your alternator (probably a 160A unit?) may be running flat-out when you are charging. My 220A alternator supplies between 65A and 85A when driving, depending on what else is running (it supplies as much as 120A at startup for a few minutes). I do not use a DC-DC charger. I don't know if the Sterling device lets you set a max current, but if it does you might consider dropping it to 30-40A so that the alternator does not run at max load.



The charger will still raise the charge voltage slightly to accommodate the LiFEPo chemistry, which can be important if you seldom charge off of other sources (LiFEPo needs the higher voltage to balance the cells - not all the time, but periodically to protect the battery).

You have capacity to power the AC if you wish. Based on my experience with two Battleborn batteries and a slightly more powerful AC I estimate you could get 2.5 to 2.75 hours of AC off your setup. You may not need it, but in FL it is really nice to be able to go shopping or in to eat at a restaurant and come out to a comfortable vehicle. Also great for rest breaks without having to idle the van.

I have a 2016 Pleasure Way Lexor TS on Promaster chassis. It has the standard 180 amp alternator. Is it possible to increase the alternator without changing out the wires for charging the house batteries? Thanks

[jakegw2]

I found at least one person on the Promaster forum that swapped the factory 180A for a factory 220A and says it is working fine.

https://www.promasterforum.com/threa...od-idea.83639/

[TaxWonk]

Originally Posted by TaxWonk

Original set up, 2009 RoadTrek RS, 2 flooded lead acid batteries under the hood and 750W Tripplite inverter. I also started with the question, can I just replace my current batteries with Battleborns. They said yes, but that I would need to replace the battery separator with a battery to battery charger and that the temperatures under hood for the batteries would be on the high end and if exceed the batteries would protect themselves by shutting down. And the journey begins...

Before I get too far into the specifics let me say that in the long run it would have been much, much, cheaper and easier to put a couple of AGMs in, and it would have all worked just fine for our style of travel and camping. But I enjoy working on projects like this and I always want plenty of extra headroom on anything I do.

I had a couple of considerations:
1-My current batteries were swollen and needed replacing.
2-I had been monitoring the temperatures of the batteries and they were getting really hot. I live in Central Florida, not uncommon to be 94 F in July and August, add in a traffic jam, well, just too hot.
3-I wanted a pure sine wave inverter. Few will fit in the existing TrippLite space under the drivers seat. Roadtrek Modifications/ Mods, Upgrades, and Gadgets.: Search results for inverter This article from roadtreklife had me concerned if I purchased AGMs that I would be replacing them early as well.

I decided that if I was going to pay the price for the Battleborns that they had to go inside the rig. I needed an inverter charger that could properly accommodate LFePO4 and I would forget trying to get an inverter back under the drivers seat.

Since half of the price of the system was going to be for the batteries I elected to have Battleborn suggest the needed components. I wanted to get everything from one place so I did not have conflicts among the vendors. One of the advantages of buy the inverter from Battleborn was that they custom programed the inverter to match their batteries, one less thing to worry about.

I installed the following:
-3 Battleborn BB10012 100ah batteries
-Sterling Battery to Battery chargers BB1260 12v 60ah
-Victron inverter 12/3000/120-50 120v VE Bus (I should have gone with the 2000 watt inverter that Battleborn suggested, to save weight and space)
-VE Smart Bus dongle
I already had a Xantrex LinkPro battery monitor. If you need to buy a battery monitor, skip the dongle and monitor, consider getting the Victron Color Control GX, it makes seeing what is going on with the system and changing the current limits much easier.

The RoadTrek RS comes with two passenger seats just behind the front row or as an option a shelving unit and a hanging closet. Ours has the optional shelving and hanging closet. I installed the three batteries, shunt and cutoff switch in the seat base of the passenger seat just behind the driver and the inverter in the closet. This keeps my wire runs very short as most of the original wiring is under the drivers seat for the house side of things. I installed the battery to battery charger in the drivers seat base where the Tripplite had been. Again this was ideal because it was situated between the chassis and house batteries, keeping the wire runs as short as possible.

A couple of things that I had not considered when I started this build.

1. The generator starter is fed from the original house batteries at the front of the van. As with most starters feeds there is no fuse on this wire. Wires that are not fused make me nervous. I removed the original house feed that came from the original batteries up through a hole in the drivers seat base and fed the generator starter cable into the seat base. I have positive and negative junction blocks in the drivers seat base. I put a 300amp fuse on the starter cable and it has held for the few times we have started the generator so far (it has only been a couple of weeks since it was completed).

2. The Air Conditioner - We still have the original Dometic Penguin 11,000 btu unit. I did NOT want to run the A/C off of the batteries but I did want to be able to run the A/C when mooch docking on a 15amp hookup. The Victron has a current limit function where you can set the maximum amps/current to pull in on shore power and if needed any extra amps come from your batteries until the load drops. In order to make sure the A/C was not accidently run on the batteries, I wired the A/C on the inverter AC-2 output and installed a separate breaker since I could not leave it hooked up to the house panel that was fed from the inverter AC-1 output. The A/C started fine when plugged into shore power, but it would not start on generator power. I installed a MicroAir EasyStart 364 on the A/C, problem solved.

3. Maxxair Fan - Maxxair fans do not like anything over 13.9 volts and we would be charging at 14.6 volts so I installed a voltage regulator on the 12v supply to keep the fan control board from burning out.

No solar at this point and with our style of travel I do not think we need solar, but that has not kept me from looking, maybe next summers project.

I just finished this project a couple of weeks ago and we have not had the time to take it on an extended shake down trip. I have driven it around town and everything seems to be working as intended.

Hope this helps someone.

Attached are the requested pictures.

• Victron inverter in the closet, note there is a tight fitting board with a couple of rope handles over the batteries to keep items from falling into the batteries. The bolts holding the inverter go through the adjacent cabinet with a filler board between the two to increase the rigidity.
• Inverter and batteries - I did not drill any holes in the seat box since there is a large opening between the box and the wall of the van near the seat belt tie down.
• Batteries - okay, yes it looks like a mess. Mainly because the wire lengths going from each battery to the red cutoff switch are equal length and the leads to the shut are equal length for all batteries. It was almost the same amount of wire as going from battery to battery, and this setup assures even draw and charge to each battery. All the wire is 1/0. The third battery and the shunt are physically under the wood panel directly under the inverter. Coming off the red cutoff switch is a bar of copper and I attached two Blue Sea Systems MRBF Terminal Mount Fuse Blocks each with two takeoffs giving me 4 attachment points. Two runs of 1/0 go to the inverter and one goes to the house fuse panel. One attach is for small miscellaneous items.
• Looks down into the drivers seat pedestal - The battery to battery charger is in the drivers seat pedestal where the Tripp-Lite inverter originally sat. You will note several lines of flex split conduit coming out of the drivers seat base and running along the wall. In those lines are the supply for the house fuse panel and generator starter. Positive and negative line for the battery to battery charger, lines for the battery monitor, temperature sensors, chassis voltage sense, chassis battery charge... you get the idea, a lot of wires.

Hope this helps