Is Battle Born Worth It? & More RV Life Problems
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ค. 2024
- We're heading back to full hookups in our RV after experiencing some problems with our Battle Born batteries and face even more issues, like RV A/C problems and trying to get our RV brake recall fixed. Finally, we're giving you our honest opinion on what we think about our Battle Born batteries after living in our RV full time with them for 2 years.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:36 Trying not to hit branches
5:18 RV Travel Day Delays
8:40 Full Hookup RV Park
9:53 More RV Life Problems
14:50 RV AC Feezing Up
22:45 Battle Born battery review
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*Who are we?*
We’re Victoria & Craig! In 2021, we decided that we needed to make life a little more exciting, so we bought a used fifth wheel and completely renovated it. Then, we sold our house in Tallahassee, Florida and hit the road full time in our RV! We’ve traveled all around the United States (and Baja Mexico!) and fell in love with boondocking in our RV at the most beautiful places. In 2023, we upgraded to a brand new Brinkley RV Model Z 3100. You’ll always find us on some kind of outdoor adventure, whether it’s hiking the Grand Canyon, rock climbing in Yosemite or surfing the shores of California. Subscribe to our channel (bit.ly/3ssOjGT) to follow along on our full time RV living adventures!
Let us know what type of batteries you have in your rig! (And how you’re liking them?) ⬇️
Im full hook up and my battery is just standard dep cell. But, I have been looking at LifePo04 batteries and solar. Im doing research on gas and solar. I will probably do both....
You should hit up Enduro Batteries, they are in Castle Rock.
We have battle born, no issues. Fabulous customer service and guidance. You won't find that with other companies. What bracket are you using to hold your batteries in place?
I'll second @seekingadventures recommendation - I have had a 300ah Enduro Power battery and love it - their engineering help was great helping me with my custom setup, and its been a rock. I know you aren't looking to replace them, but if you are still around Denver, you are actually really close to their HQ - you should go visit them!
We have 4 Battle Borne, and they work great. I called them many times for help on how to set them up. They took the time and explained how to set them up. They gave me codes to tweak them for best performance. I was impressed with all the time they took with me. They were fantastic
You guys are hilarious. Don’t mean to laugh at your troubles. It’s like a Vacation movie.
I appreciate you guys documenting your struggles in the RV life and how you over come them!
And thank you for coming along for the adventure!
A true adventure
Ask a friend at the campground if you can hook your truck up to their 5th wheel. That can help you determine whether it is the truck or the RV.
👍🏽
We’re thinking that it could be the brake recall issue blowing fuses so we are getting that fixed (very soon hopefully!) and then we will see if that resolved it…if not, that will probably be our next step to rule out the truck!
As 60 yro full timers , it’s so nice to see positive people working through a sometimes negative world.
Thank you so much!! It’s not always perfect but we do love our RV life!
Propane tip: have two propane tanks and when the first one runs out, go get it refilled. You will always have at least one full tank.
We use Tractor Supply for our propane refills. They have an app so when you get to the store you pull up the app search for the store you’re at, press a couple of buttons and they come out to you. You can pay at the pump even. We use Enduro lithium batteries, two 12volt 300amp hour batteries. Bought them on a Black Friday sale I think for $1100.00 each. I enjoy your channel!
As you stated, it all part of RV life and even those supposedly name brand/top $ RV’s come with all sorts of issues - indicative of quality process (or lack thereof) in the RV industry. An ex RV salesman once told me that whenever you buy an RV from a dealer, have an agreement with dealer before you sign to allow you to spend one afternoon and night on their lot before you take the RV away and test every light, faucet, switch, ac, heater, outside shower. Every appliance in the RV - bake cookies in the oven, make a potato in the microwave, freeze ice cubes etc - everything. Then in the morning give them a punch list to fix before you drive off.
We love your videos. Your problem solving skills are great. Keep up the great work. We are planning to go full time in 6 months.
