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Winnebago "Full Campers" / Re: Winnebago AUX/house battery, solar thread.
« on: June 24, 2016, 07:59:25 pm »
Solar connector takes the place of the old battery box vent (LifePO4 needs no venting)
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17
Winnebago "Full Campers" / Re: Winnebago AUX/house battery, solar thread.
« on: June 24, 2016, 07:58:12 pm »
Monitor and battery switch installed on back of passenger side cabinet:
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Winnebago "Full Campers" / Re: Winnebago AUX/house battery, solar thread.
« on: June 24, 2016, 07:57:14 pm »
And the battery box closed up
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Winnebago "Full Campers" / Re: Winnebago AUX/house battery, solar thread.
« on: June 24, 2016, 07:55:59 pm »
The finished battery box, with the lithium cells. If it looks like a lot of wiring, it's because I wanted a bus for both the positive and negative connections (to be able to cut off the solar generation with the same master battery switch and for possible future accessories) and the battery switch adds a cable or two. Plus there is a shunt inside the box for the monitor - sits between the negative battery terminal and the chassis ground, and has a connection to the positive terminal
20
Winnebago "Full Campers" / Re: Winnebago AUX/house battery, solar thread.
« on: June 24, 2016, 07:50:47 pm »
I can start with some resources. For the Eurovan mods, these are all excellent:
http://www.rotblattsculpture.com/eurovanbatteryin.html
http://1705.net/archives/466
http://xochi.com/evc/battery-charger/
Plus AlbertR's material in this very thread.
Specific to Lithium cells,
http://www.technomadia.com/lithium/ - START HERE - these folks are early adopters of LifePO4 for coach batteries, and true DIY-ers. They have other resources on their site
http://store.evtv.me/index.php - This is where I bought my 180ah cells. Their core business is EV conversion support, but they will happily sell you just a few cells and they have great documentation.
http://www.bestconverter.com/PD9180AL-80-Amp-12-volt-Lithium-Ion-ConverterCharger_p_607.html#.V23ix5MrJsM This is the converter i settled on. Works great
http://shop.pkys.com/Victron-Energy-BMV700-Precision-Battery-Monitor_p_2810.html?gclid=COXEuumHws0CFVBffgodsh4E6g This is the battery monitor. BTW, Peter Kennedy Yacht Services (PKYS) despite the name, has very competitive prices.
http://www.rotblattsculpture.com/eurovanbatteryin.html
http://1705.net/archives/466
http://xochi.com/evc/battery-charger/
Plus AlbertR's material in this very thread.
Specific to Lithium cells,
http://www.technomadia.com/lithium/ - START HERE - these folks are early adopters of LifePO4 for coach batteries, and true DIY-ers. They have other resources on their site
http://store.evtv.me/index.php - This is where I bought my 180ah cells. Their core business is EV conversion support, but they will happily sell you just a few cells and they have great documentation.
http://www.bestconverter.com/PD9180AL-80-Amp-12-volt-Lithium-Ion-ConverterCharger_p_607.html#.V23ix5MrJsM This is the converter i settled on. Works great
http://shop.pkys.com/Victron-Energy-BMV700-Precision-Battery-Monitor_p_2810.html?gclid=COXEuumHws0CFVBffgodsh4E6g This is the battery monitor. BTW, Peter Kennedy Yacht Services (PKYS) despite the name, has very competitive prices.
21
Winnebago "Full Campers" / Re: Winnebago AUX/house battery, solar thread.
« on: June 22, 2016, 10:47:12 pm »
OK - it's all together and seems to work. I need to perform a couple of run-down tests. Loving the Victron monitor - pricey, but really cool tracking of amp-hours in and out of battery. I have been trying to post the build process with pics but the cavevan server keeps errorring out. I have notified Cole
22
Exterior / Re: T4/Eurovans with custom paint!
« on: June 10, 2016, 08:59:01 am »
Just appeared on Thesamba June 2016: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1937163
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Winnebago "Full Campers" / Re: Winnebago AUX/house battery, solar thread.
