RVing For The Rest Of Us: Replacing My Lead Acid With A Chins 200AH LIFEPO4 Smart Battery. Issues!

[@gtfg3800]

From a mechanic, keep an eye on those bolts holding your battery box to the frame. I would have used galvanized fender washers under the bolt heads to distribute the stress across the surface of the plastic. I suspect vibration will cause those bolts you installed to punch through the plastic in short order. Good luck & thanks for the video !

[@RandomStuff-zt6qf]

Just upgraded to 2x LiTime 200ah batteries and I moved the batteries from the tongue into the front bay. I did this because 1) now people cannot steal them and 2) it'll keep the batteries from freezing because you don't want to charge a frozen battery. I also have starlink, T-Mobile 5G, a 4500watt inverter and a 30amp receptacle all neatly tucked into the left side of the bay along with the batteries. This has also given me the benefit of being able to drop our WEN inverter generator on the tongue.

[@CalicoJackxx]

Thanks, excellent report

[@explorationsrenovations5982]

I experienced the same problem. I have the same exact solar controller and the same battery. I did 2 things to solve the problem. I moved the battery (all the other DC component) into the front storage compartment. Then I added a solar disconnect switch between the panels and the solar controller. This way if it ever gets too cold I just turn the switch and it prevents power from getting to the controller. It’s also required by the NEC and is extremely helpful (and kind of necessary) whenever you’re removing the battery. Lastly I installed the victron BMV712 battery monitor and smart shunt with temperature sensor. I found this to be a WAAAY more accurate measure of the temperature. Great video brother. I’m going to make one for my set up and the project I just did.

[@nascardreamin6184]

Finally, a channel like the rest of us with a budget.

[@jslaughter453]

Nice job on this. I totally agree with some of the KZbin how to with these ridiculous setups. I have a $40k trailer and I’m going to invest $10k or more to boondock for what 10 nights a year when I could just run my generator. Not realistic on the ROI folks. Simple setup to get buy a few nights here and there when not at full hookups is what’s needed for most. I purchased a Delta 2 just as solid backup and got myself a 100ah lithium to start. Likely add another next summer.

[@79Rybred]

Great video. I retired the drip coffee maker and now use a French Press and a Stanley thermos. Saves a ton of power and works well.

[@paulthomas7994]

At last, someone with a channel with a Roo!

[@kimmer6]

I put a not so smart 300AH Chins in my GMC van conversion. It works great. There is a 2000 watt inverter, 40 amp charge controller, 400 watts in solar panels, external Bluetooth monitor, and a Renogy battery meter in. Aside from camping, the van serves as a portable power outlet. I built a gate for an elderly lady with no power down at the end of her driveway. It ran my power tools, pancake air compressor, angle grinder, worm drive saw and paint sprayer. The kicker was that I used the van to power my Harbor Freight wire feed welder on Max setting to weld up the latch and hinges. No troubles running these things.

[@amham48]

Excellent information about the "quirks" not found elsewhere! I've used several Chin's LiFePO4 100Ah in parallel inhouse to power a backup sump pump system without faults (non Bluetooth/temp variety). Pleased with the quality for the "low" price.

[@briansleepylee]

Exactly the video I was looking for! I am going through this exact process and was having issues with how I was going to fit a large 200-300ah battery on the rails. I actually had the exact same battery box in my Amazon cart. Now I know I'll mount it. Thanks!

[@richardkoch8752]

This was a VERY well done video with easy to understand information!

[@graffix11us]

I would guess your battery shows a colder temp because it gets cold soaked overnight and then your insulation in the battery box is keeping it from warming up as the air temp warms up.

[@StevenPendleton]

You need to add a couple more solar panels if you are going to be camping without being plugged in. And if that's not possible move that battery inside or get a 12v heating pad and run it off your truck battery. Just be able to flip a switch like at 5am and warm that puppy up fast!

[@mattdagger1480]

Definitely! I’ve also seen people put the battery inside a storage box outside and they would put like a little shop light inside the cardio area where the battery is and just let that light heat up that space. If it’s in the winter months I think that would be a easy and cheap way to heat up the battery. But yours being outside idk how you’d go about that. I feel like placing the battery inside somewhere would solve most of your problems tho!

[@japhethwar]

Do yourself a favor and move the battery inside the rv. Lithium does not like cold. The one downfall of using them. Otherwise they are great. It is very important to get the correct Lithium charger/converter as well.