Thank you so much!! That is a great compliment 😄 And yayyy!! That’s so exciting, best of luck with the upcoming transition to rv life!
Great mechanic Craig
You guys are GREAT love your positive attitude! No whining from you 2 😂 You should design t- shirts along those lines 💙
Thank you so much!
Hi bob
We are using 4 Battle Born's 100AH, they are coming 4 years old and to date we haven't had an issue with them.
Not sure if you are on the Facebook Brinkley owners group but your symptoms match what many others report with truck behavior with the trailer brake failure. Trailer likely caused the fuse to blow. We had ours replaced by a Lippert mobile tech a few weeks ago, all is well. Good luck! We look forward to your next video, hopefully you get to make your way out of CO!
I am, and I'm hoping that is what the problem is. We should find out soon.
Hang in there guys! You're living the dream remember! RV life is just like this but the breaks in-between builds awesome memories that last a lifetime. This is your adventurous life. Keep Christ in the center and press on!😀👍
100%!! It’s always an adventure, and even with all the ups and downs we wouldn’t trade it! Life is always going to throw you curveballs and we might as well take them with ever changing views out of our windows 😊
Amen.
Been there kids done that. You still have each other.
I like watching you two shit always hit the fan you never get a break
Haha at least it’s entertaining right? 🤣
I laughed when you said “ Like the youngsters like to say” 😂😂😂😂😂 This whole time I’ve been wondering have these two kids can afford a unit like the Brinkley. Props to all your skills in fixing the multitude of problems that you are having with your brand new rig.
hahaha! We've been "old" at heart for a very long time 🤣
Great video as always. Thank you both for sharing the good and the frustrating times as well. Love your great attitude!
Thanks for the battery tips. Safe travels.
🎉🎉 over coming challenges - you both are doing very well at problem solving together
Another great vid... can feel the frustration on repairs and problems. Good Luck yall
Thank you so much! Honestly the most frustrating part has become trying to coordinate the schedules of RV techs with finding RV parks to stay at, etc.
Another great video! Love your positive attitude!
Thank you so much!
Sundays are bad on I70 because everyone is coming back down the mountains from their weekend plans. Friday nights going in and Sundays coming back down are the worst times. Sorry you guys are having so much trouble but thank you for sharing all of your adventures. Looks like you are in Loveland? Love that town :)
Thanks you two .. love from Canada 🇨🇦
Love Craig’s explanation, he’s hilarious 😀😀
Love watching your videos! Thanks for some great content!
Thank you for watching!!
My wife and I really enjoy your videos we look forward to them every week,,keep up the great work.😊
What a compliment, thank you so much! And thank you for watching!!
Victoria My wife puts a small pillow in our microwave every time we move, Craig if they check your truck with a trailer tester and it is ok then you need to check the trailer wiring at the wheels been there with my Ram .The bed room air is the same thing with ours and ours is a year 16 we just run it on high at nights when we go to bed. good luck with the problems we been camping off and on for 45 years and i can right a book on problems so crap happens. So just enjoy while you can safe travels OH and Colorado is the best place love up there
That’s a good idea for the microwave too!
The brake issues ended up being all related to the brake recall (just wait until you see the brakes in the next video!)
My husband had a short in a trailer's wiring he was pulling with his Ram 3500. It kept blowing fuses and giving him error messages in the truck but it was the trailer's wiring issue. It could very well be an issue with your RV hitch wiring. Love watching you guys!! Hang in there!!
Y'all are amazing!
