Jomani's Electrical Upgrade Project

[Jomani]

The first three posts were extracted from the Tapping 12V from the truck to charge Battle Borns thread. Joe's (and Neil's inputs) were moved here so any further discussion on this upgrade can be done without taking the other thread OT. -Howard (Moderator)

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Wow - what a great thread . Just read through all 12 pages and love the evolution. (Joe is referencing the Tapping thread linked above.)

I am currently down following shoulder surgery surgery and have been doing a lot of planning, reading and shopping. I have already acquired the following:
Renogy 3k inverter
Renogy 60 amp Dc to Dc charger
200 ah LiFePo4 battery
4awg welding cable (50 feet of red and 50 feet of black)
(2) battery disconnect switches (one for battery and one for solar)
(2) 300 amp bus bars
100 amp fuse (truck battery to Dc charger)
80 amp fuse (Dc charger to bus bar)
60 amp Progressive Dynamics Charge Controller (lithium compatible)
175 amp Anderson connectors

Still need:
Shunt/battery monitor
4/0 cable (bus bars to inverter)
300 amp fuse (battery to bus bar)
Automatic transfer switch

After reading all of this thread and a couple of others, I think I have changed my mind on a couple of things. First, I was going to use one of the auxiliary switches in the truck to trigger the D+ line on the Dc to Dc charger. Now, I think I will use the auxiliary switch to activate a solenoid that supplies the 12v supply via the 4awg cable. I will then tie the D+ line to the 12v supply line on the charger - when the auxiliary switch is on, 12v will be supplied to the charger input and to the D+ line simultaneously.

The second change to my plan is to disconnect the 12v auxiliary charge wire from the 7 pin connector on the trailer side and tie it to the running lights. This will ensure that the trailer running lights are on at all times when the truck is running. The new Rams have a problem with the Furrion backup camera because the lights operate off a PWM circuit that does not supply enough power to the camera. Since I will no longer need the 12v to charge the battery, I think this will solve the problem. I would then tie the running light circuit (trailer side) to the LC circuit on the Dc to Dc charger. My thinking is, allow the charger to operate at the full 60 amps when running during the day. At night, the charger will drop down to 30 amps there by minimizing the load on the alternators. Just not sure if the running light circuit will work because of the PWM issue.

I am considering using 2 sets of Anderson connectors (one on the truck and one on the trailer). I know this will increase the overall resistance, but will allow me to secure the cable when not in use. I had the 7 pin connector cut off my previous 5th wheel and don’t want to risk losing the 4awg cable to thieves.

Thanks again to everyone who has offered input - there are some great minds out there. I still have another 6 weeks before I can use my arm (of course it was my right side) so I will have to continue to dream about this project for a while.

Joe

[ncitro]

Jomani Sounds like it'll be a nice setup. The thing that jumps out to me at first is the amount of battery. I know the BMS in my batteries limits the output, such that to fully power my Victron 3kva inverter I need at least three batteries in parallel. Your batteries may not have that limitation but it's something to check on.

[Jomani]

Jomani Sounds like it'll be a nice setup. The thing that jumps out to me at first is the amount of battery. I know the BMS in my batteries limits the output, such that to fully power my Victron 3kva inverter I need at least three batteries in parallel. Your batteries may not have that limitation but it's something to check on.

I completely agree. My current battery is a single generic 200 ah LiFePo4. The BMS allows for 100 amp continuous output - 280 peak. I was originally looking at a 2k Renogy inverter but found an incredible deal on the 3k at Lowe’s. Since I will be using the factory inverter prep on the 303, I don’t expect to exceed 1kw to 1.5kw - primarily want to have TV and CPAP machine at night if/when overnighting without hook-ups. If we get serious about boon docking, I will certainly upgrade the batteries. If my thinking is correct, I can get 100 amps from the battery and 60 amps from the truck - be able to stop for lunch, kick out the living area slides and make lunch (microwave or air fryer).

[ncitro]

Yeah for that use case you'll probably be fine. I think it's the right call to run the 4/0 and fuse it for full load to make it easy to add batteries down the road. Watch your battery parallel wire size as well.

[Jomani]

Okay - I finally was able to get this project finished. I will start by showing my wiring diagrams and talk a little about my thinking. After much research, I decided to keep the factory converter (Progressive Dynamics PD9260C) in it’s original location and add a second converter (PD9160 AL) in the front compartment. The original (old) converter will remain off (circuit breaker) off until I need the additional charging capacity or in the event of some kind of failure. I also elected to leave the original bus bar and battery disconnect switch

On the diagram below, the new converter is the larger one on the left - powered through a switched circuit. The old converter is the smaller one on the right - powered by the original circuit breaker.



This diagram translated to this:

[Jomani]

I completed the first in a series of videos to go along with this thread. The first video offers an overview of the system. Future videos will offer a breakdown of my wiring diagram and discuss in detail how all of the various components interact.

Click here to watch the first video

[howson]

Jomani -- is the 250A fuse going to be large enough for the Renogy? I couldn't find a spec on how long (time) the Renogy will sustain peak surge power (6000W) so not sure if a surge will blow the 250A fuse. (If my math is right, 6000W is pulling 500A from the batteries...if they can do that.) Might be rare for a peak surge demand (anything over 3000W) to be placed on the Renogy, but it could happen.

