David's Crusader Excalibur Serenity Caravan was needing to run an upright 281L 12V compressor fridge/freezer, Sleep Apnoea machine, Satellite Dish / TV, Sirocco fans and an Engel 35L drinks fridge, transferred from the car to the van when parked, plus the usual accessories such as lights, stereo and water pump.
With the existing battery system consisting of two 120Ah AGM batteries, a 25A 240V Charger, two 150W solar panels through a PMW solar controller and no DC charging from the vehicle, we started by removing all but the solar panels in readiness for an RV Lithium Systems upgrade.
We installed:
A custom designed and built 280Ah RVLSA Lithium Battery Pack with a 240A continuous Battery Control Unit (BCU). This connects via two 120A Anderson plugs which makes it a 'plug and play' system and safe from shorts as they are enclosed terminals.
A Victron Smart Bluetooth BMV712 Battery Monitor
Two 65A Victron Smart Battery Protects linked to the BMV meter to turn off the van power if the battery reaches a low State of Charge (SOC) or Low battery Voltage. This prevents any damage to the battery.
Two Victron Smart IP22 30A 240V Battery Chargers so that 60A of charging from 240V can be achieved.
Two 140W and two 115W Victron Solar panels
A Victron Smart Solar 30A MPPT Solar Controller linked to the two new 140W and two 115W Solar panels
A Victron Smart Solar 20A MPPT Solar Controller linked to the original two 175W panels This was mounted in an overhead cupboard where the existing controller was, which normally would have been too far away from the batteries to work correctly. Thanks to Victron's technology which allows for synchronized charging, the Solar controller talks wirelessly to the Battery meter, so it senses accurate battery voltage and temperature. This also wirelessly links all Solar Controllers and 240V Chargers, making it one big happy system.
A Victron Smart Solar 30A MPPT Solar Controller for portable solar panels which can be plugged in via a newly installed Yellow 50A Anderson plug. This Solar Controller is also linked to our RVLSA 30A DC Charger which facilitates 30A’s of charge from either the vehicle when running or the portable solar panel. Now the total solar input from the roof is 50A, plus up to 30A from either the car or portable solar. In the image below you can see the new (N) panels giving 30A, the old (O) panels giving 20.10A and a portable (vehicle symbol and E), giving an additional 11.8A.
A custom charger mounting panel to house the new chargers
An automatic circuit to switch the 'Carafan' on when the car starts, and off when the car is turned off. 'Carafan' is a dust reduction system and was originally installed with the standard on/off switch inside the van, so when David travelled, he had to remember to turn it on or off. Our automatic circuit also includes a change-over- switch in a side access boot, to switch between manual on/off or automatic on/off so that the system can be set back to standard for a different tow vehicle which doesn't have the ignition trigger set up.
A custom Breakaway system running from the new RVLSA Lithium battery, with the roof solar as a back up. We removed the original Breakaway system which had an internal battery requiring charging. A breakaway system is designed to bring your trailer to a stop if it gets disconnected from your vehicle. For an RV Lithium System suited to what you want to run and how you like to travel, contact us.
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