We run 4 Battle Born 100ah with built in heaters and so far so good. Glad you got through to them though, I called a couple times with questions and no response for the past 2 weeks. We just got back from a weekend like your video! Pulled into a camp ground and about ripped our spare tire off our bumper, top power vent fan stopped working (in a brand new camper), Tornado watches and warnings and torrential rain for 3-4 hours straight and rear window started leaking...the fun never ends. This may something you've done but I cleaned out our A/C's coils and evaporators with the spray foam cleaner. We were camping several weeks ago and it was in the 80"s and kind of humid and our A/C's ran all weekend, literally and one started icing over I think (I heard what I think were little chunks if ice falling). When I took the roof covers off the coils weren't even close to being bad and straightened a handful of fins that probably got bent over during install and this weekend we were using both A/C's in high 80's direct sun and very high humidity, at one point it was 100% humidity and it was actually cold in our rv and actually turned it up a few degrees (when it's this hot out we usually keep it at 72-73 and had to turn it up to 75). We always have our fans on high while the A/C's are going, I think it helps keep the rig at a more consistent temp and the a/c's seem to run less. I know your rig is new but I bet we have less than 2k miles on ours and again our a/c coils weren't even all that dirty but after cleaning them I could see just how dirty they were and maybe a happy coincidence but this trip out it was hotter, more humid and our a/c's worked great. Great channel, just subbed. At some point everything will be either fixed or replaced right lol.
We have had issues with our main AC in our Brinkley. It was so weird. Got power from both ends of electric wire, but no AC. Brinkley hooked us up with a mobile tech and covered the cost. Because it was a Friday late afternoon, the tech ran a direct wire from our AC to the electric pedestal outside the Rv. He then came back the following Monday and had to run a power cord thru the vent ducts to the breaker box. Now our AC is freezing over as well. Has only did it once. U guys rock. We have to replace the brakes and hubs on our truck due to the brakes not working on the Rv. This was before the recall. Still waiting on parts to get that done. Good luck, and safe travels. We have Lion energy safari UT 1300 for batteries. So far no problems. We have 2 at 105amps.
Sounds like you got a hold of a good RV tech though! That’s awesome they were able to get the temporary fix going for you. I’m thinking we will end up having to get the living room unit replaced at least with it freezing over but will just need to be somewhere long enough to get the part in. We would have been this time if the mobile tech we were working with had ordered it right away but that didn’t end up happening so hopefully soon!
We wound up going with a 24v 200 Ah Li Time battery and it been great. Almost 5,000kwh in one battery. We went 24v because we heard so many people like you guys say after installing the 12v system they wish they went 24v. We have pretty much the same Victron set up, no solar yet but it’s a work in progress.
Ahhh nice work going 24v at the start!! We do wish we had too. We bought our inverter too soon before doing enough research and then we were invested 😆
@@wildrvlife we plan on getting rid of our 12v AGM and installing two Victron Orion 24/12-70 converters in parallel for 140amps. Our jacks are out biggest draw and they are 35amps each and our Frig is 110v. So we should be able to get rid of our 12v battery’s all together and just run converters.
Your leak is probably from your sun roof drain. There is a little tube that drains into the fender that get clogged up a lot
My initial thoughts as well. We have a 2022 Ford F350 and had a similar water on the floor board experience. The driver side sunroof drain tube was plugged.
Ahh will have to check into that! Thanks!
Some compressed air will clear then out.
This exact thing happened to me in the same spot. Definitely check your drain
Or possibly AC evap drain tube.
Great Vid, Love how you all seem like a open book and are real unlike so many other on here. Tell you what though seems like so many have issues with new rv's no matter the brand and have to work out the kinks.. Don't think ill be buying a new one anytime soon.
Thank you so much!! We are enjoying our new one compared to our old one but they sure all have their issues. Still hoping it levels out after these initial issues are worked out but you know we will definitely keep you all posted! 😅
I keep watching your subscriber numbers climb. Keep it up! Enjoying all your videos. Can’t believe the problems with your Brinkley. Dang.
Thank you so much!! I’ve always heard about the “shake down” period in a new rig and I guess this is a prime example of that. Luckily it’s all covered under warranty and they’ve been real responsive. The biggest issue is just coordinating with techs for repairs and our schedule
The fuse you replaced is a Cartridge Style Fuse and is sold at most auto parts stores such as O'Reilly or AutoZone, etc
You probably need to get the water that blew your fuse originally out of that fuse box. I would use some kind of compressed air.
