Victron Buck Boost on newer AI's

[StogieMan]

Hi all. I’m doing some research as I plan on adding a Victron Buck Boost to our 15 AIGT along with some additional chassis battery charging options since we just got two new chassis batteries instead of an Victron Orion for DC to DC charging. They are way pricier but look to get more amps from the the alternator to the house batteries for quicker charging. I see that that the newer AI’s come with a Victron Buck Boost but can’t find which one from the wiring diagrams. They come in 25, 50 and 100 amps. I’m looking to add the 50amp one.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Are you happy with the one that came in your AI? Wish it was a bigger one? Any other details that you can share?

[StogieMan]

I found it under the parts list. It’s part #513649 “Programmable DC/DC Converter 50A”.

From the manual:

DC-DC Battery Converter

The DC-DC Battery Converter is located under the driver’s seat. It is designed as a power gateway that only allows a maximum of 40 amps to pass between the vehicles alternator and the coaches converter.


Still interested in your thoughts if you have one installed and overall performance.

[Rocinante]

In our 2016 AI, our lithium / solar installer used a Victron Cyrix battery combiner / isolator, which has thus far worked flawlessly.

[StogieMan]

Originally Posted by Rocinante

In our 2016 AI, our lithium / solar installer used a Victron Cyrix battery combiner / isolator, which has thus far worked flawlessly.

Rocinante, I’ve looked into the Cyrix and is a great product but I’m looking into a charger rather than a combiner switch type that I can have the ability to program the settings and dial them in as I see fit. We currently have an LI-BIM 225 (switch /combiner type too) that is working as advertised and keeping both house and chassis batteries charged up. My only issue with it is that it kinda maxes out around 30’ish amps when charging and no way to make any adjustment to it. I can see this when driving on my VRM remote screen on my cell phone. We have 600 Ah’s of lithium and I want to charge those up as quickly as we can with the alternator and 500 watts of solar.

I’ve looked into the Orion’s but they too max out at 30amps. Although, I could put two in parallel, they are pretty bulky and I don’t have the space for two. They also run very hot so I would need to add fans and again with the space, its just not an option.

The Victron Buck Boost on the other hand is fully configurable, can set all types of limits and I can ramp it up or down as needed. In the newer AI’s, Airstream dials them in at 40A to prevent any warranty issues with Mercedes. I would dial it up to 50A as I don’t see that harming the alternator. The only part that I don’t like about the Buck Boost is that even though it’s a Victron product, it doesn’t integrate with the rest of the other components for ease of viewing or adjusting. Also no bluetooth.

Thus the reason for looking into adding charging options for the chassis battery if we go with the Victron Buck Boost. I’ll will probably add the two BatteryMinder options that the newer AI’s are coming with and add a third by using the trickle charge function off the Victron Inverter with a on/off switch.

[MaineStreamer]

What is an AI?

[StogieMan]

Originally Posted by MaineStreamer

What is an AI?

AI - Airstream Interstate
AIGT - Airstream Interstate Grand Tour

[Rocinante]

There’s also AI Lounge. [emoji41]

[Rocinante]

Great points, the Victron Buck boost sounds like a great option for what you need. I’m sad it doesn’t (yet?) offer Bluetooth support and protocol integration with other Victron products.

[StogieMan]

Originally Posted by Rocinante

I’m sad it doesn’t (yet?) offer Bluetooth support and protocol integration with other Victron products.

Mark my words - that'll happen after we purchase it. They'll come out with an upgraded model - story of my life!

[Wazbro]

Originally Posted by MaineStreamer

What is an AI?

Originally Posted by StogieMan

AI - Airstream Interstate
AIGT - Airstream Interstate Grand Tour

Airstream Class-B Motor Home.=Not a trailer.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

The buck / boost in our Interstate is a 50A version. The price delta between the 50 and 25 amp versions is pretty small. The 50A seems to ba a lot easier to find ( = the 25A seems to be sold out a lot).

Both are fully programable. You can set either one up to do 15A if you wished to. Programming is done via a USB cable to a (Windows) computer. There are far more features / settings on one than you typically would need in an RV application.

Bob

[StogieMan]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

The buck / boost in our Interstate is a 50A version. The price delta between the 50 and 25 amp versions is pretty small. The 50A seems to ba a lot easier to find ( = the 25A seems to be sold out a lot).

Both are fully programable. You can set either one up to do 15A if you wished to. Programming is done via a USB cable to a (Windows) computer. There are far more features / settings on one than you typically would need in an RV application.

Bob

Thanks Bob!

Yeah, the 100A one is on back order until December due to supply constraint issues.

[StogieMan]

Good info on alternator charging.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOH4qxexPq0

[orlik]

Originally Posted by StogieMan

Good info on alternator charging.

Thanks for posting. Definitely worth watching. A good quick overview of the two Victron units.

[StogieMan]

I received the Victron Buck Boost and installed it yesterday. Again, I had to rearrange and play Tetris with some wires to get it installed but finally did and up and working. Very impressed with it thus far. Some cloud cover today so with solar and the alternator just sitting idle for a few minutes, I was pushing 56A into the batteries which is great. There were a few hiccups so if you go this route you are prepared and don’t have to go searching for answers like I did.

