195 RBW - Relocating Battery to Inside?

[01tundra]

Originally Posted by ttavasc

Even though the Victron Orion-TR devices have an ignition detection feature I went the rather old-school route of installing an ignition-switched 85 amp continuous duty solenoid next to the truck battery which ensures there is no opportunity for the truck battery to be drained when connected but not running. I also wired in a button for the remote on/off feature for maintenance and troubleshooting purposes.

Outside of the lithium batteries you have installed our systems are very similar as I also have a 200w solar suitcase with VE MPPT 100/20 controller and a PD4655VL converter. We'll find out how well things work next week as we head out for about 10 days without hookups.

I thought about installing a solenoid as well, may go back and add it.

[brwarrior]

What did you guys use for the solenoid?

[ttavasc]

Originally Posted by brwarrior

What did you guys use for the solenoid?

This is the one I used with the VE Orion-TR Smart 12/12-30 unit:

Cole Hersee 85a Continuous Duty

[01tundra]

Originally Posted by ttavasc

This is the one I used with the VE Orion-TR Smart 12/12-30 unit:

Cole Hersee 85a Continuous Duty

I just order this one, should work for my application -

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[brwarrior]

Thank you very much.

[01tundra]

Originally Posted by ttavasc

This is the one I used with the VE Orion-TR Smart 12/12-30 unit:

Cole Hersee 85a Continuous Duty

Any idea how many amps the coil draws? I can’t find any info anywhere.

[01tundra]

I decided to go with this instead, only pulls one amp.

NVX 80 Amp Mobile Audio Relay Battery Isolator [BIR80] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EFCV0JE..._IhywFb8MSE6G4

[ttavasc]

Originally Posted by 01tundra

Any idea how many amps the coil draws? I can’t find any info anywhere.

According to Cole Hersee their 12V continuous duty solenoids draw about 0.7 amps:

Cole Hersee FAQ

[MrKABC]

Wow. Clearly I have a LOT to learn...

[01tundra]

I ended up installing the solenoid linked below, the one I posted above is junk....

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[01tundra]

Originally Posted by ttavasc

Even though the Victron Orion-TR devices have an ignition detection feature I went the rather old-school route of installing an ignition-switched 85 amp continuous duty solenoid next to the truck battery which ensures there is no opportunity for the truck battery to be drained when connected but not running. I also wired in a button for the remote on/off feature for maintenance and troubleshooting purposes.

Outside of the lithium batteries you have installed our systems are very similar as I also have a 200w solar suitcase with VE MPPT 100/20 controller and a PD4655VL converter. We'll find out how well things work next week as we head out for about 10 days without hookups.

I don't see how I could possibly get this function to work properly with our particular set up.

Our GMC truck alternator will put out between 12.5-15.5V and will often run in the 12.5-12.6V range while driving.

The voltage at the DC charger is as low as 12.2V with the voltage drop in the wiring.

So I set the voltage lockout at 12.1V lockout and 12.2V restart.

The make the engine detection operate properly, I'd have to set the Engine Shutdown Detection at 12.4V shutdown and 12.6V restart. If I set it higher then the charger will be off a lot of the time while driving if the truck batteries are fully charged.

So if my truck batteries are fully charged at 12.7-12.8V and the truck is turned off, the trailer would have to bleed the truck batteries down to 12.1V before the charger would shut off.

[ttavasc]

Originally Posted by 01tundra

I don't see how I could possibly get this function to work properly with our particular set up.

Our GMC truck alternator will put out between 12.5-15.5V and will often run in the 12.5-12.6V range while driving.

The voltage at the DC charger is as low as 12.2V with the voltage drop in the wiring.

So I set the voltage lockout at 12.1V lockout and 12.2V restart.

The make the engine detection operate properly, I'd have to set the Engine Shutdown Detection at 12.4V shutdown and 12.6V restart. If I set it higher then the charger will be off a lot of the time while driving if the truck batteries are fully charged.

So if my truck batteries are fully charged at 12.7-12.8V and the truck is turned off, the trailer would have to bleed the truck batteries down to 12.1V before the charger would shut off.

That was part of my concern as well. I'm sure there are situations where that would work well but I'm very happy with the solenoid set up. So far it's worked great on our current trip.

[01tundra]

Success! I removed the solenoid and ran a 1/0 jumper from the power post on the fire wall to the battery post fuse.

I finally got mine set up to work correctly. If you don't pay close attention, you may think that it's turning off on ignition detect but what it's really turning off on input voltage lockout and cycling back on once the battery voltage drifts back up to the restart value, it will continue to do this loop indefinitely if not set up correctly. The charger must turn off on engine shutdown detection before reaching the low voltage lockout.

