195 RBW - Relocating Battery to Inside?

[MrKABC]

Hoo boy this is going to be FUN!!! Take a look at what's behind the WFCO! Spaghetti, anyone?

Also, this is what I am thinking as far as battery placement. A short run under the floor from the busbars to the cabinet, tie in to the panel, and all will be good.

[JLBird]

MrKABC, When people post pictures like your of the miserable wiring I hope it embarrasses the folks at Jayco. There is no excuse for that. I have a Jayco 16MBR that we really enjoy and I am getting ready to do a similar upgrade. I have purchased Victron Lynx Distributor, Lynx Power In, 500A Smart Shunt, Blue Smart IP22 Charger, Orion TR Smart DC-DC Charger; GoPower ISW 2000w Inverter, GP-TS30 Transfer Switch, GP-PWM-30-UL Controller; Progressive Dynamics EMS-HW30C; 400w Solar panels and 4ea Expert Power 50AH LiFePO4 batteries. And the thing that scares me the most is that rats nest of wires behind the Converter. Not sure how to handle it...land all the wires on post terminals, use Wagos, DINN rail and push terminals, maybe butt connectors?????? I think I am going to watch your progress for ideas and inspiration. Good luck to you.

[deepsea5]

Originally Posted by MrKABC

Hoo boy this is going to be FUN!!! Take a look at what's behind the WFCO! Spaghetti, anyone?

Also, this is what I am thinking as far as battery placement. A short run under the floor from the busbars to the cabinet, tie in to the panel, and all will be good.

Good God, looking at that spaghetti wire job makes my brain hurt!

Eliminating all the extra miles of wire should net you a 200 pound load rating increase on the camper!

[MrKABC]

It's going to be a fun job that's for sure! I do have WAGO connections, trusty crimper and soldering iron ready to go.

You would think that someone would be embarrassed by the wiring job but somehow I doubt it. The good news is it looks like a I'll have plenty of spare wire to add to my collection!

My Progressive Dynamics panel showed up yesterday so I'm ready to rock and roll! I'll post my results here. This will be fun, right?

[MrKABC]

Panel changeover is in progress! As you can see, it's spaghetti back there. I'm going to clean all of it up first before installing the Progressive Dynamics panel. Overall, it's pretty simple stuff:

• 3 Romex AC circuits
• 5 DC circuits (F2-F6 in the WFCO panel)
• Shore Power connections to the AC side

I have a bunch of random wire nuts connecting wires that are unrelated to the panel, not sure what that is all about. I'm going to solder/heatshrink/wrap those in the cleanup process. I also need to run the Victron wire from the wall above the sink to the new "battery compartment" to accommodate the new BMV gauge.

I also need to install the wiring box up front (Bob K, I have the same wiring box you do!) when I remove the cables going to the battery. BOB K, I recall that you made a wiring error with the brake switch, can you tell me what that was again before I take this all apart as well?

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by MrKABC

BOB K, I recall that you made a wiring error with the brake switch, can you tell me what that was again before I take this all apart as well?

I accidentally connected the breakaway switch directly to the positive and negative terminals in the junction box (a dead short). That let the magic smoke out of the breakaway switch.

https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...tml#post910115

[MrKABC]

We have a heartbeat! Need to finish wiring up the Progressive Dynamics panel tomorrow.

Front box needs to be finished, and then that data cable that refuses to be fished through the wall is last. Almost there!

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by MrKABC

We have a heartbeat! Need to finish wiring up the Progressive Dynamics panel tomorrow.

Front box needs to be finished, and then that &^@$%^ data cable that refuses to be fished through the wall is last. Almost there!

Now that's a thing of beauty. I like how you mounted the busbars vertically. I thought about that, too. After the fact, of course.

[MrKABC]

Thank you sir! Almost there!

Progressive Dynamics panel in, all working well. AC power good, DC circuits all check out. Lithium batteries at 100%. Charge voltage good for Lithium.

Just need to do the box at front like Bob's setup and it's a wrap! Dry glamping this weekend, that's the test!

[MrKABC]

PD panel charges LiPo batteries just fine on shore power. So far so good!