[@danielsnook5029]

My advice is to mount it inside the RV or somewhere the furnace can heat it. That’ll solve the heating issue.

[@ataleofthreecabins1025]

I may replace the 1000 watt inverter with a 2000 watt one day. If I do that I’ll have to get some thicker gauge wiring and that may be the best time to move the battery. Thanks for your input!

[@jeffhartman7545]

100%

[@ghostpepperrides4805]

Well said. I agree on all points. I’d love have fancy bigger then I need system $10,000. lol but no I will not get into that trap. These batteries should last at least 10 years. I will most likely sell before then. A good battery at less upfront cost is just fine.

[@omcbob37]

Great video, one of the best I've seen. I've been considering an upgrade to a 200ah lithium battery and until this video, I couldn't find a battery box that would accommodate both the battery physical dimensions as well as the space available on my trailer tongue.

[@carringtonsmith5398]

Hi Tom, glad to know I'm not the only one with this issue! We have the same battery with the same temperature sensor issue. They read several degrees too cold. Another related issue I found was that if you trigger the low temperature charging sensor, the battery actually will not start charging again until the sensor thinks the battery is at least 50F. I thought the battery would start charging once the sensor was above freezing. Oddly enough, once the battery reaches 50F, you can then charge it between 32-50F again. Curious if you can test yours to see if you have the same experience. Also, I think a full cycle count requires charging to near 100% and then discharging before 20%. If you just charge between roughly 20-80%, the cycle count does not increase... And finally, I did the same as you in my fifth wheel. I used the packaging to set the battery in to reduce the chance it will bang around. I also added a true battery shut off switch since even when my original battery disconnect switch was off, I was still getting some power use in the rig. Happy RV'ing!

[@ataleofthreecabins1025]

My cycle count did increase over a 2 month period. I left the battery on only powering the CO detector, occasionally the water pump and slide motor. It stayed over 95% most of the time with the solar topping it off daily and my cycle count increased by 3 over 2 months. I'm still bothered about the cold weather sensor issue as we plan on some chilly trips in the future. Being aware of it is better, then finding out during a trip. Take Care, Tom

[@randyschultz6594]

I really like that you used that treated wood. I did almost the same

[@eddielittleii8919]

All very useful and presented very well. Thank you.

[@sleepingbearffg5008]

Running heater sucks up the batteries for Shure. My batteries died and was Winter! Poor generater and 20 bucks a day for gas. Before I researched I replaced with agm. 2 batteries 100amp hour's so be 200. Replaced inverter to one with Smart charger. Can charge lipos and AGM. So will switch after I see how the AGM works,? Good video

[@jbennett3578]

Interesting information about the temperature quirks. I need to replace my old lead batteries, and I'm looking at lithium, but since I live in a poorly insulated bus, cold temperatures are a fact of life. (Down to 20 to 25F in here some mornings since I don't run the heater when I'm asleep.) After hearing your experience I wonder if it's worth getting a self-heated Chins battery. It might be better to just insulate the battery and put one of those RV water tank heating pads underneath. Maybe plug it into a timer so it starts heating an hour or so before sunrise. That way the heater could run off the battery instead of being powered through the solar charge controller. Or something like that. Anyway, thanks for giving me some things to think about as I shop. Happy trails!

[@HaroldMcDermott]

Look like the same battery as the mose battery 12v 200ah each got 2 200 ah sitting in delivery I just got to go pick them up but I need to order two more for 48 volts 200ah an 5kwh of storage to run my cabin, can't wait to start testing the 2 I have now and know it I should used a different brand

[@stuartstuart866]

It looks like your battery box may have hollow walls. Can you drill holes and spray in expanding foam for cold weather insulation? I’m with you, I want lithium for the benefits but don’t want to spend a fortune for support equipment. Do you have concerns about your alternator overheating to charge your lithium while driving? Some folks say get a DC to DC converter others say no, the small gauge wire in the 7 pin will reduce the amps enough so it’s a non issue, at least with a 100 AH lithium, not sure about 200 AH. Another RV owner suggested reptile warming pads to keep lithium batteries warm enough for charging. It sounds like a clever idea.

[@ataleofthreecabins1025]

Doesn't appear to be hollow, just thicker plastic than most battery boxes. There is plenty of room inside to insulate as I used the packing material in this case.

