Lithium battery replacement

[evanc.sg5]

Hello all, I've searched the forums here for information as well as looked online for answers but wanted to post here to try to get more direct advice for my situation. I have a Northpoint 2020 377RLBH and the batteries are getting on 5 years old and I noticed the electronics are not as peppy as before so I thought it would be time to replace the batteries.

So I was looking at this one: Amazon.com
But wanted to make sure it was compatible. Some of my searches brought up that the inverter has to be prepared for it and handle the proper charging voltage. Though I think the only downside to it not is that it doesn't charge the batter all the way. It seems the charging volts for that battery is 14.6V.

I tried to look on mine but couldn't really find a clear answer for it. I've included pictures of it here as well. In this thread [ 2024 210QBW Lithium Battery Upgrade ] I saw DavKath21 post on 12/29/2022 with pics of the board with a switch to change it over. I did find that place on my board but there isn't an actual switch.

Located this site for a possible replacement inverter, but wasn't certain if I needed one or not yet: lithium-converter-replacement-units - Progressive Dynamics

So any advice would be welcome
Thanks
Evan

 

[Learjet]

hard to tell in that pic...but it looks like there is a very tiny switch where it says LI and LA.

Battery looks fine to me, don't forget to click the $100 coupon.

I went with two of theses...Vatrer 12V 300AH Bluetooth LiFePO4 Self Heating Lithium Battery

 

[Learjet]

also information here about switching your converter over...see attached doc.

 

[evanc.sg5]

Thanks for the document and the information. I looked again and there are nodes there for a switch, but one is not soldered in. I took a closer pic as well below. From the document I found the spot for the Wiz/LI jumper, but no actual jumper there. So on to the next part of the document it says that I could put a jumper on the two end pins for the harness cable and just get rid of the whole cable.

Naturally I don't have two pin jumpers just sitting around but the document said I could contact them for one. So I'll send a message through their contact point verifying it should work and see about getting a jumper for it.

Appreciate the info,
Evan

 

[F350guy-JAY]

I converted our 2020 Pinnacle to lithium and it had a PD converter/charger, maybe the same as your Northpoint. It had the LA/LI printed on the circuit board like yours but no switch. I decided not to mess with it and bought a separate Victron charger (there are cheaper ones). To keep the PD from trying to charge it I pulled the 3 25 amp fuses (I can see them in your picture) per PD's instructions. Wasn't the cheapest way to go but I knew the battery would be charged correctly. I did nothing with the inverter and it worked normally with the lithium.

We've since sold the Pinnacle but after deciding we weren't as ready to quit the rv life as we thought we ordered a travel trailer. I have a 230ah LiTime lithium sitting in our laundry room waiting for the trailer to arrive sometime next month. Supposedly it has a lithium friendly charger. We'll see.

 

[billcf7]

Do you not have a solar panel, that will charge your battery to 100%. Just leave your convertor set for lead acid, no problems.

 

[RogerR]

I got my Lithium from Renogy as I liked the USA based guarantee. No problems in 3 years and love the Bluetooth battery system. It is great way to know exactly what the charge is, plus information about temperature, way it is being charged and a bunch of other information. Got my solar and MPPT charge controller. Never bothered to worry about changing my onboard charging system as it will charge to 80% and solar does the rest!

 

[evanc.sg5]

Do you not have a solar panel, that will charge your battery to 100%. Just leave your convertor set for lead acid, no problems.

I do not currently. I have been thinking about it though. And wondered about the notion of charging to 80%. I get mixed information on whether that is good or bad for a lithium battery.

 

[RogerR]

I called Renogy and they said it would not harm lithium batteries as they don't have a memory like NiCad batteries did. I went away totally after I got 200 watts of solar from Renogy. Now the solar brings my battery up to 100%. Effectively, the solar puts out a higher voltage than my older Rv charging system and that charges up with no interference from the RV charging system. Once the RV "senses" the higher voltage from the MPPT it quits charging and the MPPT does the job. When traveling the solar keeps the batteries up to 100% with no input from the tow vehicle.

 

[evanc.sg5]

Well I got it hooked up, instructions say that there will be an initial spark, but that still freaks me out

My rig isn’t charging it but I disconnected from shore power and it seemed happy to draw from it. Going to wait a few days for a reply back as to that jumper situation but I did go ahead and buy a solar panel for charging it. Thought that would be good to have anyway

 

[evanc.sg5]

Hmm well more in my ongoing saga I'm having trouble locating the solar controller for this setup. I can see the ports on the roof for the panel itself, but usually there would be some type of solar controller that would be between it and the actual battery.

Contacted Jayco and they said: "The unit VIN provided has a BMPRO system with the 7” touchscreen controller. The solar controller placement would be behind the false panel on the door side of the pass through next to the BMPRO node. "

Which I found the BMPRO node but nothing around it screamed solar controller or hook ups for the solar controller. Does anyone have theirs in that spot? Or can show me a picture of it so I can find it?

I am contacting them back through in order to check up on it and sent them pics of what I did see.

 

[Nevr2late]

Our is a Go Power 30a MPPT Solar controller. Hard to miss as it says solar controller on it. It’s mounted right next to the node. Its a gray box about 4.25” x 7.5” x about 2” thick.

 

[evanc.sg5]

Thanks for the reply, if this is what you have [ https://www.etrailer.com/Solar-Charge-Controllers/Go-Power/GP72RR.html?feed=npn&utm_id=361626613&msclkid=01b1d489829611d5affbb35fbc64e6bc&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Bing | Shop - Solar Charge Controllers&utm_term=4577610508037385&utm_content=30 - 60 ] then I didn't see anything like that down there. Is this where it is supposed to be?

The other area it might be is more near the touchscreen controller more inside the rig (the the controller is also called a node), but that doesn't seem to be described by Jayco support. I haven't tried to take any of those panels off but they didn't seem to be easily removable. I might look more in the morning.

 

[Nevr2late]

That does not look like my node rat nest at all and yes, that is my solar controller. I have the Overlander II.

 

[Rodney27505]

Our 21' Northpoint was "solar ready" which just means it had the port on the roof and wire. The wires were in the wall behind the BMPro tablet, actually had a sticker when we bought it showing to mount the solar controller just above the tablet

 

[evanc.sg5]

Our 21' Northpoint was "solar ready" which just means it had the port on the roof and wire. The wires were in the wall behind the BMPro tablet, actually had a sticker when we bought it showing to mount the solar controller just above the tablet

Thanks Rodney, I’ll pull that panel out and look. That is what I was expecting somewhere, just a set of wires with stickers on them saying this way to panels and this way to batteries.

 

[evanc.sg5]

Thanks Rodney, I’ll pull that panel out and look. That is what I was expecting somewhere, just a set of wires with stickers on them saying this way to panels and this way to batteries.

Victory my friend, exactly what I was looking for

 

[evanc.sg5]

Well it appears we are at the end of this project Got the panel installed on the roof, the controller installed inside and the battery in the bay and it says charging. So all seems good. Now to see how long the rig can last after it gets a full charge and perhaps buy a second battery and/or solar panel. Eh we will see, maybe both.

Thanks everyone for the pointers, advice and direction it really helped out and probably wouldn't have gotten done with it.

 

[billcf7]