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01-08-2025, 08:49 PM
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#1
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Junior Member
Join Date: May 2024
Posts: 20
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Solar and Batteries on 2008 Magna - Final Outcome
For those who are contemplating a solar and battery upgrade on a Country Coach, here is how it turned out for us. Props and Kudos to Derek at CCRV and Solar, he did a fabulous job. He doesn't know I am posting this here, I just want to highlight a vendor who did a great job.
There are a lot of videos out there about RV Solar, but you don't see it done on Country Coaches all that often, so I thought some of you might enjoy it.
Enjoy if you are interested!
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Neville and Paula, 2008 Country Coach Magna Donatello
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01-14-2025, 03:24 PM
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#2
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Senior Member
Country Coach Owners Club
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 845
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Neville, this is an incredible system you had put together by Derek. How much of it was your design, and how much was his? Did Derek suggest using Victron? Where were you at with the old system? Was it time to replace the batteries and or inverters? The batteries need to be replaced with our CC, and buying AGM is a tough choice when you know they are old tech. What are you able to do with the 2 5000-watt inverters that you could not do before? I understand the solar idea for charging the batteries and being off the grid, but how much time do you spend off the grid? Did you consider making this change without adding solar? How did Derek deal with the Alternator charging? Was yours a 320Amp Alternator? Lastly, approximately what did it cost to have this changed?
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Gwen & Curtis Nikel
2009 CC Affinity
2015 Dodge RAM Ecodiesel 1500 Toad
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01-14-2025, 07:42 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
Monaco Owners Club
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Tucson, AZ
Posts: 6,715
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Wow! That's the nicest solar/battery/inverter system I've seen.
Great installation of a great plan.
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97 Monaco Windsor- Sold
07 Monaco Executive McKinley- Sold
04 Monaco Signature Chateau IV
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01-16-2025, 10:50 PM
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#4
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Junior Member
Join Date: May 2024
Posts: 20
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Thank you, CCRV did a great job!
Quote:
Originally Posted by vito.a
Wow! That's the nicest solar/battery/inverter system I've seen.
Great installation of a great plan.
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Thanks, Derek did a great job. And he and his family are great people. We really enjoyed having them here.
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Neville and Paula, 2008 Country Coach Magna Donatello
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01-16-2025, 11:14 PM
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#5
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Junior Member
Join Date: May 2024
Posts: 20
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Answers....
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2-Nickels
Neville, this is an incredible system you had put together by Derek. How much of it was your design, and how much was his? Did Derek suggest using Victron? Where were you at with the old system? Was it time to replace the batteries and or inverters? The batteries need to be replaced with our CC, and buying AGM is a tough choice when you know they are old tech. What are you able to do with the 2 5000-watt inverters that you could not do before? I understand the solar idea for charging the batteries and being off the grid, but how much time do you spend off the grid? Did you consider making this change without adding solar? How did Derek deal with the Alternator charging? Was yours a 320Amp Alternator? Lastly, approximately what did it cost to have this changed?
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Hi 2-Nickels. I will try to answer most of your questions!
The design choices were done together, with a lot of guidance and practical advice from Derek along the way. We started out with several conversations by email, then by phone, with him sending me a couple of detailed quotes. He was great about answering all my questions. Once we got down to 95% of it being settled, we set on a date. Once they arrived and he could look in person, the final details were decided on, with a few minor things changing as the install proceeded.
Derek definitely prefers Victron for the electronics. He is open to using other inverters and some other batteries, but he is clear about the pros and cons. His original quotes used Big Beard batteries, but after a lot of research and price comparisons, I decided on the Victron. I was strongly influenced by the new NG design and their long history in marine environments.
Yes, the old system functioned correctly but the batteries were not lasting as long as I would have liked. Derek pointed out that they had not been wired in optimally and in fact two of the six tested bad. I probably could have saved the rest and used them for something but we just recycled them. The old solar was......small and very old. At 400w it was only providing a few amps of 12v charging. The prior inverter was not that old, a Xantrex 3012SW 3000 watt model. I have kept it for possible future projects.
I agree, I would not go with AGM at this point. At the very least you can invest in just the minimum Li batteries and plan to add solar or more batteries later.
The two 5000 VA Quattro inverters basically power the coach like you are plugged into 50amp shore power all the time. So we can run the A/C, the heated floors, the clothes dryer etc, just as if we were plugged in. It's a major increase in unplugged capability. Now, even with 3000w of solar on the roof, that's not enough to run everything indefinitely. But it will definitely make things last longer. And we kept the 12.5KW generator for times when the batteries need an extra boost.
Alternator still charges the chassis batteries, and they can also charge from the 24 to 12v converter (see around 7:05 in the video). All the 12v in the coach then runs from there. The alternator never directly charges the new stuff, since that's all 24v.
The total cost for this system was a little over $30K fully installed. However, a vast majority of that is just equipment costs and I drove Derek nuts in terms of adding more battery capacity and more solar. His original quotes ranged from $3400 to around $20K, basically small, medium, and large systems. I then pushed it up from there. Essentially he can get you in whatever price point you want. Frankly, almost all the high cost is in the batteries. Everything else is very reasonable from an RV/Country Coach kind of cost perspective, if you know what I mean. But I kind of decided to just do it all at once. Derek was more than reasonable and frankly I'm not sure he properly covered the time he put into it.
Hope that helps out. We are very happy and looking forward to giving the system a workout soon!