« on: June 08, 2016, 01:37:47 pm »
The rub is that with the Lithium batteries, I can charge them at a very high DC amperage (as high as 300a DC / roughly 30a AC), so I want a faster charger when I'm on shore power, so the Progressive Dynamics charger I'm installing is 80a DC. But the OEM battery fusing is 40a DC. One cable in & out. So what would be nice is to have a switch between charge and discharge, and fuse accordingly, but that adds cost and operational complexity, tradeoffs, etc.
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Winnebago "Full Campers" / Re: Winnebago AUX/house battery, solar thread.
« on: June 07, 2016, 05:14:53 pm »
And so far my least favorite design attribute of the winnebago implementation: what the wiring diagram refers to simply as an 'isolated stud' - this is the common post that ties together the output from the alternator and charger with the positive battery cable and the 12v circuit breaker panel.
25
Winnebago "Full Campers" / Re: Winnebago AUX/house battery, solar thread.
« on: June 07, 2016, 05:09:43 pm »
For reference - I hadn't seen the Winnebago coach wiring diagram posted on this thread. It is almost 100% correct for my 99. Here it is.
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Winnebago "Full Campers" / Re: Winnebago AUX/house battery, solar thread.
« on: June 04, 2016, 06:20:27 pm »
Well I decided to pull the trigger on LifePO4 - will post as the components come in and I install. While I flirted with a coach electrical system redesign, the dollars for what I had in mind started adding up too fast, so I backed off and am treating this strictly as a repair of the failed Magnetek and house battery. Even so, it is pricey. LifePO4 definitely has traction in the yacht world, and is gaining traction in the Class A motorhome world.
My goal is to be able to keep the Vitrifrigo cold, run the lights at night, and charge devices, for at least 3 days without starting the engine or accessing shore power. Design-wise the battery capacity can scale up later without throwing the first build out, but using Solar to recharge anything bigger than what I'm planning isn't practical.
So here's the plan: get a *usable* 144Ah (when new) out of the following:
4x 180Ah 3.2v LifePO4 cells wired in series
Progressive Dynamics PD9180AL 80 Amp, 12 volt, Lithium Ion Converter/Charger
Victron BMV700 Battery Monitor
BlueSea 6006200 Battery Switch
Zamp RoofSide Solar Port (hardwired into charge controller)
Zamp portable solar system (size TBD)
This design will require no metal cutting, and the LifePO4 cells are so small they will fit inside the OEM battery box. I'm buying cells (vs. a pack) to save money. There is much discussion as to whether you need a battery management system and balancing tools when you assemble these cells into packs. I'm buying from a supplier that serves the custom electric vehicle market, and they are confident that for what I'm doing I can just wire them up in series and hook up to a charger. More to come! This is my early-summer project
My goal is to be able to keep the Vitrifrigo cold, run the lights at night, and charge devices, for at least 3 days without starting the engine or accessing shore power. Design-wise the battery capacity can scale up later without throwing the first build out, but using Solar to recharge anything bigger than what I'm planning isn't practical.
So here's the plan: get a *usable* 144Ah (when new) out of the following:
4x 180Ah 3.2v LifePO4 cells wired in series
Progressive Dynamics PD9180AL 80 Amp, 12 volt, Lithium Ion Converter/Charger
Victron BMV700 Battery Monitor
BlueSea 6006200 Battery Switch
Zamp RoofSide Solar Port (hardwired into charge controller)
Zamp portable solar system (size TBD)
This design will require no metal cutting, and the LifePO4 cells are so small they will fit inside the OEM battery box. I'm buying cells (vs. a pack) to save money. There is much discussion as to whether you need a battery management system and balancing tools when you assemble these cells into packs. I'm buying from a supplier that serves the custom electric vehicle market, and they are confident that for what I'm doing I can just wire them up in series and hook up to a charger. More to come! This is my early-summer project
27
Winnebago "Full Campers" / Re: Winnebago AUX/house battery, solar thread.
