Community Forums

Maverick71 · 04-16-2021, 08:40 PM

I have a 2020 phaeton 40IH all electric coach and after a year of ownership it’s apparent I need to look at some additional options for dry camping. I have spoken to several “experts” who have given me a wide ranch of do’s and dont’s when it comes to upgrading this coach to battle born batteries or other lithium batteries. I’ll be honest when it comes to the electrical system my knowledge is very limited. It appears the issue involves the spyder control system. My question is, have any other tiffin owners found a way to upgrade their system to lithium batteries?

Any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks

Mike8253 · 04-16-2021, 09:06 PM

If you are amenable to noting your location, maybe someone would have a local resource who you could contract the upgrade out to if you don't think such a modification is in your wheelhouse. I know for sure that it's not in mine.

Maverick71 · 04-16-2021, 09:09 PM

Good point Mike8253, I’m located in Northern California outside Sacramento.

algolfer · 04-17-2021, 08:51 AM

Hey Maverick - I am also located outside Sacramento. Like you I was a newbie to Lithium batteries and had concerns about replacing my lead acid batteries. I reached out to the Battleborn company located in Reno for advice. I found them to be very knowledgeable and answered all my questions. They even had experience with my RV and its systems. I would suggest giving them a call as they are very willing to help educate newbies. After purchasing and replacing my lead acid batteries with lithium, they walked me through resetting my inverter/charger to work with lithium. So far I am very happy with the conversion.

PKI · 04-17-2021, 09:32 AM

In addition to lithium, you might consider a solar install. A quiet camp is a happy camp, if there is power to make coffee, chill the wine, and shake the chill off a cold night. From all that I have read, understanding exactly what you want to achieve is required to define a compatible set of systems.

Good luck with your mods.

PS - we upgraded the trailer with lithium and were very happy with the result. The Moho is going to stay wet cell. The on-board generator will fill the need for our RVing lifestyle as very few nights will be spent without FHU utilities.

jlturner · 04-17-2021, 09:47 AM

Contact Christian at Spyder. He will know of your Spyder will accept the lithium set up. Our 2019 Bus will not. :-(

Spyder
(866) 919-9092

C141IFE · 04-19-2021, 01:16 PM

Algolfer,

Which Model do you have? I recently installed 6 Battle Born only to find out they are not fully charging with the original charger/inverter(Magmun 2012 and the RVC controller). I have a 2018 Tiffin Phaeton 36GH. I was told by The folks at BB to switch my battery setting to “AGM2”. So far they haven’t gone above 13.7... I did speak with Christian at Spyder Control with not much info other than they don’t support lithium batteries.

Thanks
Jack

RS ODonnell · 04-19-2021, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by algolfer

Hey Maverick - I am also located outside Sacramento. Like you I was a newbie to Lithium batteries and had concerns about replacing my lead acid batteries. I reached out to the Battleborn company located in Reno for advice. I found them to be very knowledgeable and answered all my questions. They even had experience with my RV and its systems. I would suggest giving them a call as they are very willing to help educate newbies. After purchasing and replacing my lead acid batteries with lithium, they walked me through resetting my inverter/charger to work with lithium. So far I am very happy with the conversion.

I second this. They are the best I upgraded our 5th wheel to 600AH of Battle Borns and 1200 watts of solar. We can stay off grid indefinitely even with a residential fridge. Fortunately our inverter/charger had a LA/LI dip switch so we didn't have to do that upgrade.

RS ODonnell · 04-19-2021, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by C141IFE

Algolfer,

Which Model do you have? I recently installed 6 Battle Born only to find out they are not fully charging with the original charger/inverter(Magmun 2012 and the RVC controller). I have a 2018 Tiffin Phaeton 36GH. I was told by The folks at BB to switch my battery setting to “AGM2”. So far they haven’t gone above 13.7... I did speak with Christian at Spyder Control with not much info other than they don’t support lithium batteries.

Thanks
Jack

I don't know anything about your particular rig but the AGM setting is really just a compromise that prevents over voltage due to equalization. You may need a standalone charger. I helped a guy do a van conversion. We went with PD. It worked very well. BB also recommends (and sells) them.

https://www.progressivedyn.com/pd9100l/

jlturner · 04-19-2021, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by C141IFE

Algolfer,

Which Model do you have? I recently installed 6 Battle Born only to find out they are not fully charging with the original charger/inverter(Magmun 2012 and the RVC controller). I have a 2018 Tiffin Phaeton 36GH. I was told by The folks at BB to switch my battery setting to “AGM2”. So far they haven’t gone above 13.7... I did speak with Christian at Spyder Control with not much info other than they don’t support lithium batteries.

Thanks

Jack

Jack,
Have you spoke to Magnum in Seattle? Their tech department is very good to work with and I’m sure they can help you.

Magnum
(425) 353-8833

Maverick71 · 04-20-2021, 07:56 AM

I spoke with a local gentleman yesterday out of the Sacramento area who has also done some of my warranty work and installed my proteng fire suppression. Turns out He’s had some extensive discussions with the tiffin engineers, battleborn and spyder and is going to give me a schematic later this week going over everything they suggest that needs to be done to upgrade my system on a 2020 phaeton 40IH. I appreciate all the suggestions and comments. If anyone is interested in my final outcome, I will gladly share once I have the details. Has anyone who did upgrade to battleborn ever consider their new GCBB batteries at 270ah? At $2,900 a pop it seems a little outrageous so I’ll probably stick with their standard 100ah but always appreciated any input.

Thanks,

Brett

Isaac-1 · 04-20-2021, 08:38 PM

The thing to keep in mind is that this is a changing technology, the Battle born batteries being sold today are an improvement over the design sold just a year or two ago, not only that but they are cheaper, and the associated hardware (charging systems, DC-DC chargers, isolators, etc.) are also constantly improving, this second part of the puzzle has seen major improvement in the last 12-18 months, to the point where I think this technology is starting to get mature enough for the general public.

algolfer · 04-21-2021, 08:06 AM

@C141IFE - I have the Magnum MS2812. I was instructed by Battleborn to set the controller to the AGM2 settings with a few modifications. The absorption voltage is set at 14.5 volts with a float charge of 13.5 volts. So far these settings are working but as previously stated, it is a compromise for an inverter/charger not specifically designed for lithium batteries. When this Magnum goes out I will replace with a inverter/charger designed for lithium.

C141IFE · 04-24-2021, 09:06 AM

algolfer-- I spoke with Magnum and they said the best way is to add the controller (ME-RC50-L) that has the Lithium setting. I have it and will install it next week. I'll let you know how this turns out.