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I regularly install lithium batteries for my customers and am a Battleborn dealer. I will not do a straight lead acid to lithium swap out with an alternator tie in anymore. There is a high probability of burning up your battery isolation device and/or alternator. DC-DC chargers are the way to go.

Well sorry for the LONG delay. I finally got around to doing this testing. I tested this on two separate trailers yesterday. One of this trailers is a single axle that I built with brakes and the other was a 23' camper trailer that I was converting to lithium. Both trailer brake systems...

For trailers I run a separate power and ground line and try to use Victron products. Anderson powerpole connectors are very nice for this application. The Victron products have adjustable turn on/off voltage set-points. This avoids running a separate ignition wire to turn on/off the DC-DC...

I also have a 2006 sprinter that is built out and can provide some feedback. I would shoot for the upper range of your solar to sustain the TV all day on less than perfectly sunny days. I have 450W on my sprinter and don't need nearly that kind of power in the summer time for boiling water...

Most installers I know just paint the plywood black. This might be the plastic look you are referring to. Latex paints are not very flammable and therefore give you some fire resistance. The plastics are very expensive. You could also use a fire retardant intumescent paint but the paint is...

Everyone should take a look at the inverter efficiency numbers when making considerations. Last time I looked, most of the MPP stuff was down in the 85% efficiency range while Victron equipment can be in the mid 90% range. Needing 10% more battery due to inverter inefficiency can justify the...

Grounding and Bonding seems to be the most confusing and most commonly messed up part of installations. What I am saying applies to the National Electrical Code in the US but may be applicable in other places as well. Small local changes in code though can change some of these rules...

It would be helpful to add some wire sizes to this diagram. You shouldn't have different size wires landed on the same terminal of a breaker. The breakers should be used to transition wire sizes. Breakers and fuses protect wiring and not equipment.

There is a motorized tilt product on the market. I installed this system recently on a customer's 5th Wheel RV with 210W panels.

In my experience, SCCs are only damaged when removing the battery connection while the system is charging at a high power level. You should always disconnect the panels first and then disconnect the SCC if you are actively charging at higher amperages. If the sun isn't high in the sky, I...

I am up in central Washington. I think more important to your situation is going to be how you wire them for low light performance and keeping them out of shade. If you mostly park in the same place, you can place panels and wire them for better performance. If you have a large RV, place...

You have several options to consider with this situation. 1. You can purchase 2 inverters and configure them to output in a split phase configuration. You will have some limitations when running on your generator because your generator is probably not split phase. There is some rewiring to...

Positively grounded systems are common in the telecom industry where the battery positive is actually grounded. I believe this is the main application of these charge controllers. If you were building a system from scratch, you could certainly choose a positively grounded system design and use...

With that much solar, it will likely be more cost effective to go up to a 24V system. If you do that, you can get the whole system on a single charge controller and that will likely offset the cost of the 24/12V DC-DC converter that you will need.

Okay...that makes a lot more sense now. I missed your earlier post about the power pedestal. I haven't considered this solution because it isn't universal for all RV parks or shore power hookups. It certainly is a cost effective solution! I would imagine that you could need the inverter...

I would not tie directly to the power terminals under the drivers seat. I don't remember what the body builders manual says but I would not personally put more than a 10amp load on them.

1. I would strongly recommend a DC-DC charger instead of an isolator. This is the best solution for integrating the lithium battery with your alternator and lead acid batteries. The DC-DC charger will actually make sure your lithium battery gets fully charged while driving and will prevent...

600W of solar is a ton for a van. What kind of van do you have and what kind of loads are you trying to sustain?

Check the Battleborn website. They have been putting up guides on how to change settings. This would apply to you: Battleborn Magnum Settings

Some solar panels perform better when a positive grounded connection to avoid surface polarization which can reduce performance. A positively grounded charge controller will operate the PV panels at a negative voltage with respect to ground.

I think the Renogy solar panels are good quality. I have retested their performance after 5 years and they are performing better than their degradation curve. I don't know much about that inverter/charger. I'm not sure if it is a low frequency type. I typically sell the higher end...

This is very cool information. Does anyone know of a hybrid setup with something like a Battleborn battery with a built in BMS? I guess you could limit the absorption charge voltage to 14.6V. That would allow the top balancing of the Battleborn batteries and a pretty decent charging profile...

RVs can be wired a few different ways. Here is an example of how yours might be wired: When running on a generator, your lithium batteries will either be charged by your Magnum inverter/charger. Your shore power connection and generator power feed will connect together in some kind of...

The NCV3 with aux. battery option should have a battery isolating relay installed under the drivers seat. There is also a connection point here for running items off of the factory auxiliary battery. I would strongly recommend against tying into the auxiliary battery system. Mercedes also...

This sounds like a voltage drop problem to me. Your cigarette lighter is probably fed with very small gauge wire. When you try to pull 10amps on that small wire (could be 16 or 18 gauge from the factory), you are getting a lot of voltage drop between the battery and the cigarette lighter. My...

I would bet that the first breaker is a 100A breaker. That breaker protects the large wire that I am assuming goes up to the converter shown in your picture. I would be the second breaker is a 60A breaker and it protects the smaller wire (6 gauge?) going to your DC distribution.

Victron does make a programmable 12 to 24V boost converter. I have installed a few of them...they are just not as common. There is a 5 amp version and a 15 amp version. The amperage is the output at 24V so the input at 12V will be slightly more than double. If you have trouble googling and...

The 12V power wire in the 7-way plug should be connected to the tow vehicles battery. It is typically either fused at 30 or 40amps. I wouldn't recommend more than 20amps through this wire though. This wire is typically used to keep the trailers battery charged while driving. Many trailer...

I'd estimate about 10-15 seconds. Amperage was holding steady.

I think the technology has never taken off because its a bit complicated and doesn't "pencil" for residential and/or commercial applications. There are some companies making the product though. Dual Sun