Community Forums

TANDD · 03-13-2018, 11:13 AM

to the OP...... it's been about 6 months since your upgrade; any issues arise? Charge time? Time between charges? I am thinking of the same upgrade for boondocking. THX TB

gsgriffin · 03-14-2018, 03:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by diesel odor

I have the same year and model. Very nice battery setup. Total costs including shipping please? Why double up on batteries? Are you off the grid that you need those super duty batteries.

All in, about $1600. Will greatly depend upon your supplier on the batteries. The water feed system is very cool, but I do need to drain it when getting to freezing temps, which I'm on the edge of right now.

I got tired of running my gen twice a day off the grid. I travel a lot, boondock a lot, and have a lot of electronics. I just put in a new 2800W Magnum inverter (which can charge the batteries faster) and will connect the generator auto-start soon and new EMS I'm looking into. The EMS will allow me to "overload" the system if needed by monitoring the load when the generator is running and if more is called for, it will shed part of the load to the batteries to free up the generator for the other side of the load.

I'm 2 months into a 10k miles trip that has another 2 months to go. Will be boon docking exclusively for the next two weeks. That is my reasoning, and I'm glad to have made the change. Charge once for a few hours, run batteries the rest of the day and all night without running out.

gsgriffin · 03-16-2018, 05:13 AM

Just experienced another thing that I really liked by having this improved capacity. I'm currently traveling in southern PA right after the nor' eastern pasted through. Still some very cold temps. Had batteries at around 12.4v last night. Decided to turn on the system heat to make sure the water lines and pump don't get too cold as it was expected to get down to around 27 this morning. In the middle of the night I noticed that the system heat light turned on....went back to sleep. Woke up this morning, system heat still on. Batteries at 11.9v. I'm going to continue through this cold without fear of it shutting down at night with not enough power to keep it all warm.

TANDD · 06-22-2018, 01:22 PM

Another question...… Is there any issue with the added weight? I assume the floor is up to the extra hundred or so lbs.. I am about ready to make this upgrade. Trying to find best price on the L16H. THX TB

gsgriffin · 06-23-2018, 07:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TANDD

Another question...… Is there any issue with the added weight? I assume the floor is up to the extra hundred or so lbs.. I am about ready to make this upgrade. Trying to find best price on the L16H. THX TB

Not that I can see. I just completed 10k miles and am about to head out for another 5k next week (two months travel). I would look for corrosion outside the box and make sure acid in the past hasn't weakened anything. You might consider doing something like the liquid rubber spray (find it near the gutter/downspouts at Home Depot/Lowes) and make sure the base is really well sealed from the inside in case more acid comes out in the future.

The batteries have really changed the way I think. I'm looking forward to the warm nights where I want to run a fan all night on batteries and can!
I got a small clip-on rotating auto-fan (like what truckers might use in the cab) and have that plugged in and rotating on us while we sleep. LOVE IT!!! With original batteries, I would wake to the fan stopped and batteries completely dead. Now, wake to fan still running and power left to spare. Definitely worth it.

On price, I found most places online to be about the same as getting it from a local supplier (when you factor in shipping these beasts). Make sure you get the right version of the batteries. They have one with threaded posts and one with the large round posts (or side....I forget). You want the threaded posts on top.

vito.a · 06-23-2018, 09:21 PM

Wow, very nice. Love your setup.
Would it be less expensive to put in a battery slide out drawer and run 8 Trojan T-105's? Four on the floor and four more in the drawer above.

gsgriffin · 06-24-2018, 05:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vito.a

Wow, very nice. Love your setup.
Would it be less expensive to put in a battery slide out drawer and run 8 Trojan T-105's? Four on the floor and four more in the drawer above.

