Show me your inverter and battery setups

[432bartman]

I'm getting ready to pull the plug and go lithium, mainly for the new residential fridge I just ordered. For those of you that did your own installation of batteries, cabling, fuses, cutoff switches, chargers, inverters and transfer switches, can you send me photos of your setup. Plus, any advice on doing your install, what problems you ran into, or how you might have done it differently. Anybody use an inverter that has an automatic transfer switch built in? Thanks to anybody who can help me out.

 

[scottz]

I'm getting ready to pull the plug and go lithium, mainly for the new residential fridge I just ordered. For those of you that did your own installation of batteries, cabling, fuses, cutoff switches, chargers, inverters and transfer switches, can you send me photos of your setup. Plus, any advice on doing your install, what problems you ran into, or how you might have done it differently. Anybody use an inverter that has an automatic transfer switch built in? Thanks to anybody who can help me out.

Here's a link to the install I did a few months ago.
https://www.montanaowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91377

My inverter has a built in ATS. Got all my stuff from Continuous Resources https://www.continuousresources.com/. They put together a kit based on my requirements. I only had to order a few extra things. I would recommend using one dealer instead of piecing things together. If you use Victron, the factory will not provide support; purchase from a reputable dealer so you have support; avoid Amazon. CR responded to every question I had and helped a lot. My contact was Matt.

Let me know if you have any questions.

So far, everything is working great; love it.

 

[Greg10yes]

Here is the system I put in myself. I am real happy with the Victron hardware. The inverter has a built in bypass, if we are somewhere with 15amp power or on a small inverter/generator the inverter will supplement power needs from the batteries. I put soft starts on the ac units and can run 1 ac on a 2500 watt inverter/generator, then with the power boost we can still run the microwave, kuerig or whatever we want. I put in a SeeLevel tank system with shows up in the raspberry PI display that runs everything (it is running Victron software). I have a dc to dc charger for charging from the truck, will be adding some solar. Not looking to do a lot of dispersed camping but want to be able to do anything we run across during our travels. Love the tank level sensors, they are a game changer if you don’t always get full hookups since they are accurate within 4%.

 

[432bartman]

Thank you Scott and Greg for your responses.

 

[MandK]

Our rig came with the GE residential refrigerator and 2000 watt magnum inverter without built in transfer switch. It has the Magnum CSW-TS20 plug in transfer switch and came with 2 small FLA batteries, a circuit of 5 inverted plugs, no solar. For the first couple of years this was fine and the GE uses very little energy so the truck’s seven pin kept the batteries at 100%. We started using the trailer more and staying at Harvest Hosts and free camp spots when on the move so I switched over to a 300ah Temgot with built in BMS and heater, and put in a 40ah dc/dc charger to charge back up in the morning when we hit the road. We really don’t boondock so I haven’t bothered with solar.
I’m no electrician and the following may not be best practice, but it may give you some ideas to pursue.
I put a 100 amp fuse on the positive battery post to the buss bar and negative battery disconnect between the battery and shunt for storage. The inverter + comes direct to the battery. After changing the converter switch to Li, I have not seen more than 52 amps going into the battery so I eliminated the original 50 amp auto resetting CB in the battery bay and now have that line fused at 60 amps. Fwiw, the 12v on/off switch (red key) in the wet bay is rated at 50 amps so I’m close there. The atc/ato fuse block supplies power to the tpms booster, a light that I installed in the battery bay and the signal wires for the dc/dc charger. The dc/dc charger is supplied with 2awg cables from the truck using a 200 amp relay switched with one of the upfitter switches. The CB at the truck battery is 60 amps and I connect truck to trailer with an Anderson connector. The output cables from the charger are 4awg and fused at 50 amps. I have seen 39.8 amps going into the battery from the 40 amp charger.
This set up suits our needs well.

In the pictures below, the neg buss bar left to right is:
Dc/Dc charger output ground, magnum inverter ground, chassis ground and neg to battery through the shunt and disconnect switch.
Magnum inverter positive hooks direct from battery through the magnum fuse.
Positive buss bar left to right is:
Dc/Dc charger output +
#10 to original 30 amp self resetting CB
1/0 from battery +
#4 from battery to house and back from converter/charger
#10 to original Jaboni solar prep (not used)
#4 down to 80 amp hyd. pump CB and #4 up to ato/atc fuse block
Hope this helps.