[@familyacres2021]

To bad they don’t have a way to calibrate the temp sensor on the battery. That would make it better. I have noticed that with some other things they never have an accurate temp.

[@BG-vq9fd]

Good to know

[@Yukonjackman1]

Nice video.

[@mark98070]

Did you add any kind of device to control the power coming off of your tow vehicles alternator while the camper is being towed? From what I've been reading the alternator can be burned-out or otherwise damaged while its charging lifepo4 batteries

[@paulabrotherton]

Did you ever upgrade the converter? How about the gauge of wire that runs from the converter to the battery? With that long of a run, at the voltage the converter runs to the lifepo battery, the wire that comes stock with the trailer is undersized. I’m getting ready to do my conversion to LiFePO and it’s enough to make your head spin!

[@ataleofthreecabins1025]

I haven't upgraded the inverter to be able to run a coffee maker so I didn't need to increase the gauge of wire yet. I have a portable power station capable of running our Keurig so we've been using that. Also we plug our starlink into the power station and the power station into the trailer. So if we are switching power from shore or generator the starlink doesn't have to reboot which can sometimes take 20 minutes.

[@lonewolfFirearms]

I wonder if the insulation you used in the box is interfering with the battery knowing what temp it is outside.

[@ataleofthreecabins1025]

Nope, I had the battery hooked up for a few weeks without the insulation, just a garbage bag to keep it dry. Temp readings were still off.

[@saberconstruction7224]

Heat the battery box.

[@cooltrkin]

Great video, but your info is wrong about the cost. My systems are less than 5 thousand The no.1 system Is 1020 watts of solar, 600 AHs of lifepo4 battery and it runs the living room, Kitchen and everything involved. No. two system is 1020 watts with 200 ah it's for the bathroom and bedroom. And all involved. My third system is 510 watts and 100ah and it runs the water system alone. OK cost of all three systems is less than 5000.00 bucks. Also I'm getting ready to double my panels. Because they're so cheap.

[@backroadsxplorer572]

Thank you so much for educating some of us who are new to this. My question is if my convertet is able to detect lithium batteries do I still need an inverter? Appreciate any info you can share! Hugh

[@ataleofthreecabins1025]

The converter charges your battery when plugged into a shoreline. If you have AC plugs in your camper and not plugged into a shoreline your battery then powers your outlets via a inverter to go from 12volts dc to 110 volts AC.

[@backroadsxplorer572]

@ataleofthreecabins1025 Thank you so much for your explanation. It cleared things up for me.

[@jaycito2000]

Excellent video. Curious about the flickering issue you show at the end. Seems like a battery bms defect to me. The specs on Amazon say that discharge temp is down to -20 deg C. Did you have enough charge when you experienced the issue? Also did you try sending the battery back, if so how did that go? Thank you.

[@ataleofthreecabins1025]

The battery had no problem discharging in below freezing temps. The flickering comes from charging in low temps. The solar panels and CC are trying to send power to the battery, but the temps are too cold and the BMS stops the charging. The battery needs 10amps to turn on the heating pads. In the mornings without direct sun the panels can't push out 10amps so the battery denies the power from the CC and the CC experiences a brief overload. I wrote to both companies and they basically pointed the finger at each other. To circumvent this if you're able to plug into shore power, not a problem. If your boon docking, a portable power station capable of outputting 500watts will put out enough power to activate the batteries heating pads. Once it's up to a safe temp, let the solar panels do the rest. It's only an issue when temps dip below 30 degrees F. overnight.

[@ataleofthreecabins1025]

Also, it would have been a better design if the batteries themselves could activate the heating pads or have that option in the app.

[@jaycito2000]

@@ataleofthreecabins1025 thank you for the added explanation. Using a portable power station to activate the heating is an interesting idea. How would you connect it to the battery though? I like the idea of drop-in replacement and keeping the battery outside, but apparently can be problematic in some cases. Thanks.

[@JB-vg7qr]

My solar controller (same as yours) flickered in the same exact manner. Turned out it was a faulty BMS in the battery. I purchased another 200ah self-heating battery from another manufacturer and it has worked perfectly since.

[@theMekanik]

I think I would leave the battery in the trailer.

[@jaygold4467]

You MUST change out your converter to a new lithium algorithm converter. You cannot charge a lithium battery fully with a lead acid charger converter. With a 50 amp converter you could recharge that battery at 50 amps per hour.