[MrKABC]

LiPo battery after 2 days of boondocking running lights, Hengs bathroom fan, and water pump:

[bluztoo]

Sweet. That sense of security when boondocking is what it is all about.

[MrKABC]

OK, a couple of updates for those (if any) following this thread:

ISSUE ONE: When I use the master switch to shut down the trailer, the Victron BMV monitor "forgets" what the fully charged voltage is and assumes the next time it is powered up that it's 100%. Not true. I shut down my trailer at about 88% or so, and waited to charge after a few days. Power the trailer back up at the switch, and the Victron app now reports batteries at 100%. I know this isn't true, because when I connect to shore power the converter is charging the batteries like crazy (fan going, 300+ watts being sent to the batteries, volt meter reporting 14.xVDC). Guess I need to RTFM to see why it is "forgetting" the fully charged setting. (yes I did set in the app when I first installed the Victron).

ISSUE TWO: My red LED marker lights at the top rear of the trailer are lit very faintly when powered up. Just the marker lights only, no tails or any other lights. The Victron reports a VERY slight current drain (<1w). The lights are on very dimly, then grow a bit brighter over 2-3 minutes, then go out for about 15 seconds or so. Then they light back up, and the cycle repeats. I am suspecting a bad or imperfect ground somewhere. I'll start with the white wires in my Pollak box, and then start working backwards from the source to those red lights (I think brown wire?). No other lights or functionality is impacted.

If anyone has any quick ideas that might save me a lot of diagnostic effort. Anyone?

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by MrKABC

OK, a couple of updates for those (if any) following this thread:

ISSUE ONE: When I use the master switch to shut down the trailer, the Victron BMV monitor "forgets" what the fully charged voltage is and assumes the next time it is powered up that it's 100%. Not true. I shut down my trailer at about 88% or so, and waited to charge after a few days. Power the trailer back up at the switch, and the Victron app now reports batteries at 100%. I know this isn't true, because when I connect to shore power the converter is charging the batteries like crazy (fan going, 300+ watts being sent to the batteries, volt meter reporting 14.xVDC). Guess I need to RTFM to see why it is "forgetting" the fully charged setting. (yes I did set in the app when I first installed the Victron).

I experience this, too, because the small red wire that powers the SmartShunt is connected to the positive busbar...which is downstream from the battery master breaker. When I trip that breaker, it turns off power to the SmartShunt, and I believe it forgets where it's at, if you will.

I don't worry too much about it because I know I'm going to charge it to 100% before I depart, so it'll just say "100%" until it truly gets charged to 100%, and then it'll start counting down properly as electrons leave the batts.

One solution would be to power the SmartShunt directly off the battery, but then you'll always have a tiny load on the batts. I don't see a workaround, but I'm all ears to other solutions.

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by MrKABC

ISSUE TWO: My red LED marker lights at the top rear of the trailer are lit very faintly when powered up. Just the marker lights only, no tails or any other lights. The Victron reports a VERY slight current drain (<1w). The lights are on very dimly, then grow a bit brighter over 2-3 minutes, then go out for about 15 seconds or so. Then they light back up, and the cycle repeats. I am suspecting a bad or imperfect ground somewhere. I'll start with the white wires in my Pollak box, and then start working backwards from the source to those red lights (I think brown wire?). No other lights or functionality is impacted.

Uh oh. Does that happen when the tow vehicle is off but the lights are turned on? (I'm thinking about vibration that could be affecting a connection).

That seems too cyclic to be an intermittent bad ground. My thoughts are:

1. Something's mis-wired and your truck is sending goofy voltage down that circuit. (My 2017 Tacoma made my lights do all kinds of weird things when I had one light circuit mis-wired in the Pollack junction box.)

2. Do you know if your tow vehicle has a self-resetting circuit breaker for that particular circuit? Maybe there's something mis-wired or a short causing the breaker to trip and reset as soon as it cools down. I know modern vehicles have some pretty wild electrical protection features that might be kicking in because of a mis-wire.

[ttavasc]

Originally Posted by Bob K

I experience this, too, because the small red wire that powers the SmartShunt is connected to the positive busbar...which is downstream from the battery master breaker. When I trip that breaker, it turns off power to the SmartShunt, and I believe it forgets where it's at, if you will.