3:00 you got this 🎉🎉❤
Simply love you guys!! So sorry you're having so many issues with your new home , yikes!! I'd be sending it back already!!
Haha!! There have been a couple of days I was ready to lol.
Unfortunately that comes with any new rv they are just thrown together so fast and thrown out the door
You two make me laugh! We had both our ac go out in Florida on a brand new c class so frustrating! Great video.
I like you team , because you can successfully manage all situations.
Thank you so much!
Thank you for the Will Prouse plug! Talk about a great TH-cam channel!
I think he does the best job breaking down all the solar components.
Love watching you guys.❤
Thank you so much!!
Hahahahaha!!! OMG!!! The “intermittently” edit killed me!!!! 😅😅😅 Nice work kids!
Craig, would love to pick your brain on how you mounted the Battle Born batteries in your front compartment. We have two 100ah that our dealer shoehorned into the battery box. I need to fix that before it screws up one of those batteries.
I am FULL ON terrified of the first time I have to just "pull into a field" and hope to get out without jackknifing the rig or crushing my truck cab or even worse. So far we've been lucky enough to get nice full hookup spots that aren't too hard to get into... but I know the day is coming as we get out there in that dusty part of the country!
I always thought I wanted to live the RV lifestyle. Thank you for all your videos, I'm going to vacation at the airbnb's. I definitely don't have the patience to do what you do. I look forward to you videos each week :)
😄 well I hate to have discouraged you but sometimes you just have to know what’s for you…and what’s not. 😆 thank you so much for the support!
Great editing job 👏 👌 You guys are too funny considering the Neverending problems you have. Good luck!
Hey, at least it keeps like interesting, right? 🤣 and thank you!!
I love your channel. You tell the truth about RV life. It is not all rainbows and butterflies. There is always some issue that you have to deal with. We are just finishing up a 3 month trip and we are down one air conditioner. Every long trip that we take there is always something that has to be fixed. Air conditioning issues in the summer are not fun. I would have been at a hotel.
Thank you so much!! One of our main goals is to try and get the most realistic, while still entertaining, look into RV life. Hoping to get to show more of the fun side soon!!
We have a Brinkley and laugh every time we hear your loud door! 😂😂😂
At first I thought it just needed a break-in period but it’s still just as loud! LOL I don’t understand why it’s so much louder 😂
Hey guys... 2 comments... You need hand held radios.... With all the problems there's only one that stood out in my mind that was really bad... Craig I am so sorry about a cold shower... That is just wrong in so many ways...lol😂... You guys are great... Take it back to the dealership ... Park it sideways in the driveway....😂... Thanks for the video... Stay safe....J&A
I'm getting ready to pull it back to them, lol. The funny part is we have radios and never remember to grab them on travel days. Thank you for watching, and I'm glad to hear you guys have been enjoying the videos.
You got this guys!
Thank you!!
Love the look of the Brinkley and some of the cool features but looks like they've still got a few bugs to work out of them!
Yes, we really do love the look of it too and it has mostly been good…just having to work out all those “new RV” kinks I suppose 😆
I have Lifeblue batteries( 2 totalling 300 AH) since 2018 with no problems. I really love them.
Ooh good to know! Thank you!
I had installed a mini split air conditions in our class A 40 ft five years ago. I installed the condenser unit into one of my storage bays. Has worked perfectly since. Heat and AC . Uses much less power and produces a lot more cold air than the overhead AC did that came with the coach. Cost was at $3800.00 . I installed the Mini split myself. It wasn't hard to do. I used Mr. Cool systems so I wouldn't have to charge the system. Comes ready with freon installed. This AC will freeze you out in the Texas hot days from hell. What a difference. The Battle born batteries are well named. Since we bought them we have battled to keep them working. I have had to send back three out of five batteries. When the warrantee goes out Im out of battle born. I wasn't thinking and should have done my homework. Live and learn.
