2020 Globetrotter battery upgrade

[Rdfarrow]

I just want to switch to LiFePO4 batteries without breaking the bank. My 23’FBT already has solar. What equipment do I need to change out? Thanks in advance to you smart guys and gals!

[tominphx]

The first thing to consider would be your battery charger, LiFePo4 have a different charge profile that lead acid and AGM. Second would be your solar charge controller if it isn't lithium compatible, again its the charge profile thing. From there on it's all the bells and whistles you want to through at it to meet you needs.

Cheers, Tom

[JeffKim]

Adding to @tom, you can check your charger and some of the older WFCOs are upgradeable to lithium, but do not get the WFCO AD (auto-detect). It doesn't work very well. I went with all Victron equipment with our lithium upgrade since it all plays together.

With batteries I don't think top of the line batteries like Battle Born are worth the money. We don't camp enough to have many duty cycles and justify the cost. If you search the forums a lot of people like the Epoch 300Ah battery which fits in the battery box. There are also Renogy minis that will fit 300Ah. I have 4x100Ah HQST ($150ea) which I moved inside under the curbside twin. We have a 12V refrigerator which is the biggest drain but if you have an absorption refrigerator (?) I'd guess the 300Ah is pretty good.

With lithium it's difficult to monitor them based on voltage. Most of the new lithium batteries have Bluetooth monitoring which works for many people. I have a Victron shunt to monitor battery state and voltage which is used to coordinate charging with my Victron charger and rooftop and external solar controllers and the DC-DC charger. So lots of options for adding other components.

If you have a Victron Blue solar controller I'd recommend replacing it with the Victron Smart which makes monitoring a lot easier via a Bluetooth app.

If you do a search in the forums you'll find a lot of threads dealing with lithium conversion and might either confuse you or give you some ideas.

[Rdfarrow]

Thanks. I am replacing the sun explorer solar controller with a victron smart controller and BMV 712 monitor. I have the WFCO 8955PEC-J which is not Lithium ready so I need to change the converter charger. Still shopping, need it to be budget friendly. Do you know if I have to pull out my refrigerator to get at it?

[waninae39]

Look into getting a victron multiplus converter/ inverter
And a cerbo monitoring system also

[jeffmc306]

Rdfarrow, you might want to reach out to PeterF66 who just installed an Epoch 300Ah battery in the factory battery box of his FC23. Check out his post #49 here.

He also wanted to keep it budget friendly and did the work himself.

Good luck with your project!

[PaulBristol]

Airstream has settled on over 800 amp hours of Battle Born lithium batteries installed under the floor of the 2025 Trade Wind.

The batteries are supported by 600 amp hours of flexible panels mounted on the roof. Even though mine have maxed out at about 400 amps peak, they have been enough that we have not been plugged in for 2 weeks in Texas. We have not had to run our generator at all.

Running furnace at night and compressor refrigerator all day, the batteries have never dropped below 75%.

In Wisconsin, things are different. The Battle Born's lasted 5 days with significant reserves running the furnace and refrigerator day and night in February. Solar panels never exceeded 160 amps peak on any day. We used a little more than one 30# tank of propane mostly for heat.

[kb0zke]

Paul, your experience is exactly what I wanted to hear. Do I understand correctly that you spent five days in Wisconsin in February and still were able to get by without using a generator or plugging in?

[PaulBristol]

You are correct. No generator or shore power.