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.
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.
