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11-11-2024, 07:53 AM
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#43
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Member
Jayco Owners Club
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 50
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We have this installed in a 2016 Precept 35s (Ford F53 chassis). When I installed the LiFePO4 batteries, I replaced the oem BIM with a Precision Circuits LI-BIM225. The BIM has a post labelled "Chassis Battery". I added the circuit breaker inline on that wire just before that post.
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11-11-2024, 08:01 AM
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#44
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Member
Jayco Owners Club
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 50
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Thank you!. Our conversion to LiFePo4 turned out to be more costly than we had budgeted. When we were advised after installation that we needed a DC-DC charger to protect the new batteries from high amps coming from the chassis alternator, I went ballistic - yet another additional expense that was never mentioned when we were planning the upgrade. Up until this moment, repeated requests for why the circuit breaker would not provide this protection went unanswered. Until now. Thank you again for the explanation. The conversion to LiFePo4 has been a very disappointing and stressful experience!
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11-11-2024, 08:18 AM
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#45
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Browns Mills, NJ.
Posts: 247
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thenovaks
Thank you!. Our conversion to LiFePo4 turned out to be more costly than we had budgeted. When we were advised after installation that we needed a DC-DC charger to protect the new batteries from high amps coming from the chassis alternator, I went ballistic - yet another additional expense that was never mentioned when we were planning the upgrade. Up until this moment, repeated requests for why the circuit breaker would not provide this protection went unanswered. Until now. Thank you again for the explanation. The conversion to LiFePo4 has been a very disappointing and stressful experience!
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You are not protecting the batteries from high amperage coming in, you are protecting your alternator which will not be able to handle the high amps the batteries can draw.
__________________
Rick and Dianne, dog Mikki
2003 Winnebago Journey 36 DL
Recently retired and now broke
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11-11-2024, 08:24 AM
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#46
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Member
Jayco Owners Club
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 50
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rickf
You are not protecting the batteries from high amperage coming in, you are protecting your alternator which will not be able to handle the high amps the batteries can draw.
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Thank you. Due to my lack of technical knowledge, adding a dc-dc charger would require professional installation. I cannot afford the expense, and lack of technical understanding scares me. Your explanation is most appreciated. At this point I must roll the dice!
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11-12-2024, 07:08 AM
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#47
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Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 1,054
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thenovaks
Thank you!. Our conversion to LiFePo4 turned out to be more costly than we had budgeted. When we were advised after installation that we needed a DC-DC charger to protect the new batteries from high amps coming from the chassis alternator, I went ballistic - yet another additional expense that was never mentioned when we were planning the upgrade. Up until this moment, repeated requests for why the circuit breaker would not provide this protection went unanswered. Until now. Thank you again for the explanation. The conversion to LiFePo4 has been a very disappointing and stressful experience!
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Everyone seems to be so Lithium crazy, and I get it, it is a great technology, and if you’re a dry camper, you probably should go lithium! But for just switching to a 12V for the occasional 1-2 days of dry camping, we’ve been ok for the past 3 years with 1-90AH AGM, 200W of solar on the roof, and I carry a 3,000WH so-gen that we use constantly in the RV and take in the house as a backup system, which we’ve have had to used a few times.
This post started out as a question about switching from an absorption fridge to a 12V with a concern about battery power. The batteries are definitely part of this decision, but sometimes we all go overkill! I know I tend to do so on my projects! My eyes started spinning when I looked into going Lithium! If I had the proper space and wanted to spend the time, the money to install an inverter, a couple of lithium batteries, a new converter/charger, a new BIM and a DC/DC charger, I probably would’ve went that way. But at this current point and time, just going with a new AGM and adding the solar panels and charge controller, (to our pre wired rig) was really just good enough, we really didn’t need to go crazy. Also we are on our 3rd rig, and always talking about our next one. Do I really want to give all that time and money away when I sell or trade in!
I guess it all depends on these 3 questions,
1. money, (time if you plan on installing yourself),
2. how long you plan on keeping your rig, 3.and how you camp!
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11-12-2024, 08:02 AM
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#48
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Browns Mills, NJ.
