Hank
Newbie RV’er
Posts: 35
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Post by Hank on Aug 30, 2022 19:19:22 GMT -5
Thanks to a couple of deep discharges my lead acid OEM batteries are about shot. I'm looking into replacements and am considering lithium batteries.
There's a switch in the battery bay to select lithium batteries but I can't figure out what it actually does. My build sheet says I have a WF-9855 converter and I don't see anything in their docs regarding selecting a battery type.
I would expect the lithium batteries would need a specific charging profile but not sure how that is accomplished with the current setup.
Anybody been down this road?
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Post by thebigland on Aug 31, 2022 6:17:10 GMT -5
Hank, Mine has the WF-9855lIs power converter and there is a module on the back of the converter in which the wires run from the converter to the switch in your battery bay. All that switch does is toggle the Lithium Charge option on/off. So if you put in lithium ion batteries flip the switch to lithium and vice versa for lead acid. Then the converter then defaults to the specific charge profile for either battery as to ensure not to damage either battery depending on what battery is installed. I know this because I was curious as well so I pulled the storage bay wall to see the converter I had installed and traced the wires back to the switch. Mine is a 2022 321 RKT. Chances are you have the same converter set up. I even toggled between the two settings to see the voltage being sent to the battery via the Xantrex AP monitoring the battery voltage and charge rate. Cheers Corey |
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merchjo
Newbie RV’er
Been RV camping since 2017
Posts: 26
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Post by merchjo on Aug 31, 2022 6:53:38 GMT -5
you should remove that screw under your hot water line so it does not rub a hole in it.
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Post by thebigland on Aug 31, 2022 7:02:15 GMT -5
While I had the storage bay wall off, I cleaned up all the extra debris, including the screw, sawdust, scrap wires, etc. You would think the price you pay for these units they would be spotless. Go figure.  |
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Hank
Newbie RV’er
Posts: 35
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Post by Hank on Sept 1, 2022 8:25:59 GMT -5
Corey - thanks for the feedback. I suspect I have the same converter and will verify. Now I need to figure out how much financial pain I can tolerate from buying the lithium batteries.
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kbrady
Seasonal RV’er
Posts: 171
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Post by kbrady on Sept 1, 2022 18:50:22 GMT -5
Just wondering, what are the advantages of lithium? Are they more for solar or boondocking? If using full hookups, is it worth the expense?
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Post by thebigland on Sept 2, 2022 6:40:54 GMT -5
Ken, If I was using full hookups majority of the time, I would not bother wasting my money on Lithium. Basically lithium allows you to use up to 90% of the power of the battery before it shuts down and you can get upwards of 5000 -6000 deep cycles out of lithium to maybe 600-1000 out of traditional deep cycle batteries so if cycling the battery it will last longer. So unless your boondocking all the time and utilize the inverter/solar system quite a bit I would not bother with lithium, personally. I boondock all the time so I decided to go lithium and supplement with generator when required. I cycle my battery all the time as to save gas, etc. Also with traditional deep cycle batteries as the voltage drops you can notice that the power output is lowering when you see the lights go dim, etc. With lithium the power stays the same until it reaches a certain voltage then it just shuts down. Kind of like the old drill batteries, the old 18V gradually died whereas the new lithium batteries last longer but abruptly stop but you get longer use before they need to be recharged.... Cheers Corey |
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Post by tightwadted on Sept 3, 2022 22:28:41 GMT -5
i switched to Lithium batteries a couple years ago, in my case it was to have enough power for the DW's O2 concentrator, which is a big power draw, to have enough power to last for 10 hrs, I would have needed at least 6 100 amp SLA batteries, where i can get by with 4 Lifepo's. the SLA's would have eaten up 450 lbs of payload, whereas the Lifepos total less than 100. Since my 5r is a 2015 model I had to put in a different converter. Was it worth it?, Yes, as we can now camp anywhere and know that she can sleep healthy, If we only camped with hookups, we wouldnt need it, but to camp "out there" its a must for us.
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Post by roger75 on Sept 7, 2022 16:38:14 GMT -5
i switched to Lithium batteries a couple years ago, in my case it was to have enough power for the DW's O2 concentrator, which is a big power draw, to have enough power to last for 10 hrs, I would have needed at least 6 100 amp SLA batteries, where i can get by with 4 Lifepo's. the SLA's would have eaten up 450 lbs of payload, whereas the Lifepos total less than 100. Since my 5r is a 2015 model I had to put in a different converter. Was it worth it?, Yes, as we can now camp anywhere and know that she can sleep healthy, If we only camped with hookups, we wouldnt need it, but to camp "out there" its a must for us. |
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Post by gkgray on Oct 11, 2022 11:50:22 GMT -5
I switched to lithium so I can run my residential fridge while running down the road. Some boondocking as well. A mere Time just lowered their prices on their website if you want to check it out.
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Post by laknox on Oct 11, 2022 14:16:16 GMT -5
G*d forbid that mfrs start offering Li batteries / chargers as options...
Lyle
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Post by nvguy on Oct 21, 2022 23:27:35 GMT -5
G*d forbid that mfrs start offering Li batteries / chargers as options... Lyle There was (is?) one in the works at KZ, saw it during the rally. It's a whole system, solar, inverters, everything. There is enough power there to run the AC. |
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bobnmonica
Seasonal RV’er
2020 GMC Diesel Denali Dully, Durango Gold MBQ 382
Posts: 101
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Post by bobnmonica on Oct 30, 2022 17:29:02 GMT -5
Have you seen the new KZ boondocking set up, impressive and expensive and a little overkill in my opinion
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Post by laknox on Oct 31, 2022 9:53:24 GMT -5
G*d forbid that mfrs start offering Li batteries / chargers as options... Lyle There was (is?) one in the works at KZ, saw it during the rally. It's a whole system, solar, inverters, everything. There is enough power there to run the AC. I just saw that in a newsletter that had a link to the press release from KZ. Any bets on whether the option will come in < $20k? Lyle |
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Post by laknox on Oct 31, 2022 9:53:54 GMT -5
There was (is?) one in the works at KZ, saw it during the rally. It's a whole system, solar, inverters, everything. There is enough power there to run the AC. I just saw that in a newsletter that had a link to the press release from KZ. Any bets on whether the option will come in < $20k? Lyle Haven't looked yet. What's the option cost? Lyle |
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