I did think about that first....just adding to the batteries I had, but the complexity of the cables (adding a lot more) and the doubling of the watering system and the added height all led me to just ditch the older batteries (which were getting close to replacement anyway) and go with the easier concept of replace 4 with 4. It took only a couple minutes to unscrew and remount anything on the walls that was too low. Only needed minor adjustments and a new cable or two. The thought of a tray, trying to work around the door lifts and going over the chassis batteries....led me away from a shelf. I still have plenty of room to manage everything in this setup. Not as crammed as it sounds.

Vanwill · 06-27-2018, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vito.a

Wow, very nice. Love your setup.
Would it be less expensive to put in a battery slide out drawer and run 8 Trojan T-105's? Four on the floor and four more in the drawer above.

Vito, I did exactly that. 2000 Dynasty. I have (8) T-145 size batteries (NOT 105 size). Had to reposition the slides slightly, but they needed new ball bearing slides anyway. Upper tray previously held one 8D for the chassis. I replaced that with two Group 31's mounted in the left rear of the engine compartment.

At the same time, I replaced the solid state isolator, Lambert charger, and Big Boy with the Blue Sea ML-ACR, and two Blue Sea 1200 amp disconnects. Has worked flawlessly for about a year, and lots of dry camping.

The extra battery capacity is WONDERFUL for dry camping, like at Quartzsite.

RamiDav · 06-27-2018, 01:11 PM

Van , Wow didn't know you were that into dry camping .

I fear that I'm needing new battery slides too , so can I
ask where you bought yours ?

I suppose you are familiar with Bill G and how he added
an extra charger to speed up charging all those batteries .
Seemed like a good idea to me , being able to cut down

the gen run time .
As I recall he plugged the additional charger into the engine
heater receptacle in back so he can turn it off or on from
the drivers seat .

Ray D
03 Windsor

Ivylog · 06-28-2018, 06:22 AM

I double the house batteries in my 04 Dynasty...engine batteries were already in the rear. Had to lower the single rack to make room for another above and wired the second set in parallel with the original.

Weight is not an issue as the battery box’s structure is robust and any added weight behind the axles is a good thing.

JohnBoyToo · 06-28-2018, 07:39 AM

Since we never boon dock, went the other way when our circa 2011 blue L16's went south 2 years ago... I replaced them with t-105's and fine so far...
probably only issue is that I have to fire up engine to get the levelers to work

Vanwill · 06-28-2018, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RamiDav

Van , Wow didn't know you were that into dry camping .

I fear that I'm needing new battery slides too , so can I
ask where you bought yours ?

I suppose you are familiar with Bill G and how he added
an extra charger to speed up charging all those batteries .
Seemed like a good idea to me , being able to cut down

the gen run time .
As I recall he plugged the additional charger into the engine
heater receptacle in back so he can turn it off or on from
the drivers seat .

Ray D
03 Windsor

Ray, dry camping is a relatively recent thing for me. Only the last two years. But I like it.

Slides I used were Knape & Vogt 500# rating. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Roughly $100 per set.

Separate charger seems like a reasonable idea to me, but I have not done it. Bill G is a sharp guy.

RamiDav · 06-28-2018, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vanwill

Ray, dry camping is a relatively recent thing for me. Only the last two years. But I like it.

Slides I used were Knape & Vogt 500# rating. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Roughly $100 per set.

Separate charger seems like a reasonable idea to me, but I have not done it. Bill G is a sharp guy.

Van, Thanks for the link for the slides .

As I understood it , it was not exactly a separate charger more of an additional charger .
Charging along side (parallel) ,more or less doubling the charge rate .

Dry camping is something that people can really get into , seeing just how
independent one can become , and
yeah Bill G is pretty sharp .

Ray D

TANDD · 09-10-2018, 11:08 AM

To the OP. Thank you for the great posts and especially the pics. they were VERY helpful in making this upgrade to my HR Endeavor 40. I could see exactly what you did and I could even identify cable routing and which 2 I had to have made. We haven't had a chance to really try out the new setup but are readying for our first snowbird trek for 6 months South with a good amount of boondocking. looking to take off 10/1. Thanks again, TAND