Posts: 247
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I think the transition from refrigerator to battery power is natural when you are talking about converting to a 12 volt powered refrigerator. And you do realize the So-gen is lithium batteries? You say you do not understand why people want to convert to them. Well, you also have but in a very expensive portable form. That works for you, I do not want to have to hump that from one place to the next. I have generators at home for when needed. If you have one 90 amp battery then you must have a smaller RV than what most of us are talking about. That worked just fine for me when I had my truck camper but far to much stuff using power in a class A.
__________________
Rick and Dianne, dog Mikki
2003 Winnebago Journey 36 DL
Recently retired and now broke
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11-12-2024, 09:05 AM
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#49
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Member
Jayco Owners Club
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Connecticut
Posts: 50
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20-20 hindsight
I sure wish I had read this thread before going lithium. Thanks to all for the thoughtful comments.
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11-12-2024, 01:48 PM
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#50
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Member
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Central Pa
Posts: 93
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Randy125
I converted my Dometic this summer to a 12volt JC refrigeration unit and so far I am pleased with the conversion.
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As did us this summer , our dometic 1350 runs beautiful now
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11-13-2024, 09:03 AM
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#51
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2017
Posts: 199
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And the decision IS??
Putting in a 17cf 12v Dutch Aire (J-C Refrigeration mfgd) with ice maker. This is a double door fridge compartment and a pull out bottom freezer . The only mods to replace NoCold 1201 is to lower the platform 5" and construct a new panel for the breakers, sniffer, speaker which I will make from the old door panels from the old fridge. My current setup of 3yo GC FLA setup (4) will yield 83w continuous over 24 hours dropping battery voltage from 12.7 to 12.0. Not too shabby for old batts so I see no need for lithium/new charger/inverter, DC-DC charger etc. There may be times when I will have to fully charge the batteries before turning in if it is cold enough for the propane heater to be running. But then, the refrigerator will be running far less in those temps. As time goes y I may upgrade to AGMs but right now I don't see the need.
I bought two rooftop solar panels of 200w with all hardware including charger controller for 150 bucks. I figure that 4 hours of direct sun will run my fridge for 7 hours. This is all I need. Regardless of where I am dry camping, I will always run the genset some each day, normally for AC/hair dryer/toaster stuff. I foresee no problems with this setup. The fridge was $2750 incl tax and shipping, upgrading the wiring/fuses and all the solar junk and modifications put the whole package @under $3K. Way less than a new LP/AC unit. More expensive than converting my NoCold to a 12v compressor setup but then I would be stuck with a much smaller capacity fridge and 22 yo door seals.
Hopefully this is useful to someone. YMMV, of course.
Darwin
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11-13-2024, 09:42 AM
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#52
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Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Fulda, MN
Posts: 1,851
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Hopefully the amp draw is is close for you. I put the dual compressor 12v conversion on my 1201 and it runs the batteries down quite quickly. I installed two new 6v GC batteries at the time. I plan on installing solar this spring to help keep the batteries up. The fridge would kill the batteries overnight.
__________________
2000 Winnebago Adventurer 32v, P32 Workhorse
2005 Winnebago Adventurer 38J W24 Workhorse 8.1l, 5 Speed Allison MH2000
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11-13-2024, 01:55 PM
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#53
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Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2020
Posts: 4
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I should work, I am on my day two Refrigerator test
Quote:
Originally Posted by medarwin
Hello to all,
I'm about to pull the trigger on a 12 volt compressor refrigerator to get rid of the 1201 no cold I currently have. I'm not really interested in discussing the pros and cons of 12 volt compressor versus propane electric refrigerators as I've had my share of propane electric problems over the last 35 years and it's time to be done with it regardless of its advantages in certain situations. And I don't want a 120 volt AC refrigerator because of the inherent loss of converting DC power to AC via the inverter, no matter how negligible the loss it's still there. The real purpose here is to get some feedback regarding transitioning from lead acid batteries to possibly lithium. Small capacity, 100 amp hour, lithium batteries are readily available and are now at the same price point or possibly less than some lead acid solutions. Since my flooded lead acid 6 volts are pretty much in the Twilight of their useful life now seems like a good time to make the transition.My plan is to get rid of my four six volt 130 amp hour lead acid batteries, flooded, and install four 100 amp hour lithium batteries in parallel using a bus setup in order to try to get some semblance of balanced charging and discharging over the four batteries. I currently have a Freedom 15 inverter charger which I believe has a 70 amp peak charging rate. I believe that at that rate I should not have any problem charging the four small capacity lithium batteries.
