Commonly known as 'Truthful Phil', Phil Bianchi referred Karen to us in preparing her Prado for a 4WD Tour of the Canning Stock Route run by Phil, a 4WD Desert Adventurer, Bush Travel Writer, Historian (for which he received an Order of Australia!) and Author.
Phil's been loving his old The Lithium Box 100Ah (TLB100) original for about eight years now and suggested the idea of one to Karen.
Her Prado had an old school dual battery system with a REDARC SBI12 Dual Battery Controller, which had been bypassed (we're not sure why) to link both batteries permanently, so it wasn't actually working as a dual battery.
Needing to power a Waeco CF80 (80ltr) fridge, charge mobile phones and power some LED camp lighting, Karen chose to have The Lithium Box 100/40 Small (TLB100-40SM) installed, the most compact of our portable 100Ah RV Lithium System Australia (RVLSA) battery systems.
Firstly we tested her twelve month old start and auxiliary battery and they both tested perfect, so we removed the bypass wire and tested the REDARC SBI12 and again it worked perfectly.
To give Karen the peace of mind to jump start from her auxiliary battery in the event the start battery goes flat, we installed a Toyota fit dash mounted jump start switch to the SBI12, which also keeps the auxiliary battery charged whilst travelling and automatically isolates from the start battery once the vehicle is not running. This keeps the auxiliary battery in peak condition for if it's needed.
With the Weaco taking up a lot of space in the rear and without a draw system to mount the TLB100-40SM to, we custom built a mount over the wheel arch between the fridge and the driver’s side window.
This takes up the least amount of room, allowing for easy access and doesn’t interfere with storage space.
Karen plans to be on the move a fair bit, but there will be times when she'll set up camp for a few days stay.
The fridge and lighting can use up to 40A over night, but it'll only take about an hour of travelling for TLB to be back up to 100%, thanks to it's super fast DC charge rate of 40A+ per hour!
When settling in for a longer stay, Karen harnesses the sun's energy by simply plugging in her REDARC SPFP200W Folding Light Weight Solar Panel into to the TLB’s yellow Solar Input Socket.
Whilst installing TLB, we found some dodgy wiring to the Weaco so we repaired the lead and swapped to a genuine Black Anderson plug to connect directly to the Black Anderson plug Fridge Connection on the rear of TLB.
All the best for the Canning Stock Route and future 4WD adventures, Karen!
For a comprehensive list of features of The Lithium Box and to browse our other models, please visit: https://www.rvlithiumsystems.com.au/portable-lithium-power
If you're keen to know more about Phil's tours, blogs, podcasts, books and presentations (he's a busy man!) visit: https://www.philbianchi.com.au/
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