[@ataleofthreecabins1025]

Yep, talked about that. Mine can auto detect the type of battery, left links to look up other models in the description. Most solar controllers can fully charge LIFEPO, if the converter can’t.

[@1bakerblue]

Question for you, Will two 100 AH batteries give you the same as what you got with the 200 AH battery you purchased... And what is your Solar controller? Thank you.

[@platinumbenzman]

I was under the impression that you shouldn't install these outside i think it had to do with cold weather 😮

[@ataleofthreecabins1025]

This battery has temperature protection and built in heating if it is below 32 degrees.

[@jimredman1191]

Hi Tom, love your videos, we have the same ROO 235s, brought it home in May of this year. Much to my surprise ours has the charger and solar controller to support charging lithium batteries, the dealer told us it did not, I've checked the model numbers... and it indeed does, I think it may have been a mid 2022 model year upgrade. I added a 2nd solar panel on the roof, and have been trying to find the perfect lithium battery to fit up front as you did, the box has been difficult to find to fit the width of the lithium batteries and fit between the front wall and propane tanks. Your set up may work for us as well. Couple questions, do you think the system would support the Chins 300ah?... I believe if need be I can add a 3rd panel with the current charger/controller. Also, I too would like a locking box, have you found one that fits up front? Btw, we have the same Firman generator, picked it up at Costco, works perfectly with the ROO.

[@ataleofthreecabins1025]

NOCO HM408 4D Commercial-Grade... www.amazon.com/dp/B002WCUR0M?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share That is the battery box I used. It was tight between the propane tanks and RV. I had to slightly trim the corners. The 200amp hour battery fit with plenty of room, not sure what the 300ah dimensions are. We’ve been on the road for a month now and when we’re boondocking the most battery we’ve used per day was 30 percent. We usually recouped that with the 2 panels. One stay was quite shady and I used some folding panels to supplement. 300 ah might be overkill unless you looking to upgrade the inverter to use higher wattage appliances. I had hope being in Yellowstone and The Tetons would be cool climate wise, but we had record heat the whole time. So we’ve used the generator for the A/C several times.

[@tomking8597]

How does it work while driving? Charging from your alternator

[@ataleofthreecabins1025]

It's never drained my truck battery if that's what you're asking. As for charging it's hard to say because we have 400 watts of solar charging as we are driving.

[@tomking8597]

The truck puts out about 14VDC I don’t want to overcharge it from the truck while towing. The RV might already have something to prevent this but my RV was built before LifePo batteries were a thing.

[@barelystablefarm7151]

Wow! 1100 bucks! Thanks for the video, very informative. I think in my case I'll just add a second RV/marine battery to increase capacity. Much cheaper. BTW, what is the life expectancy of this battery? Does the cold decrease it's life? Certainly would get pretty expensive to have to replace this every 3-5 years. Cheers!

[@ataleofthreecabins1025]

They last about five times longer the lead acid. 10 year warranty. Can be drained to almost zero with no damage. Take Care, Tom

[@barelystablefarm7151]

@@ataleofthreecabins1025 Thanks Tom!

[@OnRappel]

Do you have an onboard generator and if so, will that 200aH Chins start your generator? I have a toy hauler with an Onan onboard 4K generator. I know that most lithium battery say "Not to be use for starting."

[@ataleofthreecabins1025]

I don’t have an onboard generator. Most generators specifically have their own battery separate from an Rv or boat 12v system.

[@golfr6178]

My 12v house batteries start my onboard generator in motor home. No seperate batteries.

[@bgavin71]

This video is really outdated. Things have gotten much less expensive. Putting your battery outside away from the heated area is a bad idea.

[@ImaLurkin]

Although outdated…the concept and presentation was good.

[@MGL49]

How did you contact Chins? I can't find a phone number for their support

[@ataleofthreecabins1025]

Through email, I think I got is off of the booklet with the battery.

[@donmlady5782]

A new Ford pickup truck with a built in generator would help for off grid camping.

[@joecahill8165]

Camping for the rest of us…

[@davewilson8308]

I just ordered one, huge advantage for boon-docking when you need to be quiet.

[@ataleofthreecabins1025]

My current 3.5 ecoboost only gets me about 8.5mpg while towing. You'll have to let me know how the hybrid does.