New 2018 Galleria!!
Someone did some homework here:
2018 Galleria at Pomona
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At the 2017 Pomona RV show I focused primarily on Class Bs. For the most part, I didn’t see much of anything new, with one exception which was a 2018 Coachmen Galleria equipped with what they catalog as the Li3 option supplied from Xantrex. It employs a 600ah lithium battery, a 3000 watt inverter/converter/150 amp battery charger, a 280 amp underhood (GU) and comprehensive metering. The system replicates the pioneering improvements provided by Xantrex in the FIT RV project, but adds some additional features.
This is a remarkable evolution for the Galleria which only two years ago was equipped with a couple of inaccessible flooded cell coach batteries and no inverter option to support their induction stove. Like the FIT RV project, all the critical components in the new Li3 option are engineered or outsourced by Xantrex. IMO, this level of integration can’t help but increase system reliability. Even on the Galleria models without the Li3 option, standard equipment for 2018 includes 300ah of AGMs, a 2000 watt inverter/converter, an 80 amp battery charger and an Onan 2.5k LPG generator.
Roadtrek Etrek and Galleria Li3 Comparison:
Since the price points for an Etrek and the Galleria Li3 are roughly similar, a comparison between the pros and cons of their respective systems is illuminating:
Lithium Battery(s):
The Galleria battery is designed and provided to Xantrex in partnership with Lithionics who have been building lithium batteries for 8+ years. They are well regarded for their battery design and quality control. They claim a failure rate at less than .2 %. The battery is rated at 600ah with 90% depth of discharge permitted routinely and up to 97% if circumstances require it. It utilizes a single BMS. If the Lithionics battery discharge drops below 97% and completely shuts down, the reset circuit voltage is apparently provided by a standby capacitor network that stimulates either the GU or the shore side battery charger (or both) to start recharging the battery. A plus for a charged capacitor network is that it doesn’t sustain the significant degradation over time inevitably experienced by AGM batteries.
The Roadtrek Etrek employs a separate BMS for each of the 200ah lithiums provided. They don’t publish who builds the batteries. The BMS is programmed to shut their battery down at around 80% DOD. They have made continuous revisions to them and the BMS. Current production is described as Generation H. If the BMS shuts the battery down, they employ a beefy external AGM battery to effect a reset boot that simultaneously turns the charging port back on and stimulates the charging from either the alternator or the converter. It works reliably but that said, while an AGM battery has much greater power density than a capacitor network, IMO, that capability is sort of overkill for a momentary reset application. All batteries degrade and ultimately fail over time and that life span is likely reduced even further if the AGM battery is charged and maintained with the same charging profile as the lithium batteries. A charged capacitor network for battery resetting avoids that issue.
Roasdtrek Etrek lithium batteries are generally under-chassis. Depending on the chassis platform and the amp hour capacity selected, these batteries may have different cable lengths with sufficiently different resistance values to potentially imbalance the charging and discharging rates among the batteries. For example, on the Roadtrek 800ah 210PC, three of the batteries are squeezed in where the Onan would be located but the fourth battery is way up forward adjacent to the macerator. Below chassis mounting helps to lower the center of gravity of the coach which is a plus.
The Galleria battery is a monolithic humongous 150 lb. crimson brick measuring 24L x 13W x 11H. Consequently, a balancing network probably isn’t required. It’s stashed under the power seat on the driver side so it does take up storage space. However, in terms of temperature control, it’s arguably in a better protected location than under chassis and worth the storage trade off. Another advantage is that with the battery located above chassis, the terminal connections are not subject to corrosion issues from road salts.
BMS Parasitics:
The Etrek BMS has a parasitic load of somewhere between 3 to 5 amps per 200ah battery (nobody seems to know exactly).
Xantrex claims and Lithionics confirms that their battery BMS is virtually parasitic free. All their power relays are bi-stable latchers which require power only when changing the relay state. Lithionics cites the BMS parasitic at 40ma. Xantrex cites it as 50ma and they are working towards reducing it even more. The 10ma difference is probably accounted for by the Xantrex Read-only LinkPro meter in the Galleria that that monitors Lithionics battery parameters. For a 2 inch meter, it provides quite a bit of useful information like charge and discharge rates, state of charge, time remaining etc.
Roadtrek’s metering is a four digit Voltmeter with 10 ma resolution which is good, but since lithium batteries have a pretty flat voltage discharge curve, it’s of limited value in determining the battery(s) state of charge.
Inverter/Converter/Battery Charger:
The Galleria Li3 has a Xantrex SW3012 rated for 3 KW continuous and 6 KW surge for five seconds. Roadtrek provides the Power Star LW3000-C which has similar continuous duty and surge specs. The Galleria unit is located under the power sofa on the passenger side. The Roadtrek units may be located on the driver or the passenger side under the power seat.
Roadtrek supplies a remote on-off switch for the inverter but no remote display. There is a display on the unit but because of its location it’s, not easy to read. The Galleria provides a full remote display (SCP) either via a Cat5 cable or alternatively with a wireless module on their unit that permits viewing system status and programming from the owner’s tablet or cell phone.
The Roadtrek battery charger is capable of delivering 70 amps but apparently it isn’t set up for power sharing so the factory typically adjusts the maximum battery charge rate to 35 amps to prevent tripping the breaker. For an 800ah configuration, the factory set it for 36
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