The reason the low voltage lockout comes into play is that the charger has a 1 minute sampling time, so once you turn the vehicle off the charger is still activated pulling full amp draw on your starter battery, which can pull the voltage down quite a bit depending on the voltage drop in the circuit. It was pulling mine down to 11.4V.

Pay attention to the message "Charge is disabled due to:" that it gives after you turn the ignition off and the charger shuts down, if it says low voltage lockout it will turn off, but once off the battery voltage will float back up and can turn it back on.

It needs to read that the charge is disabled due to "engine shutdown detected".

This is not a plug-n-play compare notes kind of set up like the other Victron applications, it's totally dependent on your particular system and set up. It took me at least 10 full cycles to get it dialed in and then 5 more to confirm that it was operating at intended. It's working well now.

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by MrKABC

Wow. Clearly I have a LOT to learn...

What have you decided to do? I started my battery relocate earlier this week.

https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...tml#post907598

I'm waiting for a couple last cords to install a solar port on the side of the trailer. Then I can make all connections and juice the thing up.

[MrKABC]

Originally Posted by Bob K

What have you decided to do? I started my battery relocate earlier this week.

https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...tml#post907598

I'm waiting for a couple last cords to install a solar port on the side of the trailer. Then I can make all connections and juice the thing up.

I'm still laying back and watching how your build goes. Since I know just enough about wiring to be dangerous and solar is new to me I want to be sure I do what is RIGHT and not what seems to be a good idea. To buy time I purchased a Jackery 1000 power station/inverter to use in the meantime:

https://www.jackery.com/products/exp...SAAEgJN4fD_BwE

How did you get the main battery cables into your basement? Was there somewhere you just tied in to? I think that would be my first stop - battery relocation to the basement (with the Battle Borne battery x 2) and then solar capability following. I *love* the "solar port" you built in the front of the trailer.

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by MrKABC

How did you get the main battery cables into your basement? Was there somewhere you just tied in to?

The wires run from the new Pollak junction box on the front beam through the conduit hole in the beam, along the top of the corrugated belly cover, and up through an existing hole in the floor where the freshwater drain hose is. From there, I drilled a hole in the paneling separating the freshwater bay from the basement where the batteries are. To see what I was doing, I detached enough of the corrugated belly cover to permit me to push the wire toward the hole in the floor, and then I grabbed it from the topside with a piece of wire.

I *love* the "solar port" you built in the front of the trailer.

I was 5 seconds away from drilling a new hole all the way through the wall on the port side of the trailer because I thought that was my only/best option as a place to mount the charger port. Then I thought to myself, "You best take a couple minutes and see if there's a better option. I had, ironically, put rubber plugs in those unused conduit holes, so they were kind of "out of sight, out of mind" until I looked at them again and the lightbulb went on.

[flyfishMT]

This thread is right up my alley. I am looking at lithium batteries and have a 242BHS with a W8735P converter/charger that's built into the panel.

This trailer has the outside kitchen with the pull out sink and grill and had a 120V fridge next to that. I've removed the fridge since we're never on shore power and use that space for storage and it would be the perfect location for batteries.

I am electrically challenged so sorry if this sounds dumb, but I was thinking all I need to do is connect the batteries from here to same place the existing wiring goes - black wire to ground block, and red wire to panel?

Also, there's an AC Plug already wired back here for the fridge. Couldn't I just plug a lithium deck charger in here and leave the 8735P alone, would that hurt anything running 2 charges?

Finally, being at the end of the trailer is damaging my alternator still a concern? I'm good 50 feet from it at this point.

Sorry OP I can start another thread if this is too many ?s

[Bob K]

Hi, flyfish! Yes, I'd recommend starting a new thread.

[MrKABC]

Originally Posted by Bob K

Hi, flyfish! Yes, I'd recommend starting a new thread.

...but link to it here because the topic is fascinating.

I'm a year since my original post and still afraid to pull the trigger on this because I don't feel that I know enough about:

• Wiring a Lithium capable charge controller
• Adding an inverter
• Adding a solar charge controller (also Lithium)

I have installed car stereos and such since the 1980s so this isn't my first rodeo with DC/AC wiring, but I see a lot of information out there that is just plain confusing to me - wire this to a shunt, do that to ensure your batteries don't overheat, add this meter, be careful of that so you don't have a fire, etc.

Still watching and learning - in the meantime I still have that little Group 24 wet on my A frame that really is looking forward to retirement...

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by MrKABC

...but link to it here because the topic is fascinating.

I'm a year since my original post and still afraid to pull the trigger on this because I don't feel that I know enough about:

Good to have you back in the forum though!