2021 Bambi 16RB Lithium Battery Placement

[JeffKim]

I'm sure this has been answered more than once, but after searching quite a bit I haven't found the definitive answer.

I have a 2021 16RB and will be upgrading the batteries this coming season to 200aH lithium. Originally, I was contemplating upgrading the battery box from the POS plastic Campco one to something more secure and putting the batteries there. This would involve buying the AS box ($140) and figuring out how to mount it. After some research it seems many people elect to put the lithiums inside the trailer which makes a lot of sense. In the 16' there is not enough room under the dinette where the DC rat's nest and fresh water tank are.

If anyone has experience with the 16', where did you locate the batteries? Any details about a battery box upgrade or rewiring (if on the inside) would also be very much appreciated.

[field & stream]

Not exactly your application, but this may help and will bump the thread.

We have a 2007 16’ which is different in that 1) the battery box is located on the A-frame in front of the propane tanks, and 2) it has a propane fridge instead of the power hungry all-electric which allowed us to have adequate storage with only a single 100Ah lithium battery (Battle Born). I recommend two lithium batteries and 200w of solar with the all-electric fridge.

We elected to have a lockable, steel, weather resistant box built and welded to the A-frame. From a weather protection point of view this is not ideal, but we have covered storage at home and we bring the battery into the house for winter storage. If you build or buy a box be sure to get one large enough for the batteries plus a real kill switch, a dc/dc converter, and a shunt based BMS (like a Victron 712).

We considered inside but, like you, we didn’t like it under the dinette. Under the rear bed is a better inside location and close to the converter; we chose not to because of the cost of the more complex installation and our covered storage.

Hope this helps…….

[Peanut]

I put a 100 Battle Born under the booth seat on the curb side and ran the wire along the floor to the street side seat. I think two 100 BB gold cart styles will fit there as well. They make a single 285 that will fit as well. The rest of the stuff (cut of switch, fuse, shunt) will fit on the street side.

Someone on Facebook AS addicts was able to stuff it under the street side.

[Silvr_Bullet]

The Shunt is located in the roadside dinette seat. note..it’s necessary for me to remove the propane tanks and batteries for indoor winter storage, explaining the photo. Batteries and propane tanks are stored home . The batteries and box are removed as a unit +- 62 lbs.

[JeffKim]

Thanks for all the suggestions! Apologies for not responding until now.

In the end I decided it was going to be too much of a hassle to put them inside. The only place would be in the back near the power converter, but that would require major surgery to route the battery cables and not worth the effort or expense.

The lithium batteries I bought (2x100ah) are bigger than the AGMs and don't fit inside the A frame. I ended up adapting this approach (still in progress): https://www.airforums.com/forums/f37...ge-196020.html. He used a locking tongue box from Harbor Freight as a storage box.

I was all jazzed to get it installed; ran out and bought the box, and then figured out for some reason our 2021 Bambi does not have enough space as his to fit it in. So far, I've had to move the propane tanks an inch forward, as far as they will go, and removed the hinges on the box cover so I can lift it straight off (not enough room to pivot). Also, the box covers up the Zamp solar socket, so I will be mounting a SAE solar plugin on the box as well. When I'm done, I'll post some pictures.

[JeffKim]

Here's a few pictures of the end result. I also added a strap to keep the batteries from sliding around. I screwed in drawer handles to use as anchor points and stuck a 3/4" board behind the batteries to take up the slack.

[field & stream]

Very nice!