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thefuzz4 · 09-28-2020, 02:49 PM

So I bought a pair of these https://batteryhookup.com/products/b...4-3kwh-blowout the 24V LiFePo4 because the price was just too dang good to pass up even with shipping. So my plan during the off season this year and early next is to get these massive things installed in the RV. My initial plan is I'm going to put them in the compartment directly to the rear of the door since the 12V wiring is located under the step and I'll just move that into this compartment to hook up to the batteries which I intend to wire together in parallel to increase the amp hour but I'm trying to figure out is this.
I can cut a bus bar on each of the batteries to lower them from 24V to 12V or I can get a converter to step down the current which sounds simple enough to power the house devices.

My concern is this. While I plan on installing solar panels as well to help keep these suckers topped off during the day. I know I've also got this giant other power hog called a generator. Does anyone know off hand how many amps does the generator need for cranking? I went into the fuse panel in the RV but didn't see a fuse in there for the generator so I'm guessing it must be on the unit itself or somewhere in line that I'll have to go crawling around to find.

So if I do the converter that takes care of the house appliances but I'm just worried about what to do with the generator starter. I'd love to be able to eliminate the generator completely but we'd like to leave it there as a just in case device. I mean with 6kwh worth of battery we should be set but you never know what might happen.

Thank you all for your help with this I greatly appreciate it.

yeloduster · 09-29-2020, 09:35 AM

If it were me I would cut the buss bar and parallel connect the 12V segments. Any converter would absorb some of your power, one more expense to get it set up and the converter would be one more thing to fail.

I see that the spec says 300 AMP discharge@24V after cutting the buss bar and rewiring for 12V you should have 600 Amp @12V...about 20 times more than the starter on your generator would ever draw. It should crank the generator with ease.

The pictures don't give a clear view of the terminals. 300 amps is a BIG wire. I don't see a place to connect a big wire!

Post pix after you have it all connected.

thefuzz4 · 09-29-2020, 10:21 AM

I will definetly post a pic. Yeah there are terminals on it but they say that you can just remove those and drill a hole in the busbar and put in some allthread for a post which is what I will probably do. Bottom line is I'm looking to be able to use the batteries as my boondock power source as much as possible. After the yellowstone trip this summer and having to deal with quiet hours and only being able to run the generator for a few hours a day (1-2 in the morning and then 1-2 in the evening since I wasn't going to run it all day while we weren't there) taught me a valuable lesson that the 2 6V batteries that we have just don't cut it for running an inverter all night to power things like my cpap machine lol. So the plan this year is to get the bigger inverter as well as a converter/charger that can do the lifepo and get my solar panels on.

yeloduster · 09-30-2020, 07:26 AM

Almost all my camping is dry/boondock. Two or 3 hours running the generator per day recharges my 2 6V golf car batteries just fine. But then I don't have to power a CPAP machine...well not yet anyway.

Good luck with that project. Getting 125 LB batteries in place will be a real chore!

HarryStone · 09-30-2020, 09:11 AM

These batteries do not come with a BMS. You will either need to buy or build one, otherwise you will damage the battery.

thefuzz4 · 09-30-2020, 01:01 PM

@yeloduster Yeah I'm going to have to build a system to get them in and out because in the off season they will have to come indoors since i can't leave them in the RV in the cold winter temps. But to have all of that power at hand will be nice.
@HarryStone yeah I'm going to get a BMS for them so that I can use them properly this is not a cheap modification but a worthwhile modification none the less. The battle born LiFePo4 was going to be my go to but I couldn't pass the price on these.