RV house batteries for dry camping?

[Ozymandias]

Yeah, now you are running decent Wires.

It's always the same, from factory the safe on copper. Serious wires are expensive.

 

[Tuesdak]

Finishing up power to the converter and moving the "mode" button. Button needs to be inside for the times it's raining during generator hours. Again a two hour window 2-3x a day in some National Parks.

I tapped an outlet in the living room and ran a junction box on the other side of the hollow wall. Then a premade cable to the new converter outlet.

Grey wire to the "mode" button aka Charge Wizard. Routed it around the bathtub and heat duct for the bathroom.

This means when I fire up the converter on AGM's with a 25% discharge I only get 1/3 the output of the converter, ~20A, at 14.4v. Well it's 14.4v at the converter anyway. At the batteries it's low 13's for nearly a volt of loss in the cables. Really need 1/0 Gauge cables for this 20'+ run or move the converter closer to the batteries.

So the first test after moving the converter closer and upgrading the battery cables to 2 guage. 44.6A. That's with a low amount of battery discharge depth, 5A draw from items powered on and 100W of solar mixed in. A successful project!

 

[Cummins12V98]

COOL!

 

[AH64ID]

Worked on mine a little today too.

Got the new, larger, battery box built. The 5th wheel came with room for 2 G24 batteries stacked but not much else. My 300AH lifelines are even taller and there just wasn’t enough vertical room, but I could raise the floor and go wider... so I did.

I also got the inverter mounted and just gave a little wiring left and I’ll be up and running.

 

[AH64ID]

Done!

and to think that rats nest had been cleaned up from what it was.

 

[Tuesdak]

@AH64ID Can you detail the inverter install as far as how it's powering outlet(s)?

I have got to figure out how I want to run mine. Either a cord to a TV/Dish outlet, dedicated hard wire outlet, or ? I have to run through a wall and am not sure what code would require I do or can use.

My RV also has an ATS for the genset in it I have to consider.

The pictured location won't work so the inverter will have to go by the converter. Even with a 100w load I don't like the existing wire run of 6awg wire. As the batteries get low the voltage drop can trigger the inverter low volt alarm before it's appropriate to go off.

 

[AH64ID]

The 5th wheel has 2 general purpose 15A circuits that power all the outlets. The fridge and converter were on those circuits so I pulled them off and gave them their own circuits.

I then wired in a pair of ProWatt SW auto-transfer switches from Zantrex. They prioritize shore power so when the trailer is plugged in the inverter is isolated, but without shore power the inverter powers everything.

I got lucky and the battery box is directly fwd of the inverter, in the box in the pic below. I have 2ga running from the batts, to a 150A fuse, to the battery switch and then to the inverter. I think it’s 4-5’ at most.

My converter gets power to the battery switch with 2-3’ of 6ga. So it’s all a nice close run and shouldn’t net much voltage drop under normal loads.

 

[Tuesdak]

So I finished up the "plug" for the inverter. Only need 100W for the TV and Dish receiver. It's been 4 years without a TV in the RV...

We will see how well it works in the old converter location. Found the "walls" had reinforcements in them so I couldn't run the wire to the top. So I just drilled a hole in the counter and followed the water line: pump to hot water heater.

 

[Cummins12V98]

Would be a good idea to snap in a plastic bushing where the SO cable passes thru the box.

 

[Mark31]

You guys amaze me with your knowledge and ingenuity! Somehow, I thought a little better of Arctic Fox----that they would do a better electrical job. Makes one wonder what else could be done better. Question: Wonder what would it add to the cost of a 27-5L to put in a premium electrical system like you have {collectively) designed?

 

[Tuesdak]

You guys amaze me with your knowledge and ingenuity! Somehow, I thought a little better of Arctic Fox----that they would do a better electrical job. Makes one wonder what else could be done better. Question: Wonder what would it add to the cost of a 27-5L to put in a premium electrical system like you have {collectively) designed?

IMO Arctic Fox uses the top of the line stuff as there are cheaper converters out there. Regardless the wiring being just too long: AF looks at the RV Park Queen use first. Generators are Optional and thus boondocking isn't top priority esp. to solve the issues I have like: reducing genset run time with upgraded AGM batteries. Park Queens... Looking at the "bigger" size of the 27-5L being 29' today... I can't get a 5th wheel this small from them new today. So batteries sitting on a charger all night at a RV park is no problem. 2-4 hours of genset runtime per day is a problem with the 6 awg long run of wire. I suppose AF wanted a short run of wire to the charging rig/pickup but didn't want to hear the converter fan run by the bedroom so they put it as far away as they could.

IMO the best place to start is with Tri-Metric and that will tell you what's really going on: ~$350 for kit incl solar option (Cheaper without solar). AGM Lifelines ~$600.00. Moving things: my labor and $100 in wire and misc parts. Newer AF RV's may have the converter closer to the batteries.