I don't worry too much about it because I know I'm going to charge it to 100% before I depart, so it'll just say "100%" until it truly gets charged to 100%, and then it'll start counting down properly as electrons leave the batts.

One solution would be to power the SmartShunt directly off the battery, but then you'll always have a tiny load on the batts. I don't see a workaround, but I'm all ears to other solutions.

This is how Victron Energy details in the SmartShunt/BMV-712 manual to make the positive side connection - directly to the positive terminal.

"3. Connect the ferrule pin of the red cable with fuse to the shunt by pushing the pin into to the “Vbatt +” terminal.

4. Connect the M10 terminal of the red cable with fuse to the positive terminal of the battery."

That is how I wired my BMV-712 and the draw is extremely small - almost doesn't register. I would re-wire the positive side per the manual in order to get the expected results from the unit.

[MrKABC]

Originally Posted by Bob K

Uh oh. Does that happen when the tow vehicle is off but the lights are turned on? (I'm thinking about vibration that could be affecting a connection).

That seems too cyclic to be an intermittent bad ground. My thoughts are:

1. Something's mis-wired and your truck is sending goofy voltage down that circuit. (My 2017 Tacoma made my lights do all kinds of weird things when I had one light circuit mis-wired in the Pollack junction box.)

2. Do you know if your tow vehicle has a self-resetting circuit breaker for that particular circuit? Maybe there's something mis-wired or a short causing the breaker to trip and reset as soon as it cools down. I know modern vehicles have some pretty wild electrical protection features that might be kicking in because of a mis-wire.

1) Weird thing is when I did the panel and the Pollak box I changed each wire "1 for 1" meaning I did them in series to avoid the breakaway switch mishap that you reported. Right now the trailer is hooked up to shore power and it's doing it. It also did it when it was only on battery (boondocking).

2) The only changes I made at the Pollak box were the elimination of the +/- wires to the front mounted battery box, adding a permanent connection to the "+" wire to the tongue jack, and removing the bare copper wire that had been connected to the white wires going to ground. I'm wondering if I have an issue with the PD 4135 converter.

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by MrKABC

1) Weird thing is when I did the panel and the Pollak box I changed each wire "1 for 1" meaning I did them in series to avoid the breakaway switch mishap that you reported. Right now the trailer is hooked up to shore power and it's doing it. It also did it when it was only on battery (boondocking).

2) The only changes I made at the Pollak box were the elimination of the +/- wires to the front mounted battery box, adding a permanent connection to the "+" wire to the tongue jack, and removing the bare copper wire that had been connected to the white wires going to ground. I'm wondering if I have an issue with the PD 4135 converter.

1. Your market lights would be on the same circuit as your tail lights (i.e. running lights) and all of the other marker lights around the trailer. That would lead me to believe the problem is on the length of wire feeding just those marker lights. Maybe they're downstream from the tail lights. It could be a bad connection where your tail lights are spliced into the harness. You mentioned, too, that you have some LEDs out in your tail lights. I wonder if that's a symptom of a larger problem that might be affecting your marker lights, too.

2. I don't think you could have a problem with the new converter because I don't think the taillight/marker light circuit even goes to the converter. In order for it to be a converter-induced problem, there'd have to be a way for DC voltage from the converter to get into that circuit. The only connections I know of for that marker light circuit are in the front junction box (and grounds to the frame, of course).

2a. But wait a second, you said the marker lights are lighting up while you're on SHORE power and the trailer isn't plugged into the tow vehicle? And NO other lights are coming on? Unless you've got some fancy feature in your trailer that lets you turn on all the trailer marker lights while you're on shore power, then I would indeed be looking in the converter area for a bad connection. Does the marker light problem happen when you're just on batts (and no generator)? Any chance there's bleed-over from a + wire in the junction box over to the taillight connection/stud?

Point is, how in the world is + voltage getting into the marker light circuit and lighting up just a FEW lights on that circuit when the truck isn't hooked up and you're on shore power??? You'd have to be getting power into that circuit just upstream of those particular marker lights.