What You NEED to Know About Adding Lithium Batteries to Your RV

Out of all the you tube channels that I've watched on upgrading to lithium batteries you are the first person to address the problem of compatibility between coach and motor batteries. This was a real concern of mine. Thank you for sharing your solutions to this problem.

James, congrats! You covered the main points perfectly. I live in southern Az and have a trailer. I installed a lithium in my trailer and it works and charges perfectly. The only suggestion is I did change over the main board of my WFCO converter/charger. Cost under $150 and was a 5 wire install! Took 10 minutes. Again, thanks for the clarification. Lithium is an easy install for trailers. Motor homes and vans do have the alternator issue that must be addressed. Lastly, When my truck battery died on the road, I sat for an hour allowing my trailer lithium to charge my truck battery through the 7pin connection. It worked. High voltage always flows to low voltage. I was able to start the truck and get to the dealer for a new truck battery! Thanks again. David

James - I have the same Magnum Energy MS2812 as you have in your motorhome. They absolutely do work on lithium batteries as I did this conversion about 5 months ago (4x230Ah). I changed out the board and the remote (less than 30 min job) on the MS2812 and it now has the Li battery profile. I did not need to do this as the original board and remote would allow me to customize the charge - as you showed - to CC/CV (constant current/constant voltage). I did not have to really change anything on my 2014 Dutch Star to handle Li batteries. However, I did elect NOT to charge my Li batteries using the 250 amp alternator from the engine. If I want to juice the batteries, I simply start my 10kw generator and within an hour, the batteries are topped off. The chassis batteries are still being charged by the alternator. With a 10kw generator, there is no need for expensive solar stuff. With our setup, we can be off grid for about 5 days (920 Ah) and with a genset, we are only limited by the black/grey tank capacity. Great videos.

Thank you for this - People tend to really overthink the switch to Lithium and sooooo many folks think they're a safety issue when they absolutely are not. I've worked in the UPS industry for over 22 years now. 19 of those years were spent handling escalated customer issues at APC/Schneider Electric (who are the biggest manufacturer in that industry). I have dealt with hundreds (if not thousands) of potential safety issues with lead acid batteries. Explosions, fire, leaks, venting/swelling, you name it. With LiFePO4 I have dealt with exactly zero. Not one, not ever. They are fantastic. From a vendor perspective I have seen the failure rates and they are pretty much zero. When they do fail, it's typically more common to see a BMS failing, or maybe a physical connection like a bad screw terminal or something to that effect. The actual batteries are insanely good and rarely fail. Its great great stuff.

Even at 80-90% charge on the lithium, you still get more than twice the ah usage as a comparable lead acid battery. I have had many clients who finally upgraded after I told them this and they are all extatic with the results. Fore those that have 120v fridges I installed two LiFePo4 batteries. For any of them with solar installed, they never run out of juice. The isolator, I did not know about. I will be installing these from now on. Also, installing larger current alternators is usually easy. Thanks for making this more public! Good for business. Ryan at Glenwood RV Repair in Colorado. Ps. Love your videos! They have made me a better rv tech.

James, great video on this much debated subject. Very clearly outlined as usual and simple enough for me to understand the steps and reasons for the choices. Thanks, PZ

The best video on doing the important things when upgrading to LiFePO4 batteries.

Great information ! I used the Renogy 50a Dc-Dc mppt charge controller, it uses solar first and then bucks up the alternator as needed. It can also be tuned back as needed. Your videos are top notch !

Very helpful and informative video in layman's terms. Thank you for the time to make the video. Answers a lot of questions and concerns.

Glad I came across this channel, and I like the shelter setup....with the shipping containers and hoop canvas.

thanks for the info on emergency start switch. I have a trailer now with Lithium batteries but in the past had an old Class C which I remember that button. I will keep it in mind when eventually move back to a Motorhome.

Thank you for the very helpful information about using the older converter/charger on my travel trailer with a LiFePO4 battery. I had deduced, based on vague comments on other sites, that it would work but not give a full charge. Thanks for confirming that. I will stick with the onboard unit for now and use solar as described to "top off" the charge as I hit the road for the '24 RVing season.

Excellent video. I think you have discussed all the important points. I have a 2022 class A on the F53 chassis. When I upgraded to lithium I spoke to Lion Energy and Battle Born techs and well as Victron. I changed out the converter, added a Victron DC-DC charger and changed my ZAMP solar controller setting to lithium. Because I’m always concerned with electrical connections and shorts I paid a local repair shop here to check and confirm everything was good. 16 months later and everything still working great. I truly appreciate your videos. Thank you

I have a 24 year old Georgie Boy 26 ft class A motorhome. I have been doing a major renovation and used AZ Expert's videos extensively when I completely replaced the roof two years ago. For the past few months I've been working on the electrical system. I kept the original house battery and engine battery but disconnected the house battery from the 12 volt house circuits and removed the original charger/inverter. This original house battery now serves only as a backup to the engine battery. Both of these are charged by the engine's alternator. To manage house power needs, I installed an independent 48v EG4 LiFE house battery that is charged via a Growatt 3 kw charger/inverter. Through the Growatt, the EG4 battery can be charged by shore power, by the generator, or with 800 watts of solar panels on the roof but not by the engine alternator. So when I am hooked up to shore power or running the generator, the 120v feeds through the automatic transfer switch to the Growatt charger/inverter. The Growatt unit normally routes the 120v directly to my 120v AC breaker panel. The Growatt also charges the 48v battery. If there is no incoming 120v, the Growatt automatically inverts 48v DC from the battery to 120v AC and feeds it to the 120v AC breaker panel. The 48v DC runs through a 48 to 12 volt DC converter, and is distributed to the eight 12 volt DC circuits in my motorhome. When I started the project, I expected it to be very complicated but was amazed at all the things the Growatt can do, and how much simpler it was than I expected. I'm not pushing Growatt over other manufacturers, it just happens to be the one I got, after seeing it on the Will Prowse channel and I'm sure others operate similarly. As AZ Expert mentioned, the electrical equipment available for RVs are getting smarter and thus easier to use. Jim

Just upgraded to a LiFePO on out travel trailer after the deep cycle it came with died, I did use a LiFePO charger to charge to 100% before installing it, but the current WFCO doesn't have any LiFe settings. I'm also adding a 3000W inverter charger and 460AH LiFePO battery, 400W solar this month for an upcoming boondocking trip. Your videos on the LiFePO was very informative, dig the other videos across the other platforms too, keep up the good work & "Hi" from the west valley!

You did a great job !! I have pretty much the same setup. I removed my Big Boy and installed the Li-Bim.. I left the Signal Lead off. However, I did have to run a separate wire with 12v and fuse for the power of the Li-Bim. Going on 2.5 years and no issues.

Thank you for creating such a clear and practical guide on lithium battery upgrades. You've outdone others who've tackled this subject and provided all the necessary information without trying to sell anything. Bravo!

Excellent! This is the information I've been waiting for. Thought I would have to change / upgrade the alternator in my 2000 Beaver. Thanks James! You rock, buddy!

Excellent video James I'll be watching this over again. Lots of important info thankyou!

Thanks so much, James! My factory installed equipment was similar to yours on my 1997 Safari. I called Battle Born after purchasing my equipment from them.. I ended up setting up the equipment improperly and until I saw your video I did not realize it was not correct.😮 I won’t bore you with the details, but I just wanted to let you know you helped me get my system installed properly. I had previously installed a 240 amp alternator so I do not know if my original installation would have damaged my alternator over time, but I am thankful to have the equipment hooked up properly now.