Battery Replacement on a 2020 43B

[zb39]

Thanks for the quick reply. I need to get this done.

[Trappfarmer]

Has anyone considered a Tesla Power Wall?
About 250 lbs but lots of power.

[RKNOLA]

Originally Posted by Pitdad Brian

It's an all electric coach

Only thing I'm slightly annoyed about is that the 4 house batteries would not last through the night with most things off (except a fridge, phone chargers).

But if you take it one step further, offering a bunkhouse coach that's all electric with 6 TVs, tons of lights, fireplace, constant hot water, and other cool stuff, Forest River should probably assume that the batteries are going to get quite a workout. Offering an optional 8 house batteries like many competitors would be a no brainer for dry campers me

In any event, we'll see how 6 house batteries perform.

Just switch over to Lithium Ion batteries............ if you don't mind selling that kidney to pay for it..............

[Trappfarmer]

Be aware that the batteries require some ventilation to avoid overheating during heavy loads and rapid charging.

[CZNEDY]

PitDad, when we boondock (once a year at Daytona) I run the generator a few times during the day, have a single 100 watt solar panel to basically trickle charge. But as you said, we don't want to run our generator at night either so I just open the breaker to the fridge when we go to bed and turn it back on when we get up. Nothing defrosts and the beer is still cold. That's my procedure. We are usually at Daytona for 3-4 nights. Never killed the batteries that way. I have the AGS set for low voltage but turning off the fridge prevents it from starting. This has been our procedure, been doing it since 2017 and still have the original batteries. Probably going to need new ones soon, but they have been maintained regularly and only drained below 12 volts when our rig was at the dealer. Those idiots just hit the salesman switch and think everything will be OK for two weeks. But it won't.

[Trappfarmer]

Nearly new batteries going bad? Not to be insulting but it sounds like the charger is set to the wrong type of battery and maybe overcharging. I would check the battery voltage With a meter while in “float” .
Check for proper voltage using the chart in the Magnam owner’s manual.

[Rusbet]

Originally Posted by CZNEDY

PitDad, when we boondock (once a year at Daytona) I just open the breaker to the fridge when we go to bed and turn it back on when we get up. Nothing defrosts and the beer is still cold.

That's brilliant. Have you done this multiple nights in a row with success?

[Pitdad Brian]

For a quick update, the 6 new batteries are a big improvement. We can now watch a couple hours of TV on battery power, keep everything plugged in, not stress over lights being on, and make it through the night.

[dave-g]

Originally Posted by Pitdad Brian

For a quick update, the 6 new batteries are a big improvement. We can now watch a couple hours of TV on battery power, keep everything plugged in, not stress over lights being on, and make it through the night.

Sounds like a great upgrade. Glad it worked out.

I have a 2012- with a propane frig. So dry camping has never been a problem. I do hate watching battery levels all day.

[Eric B FR Diesel]

Originally Posted by Pitdad Brian

Got 6 batteries installed in the Berk which should bump the AH by 50%. My compartment is 22" wide and the batteries are 21". Only challenging part was cutting out the welded brackets that keep the 4 batteries from shifting front and back. I also added angle iron to keep them in place side to side as shown in the picture.



By the way, my panel shows that inverter and refrigerator draw 12A when running.

Hey Pitdad,

Our electrical engineer just came down and handed me a drawing about how the six batteries should be tied together. I have attached the drawing. Right now the concern on his side is that there are four batteries that are wired in parallel, with two batteries wired separately from the parallel... his concern was that the two batteries that are wired outside of the four are going to over charge reducing there life. Below is a picture of how we tie all of the six batteries together. Hope this helps

[Pitdad Brian]

Originally Posted by Eric B FR Diesel

Hey Pitdad,

Our electrical engineer just came down and handed me a drawing about how the six batteries should be tied together. I have attached the drawing. Right now the concern on his side is that there are four batteries that are wired in parallel, with two batteries wired separately from the parallel... his concern was that the two batteries that are wired outside of the four are going to over charge reducing there life. Below is a picture of how we tie all of the six batteries together. Hope this helps

Attachment 239253

Thank you very much. That is great info. I will rewire it as shown right away.

[Maingler]

You also want to change the inverter panek to the correct battery amp hours. It was set to 400 Amp hours for the 4 battery bank. Assuming you used similar batteries your amp hours should be set for 600.

[gordonsick]

Originally Posted by Eric B FR Diesel

Hey Pitdad,

Our electrical engineer just came down and handed me a drawing about how the six batteries should be tied together. I have attached the drawing. Right now the concern on his side is that there are four batteries that are wired in parallel, with two batteries wired separately from the parallel... his concern was that the two batteries that are wired outside of the four are going to over charge reducing there life. Below is a picture of how we tie all of the six batteries together. Hope this helps

Attachment 239253

This system looks good for hooking up 6 batteries.

I believe the engineer's concern about this is misplaced. The wiring diagram shows three series battery pairs (each giving 12V) and each of these three is wired in parallel, so the three sets will get the same charge voltage.

I've done a bit of research into the misplaced concerns people have about adding more batteries to an existing system. You can add old to new and small to large, with no problems to the individual battery life or performance. Just make sure that the old or small ones are hooked in series pairs to give 12V and then hook the new series pairs in parallel to the others.

An authoritative source for this is an article by H Gies of the Oerlikon Stationary Batteries company in Switzerland. His company would benefit by people NOT mixing old and new batteries, but his paper shows that it works fine:
http://neuralfibre.com/paul/wp-conte...we-now-sin.pdf

That paper has a couple of citations and I downloaded the one "Operational Characteristics of VRLA Batteries Configured in Parallel Strings". It confirms the same points. I think I had to go through our University of Calgary Library to get this paper to avoid the paywall. If you or somebody you know is at a university, they can probably get it for you.

–Gordon

[wdweldon]

a Big advantage is no leaking battery ACID issues!

[matt58]

Originally Posted by RKNOLA

Just switch over to Lithium Ion batteries............ if you don't mind selling that kidney to pay for it..............

How do you like the Lithium Ion Batteries and how many did you go with?

[Igave]

https://www.forestriverforums.com/fo...3&d=1600281620

This came from FR on another thread (battery replacement on a 2020) on the Berkshire forum. I’d think we’re all pretty well the same battery hook up wise. Glad you figured it out, and maybe be aware that sometimes a worker or owner or helper won’t always follow the Original color schemes. Enjoy your coach!

[Igave]

OP. You’re probably scratching your head on my post. I tried putting it in a thread from a Berkshire owner looking for a schematic and (tech that I am obviously not) managed to paste it in your thread and not his. Sorry about that.