Lithium Battery Location 31F

uberpain21 · 06-01-2022, 05:07 PM

Looking at people's opinion to placing LiFePO4 batteries under the sleeper sofa in the 31F. Am I missing anything if they were installed there? I am looking at the eventual build-out of a solar rig be able to boondock 2 days with AC running. I would relocate the inverter charger their as well and run the 12v and 120v back to the power center under the rear bed but wondering if there is a need to build an enclosure around the batteries beyond a tray that would keep them stationary.

Any help is appreciated. Safe travels everyone.

CAG · 06-01-2022, 05:17 PM

Jayco already places most all of the electrical connections under the master bed in the 29 MVP which scares the hell out of me. One loose connection and a spark under where you are sleeping and the consequences are more than a little troubling. A battery of any kind, under me while I or someone else is sleeping well. Not for me.

uberpain21 · 06-01-2022, 05:22 PM

That's kind of why keeping the batteries away from the primary sleeping quarters (bunks and master bed) is attractive vs installing them under the bed. Granted there are 55 gallons of fuel, 40 lbs of propane I guess LiFePO4 is just another catalyst. Great lets not let the DW think about it that way.

Stavman · 06-01-2022, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uberpain21

Looking at people's opinion to placing LiFePO4 batteries under the sleeper sofa in the 31F. Am I missing anything if they were installed there? I am looking at the eventual build-out of a solar rig be able to boondock 2 days with AC running. I would relocate the inverter charger their as well and run the 12v and 120v back to the power center under the rear bed but wondering if there is a need to build an enclosure around the batteries beyond a tray that would keep them stationary.

Any help is appreciated. Safe travels everyone.

I'm more curious how many batteries to be able to run AC for two days????

CAG · 06-01-2022, 05:45 PM

alot

Stavman · 06-01-2022, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CAG

alot

Lol

Exactly what I was thinking

craigav · 06-01-2022, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stavman

I'm more curious how many batteries to be able to run AC for two days????

Get at least 4 and a big inverter along with a quiet generator that you can keep running in order to keep the batteries charged. I bet that would work. ~CA

Stavman · 06-01-2022, 06:50 PM

Butttttttt

That's not what he said

So curious of his plan

EJH · 06-01-2022, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uberpain21

Looking at people's opinion to placing LiFePO4 batteries under the sleeper sofa in the 31F. Am I missing anything if they were installed there? I am looking at the eventual build-out of a solar rig be able to boondock 2 days with AC running. I would relocate the inverter charger their as well and run the 12v and 120v back to the power center under the rear bed but wondering if there is a need to build an enclosure around the batteries beyond a tray that would keep them stationary.

Any help is appreciated. Safe travels everyone.

No need. Like you suggested, just a small tray to keep them stationary. LiFePo are as safe as a cell phone in your pocket.

pconroy · 06-02-2022, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uberpain21

be able to boondock 2 days with AC running

Any help is appreciated. Safe travels everyone.

As others have pointed out, we think you may have underestimated the amount of power an air conditioner consumes. You'd need a lot of large lithium batteries to run your AC for several hours. A couple of days, just strikes us as impractical.

That said, I'd probably toss my LiFePO4 batteries (if I had them) under the bed too.

mini4mw · 06-02-2022, 01:35 PM

I can run my 11k BTU and 13.5 BTU ACs which pull 23amps together for ~2hrs on a 24v 300ah LiFePo4. If I keep the 1600W solar input going and its relatively sunny I'll pull in 1300-1500W to keep the charge going and it will last for several hours. This setup is on an off-grid location, not the RV and I was load testing the solar by running the RV ACs.

That being said, if your battery location is the same as mine, I was measuring out removing the current battery tray, welding a new one together, securing to the floor like the current unit that was would fit 2 12v 300amp batteries. If I was serious I'd need to re-measure as it only had a few inches to spare. I figured creating a new tray vs re-wiring everything would be easier if it fits. Some of this also depends on how much you are changing. If you are replacing converter/charger with a system like Victron Multiplus, adding decent size solar array with controller, moving everything to a specific location is a much better idea, but I haven't found a good location to do all that. Each time I start going down that direction the time and money adds up and I go back to 'Don't fix it if it ain't broken'; it works well enough as is.

uberpain21 · 06-03-2022, 07:52 PM

Thank you everyone. Was a little tired posting this and absolutely 2 hours per day or 4 hours total. Was looking at 600 amp-hours of battery and 500W plus of solar. Has anyone had luck with flexible panels over time.

Stavman · 06-04-2022, 06:13 AM

The AC will run for about 30 min on a 100ah battery, so like 3hrs on 600ah

I'm no expert on solar but not sure the 500w will keep up with that draw on the batteries

Guess it depends on when u run the AC. If before bed, you'd have like 200ah left in the morning. So if in full sun, the solar should fully charge the batteries by night

I think..lol

CAG · 06-04-2022, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EJH

No need. Like you suggested, just a small tray to keep them stationary. LiFePo are as safe as a cell phone in your pocket.

Have you seen the videos of phones catching fire in peoples pants pockets? No battery is totally safe and standard flooded batteries blow up at times. I had one do that in my Tahoe and a friend had one blow up while standing over it in his car.

907-Jayco · 06-05-2022, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uberpain21

Looking at people's opinion to placing LiFePO4 batteries under the sleeper sofa in the 31F. Am I missing anything if they were installed there? I am looking at the eventual build-out of a solar rig be able to boondock 2 days with AC running. I would relocate the inverter charger their as well and run the 12v and 120v back to the power center under the rear bed but wondering if there is a need to build an enclosure around the batteries beyond a tray that would keep them stationary.

Any help is appreciated. Safe travels everyone.

We put ours in the battery bay under the step in our Greyhawk 29U. I don't love having them so far from the inverter (under the master bed) and someday want to relocate a larger inverter into the basement compartment closest to the entry door. That's where we have our solar module and DC-DC converter.

Good luck!

videoarizona · 06-08-2022, 01:58 PM

I have a similar plan to change over to lithium and move the battery location from front to the middle of the trailer. My issues is I'll need to install double fuses, double shut offs and a ground and hot buss bars.Then make sure that 12 volts is still going to the front of the trailer to power the winch and the emergency brake. I'm just not sure I'll have the room to put all these connections in the small area I was thinking of putting everything.
But to be sure, I don't worry too much about lithium batteries being a fire issue. If properly set up, there should never be an issue. Even a BMS failure should shut down the battery.
But we shall see...

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