Always carry a small hand saw in your tool kit to trim that one out of place tree branch.
Ron and I use the walkies to back up and move the trailer around, that way we don’t have to use the phones. Too often the service is too low for calls too.
Appreciate your honest battery thoughts. Once you explore and identify the brake issue it would be interesting to know what is was., Sorry to bring it up.... Good luck and I hope it is something simple and cheap to address. Take care.
We will definitely keep you posted! It seems like it might all be tied to the brake recall issue but we will know for sure once we can get that fixed 😅
Mountain to Denver traffic is always on Sundays
Just Sundays unless there’s a accident
Denver to mountains
Friday traffic
It’s been that way forever
You went to Leadville!!! My town!
Propane dealers suck here but we have a rv dump station!
You are using far fewer barroom words than I did in the 20 years of full timing! However it is a house on wheels and it almost is a constant troubleshooting game or preventative maintenance. . We started taking 2 to 3 months to assess our rigs and evaluate our next trip. One thing we did that helped us take breaks was to volunteer at either state or national parks every once in awhile. Now that isn’t to say that made things any easier, because you have to research the spots for space and issues with the park. There are lots of you tubers that have good information about volunteering. I really enjoy your good attitude and humor though it all. It brings back memories. Thanks
Thank you so much for watching! Yes, there is certainly always some kind of project to do. But honestly, that is probably for the best or else we go making projects for ourselves 🤣 when we lived in a house we were always doing some kind of DIY project whether it was rebuilding our deck or building a retaining wall for our patio lol. It keeps life interesting!
Craig should be a truck driver. swing it wide and be aware of your surroundings. He does a pretty good job besides one episode he was blind siding into a spot haha
A mini split a/c would solve your problems. It's what many people use with solar down here around Yuma because they are so efficient that they can run then in the night. And there are some that you can install yourself.
Good luck you got this
😆 thanksssss!!
Thanks!
Thank you for watching!
wow, SOK is right here waiting for you. lol
Your windshield is a possibility but have seen many sunroof drains plugged due to leaves etc. there are 4 drains normally 2 that run down windshield pillar and if clogged or disconnected will cause that issue of water in the cab.
Good point!! We will have to try to check on that, thank you!
Thank you for the great videos! I’ll be 50 on Tuesday and me and the wife just purchased our first travel trailer yesterday ( bumper pull), and we are planning our first trip this coming weekend and we plan to boondock. I’m definitely going to have to work on my PATIENCE!!
Lol!!!
Ahh congrats!! I hope y’all have the BEST weekend! What state will y’all be boondocking in? And yes….patience is a MUST when it comes to RVing 😂🤣
@@wildrvlife Utah!! Up by a place called Strawberry Reservoir. Little nervous towing a 30’ trailer with a half ton but we’ll see how it goes. Have a great Evening!
If you haven’t, I would recommend you strap the batteries down. They won’t like bouncing around . As far as your air conditioning, check to make sure they are draining the water that is in the box. If they don’t drain, they will ice up. I still think the wires between the batteries are to small. You need 4 Ott gauge. If your wires are getting hot , they could melt the battery post . Not good .
The a/c seem to be draining. Also, with the invertor and charge controllers, we have you can set the max amps that are pulled or pushed to the batteries.
You guys are good 👍
I've had the crimped sun roof drain as well. Usually a pretty simple fix. Also, instead of drop in batteries, check out server rack batteries. a 5kwh 12v server rack battery (about 4 drop in 100 amp hour batteries) that are UL listed are around $1500 to $2000. Look for ones that have built in breakers and fire suppression. Way less wiring and better built. SOK batteries are good, We are using an EG4 for our house backup and it has been great for 6 months. It gets cycled every day for peak shaving. All the best.