-Neville
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Neville and Paula, 2008 Country Coach Magna Donatello
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01-17-2025, 10:58 AM
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#6
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Senior Member
Country Coach Owners Club
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 845
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Neville, let me start by saying thank you! I appreciate the time you took to write further about your upgrade experience. I believe all of us AGM battery users are exploring options when it is time to replace our batteries. The shared information to read, learn, and ask questions about for high-end coaches of our vintage is very limited, which made your story so very interesting.
We use our coach mostly from pole to pole, making our off-grid stops less important. However, we have spent time at parks with only 30 amps and live within those limitations. We, too, have the generator should we need more power, but we often do not run it.
The time has come to replace my 6 8D batteries. I would prefer to buy Lithium batteries as I know this is the technology of tomorrow, provides longer run life, and saves weight (not that this really matters). After researching what is involved in converting lithium, I must close my battery compartment to provide cleanliness, warmth, and some form of compartment control. Then, if it was simple, I would buy either 4 or 6 250-300 AH batteries and be done. However, there is the matter of charging. Charging from the Alternator or Generator or Shore power. In the case of the Alternator, I was thinking of a DC-DC converter to take care of this. I also wonder if I could put a second alternator on my ISX to charge the lithium. No one that I can find has done it. When running either the Generator or Shore power, you are simply using AC power and the Invertor is doing the battery charging. In our coach, much like you must have had, there are two Xantrex RS3000 inverters that work fine. When I spoke with Xantrex, they said my Inverters could be set to "Custom" and the charge profile created for Lithium. In speaking with Xantrex techs, I can't seem to find one who has ever done this, which leads me to think it is not best practice. So now changing out Inverters is most likely the way forward. Buying Xantrex SW3000s makes some sense, as they will work with my Silverleaf. Hearing you had this inverter and changed it to Victron now has me asking myself to consider the Victron product.
I am sure I don't want to add solar panels if I can manage/charge the lithium batteries properly; this will provide me with the upgrade I am looking for.
Researching batteries is interesting. I am finding it difficult to understand which ones are quality and which are not. The Epoch 460AH battery appeals to me, and I believe four of these would meet our needs. What I like about these batteries is that each one has an on/off switch. When these batteries are fully charged and not required, I could shut them off to save them. I haven't spoken to anyone about this, but I like the idea.
I have not considered installing 24V in the coach and would be open to the idea.
Thanks for sharing the cost. I am not entirely surprised to see this. A lot of equipment was provided, and much time was spent on your upgrade. The work appears to have been done very well, and it opened my eyes to possibilities.
I have reached out to Derek and will see what he comes back to me with.
Thanks for being the test bed coach!!
Cheers,
Curtis Nikel (2-Nickels)
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Gwen & Curtis Nikel
2009 CC Affinity
2015 Dodge RAM Ecodiesel 1500 Toad
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01-18-2025, 09:09 PM
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#7
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Junior Member
Join Date: May 2024
Posts: 20
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Hi Curtis,
A couple of additional thoughts....
I agree that lithium is the way to go, in part because the high quality AGM batteries are still expensive and lithium is pretty much half the weight for twice the usable capacity and many more charge cycles. People argue about this all the time but I think there is clearly an advance in technology.
As far as the inverters go, my coach came with only one, probably the same kind you have, but someone replaced it with the Xantrex SW3012 along the way. Honestly, I think any good installer can program your RS3000s to charge lithium correctly. I would not replace them unless there is something you want that they can't do. Since you stay plugged in a vast majority of the time, I don't think you need to replace them.
The batteries are the tricky part and I did a fair amount of research. I watched Will Prowse tear apart a bunch of batteries and I did a lot of reading. One of the Youtube people I respect a lot is Jared Gillis. He really approaches things from a common sense perspective. He publishes a battery guide if you haven't seen it. He likes the Epoch. See it here: http://allaboutrvsinfo.com/rv-battery-buyers-guide/
If you stay with the Xantrex you will also keep more of your Silverleaf displays functional. Victron doesn't communicate very easily with Silverleaf. You can always update the inverter/charger later.
I agree that your use case doesn't need solar.
So, in summary, I think you should consider sticking with the Xantrex dual intverters that you already have, programmed for lithium charging, and then literally do a battery swap with the Epoch. If your alternator connects to the new batteries, then a DC-DC regulator will make sure you don't burn up the alternator.
Good luck!
-Neville
__________________
Neville and Paula, 2008 Country Coach Magna Donatello
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01-19-2025, 10:05 AM
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#8
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Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2024
Location: WI Driftlesser
Posts: 2,513
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 2-Nickels
We use our coach mostly from pole to pole, making our off-grid stops less important...
The time has come to replace my 6 8D batteries. I would prefer to buy Lithium batteries...
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Don't feel you have to upgrade the battery capacity just because you're converting to Li. Li will charge faster and supply power at a higher rate than lead, so consider 1/3 or so of the total AH or KWH capacity of the former battery bank. If you have an installer that you're going to work with, have them show you some example systems and how long each would run what you expect it to run (fridge, TV etc.)
RV makers size the battery bank by the marketing dept, not engineering dept, and usually not customized to the buyer. If competing coaches get four 6v, then that's what marketing puts in their new one. Feel free to customize to how you use it.
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"Bringing third world electrical work to first world luxury." RV makers of Murica!
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01-21-2025, 08:27 PM
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#9
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Senior Member
Country Coach Owners Club
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 8,226
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All I have to says, your installation is worth more than my coach is worth.
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Don
2002 Country Coach Intrigue
#11427
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01-21-2025, 10:09 PM
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#10
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Junior Member
Join Date: May 2024
Posts: 20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dons2346
All I have to says, your installation is worth more than my coach is worth. 
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Lol, I hope it lasts a while and we get a lot of use out of it!
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Neville and Paula, 2008 Country Coach Magna Donatello
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