Adding Lithium Batteries- It wasn't easy

I recently did the swap from AGM to a LiFePO4 on a 15 year old slide-in truck camper. It turned out not to be a plug and play install - but now after some field testing, it was well worth the expense and effort.

To those watching...put your litium batteries inside.....dont leave them outside

Morning, first off, Harrison was extremely helpful when I did my Lithium conversion so "Hats Off" to the Enduro crew!! My conversion is in a 1996 Class C, small one, about 20ft. I installed a 300mAh inside the house under the dinette seat seat, so no box needed, I had to make all my own leads, I went with a Renogy shunt right at the ground/negative terminal, I had to replace my converter to a newer 3 staged PowerMax when I bought the RV because the original converter had failed, that's another story and you're not going to have to read about that, Anyway, what I learned from Harrison I put to use, over sized the wires too and from the battery to the power distribution box in my RV, I used a 20amp DC to DC charger to isolate my lithium from the still existing lead acid battery circuit that is used to start my generator, plus side to this is that the engine alternator will charge both batteries without overloading my alternator. The DC to DC charger limits what the lithium battery wants to draw from my alternator when driving, 20amps may seem low but you don't want to overload the charging wire from your alternator, most will handle 30amps but I didn't need to push it. My generator will charge at 50amps to the battery, this summer I'm installing a run of the mill household window mount AC unit, they are way more efficient than any Stock RV overhead AC unit, plus I'll be upgrading it with a "Soft Start" system to ease the load on the battery. Install fuses at the battery positive post for all wires that go there, I set my charging voltage at 14.6 volts, you can charge with as low as 14.4 volts, doesn't matter but it gives the battery what it wants. As for the weight savings, yes 50# is a good thing but the fact that your lead acid batteries only weighed 50# each is a sign of a very low quality high profit margin battery, normally they weigh in at 65# to 85# each. Yes, strap it down secure to the frame of the trailer tongue, in case of an accident you don't want it flying around at all. so here's the math, I did LED conversion to all house lighting, soft white bulbs, easy to do, Amazon has 15 bulb packs for about $30, I switched out my overhead vent fans to brushless Max Air units, but I still have and use the original Atwood furnace & hot water heater and the original Dometic absorption fridge. Sorry for the long post, if you have any questions just ask. btw, your install was very easy compared to mine but with Harrison's help mine went very smoothly.

You lost 50 lbs but increased 100-150/200% capacity. Pretty awesome.

I enjoyed this video mainly because of you presentation style. Good Job!

Brave guy, propane lines scare me even with the gas tape. Was lucky swapped mine for a small single lithium in my coleman.

Appreciate your time and effort to produce the vid. I converted my brother's bumper pull to lithium. You are correct about knowing your situation. Ended up with two 100ah Renogy batteries. They were group 27 size so fit in existing locations and boxes. Wired them in series and changed the charging unit on the invertor. Since they almost exclusively boondock we installed a truck to trailer charger so they would always have full charge when they arrive at their destination. Definitely not inexpensive but they seem very happy with the upgrade. Nice work, thanks

Great information and excellent video! Well done on the filming, editing especially making this move quickly and kept it interesting and helpful. As another small channel just have to say Way to Go!! Looks like you received major hits on this. New subscribers and supporters of your channel! Wishing you more great content and a growing channel!

I did a 200Ah LiFePO4 on my 32' class A 2 years ago (shortly before the battery prices dropped by 1/3). It definitely isn't worth the effort for anyone that just goes to parks, but we boondock in the desert several times a year and it makes it so much easier when you have the right setup. They can deep cycle so well and they can take a big charge load if you want. Fitment wasn't an issue, but it did take me a couple trips to work the bugs out. I didn't have a shunt the first time and it was really hard to know how much energy is left because the voltage is so stable. A shunt is mandatory so I'm glad to see you are adding one. You mentioned re-programming your solar charge controller, but didn't mention your converter. I replaced my converter at the same time with a 2500w inverter, with a 70a charger, to run my whole coach. All in it was about a $2500 conversion, but it works flawlessly now. All the plugs are hot all the time, it can run my microwave and coffee machine in the morning without running the generator. I know exactly how much power I have and are using. I kick on the generator when I need to run the AC or charge the battery. I charge it when it gets to around 20%, or before we go to bed. I usually run it up to about 80% (when the charge rate drops) when charging on the generator so that I don't waste fuel. Your next step is to make sure the battery doesn't draw too much power from your truck.

Great video! Super informative and I had some great laughs 😃!

Great video good humor will watch again keep it up thanks …👍 😂🎉

Enjoyable video! At least you had the programmable charge controller. Older rigs may not, and their chargers may not be compatible with lithium batteries.

Great video and well done. Love the humor. I am converting to an Enduro 200ah myself in the coming months, so there was some very useful information in your video. One of the reasons I chose the Enduro because is because it is a bit smaller than most 200ah lithium batteries and therefor gives you a bit of space to work with inside the battery box. I have a 2022 E-Pro 19FD with a standard double battery box on the tongue. Because of the extra room the Enduro gives me, I plan on mounting my (already purchased) Victron IP65 SmartShunt inside the box on the end, next to and slightly lower than the top of the battery using a little secured shelf next to the battery. There are two reasons for my thinking for the shunt side shelf mount. One - the shelf should snugs in the battery so that it has less movement during transit. Two - it takes the shunt off of the top of the battery and gives it more clearance. I have a question: Did you do anything to secure the battery to the box (straps?) so that it does not bounce around during transit? I'm trying to figure out if this is a necessary step. My lead acid batteries apparently didn't need to be strapped down, but my lead acid batteries did not have a BMS inside with a SmartShunt sitting next to them!

Every time you change something it will be difficult. I think battle born 2 100amp would have fit in your old setup. But you did it and made a great video.

I can see why the propane line was routed between the two old batteries...more protected. Sorry you had these issues. The new Lithium battery did "drop in" on my TT.

Luck you had a programmable charger. When I upgraded to lithium, I had to replace the power supply/charger which was a lot of work. It was larger than the original unit so I had to do some cutting and grinding to get it to fit. I ended up moving the battery from the tongue to a storage compartment so there was lots of aggravation having to add and reroute the stiff copper cables to the new location. Definitely worth it though. I can drain the battery to 0% without worry of damaging it plus moving it off the tongue was good for weight distribution.

The camera was on your face most of the time rather than on the work. Thanks for the video.

You are too funny! Really enjoyed this and learned in the meantime!

Enjoyed. Great information.

I went from a single group 25 battery to 3 group 27's and used a SmileMart 30" Aluminum Truck Tool Box to house them on the tongue. I had to scoot the bottle holder forward as far as the electric hitch would allow. And I had to elevate it with some wood so it was supported better in the middle. You may want to consider an option like this for security for that expensive battery. Plus it looks kinda nice on the front.