Lots a comments about the sun roof drain tube…don’t know why we didn’t think of that! Lol. We are definitely going to have to check! Thank you!!
Oh my-should not be happening to a new RV! You are taking your problems so well-hang in there, be safe🤞
Thank you!!
Battle born are good if they are free as a sponsor gift, but there are so many lithium manufacturers making lithium batteries that are just as good for much less. I just threw in a ecoflow delta pro with extra battery and loving it way more than installing all the junk in a system like most people do. I just added the panels, ran the line to the unit, wired it to the transfer switch and it was done. 3600w inverter, 1400w of panels, monitoring from the app, 7200wh of capacity. But did not have to install charge controller(s), battery banks with wiring them together, shunts, etc.
One more thought. Just saw you install the new batteries. Might need “hold down” device to keep them from “bouncing” out of the wooden pieces you put on the floor. Just a thought.
Was going to add, if the fuse blows instantly you have a dead short (bare wire touching metal) or corrosion. I'd check the back of the plugs for corrosion I doubt the water had anything to do with it seeing how your fuses are under the hood and not under the dash. HAs far as the water, I agree about the windshield if it's been replaced, or at least a good starting point. Ford's had a bad water issue and from what I read it was coming in from the rear cab vents behind the rear seats and soaking the entire floor, I guess a gasket didnt get installed correctly.
It sounds like you've got a wiring problem in the thermostat.
When I changed out ours, the colors didn't match on the new one and had to do my best assumption which were suppose to do what and didn't quite get it right causing the exact same action of yours.
The trailer wiring problem could be dirt/needing cleaning of the contacts on the plug and the recepticle on the truck.
Get yourself some "CONTACT CLEANER" from home depot or any kind of store like that and clean them up real well. Just spray inside the plug and the cord end. Wipe it down. It worked for me.
Good luck guys. Would love to catch up on the road one day......
I feel for you two and see how frustrating it can be.
We have BB batteries and luckily have had no issues. They are expensive for sure,but the weight difference between them and regular batteries was our deciding factor.
Although a hassle, that warranty at the end of the day finalizes it.
I’m not surprised that the ACs are giving you trouble though. During Covid they couldn’t get them or parts so I’m sure they got manufactured and pushed through for the demand. I haven’t heard anything good on Furrions either. A lot of complaints.
We had to replace our AC last year and the motor went out just a month after we got it. It is a Dometic.
Our other one is a Coleman Mach. Next time I will buy another Coleman Mach for sure.
Hopefully it all gets resolved quickly and you are able to get back on the road.
Yeah, if we switch batteries we will stick with lithium for sure for the lighter weight but would love to go up in battery size so that we could get more amp hours in less space and less weight too. But the warranty has definitely been great!
I did a poll over on our Instagram page and it seemed overwhelmingly that Coleman was the best A/C brand in terms of people not experiencing problems with it! Furrion was the worse and then probably Dometic.
You have warm incoming air mixing with your cooled air inside your ac inlet, its not sealed properly, also with the fuses, i found a mixed pack at carquest that had the fuse i needed inside it
When my Dakota had trailer break issues, it was a relay...
Craig, you are FUNNY: they say they don’t put ice makers in Brinklies.
Haha! I'm not too happy with the furrion ac units at this point.
Thanks to you cute couple we're heading out on the road soon!!! 😎👍🏼
That's awesome!! Maybe we will cross paths at some point.
You need to learn about the electrical adapter for the propane water heater to get hot water. We have 1
Sorry about your problems. Hopefully, you were able to resolve them easily...
We’re working on them! We’ll get them fixed soon I’m sure!
Check your brake wires down by your tires. That was my issue, one wire came loose
Love your vidios xx
Thank you!!
We totally enjoy watching you guys and are sorry for all your problems with the new RV.
How watts of solar do you have on top? I have upgraded my lithium batteries to 4-200 amp that I get from Amazon and haven’t had any problems with them in the last 15 months.
