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- We've spent the last year
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upgrading the electrical
systems on various RVs
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with pre-existing electrical systems,
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and we've learned some stuff along the way
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that we wanna share with all of you.
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Upgrading your electrical system in stages
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is a great way to save on upfront costs.
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Starting with essentials
like swapping your AGM
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or lead-acid batteries
to lithium batteries,
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and then upgrading solar
charging, inverter capacity,
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and all that other kind of stuff
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will give you immediate
performance results
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with room to grow into bigger
and more performant systems.
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So in this video,
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we're gonna show you some tips
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to upgrading an RV
electrical system in stages
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so that the amount of rework
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if you plan to add later on is minimal,
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which will save time and money.
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- The first step in
giving your RV more power
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is to convert the
lead-acid or AGM batteries
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that it came with
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to lithium iron phosphate batteries
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like Battle Born batteries.
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Even if you just swap
out the one to two AGM
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or lead-acid batteries your RV came with
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to one to two lithium batteries
in the factory location,
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you'll pretty much double
your battery bank capacity
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because lithium batteries
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can be discharged all the way to 0%
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without sustaining any damage,
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whereas a lead-acid or AGM battery
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can only be discharged to 50%
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before the lifespan starts
to be negatively impacted.
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The only real consideration here
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is to make sure that
your factory converter,
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which is usually installed
in or behind the breaker box,
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can be set up to charge lithium batteries.
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Most newer converters
can do this but if not,
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a new lithium-compatible
converter can be purchased
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for a couple hundred bucks.
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Now, if you want more batteries,
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you'll probably need to
move your battery bank
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to a new location with more room
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and add a battery bank relocation kit
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like the one that we've shown
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in all of our start-to-finish
RV electrical upgrade videos.
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- The battery monitor
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that comes pre-installed on
most RVs is pretty inaccurate,
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especially after switching
to lithium batteries,
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and adding a shunt-based monitor
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like the Victron SmartShunt
or the Victron BMV-712
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will be an immediate upgrade.
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Both of these literally count
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how many amps go into
or out of the battery,
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and you can program the shunt
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with how many amp-hours of capacity
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that you actually have
in your battery bank.
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And this is going to be a
much more accurate measurement
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than basing how full
or empty the battery is
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based on the battery voltage alone,
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like the factory equipment usually does.
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Now, this is also a
pretty inexpensive upgrade
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with both the SmartShunt and the BMV-712
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coming in at under $250
as of making this video.
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And the shunt simply gets installed
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between the negative battery
terminal of the battery bank
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and all of the negative wires
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that were connected to
the factory batteries.
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- Adding or adding more
solar charging capabilities
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to your RV is the next thing
that we'd recommend adding
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to an RV electrical system
with off-grid aspirations.
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After increasing the
battery bank capacity,
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more solar will help recharge
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those higher capacity batteries quicker.
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The rule of thumb for solar array sizing
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is to have twice as many watts of solar
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as you do battery bank
amp-hours at 12 volts.
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For example, 200 watts of solar
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for a 100 amp-hour, 12-volt battery bank,
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400 watts of solar for 200
amp-hours of 12-volt batteries,
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or 600 watts of solar
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for 300 amp-hours of 12-volt batteries.
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The only consideration here
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is to not add more solar than
your batteries can charge at.
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For example, Battle Born
batteries can charge at a max rate
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of 50 amps per 100 amp-hour of battery,
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which means don't add more
than 700 watts of solar
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to only 100 amp-hours of battery,
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or 1,400 watts of solar to
200 amp-hours of batteries,
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or 2,100 watts of solar
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to only 300 amp-hours of batteries.
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This is a pretty rare problem
but we have seen it before,
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so it's worth noting.
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- Most RVs don't have an inverter
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to turn the 12 volt DC
power into 120 volt AC power
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for standard household outlet usage.
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And if they do,
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it's usually only for one to two outlets.
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Now, adding an aftermarket
inverter charger
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like the Victron MultiPlus
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between the shore power inlet
and the factory breaker box
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like we've shown
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in all of our full system
installs this year,
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will still allow you to
recharge your batteries,
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but will also allow you to
power all of your outlets
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from those batteries.
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If the inverter and battery
bank is large enough,
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you can even start to consider
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using large electrical components
like an air conditioner.
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But be aware that air conditioner usage
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is going to require a very large
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and therefore, very expensive battery bank
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with enough solar to recharge.
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The main considerations here
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are that a big enough battery bank
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is necessary for various
sizes of inverters.
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In general, a 2,000 watt inverter
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requires a minimum of 200 amp-hours
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of battery bank capacity.
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A 3,000 watt inverter
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requires a minimum of 400 amp-hours
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of battery bank capacity,
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and a 5,000 watt inverter
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requires a minimum of 800 amp-hours
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of battery bank capacity,
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which also goes to a 24-volt system.
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The other considerations here
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is that Victron only
makes an inverter charger
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appropriate for 50 amp
shore power in one size,
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as of making this video, anyway.
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So, if you only have 200 amp-hours
of battery bank capacity,
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there really isn't a good option
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for the appropriately-sized
2,000 watt inverter,
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and you're gonna need to step
up to 400 amp-hours of battery
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to get the MultiPlus 3K 2x120.
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The last consideration here
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is that when you're using
big inverters like these,
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upgrading wiring, fusing,
and DC distribution
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is going to be necessary
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by adding a links
distributor to your system.
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There's still tape up here.
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(tape ripping)
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Okay.
(beep)
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- And the last step
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in a high-end RV electrical system upgrade
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is to upgrade the alternator charging
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from the two to three amps
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coming from the seven-pin connector
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to 30-plus amps.
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Now, this involves
adding a DC-to-DC charger
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like the Victron Orion,
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and then running dedicated
positive and negative wires
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from the links distributor to
the engine starting battery.
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If you have a towable RV
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like a travel trailer or a fifth wheel,
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you'd want to use Anderson connectors
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for the hitch connection,
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and we have those options
available in our kits
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at shop.explorist.life.
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Upgrading alternator charging
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will ensure you arrive to your
campsite with a full battery,
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but upgraded alternator
charging isn't for everybody.
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Remember that your solar
will continue to charge
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even while you're driving.
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We made a separate video for
those of you on the fence
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about upgrading your alternator charging,
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and you can check that out here.
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Thanks for watching, and
we'll see you next time.
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(beep)
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(Steph yawning)
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- Yawn as soon as we.
- Of course, you yawn.
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- New lithium combat,
compatible converter can be,
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gosh dang it.
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- Combatible?
- Combatible.
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- Lithium combatible.
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God, I said it again.
(Nate chuckling)
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- System on the negative wires.
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Ah, why did I change that,
that didn't make any sense.
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Just read what it says, it's pretty good.
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(beep)
- Are you
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- Are you recording?
- recording right now?
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- [Videographer] Yeah.
- [Both] Okay.
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- [Nate] I didn't hear the ding.
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♪ Yeah, I think I like it ♪