 

[Cat320]

...I'm getting ready to pull the plug and go lithium, mainly for the new residential fridge I just ordered...

Unless you just want lithiums, they are not necessary for the new residential refers. They use very little power.

 

[432bartman]

Our rig came with the GE residential refrigerator and 2000 watt magnum inverter without built in transfer switch. It has the Magnum CSW-TS20 plug in transfer switch and came with 2 small FLA batteries, a circuit of 5 inverted plugs, no solar. For the first couple of years this was fine and the GE uses very little energy so the truck’s seven pin kept the batteries at 100%. We started using the trailer more and staying at Harvest Hosts and free camp spots when on the move so I switched over to a 300ah Temgot with built in BMS and heater, and put in a 40ah dc/dc charger to charge back up in the morning when we hit the road. We really don’t boondock so I haven’t bothered with solar.
I’m no electrician and the following may not be best practice, but it may give you some ideas to pursue.
I put a 100 amp fuse on the positive battery post to the buss bar and negative battery disconnect between the battery and shunt for storage. The inverter + comes direct to the battery. After changing the converter switch to Li, I have not seen more than 52 amps going into the battery so I eliminated the original 50 amp auto resetting CB in the battery bay and now have that line fused at 60 amps. Fwiw, the 12v on/off switch (red key) in the wet bay is rated at 50 amps so I’m close there. The atc/ato fuse block supplies power to the tpms booster, a light that I installed in the battery bay and the signal wires for the dc/dc charger. The dc/dc charger is supplied with 2awg cables from the truck using a 200 amp relay switched with one of the upfitter switches. The CB at the truck battery is 60 amps and I connect truck to trailer with an Anderson connector. The output cables from the charger are 4awg and fused at 50 amps. I have seen 39.8 amps going into the battery from the 40 amp charger.
This set up suits our needs well.

In the pictures below, the neg buss bar left to right is:
Dc/Dc charger output ground, magnum inverter ground, chassis ground and neg to battery through the shunt and disconnect switch.
Magnum inverter positive hooks direct from battery through the magnum fuse.
Positive buss bar left to right is:
Dc/Dc charger output +
#10 to original 30 amp self resetting CB
1/0 from battery +
#4 from battery to house and back from converter/charger
#10 to original Jaboni solar prep (not used)
#4 down to 80 amp hyd. pump CB and #4 up to ato/atc fuse block
Hope this helps.

Thank you Mark that looks awesome.

 

[432bartman]

CAT320, my group 31's are nearing the end of their life. I found comparable prices on new 100Ah lithiums from Redodo Power, listed at $176.99 each.

 

[Vapackerfan]

Lithium ion

My 2022 3781RL came with the GE residential fridge, Magnum 2000 watt inverter with an
A.T.S., one group 27 lead acid battery and a 200 watt solar package.
My wife uses a CPAP machine and a 12" 110 vac fan at night. The 50" TV is also on the inverter circuit. While boondocking, I would have to run a portable generator 16-18 hours/day.
I swapped out the original battery for a Renogy 200 amp/hour li on battery almost 3 years ago. The only mods I did was change battery boxes and cables. I also installed a shunt monitor. I just returned from 10 days of boondocking at the Martinsville race. I used less than 12 gallons of gasoline for my generator. With the battery at full charge, we could run the fridge, CPAP, fan, and the furnace on 41 degree nights, and still have about 40% available.

 

[KingRanchFan]

We went with the BYOB batteries from the old camper (1120amps) but built a new power panel in our 3023RL. Adding two rows of HQST panels on the roof. Really love it as we use the lots of juice overnight. Average usage has been around 250 ah a night, sometimes up to 300. Only thing I didn't expect was a hum from the invertor when you pull above 2000 watts, as this was located below the master bedroom. So I switched the water heater back to gas to keep it from making noise at night. Has been very solid so far, 9 weeks w/o generator in all kinds of weather in Colorado. It gets back to full before the afternoon rain clouds up.

 

[Daryles]

Here's a picture of the battery compartment.
Four 132Ah lithium batteries, one FLA (original) battery (for freezing temperatures).

Here's a link to the ATS install.
https://www.montanaowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90856