We bought a new Cougar last April and have had some problems, most of what I fixed. Be encouraged everything will get better!
Thank you so much for watching! And we promise we’ll do some more fun stuff soon (at least we hope! 🤣) we’ve got 2,800 watts of solar on the roof!
Glad to know all the kinks worked themselves out…there’s hope! 😆
Come to Wyoming next!!
We’LL SEE😊
New batteries called dragonfly they are green cost around 1800 each same company from battleborn I ran 1 battery from indiana to Washington with half power at night running my refrigerator and lights heater etc
I have a camera system that covers all around my Boxtruck Overlander conversion ...also one that is up on the front of the box so I can see low trees.
Oh that would be really nice to have!
DH says, unplug your battery and your truck computer system should reboot. He also said make sure you do your tug test for the trailer brakes regardless of what your dash is telling you.
I’ve owned RVs since the 80s. The only time I’ve seen one freeze up like that was when the freeze sensor had fallen out of the evaporator core. Yours sensor in place, so likely a bad sensor. As for your other A/C, cheap or not, it should never freeze more than the bottom few inches, no matter the settings. This holds true for ducted and non ducted units. Look closely at the 7 pin plug from your trailer. Those pins are a terrible design, and it the contacts get slightly bent, or misaligned, they won’t make good contact. You mentioned the problem was intermittent at one point, which makes it a likely source of the issue. Can usually visually inspect the pins, and tweak them with a small screwdriver.
I agree on the A/Cs! We didn’t think they should be freezing up like that really either, especially the one with the freeze sensor. Our last A/Cs never froze up like that. And, (this is a bit of a spoiler lol) but the connection problem did end up being all related to the recall! Got us all worked up about the truck for nothing 😂
You need to get to the Black Hills inSouth Dakota. Just be sure to avoid the Sturgis area during bike week if you want to avoid crowds.
We have that area on our list! Have heard a lot about it!
I guess a washer dryer combo is next.
We're FTers who boondock most of the time, and we just had two things break at once too, so we know what it's like have things break at the most inopportune time. After 4 years of bouncing down the road, the wires on our solar controller's terminals vibrated loose, got hot and fried the wire ends, melting the terminals. Then, a day later, the starter motor on our 23 yr. old Motorhome's generator failed, leaving us with no way to recharge our batteries. This occurred while we were boonbocking in the wilds of Wyoming, nera the Grand Tetons, with no cell phone or Wi-Fi service available. It took us 10 days to get a replacement, leaving us living off the remaining charge in our batteries for 8 days. Fortunately, last winter we replaced our old pair of GC-2 golf cart batteries that lived in the space under the steps of our motorhome with lithiums. If we went with Battleborns, or other pre-made LiFePo-4 batteries, we could only fit 2 -100ah batteries in this space, so we decided to build our own LiFePo-4 battery out of 8, 280ah prismatic cells, giving us a 560ah 12v battery. It's like having 5 1/2, 100ah Battleborn batteries like you have. We chose a Heltec 350amp BMS, to start the onboard generator in our motorhome, along with a 5a active balancer to keep all the cells synched up.
So we slowly depleted our batteries for 8 days. Of course, we reduced our battery usage to the necessities of lights, fridge, fans, etc. and rationing our TV and computer time to 2 hrs. a day, to stretch our power till the replacement solar controller arrived (the first one got lost in shipping and we needed to order a second one.) However, at the end of our 8-day ordeal, we still had 39% of our battery capacity remaining. Needless to say, we were impressed!
We built our 12v battery with grade "A" LiFePo-4 prismatic cells having a 6,000-cycle manufacturer projected life at 100% DOD. This means that if we cycled them 100% every single day, 365 days a year, they would last over 16 years! So, they're obviously going to wear out from age before they wear out from cycling. It only cost us $1,500 to build this 560ah battery, including the high amp BMS and active balancer - much less than Battleborns or even other "B" grade commercially assembled batteries would have cost. They fit perfectly under the steps of our motorhome where our old pair of golf cart batteries used to reside, saving 35lbs while having over 5 times the energy storage packed into this tiny space.
