New Pop Up in Georgia

[BadGrampa]

Got us a new 2021 Flagstaff 228BHSE in July and have already taken her out on 3 trips. All trips boondocking in National Forest campgrounds spending many miles on switchback FS roads.

We had planned to get the 228MAC but so so happy the Sport Enthusiast model came in stock first. This unit is a beast and we love it.

Already tore into it to add more power for extended boondocking. Swapped in a 200ah LiFePO4 battery. Swapped the WFCO4135 power center for the PD4135 unit with Lithium charging. What a difference from that 80ah LeadAcid. Final add will be to add a couple more 100watt Solar Panels to the standard one and we will be set for power. Last trip -Labor Day weekend, fully setup Friday thru Monday morning and we never went below 80% charge in a heavy forest canopy.

Loving all the info here in the forums.

I'll get a sig line made up soon but for now:
TV 2021 Toyota 4Runner TRD Off Road: RedArc Break Controller: Firestone 1000 air bags in the coils.
Husky Roundbar WDH

Larry

[Wiscampsin]

Welcome from Wisconsin. Enjoy your 2021 Flagstaff 228BHSE.

[aceinspp]

Welcome to the forum from Georgia. Later RJD

[Fun finders]

Welcome to the forum from Winnipeg Manitoba

[KTFrogger]

Hello! I know this thread is quite old but....what the hay

We got our 228BHSE last summer as well - we got this model essentially because of it's potential to boondock.

We have tried off-grid camping and have been disappointed in the capacity of the battery and have been looking into upgrading. So I'm very curious about your process to upgrade the battery and solar power. Did you upgrade to one or two LiFePO4 batteries? What brand did you end up going with? And can I ask why you swapped out the inverter? My understanding is that the WFCO is compatible with lithium batteries.

Katie

[aceinspp]

Originally Posted by KTFrogger

Hello! I know this thread is quite old but....what the hay

We got our 228BHSE last summer as well - we got this model essentially because of it's potential to boondock.

We have tried off-grid camping and have been disappointed in the capacity of the battery and have been looking into upgrading. So I'm very curious about your process to upgrade the battery and solar power. Did you upgrade to one or two LiFePO4 batteries? What brand did you end up going with? And can I ask why you swapped out the inverter? My understanding is that the WFCO is compatible with lithium batteries.

Katie

Its been a month and half since he was on the forum so you maybe waiting awhile for a reply Later RJD

[BadGrampa]

Originally Posted by KTFrogger

Hello! I know this thread is quite old but....what the hay

We got our 228BHSE last summer as well - we got this model essentially because of it's potential to boondock.

We have tried off-grid camping and have been disappointed in the capacity of the battery and have been looking into upgrading. So I'm very curious about your process to upgrade the battery and solar power. Did you upgrade to one or two LiFePO4 batteries? What brand did you end up going with? And can I ask why you swapped out the inverter? My understanding is that the WFCO is compatible with lithium batteries.

Katie

Hi Katie,
Yeah that original battery was worthless to say the least. So my upgrades, as noted was to upgrade the power center (Converter/Charger) not the Inverter and I went with the Progressive Dynamics unit noted above. It was almost a direct replacement to the WFCO unit but had full LIFePo4 support. My WGCO unit did not have any support for Lithium.

My battery choice was a single 200AH Chinese clone (Jita) $699 right now on Amazon. it does not have cold charge cutoff so I have to be mindful of my outside temps. I also have a 100AH Weize that does have cold cutoff but is is in the TV (the 4Runner) to run the freezer/fridge in there.

I've also done solar upgrades now. I have 400 watts on the roof, I added 3 Renogy 100 watt panels and run them in series to a new EPEver 40amp MPPT charge controller. The only thing left to upgrade is the Inverter and I'll probably upgrade that this winter to the Progressive Dynamics 1800 watt.

We just got back from a 4 day outing in Tenn. We had partly sunny skys and popup thunder storms all weekend. The 200AH never went below 80% but with good sun I can pull 65 volts and right at 18-20 amps out of the panels so I can get a really good charge.

Hope that helps.
Larry

[BadGrampa]

Originally Posted by aceinspp

Its been a month and half since he was on the forum so you maybe waiting awhile for a reply Later RJD

I was boondocking in the no data zone near Telico Plains Tenn. 4 days with ZERO cell service. I'm not complaining either.

Larry

[Oaklevel]

Welcome from Virginia !!!!

[Retired JSO]

Welcome..
We live in Union County GA just south of Murphy NC.