First - You need a PC Windows based laptop to program it. I ended buying a used laptop on Craigslist for $100 and I had an old printer wire that I installed to the back of the buck boost. This is the only way to do as of right now and who knows if this may change in the future. I was talking to to a distributor when I was searching for the 50A buck boost and he did not have it in stock. Actually, very few do have them. The distributor checked and I believe he said the Netherlands where they are made and there was none in stock or ready to ship from there which made him think that they may be in the process of an updating it. He said that this was pure speculation as he did not hear of a new one coming.

Second - You’ll need to download the TSConfig version 2.20 or higher from Victron Connect here: https://www.victronenergy.com/suppor...loads/software

Third - I plugged it to the laptop and it could not find the Victron Buck Boost port no matter what I tried. I moved it to a different USB port on the laptop and nothing. I tried letting the program find it, plugging it in/out and rebooting and nothing! I saw one of the few videos on YouTube that you can find anything relating to the Victron Buck Boost and the guy ran into the same problem but his computer finally found it.

So I went searching the Victron forums and there were no answers. I finally came across this thread with someone having the same exact issue that solved the connection problem and I was able to find the Victron Buck Boost port on my laptop to allow programming. I spent a whole day trying figure this out.

https://www.canalworld.net/forums/in...d-by-tsconfig/

Basically, you’ll need to add this Silicon Labs Virtual COM Port Universal Driver to allow you to find Victron Buck Boost which no info to let you know this on the Victron Connect:

https://oemdrivers.com/usb-cp2104-usb-to-uart-driver

Anyway, just a tad bit of hopefully useful info if you go this route. Overall, l’m happy to be able to get more amps into my batteries while driving.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

A lot of the "how crazy is it" depends more than a bit on which version of Windows you are running and how up to date it is. On my laptop, with its version of this or that, the driver install was automatic.

You probably want to "throttle" the charge level to something a bit less than 50A. 40A would be a better target on these vans.

Bob

[StogieMan]

Yup, you’re probably spot on with the whole Windows version thing. Not a PC guy and had to get this programmed so I went the used route as I don’t intend on using it for anything other than to program the Buck boost.

Why 40A’s though? Is this prevent any Mercedes warranty issues or taxing on the alternator?

It looks like Airstream is using smaller 6Ga wire in their new builds from the chassis battery to the converter. On our 2015, they were using 1/0. When you look at the Victron Buck Boost manual, it calls for 2Ga cable for the 50A Buck boost for a 12v system so not sure what is Airstream’s reasoning behind this.

I’m comfortable with it at 50A and don’t see 50A as being too taxing on the alternator. However, interested in your thoughts though on why to throttle it down to 40A.

I think this guy had some interesting data guy doing some real life testing with some very good info.


https://windinmyface.com/Sprinter-Al...r-Primary.html


https://windinmyface.com/Sprinter-Al...-Behavior.html

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by StogieMan

Yup, you’re probably spot on with the whole Windows version thing. Not a PC guy and had to get this programmed so I went the used route as I don’t intend on using it for anything other than to program the Buck boost.

Why 40A’s though? Is this prevent any Mercedes warranty issues or taxing on the alternator?

It looks like Airstream is using smaller 6Ga wire in their new builds from the chassis battery to the converter. On our 2015, they were using 1/0. When you look at the Victron Buck Boost manual, it calls for 2Ga cable for the 50A Buck boost for a 12v system so not sure what is Airstream’s reasoning behind this.

I’m comfortable with it at 50A and don’t see 50A as being too taxing on the alternator. However, interested in your thoughts though on why to throttle it down to 40A.

I think this guy had some interesting data guy doing some real life testing with some very good info.


https://windinmyface.com/Sprinter-Al...r-Primary.html


https://windinmyface.com/Sprinter-Al...-Behavior.html

Hi

If you dive into the typical "up fitter" manuals on the Sprinter chassis, most of them only allow you 50A off of the alternator for added gear. I have not dug out the 2014 / 2015 version, but that's what most say.

Since you have more than just the battery charge process going on ( maybe ), staying below the max limit seems to be a good idea.

Note that there have been revisions to these manuals and some now show around 80A as allowable. Just which models that applies to would take a bit of a deep dive.

Also if you look at what AS now does ( and may have done in the past ....), they swap out various fuses on the chassis side of things. 15A becomes 7.5 A and it can get confusing when you go to track stuff down. Is this swap out part of the higher current "upgrade"? Since the fuse in no way dictates the load, it's very unclear ....

Bob

[emike]

Originally Posted by StogieMan

Hi all. I’m doing some research as I plan on adding a Victron Buck Boost to our 15 AIGT along with some additional chassis battery charging options since we just got two new chassis batteries instead of an Victron Orion for DC to DC charging. They are way pricier but look to get more amps from the the alternator to the house batteries for quicker charging. I see that that the newer AI’s come with a Victron Buck Boost but can’t find which one from the wiring diagrams. They come in 25, 50 and 100 amps. I’m looking to add the 50amp one.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Are you happy with the one that came in your AI? Wish it was a bigger one? Any other details that you can share?

From my 2022 24X


Note the voltages are opposite. Top is input, bottom is output. Airstream wired it backwards.

[StogieMan]

Originally Posted by emike

Airstream wired it backwards.

[IMG]https:

Can't say that I'm surprised that Airstream wired it wrong. It says which one goes where right on the cover.