We insulated the battery compartment, cut a 1" hole in our step risers and installed a tiny computer CPU fan to keep this space at close to room temperature, so we don't have to worry about the BMS shutting down charging if they get too cold - or their life reduced from getting too hot. We've found Lithiums charge much faster than our old lead acid batteries did and are typically full before 1:00 after an evening of heavy use. It took our 620-watt solar array only 3 days to recharge them to 100% after we got them up and running again - using them normally at the same time. This 560ah battery assembly, including our 620w liftable solar array, wiring, breakers, a new Progressive Dynamics 80a Li compatible converter/charger, a 1,000w Renogy PSW inverter to run our TV, PC, ice maker, electric blanket, etc. (our 5,500w generator powers ACs and microwave), an Epever 50a MPPT charge controller for our solar panels and a Lnex battery monitor/shunt only cost us around $3,500 as we did the entire installation ourselves.
BTW, Eternabond tape will quickly and easily fix that small tear in your roof.
Oh wow what a conundrum but it sounds like you guys handled it as best as possible! I like the setup you described! We definitely made a mistake initially by starting with a 100ah battery because trying to expand that just takes up wayyyy too much space!
We do find that our lithiums charge pretty fast too. we get charged up real quick when the sun starts coming out!
next week? heck I want to see more tomorrow LOL
Hahah I wish we could get videos out that fast! 😆
The fuse you purchased at the dealership isn't really a specific fuse to just your truck. Although it's fairly new to auto part stores which in turn makes them pricey.
I've found them on Amazon and purchased a bulk package of them for my truck. I have six different trailers I pull on a fairly regular basis and have found two particular trailers are causing that unique fuse to pop. I've determined that these two particular trailers have a intermittent short in the wiring. One trailer had the intermittent short was located where the trailer wiring was connected in the main junction box ,the remaining trailer is still a mystery short I haven't located yet. Just a little tip that I used was ... I increased the fuse size up to the next higher level (from 20A to 25A) to help me locate the short and the fuses held out a little longer.
I hope this helps.....
Good tips! And good idea buying extra on Amazon, I’m sure it’s a lot cheaper that way and then we’d actually have them on hand 😆
I went with three 100 AH SOK batteries. The had good reviews, half the price and 10 year warranty. Bought them from Current Connected. Hope you get your other issues resolved.
Hearing lots of people going with SOK now…seems like a good balance of quality and price from what we’re hearing!
I have 2 - 206Ah SOK batteries. Each was less $ than one 100Ah Battle Borne and they’re almost the same size.
Does your truck have a sunroof? If so, the drain tube from the sunroof goes down the A-pillar, and that hose has probably popped out of the drain hole that comes out by the fender, and is draining into your driver’s floor board. Take the pillar trim off by the windshield and the lower trim off by the left lower side by the e brake. You can probably see the tube going down through there. It is probably out of position and draining inside the truck instead of outside. Try that. It happens a lot. I repair car and see it a lot. Hopefully that works. Good luck! Great channel
Great advice!! I'll look into it. Thank you!
I had the same problem with my trailer the gray water tank was on top of the harness so the dealership had to take the frame cover under the frame and reworked the the harness around the tank it was all under warranty so it was a pain in the neck my Chevy said the same message check trailer wiring
Good luck in your repairs. Our friends had Safelite repair their windshield and the tech screwed up their gasket and the water damage fried their computer system. It ended up totaling their car but took months of back and forth to get to it resolved. Hopefully that doesn’t happen to you. Good luck.
Oh my goodness! That’s terrible. Fingers crossed that’s not our issue but wow that’s a perfect example of a small thing becoming a very big thing 😳
Do you use the pin on the saf-t-railing, when you fold it up?