Upgraded my 2020 Revel to lithium

[Roadie1]

Hi all! For any that are interested I had Romerig install the stage III system which includes a second dedicated alternator in my 2020 revel. It’s a game changer! I can run the AC off grid, cook in microwave or on the induction cooktop, my wife can use the hairdryer all without having to worry about running out of power with the crappy AGM batteries. I now have 630 ah of lithium power! It’s not cheap but well worth it to me.
All of the details, specs, including pricing are in this link:
https://www.roamrig.com/

[booster]

Originally Posted by Roadie1

Hi all! For any that are interested I had Romerig install the stage III system which includes a second dedicated alternator in my 2020 revel. It’s a game changer! I can run the AC off grid, cook in microwave or on the induction cooktop, my wife can use the hairdryer all without having to worry about running out of power with the crappy AGM batteries. I now have 630 ah of lithium power! It’s not cheap but well worth it to me.
All of the details, specs, including pricing are in this link:
https://www.roamrig.com/

I watched the video and looked at the site, but I couldn't find anyplace where they explained why they can go without any auxiliary heat in cold weather, and particularly if cold stored in the northlands where is goes well below 0*F. Did they tell you what they did?


What size and brand is the alternator they added?

[Roadie1]

Originally Posted by booster

I watched the video and looked at the site, but I couldn't find anyplace where they explained why they can go without any auxiliary heat in cold weather, and particularly if cold stored in the northlands where is goes well below 0*F. Did they tell you what they did?


What size and brand is the alternator they added?

I live in the south so don’t have to deal with the super cold. I would reach out to Aaron the owner of Roamrig. He is a super nice fellow and can answer all your questions.

[Roadie1]

Originally Posted by booster

I watched the video and looked at the site, but I couldn't find anyplace where they explained why they can go without any auxiliary heat in cold weather, and particularly if cold stored in the northlands where is goes well below 0*F. Did they tell you what they did?


What size and brand is the alternator they added?

I live in the south so don’t have to deal with the super cold. I would reach out to Aaron the owner of Roamrig. He is a super nice fellow and can answer all your questions.

[Davydd]

Originally Posted by booster

I watched the video and looked at the site, but I couldn't find anyplace where they explained why they can go without any auxiliary heat in cold weather, and particularly if cold stored in the northlands where is goes well below 0*F. Did they tell you what they did?

This was in their FAQs:

How will cold weather affect my system if there are no battery heaters?
The batteries are inside the heated/cooled space in your van, which means as long as the van heat is on, battery temperature is not an issue in cold weather. If the batteries are below freezing while the vehicle sits, they cannot be charged. If the batteries are below -4 F while the vehicle sits, they cannot be discharged. The batteries protect themselves and they cannot be damaged if they are below critical temperatures above. When they warm up, they will wake up and act normally. It is extremely difficult to get the inside of your van to -4 even if it is much colder outside. If the sun is shining on your van, it will be passively heated from that. We are working on a device which will allow you to run your Rixen heating system via the chassis battery when the engine is running so that you can heat your vehicle if the batteries are at the low temperature cut off.

[booster]

Originally Posted by Davydd

This was in their FAQs:

How will cold weather affect my system if there are no battery heaters?
The batteries are inside the heated/cooled space in your van, which means as long as the van heat is on, battery temperature is not an issue in cold weather. If the batteries are below freezing while the vehicle sits, they cannot be charged. If the batteries are below -4 F while the vehicle sits, they cannot be discharged. The batteries protect themselves and they cannot be damaged if they are below critical temperatures above. When they warm up, they will wake up and act normally. It is extremely difficult to get the inside of your van to -4 even if it is much colder outside. If the sun is shining on your van, it will be passively heated from that. We are working on a device which will allow you to run your Rixen heating system via the chassis battery when the engine is running so that you can heat your vehicle if the batteries are at the low temperature cut off.

Didn't look the FAQ. They appear to be drop in batteries from someone, didn't notice a name on them, and a lot them don't seem to worry about below -4F storage, so that is probably where that comes from. The do seem to have figured out you need a fairly quick way to get them out of no charge mode, though, which is good. I hope the charging sources all have a way to not spike voltage if the batteries shut down when they are on. He didn't mention a Balmar on the alternator that I noticed.

[Davydd]

None of the lithium battery installers or upfitters mention the -4º F. limitation except Advanced RV. RoamRig do somewhat in saying the interior van is going to be warmer than the outside temperature and I know that lithium batteries under discharge load are about 10 deg. warmer than the surrounding temperature. They are from Connecticut? Maybe it doesn't occur to them but I have no excuse for Pleasure-way or even Winnebago where Iowa can get colder than Connecticut. If your full time or on the road you are probably going to maintain heat in your van. If storing then you need shore power of just a minimum of 15A to put heat via a simple cube heater if it gets colder than -4º F. or you remove your batteries. It seems simple to do in their setup.