That will give me about 320 amp hours to use safely while stopping at an 80% discharge. Considerably more than me I have available now without going below a 50% discharge rate. Although I dry Camp often normally it would be for one night at a time while en route to a more permanent destination. My long periods of boondocking are generally for a week at a time at various race tracks. Normally, since I live in the southeast it's almost always necessary for me to run the air conditioner at least a couple of hours each day anyway and of course I generally have to top up the batteries once a day anyway just to be safe. So, there's no real need for solar since I'm going to use the Gen set anyway, all I'm really looking for is enough battery capacity to run the fridge for 24 to 48 hours on existing battery power without problems. The unit at the top of my list is a JC refrigeration 2417 which will pretty much fit into the 1201 no cold slot with some minor modifications such as lowering the platform a bit. That unit pulls 4.2 amps when running, and the compressor is surely not going to run every minute of every hour. As an added bonus it has almost 7cf of additional capacity, a big deal since I almost always cook rather than go out. Hopefully someone out there has created a similar setup and wants to share there experiences good and bad.
Ok, let fly with advice and criticisms.
Darwin
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This is my first time trying to reply to someone question.
I have 4-100amp AGM lead batteries (200amps of true usable power)
I installed two weeks ago a new 60" Norcold 12DC Refrigerator. After two days (48-hrs) the voltage dropped from 13.39V to 12.75 (my Victron Smart Shunt App said I should get 4d-13hr), we will see if I get 4-days on 200amps from my 4-100amp AGM lead aid batteries. Someday I will upgrade to 4 100amp Lithium batteries (this is in my 1999 Winnebago).
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11-13-2024, 01:59 PM
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#54
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2017
Posts: 199
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David 70
Hopefully the amp draw is is close for you. I put the dual compressor 12v conversion on my 1201 and it runs the batteries down quite quickly. I installed two new 6v GC batteries at the time. I plan on installing solar this spring to help keep the batteries up. The fridge would kill the batteries overnight.
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I think some of that high power consumption is from old seals and a less efficient box. That is the primary reason I went ahead with the complete fridge. I used a 82.5w draw (75watt draw plus 10% loss from the inverter) to measure. Fridge watt consumption is 96. Actually, after the battery rested for 15 minutes, the voltage was back up to 12.2v. So, 12.7 to 12.2 in 24 hours. But, I will see how it goes once installed. And the capability of having 4 230ah GC batteries helps a lot. My ahs are twice yours.
Here's the link for the solar I am installing. Looks as easy as falling off a bike and could hardly be any less expensive. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...HDAPDC75&psc=1
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11-14-2024, 05:46 AM
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#55
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2017
Posts: 199
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BiggBeniii
This is my first time trying to reply to someone question.
I have 4-100amp AGM lead batteries (200amps of true usable power)
I installed two weeks ago a new 60" Norcold 12DC Refrigerator. After two days (48-hrs) the voltage dropped from 13.39V to 12.75 (my Victron Smart Shunt App said I should get 4d-13hr), we will see if I get 4-days on 200amps from my 4-100amp AGM lead aid batteries. Someday I will upgrade to 4 100amp Lithium batteries (this is in my 1999 Winnebago).
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Wow, that's really good. What is your average wattage draw from the batteries by the fridge alone?
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11-14-2024, 06:19 AM
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#56
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Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: America's Seaplane City.
Posts: 1,294
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Quote:
Originally Posted by medarwin
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If you replace the PWM charge controller with an MPPT controller and wire the panels in series you will gain up to about 30% more from the solar system, particularly in marginal conditions.
__________________
1998 Safari Trek 2480, 7.4 Vortec, 132k miles
'15 Kawasaki Versys650LT, well farkled, 111k miles
Mid Flowriduh
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