« on: June 03, 2016, 12:34:52 pm »
Has anyone successfully converted house battery to LifePO4? I'm in the middle of replacing my failed Magnetek, have the whole back end of the van disassembled, and now I need to commit to the new build.
Options are *roughly*
2x 250ah 6v Flooded Lead Acid at about $150 each = $300; ruled out for laziness and safety
2x 250ah 6v AGM at a little under $300 each = $600; highly available well-known charging equipment
2x 100ah 6v LifePo4 at a little over $600 each; Plus maybe battery mgmt and a DC-DC LifePO4 charger
(there are those who claim 100ah of LifePO4 is more capacity than 250ah of AGM)
LifePO4 seems like it is clearly the future, but very bleeding edge right now. The expedition portal forums have people who are just starting to make the switch. Given the upfront cost, it takes a pretty big leap of faith.
The (supposed) upside is that LifePO4 has much deeper depth of discharge than AGM (down to 20% or less vs. 50%) and LifePO4 gives you full voltage until it is empty. And, WEIGHT is perhaps 1/3 that of AGM!
While I hesitate to drop $600 on the AGMs that I may regret in two years. Wondering if anyone has made this work.
Options are *roughly*
2x 250ah 6v Flooded Lead Acid at about $150 each = $300; ruled out for laziness and safety
2x 250ah 6v AGM at a little under $300 each = $600; highly available well-known charging equipment
2x 100ah 6v LifePo4 at a little over $600 each; Plus maybe battery mgmt and a DC-DC LifePO4 charger
(there are those who claim 100ah of LifePO4 is more capacity than 250ah of AGM)
LifePO4 seems like it is clearly the future, but very bleeding edge right now. The expedition portal forums have people who are just starting to make the switch. Given the upfront cost, it takes a pretty big leap of faith.
The (supposed) upside is that LifePO4 has much deeper depth of discharge than AGM (down to 20% or less vs. 50%) and LifePO4 gives you full voltage until it is empty. And, WEIGHT is perhaps 1/3 that of AGM!
While I hesitate to drop $600 on the AGMs that I may regret in two years. Wondering if anyone has made this work.
28
Winnebago "Full Campers" / Re: Winnebago AUX/house battery, solar thread.
« on: July 22, 2015, 09:14:02 pm »
BobB thanks for the link to 1705.net. AlbertR has out me on the trail of dirty 12v power as a reason that my vitrifrigo may be cycling too frequently. Definitely going to do that converter upgrade, and replace the bad relay on my furnace while I am at it.
29
Winnebago "Full Campers" / Re: Interior Mods, Gadgets, or Additions
« on: June 12, 2015, 10:38:09 am »The pop-top fabric/design is quite good - the fabric is Sunforger Marine "Boat Shrunk" 100% Cotton Canvas 10 ounce - a fabric used by tent makers, as it is breathable, and is impregnated with water repellent. The 3 windows allow for great ventilation, and the ability to unzip the front screen to access what is stored in the luggage rack is very handy (like to access your storage box: http://1705.net/archives/104 )The fabric does seem quite high quality. What I don't like (and would attempt to remedy) is how fussy it is to keep out of the way of the latches when you are lowering it (westfalia designed this much better, at least on the EV Weekender), and how mildew stains are very difficult to remove. I *think* what happened to mine is that the tent was lowered wet one or more times, not allowed to dry, and mildew set in, staining the front of it pretty well.
30
Winnebago "Full Campers" / Re: Interior Mods, Gadgets, or Additions
« on: June 10, 2015, 09:29:08 pm »
42pvan - True - that pop-top (including tent, latching mechanism...especially the latching mechanism) is really inferior to the westfalia. I've been thinking about making my own tent, as mine has seen better days. My sewing machine can sew ballistic nylon, so I don't have a materials problem. The way the tent attaches to the roof and poptup looks very straightforward. Some day......