[Jomani]

Jomani -- is the 250A fuse going to be large enough for the Renogy? I couldn't find a spec on how long (time) the Renogy will sustain peak surge power (6000W) so not sure if a surge will blow the 250A fuse. (If my math is right, 6000W is pulling 500A from the batteries...if they can do that.) Might be rare for a peak surge demand (anything over 3000W) to be placed on the Renogy, but it could happen.

You are correct - the fuse is undersized for a 3k inverter. Until I upgrade the battery bank, which will be a while, I went with the 250amp primarily as a safeguard. My single 200 ah LiFePo4 can put out a max of 280 amps but is limited to 100 amps continuous. The final version of my build will see either four 100 ah or two 200 ah batteries with a continuous output of 400 plus amps. At that time I will upsize the fuse. I did a test - TV, coffee pot, and microwave all running at the same time. The max draw from the battery was just over 200 amps.

[Jomani]

I put together a cost breakdown of this whole package. My budget was $2,000. I missed the mark by a couple hundred dollars. A couple places I went over were the Victron Lynx Power In unit and fuses. In the end, I really liked the fact that I got dual 1000 Amp bus bars and four fuse holders in one unit.

.

Renogy 3ooo Watt Inverter	Link	Lowe’s	$317
Renogy 60 amp DC-DC charger	Link	Amazon	$210
Renogy 500 Amp Battery Monitor with Shunt	Link	Amazon	$80
Progressive Dynamics PD9160AL Converter	Link	Amazon	$280
Progressive Dynamics PD5110010V ATS	Link	Amazon	$117
Victron Energy Lynx Power In Battery Connector	Link	Amazon	$156
M8 Nuts, Bolts, and Washers		Local	$12
Blue Sea 6006 m-Series Battery Disconnect	Link	Amazon	$28
Blue Sea 5191Fuse Block Terminal	Link	Amazon	$22
Blue Sea 5190 Battery Terminal Fuse 300 AMP	Link	Amazon	$17
2 Pole 1000v 50 Amp Solar Isolator	Link	Amazon	$16
Cole Hersee 24213 12V 200A Cont. Solenoid	Link	Amazon	$49
Littlefuse 250Amp 32v Mega Fuse	Link	Amazon	$8
Littlefuse 80 Amp 32v Mega Fuse (x2)	Link	Amazon	$18
Littlefuse 60 Amp 32v Mega Fuse	Link	Amazon	$8
TEMCo WCO192-100’ 4AWG Welding Lead	Link	Amazon	$135
TEMCo WC0295-20' 3/0 AWG Welding Lead	Link	Amazon	$120
200 AH LiFePo4 Battery (generic)		Local	$450
Micrl 175 Amp Battery Quick Connect	Link	Amazon	$19
Misc Lug Terminals	Link	Amazon	$40
Misc Hardware and Building Supplies		Local	$100
Total Cost			$2202

[Jomani]

Just finished the third video in the series for my electrical upgrade. This one details the inverter and ATS wiring and associated components.

https://youtu.be/_ZZimIwjcxQ

[Jomani]

I finally finished the wiring on the tow vehicle side for my DC-DC charger. As always, I created a video that goes into great detail about this upgrade - link below.

After doing much research and gathering a lot of great ideas from posts on this forum, I got a little creative in the wiring for the charger control circuits. My objective was to be able to turn the charger on and off while going down the road - that was accomplished by using one of the upfitter switches and a constant duty solenoid. I also wanted to be able to decrease the output of the charger when driving at night with my headlights on - that was accomplished by adding a 12v relay that supplies 12 volts to the LC (current limiting) circuit on the charger. The third thing I was after was to somehow get rid of the PWM (pulse width modulated) signal that was supplying power to the trailer’s tail and running lights. Since most newer tow vehicles went this route, providing sufficient power to the backup cameras is becoming more difficult. I was able to accomplish that using the same 12v relay.

[Jomani]

Here are some pictures of the wiring diagram and explanations of different scenarios.

[Jomani]

One last picture of the full wiring diagram.

[howson]

Jomani -- superb implementation and documentation!

[Jomani]

Update...

Just got back from a 2 week trip where we were finally able to put this whole package through a good test. During one leg of the trip my 200ah LiFePo4 was down to about 25% SOC when we headed out. The DC-DC charger worked like a champ. Battery hit 100% long before we arrived. Coming home we were traveling in the dark. We stopped at a rest area to make some dinner. When we got back on the road I flipped the charger on. Since I can monitor my battery’s BMS from the truck via my iPad, I was able to see the charge rate. Just as planned, the current dropped to 27 amps with the truck’s headlights on. Still more than enough to arrive home at 100% SOC.

One thing I can say for sure is that the 16cf refrigerator is a power hog in the heat. The temps stayed in the upper 90s and didn’t cool off much at night. I don’t think the refrigerator ever stopped running, especially when the slides were out. There is no way a single 165w solar panel and 100ah lead acid battery would have ever kept up.