Community Forums

HatzicGuy · 07-03-2022, 04:37 PM

Any information would be appreciated. We are upgrading our coach to Lithium. I have bough 5 Renogy 170 AH that will fit perfectly in our current tray of 6 - 6V. I was a little disappointed to find out they were made in China as I thought they were US made. Anyways we move on.
I know I need to get a DC-DC charger to protect my alternator.
20 A or 40 A or 60 A ?
I don't know if I have two alternators or not and will look next time I'm out there.

It looks like my current inverter charger will work if I set it up in custom mode for the Lithium parameters.
I currently have 300 Watts of solar and am not sure if I have to change out the controller for lithium parameters?
It seems pretty straight forward but I don't want to screw up because I missed something.
I have looked at many treads but they aren't specific to this model and hoping someone has done it to this 4018.

Any pointers would be appreciated.
Thanks
New to the Newmar family so still starting to learn ,figure's I think I had finally learned most things about my Monaco!

richpatty · 07-04-2022, 07:30 AM

Hi. You will find many opinions on this, but my feeling is that you do not need a DC to DC converter…. You should be able to get a Lithium designed BIM which will turn on and off to give your alternator a break. https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Born-B...s%2C107&sr=8-3

In addition, some folks say that due to the long distance between the alternator and the batteries, not many amps are being pulled. And I would be surprised if you had two alternators. Depending on the year and model, they will provide a higher amperage alternator depending on what your rigs needs.

And are you sure those batteries are 170 ah? That is not a common size and didn’t see them on their website.

Most inverter\chargers can be set up for a customer battery, which is what I had to do.

I completed a lithium conversion recently and I documented it here:
https://rvforums.com/threads/move-to-lithium.8776/

Good luck!

HatzicGuy · 07-04-2022, 05:09 PM

Yes I have received them but they are only on the Canadian Renogy site and were on sale for $999.00 CA an a Honey coupon gave me a extra 5% .They did not seem to be available on the US site so maybe they are being discontinued but they accidenataly sent me two orders so they were definitely available here.It's two bad as they will fit perfect in the 14" x 31" TRAY.

BCam · 07-04-2022, 05:40 PM

Here's the link:

https://ca.renogy.com/renogy-lithium...12-volt-170ah/

They're not listed on the US site, just 100Ah and 200Ah batteries, they're also listed in the UK and Australia. I wonder if it has to do with some regulatory provision.

richpatty · 07-04-2022, 06:00 PM

Ok! Then 850ah should give you a lot of boon-docking ability! I would also look into using a battery monitor/shunt to keep track of your state of charge (SOC). it will be a great time to do this as you will be pulling all the wires out anyway.

Big project but it should be worth it!

HatzicGuy · 07-04-2022, 06:49 PM

I went to your description and thanks for the info. I am going to use the 1st set up to get going and this winter when I have plenty of time in AZ I am going to set up the Buss Bar and make up custom cables.

gpounder · 07-04-2022, 07:03 PM

Yes you need the DC to DC converter UNLESS you can be certain that a discharged lithium battery will not melt your alternator.

The argument against the converter is: at a lower voltage the battery will draw less and because of wire looses the voltage at the battery will be less too thus drawing less current.

The argument for it is: your definitely going to protect the alternator. I would not go above 30 amps because you have a big load already when your driving at night, the AC fan is blowing and maybe your inverter is going too to keep the fridge cold. Another reason is to top off the lithium battery which really needs 14.6 volts to change it quickly and this is the only way to raise the voltage.

I really like the programmability of the Victron product, take a look.

10 fan · 07-05-2022, 11:48 AM

I bought a blue tooth clamp on multi meter and recorded my alternator output about 10 times under every condition I could think of. 20% soc and running a/c off of batteries (I have 1400ah) and have never seen more than 86a. I averaged 35a not charging lithium house batteries. I don't usually drive at night and have 2400w of solar which must help (max solar output 121a). The meter came with a temp probe, can't remember numbers but saw no difference in temp charging or not. I bought the LI BIM but didn't need it (they connect for 15min. and disconnect for 20). I installed a latching relay to the boost switch so I can keep the alternator connected if I want. 3 years and still working good.

HatzicGuy · 07-07-2022, 12:03 PM

I had a couple of questions to customer service like a build sheet like I had for my Monaco and said I wanted to Upgrade the batteries to Lithium.

Thank you for contacting Newmar Customer service.

IMPORTANT Newmar coaches are set up, configured, and tested to operate properly with the battery system that was installed at the time of production. Modifications to the battery system may cause charging, electrical system and/or multiplex communication issues. For example, if the coach is not equipped with a lithium battery system, and if you choose to install lithium batteries, Newmar will not warranty or aid in the diagnosis of electrical, battery, multiplex, and/or charging system issues.

richpatty · 07-08-2022, 07:33 AM

It’s too bad they do not offer a Lithium option…. I know they do on the high end models. I really don’t think it would be a big stretch to do so on a new rig.

tmandoug1 · 07-08-2022, 07:50 AM

[QUOTE=HatzicGuy;6238347]I had a couple of questions to customer service like a build sheet like I had for my Monaco and said I wanted to Upgrade the batteries to Lithium.

Thank you for contacting Newmar Customer service.

IMPORTANT Newmar coaches are set up, configured, and tested to operate properly with the battery system that was installed at the time of production. Modifications to the battery system may cause charging, electrical system and/or multiplex communication issues. For example, if the coach is not equipped with a lithium battery system, and if you choose to install lithium batteries, Newmar will not warranty

If you use Napanee this wouldn't concern me. You're not under warranty and I'm pretty sure they would be more than happy to charge $180 an hour to diagnose and fix whatever issue you have. If I had the time and money I would upgrade as well!

HatzicGuy · 07-16-2022, 05:40 PM

I have talked with Magnum about the inverter and the tech said my inverter was fine but needed to replace the remote. My solar is go solar and they said it would work on the AGM setting but better with a new controller. Simple fixs.My only other issue still is to figure out exactly where the DC-DC converter will be.I am getting some old recalls taken care of at a newmar dealer that should have been done before me owning it and don't want them blaming the batteries at fault and then the upgrade will happen. Yipee!!
Then the problem for the length of boondocking will be the toilets.