New T@B 320S Boondock

shane1

I am in the process of buying a 2022 T@B 320S Boondock.  I am new to this and have been researching things for hours every day and my head is spinning. My wife and I will be doing some extended camping (6 months or so) in this and are considering having the dealer install lithium batteries and an additional solar panel. This is what they recommended:

The panel is a Zamp 180 Wat portable panel. So we can chase the sun if the factory rood mounted on is shaded.  Is this a quality panel or are there better options? It has its own controller…will it interfere with the factory controller? Okay to have two seperate sources into the batteries?

The batteries are two Battle Born 100Amp heated lithium batteries. I assume it is 2 - 12v in parallel.

https://battlebornbatteries.com/product/200ah-12v-gc2-lifepo4-heated-battery-kit-2-batteries/

Just noticed that is seems that there is not an inverter onboard. This would be an issue for us boondocking as there are certain appliances that we may want to use. My wife uses a blender daily for green juice. Any recommendations?

Is this set up okay if we do any extended boondocking?  Do we need anything else? I am not sure if the stock charger/controller is sufficient or if anything else is needed.  My dealer is several hours away from me so I want to make sure there are misunderstandings or regrets.  Thank you!

 

Maple_Geek

I believe this is a good setup for boondocking with a 320, assuming you get enough sun of course.
Unless your Zamp panel (good brand BTW) comes with its own charge controller, you will need one for it since the one included the T@B is only enough to cover the roof top panel.
It may be worthwhile to look into a Victron smart shunt to monitor your battery usage
While you should be ok from a power point of view, you will be limited by the 5 gallon cassette toilet and your fresh/grey water sizes

Sharon_is_SAM

@shane1 - It sounds like you will have the 105 watt roof panel and you want a portable panel.  Do you know if the TaB comes with the accessory solar port mounted on the tub?  If not, the dealer will need to install one.  Using a separate, portable panel will not interfere with charging your battery from any source.  If you decide that you need almost 300 watts of solar, I do not recommend the large, heavy 180 watt panel.  I recommend two 100 watt panels.  Zamp is expensive.  I recommend Renogy with a separate Victron controller.  You will need about 30 feet of marine cable and appropriate connectors.  You can use 1 panel or 2 panels depending on your need.  I agree with Maple_Geek - you need a Victron battery monitor (smart shunt).  You will be able to network the 2 controllers and battery monitor via the VictronConnect app.

The converter/charger in the 2022 models has the lithium switch, so it is compatible with your Battleborns when charging via shorepower.  300 watts of solar and 200 amp hrs of lithium should be more than adequate for boondocking as long as sun permits.

Someone else can help you with the inverter.  It would help if you can identify the draw of the blender so we can point you in the right direction.

Slackers

If your lithiums will be mounted under the bench inside the trailer (and winter parking options aren't too cold) you can save a few dollars with non-heated versions of the highly regarded Battleborns.

shane1

It’s a little overwhelming trying to figure it all out and buy the trailer at the same time. Another thought is that we try it stock for a bit and upgrade as we feel it is needed?

webers3

@shane1 Yes, I strongly recommend you try stock battery for a bit. Don’t complicate things, you will have enough on your plate dealing with a new camper. 

shane1

So, if we decide to change the battery for now to lithium, the factory solar panel and charger is sufficient to the charge and maintain it?

CharlieRN

shane1 said:

So, if we decide to change the battery for now to lithium, the factory solar panel and charger is sufficient to the charge and maintain it?

The short answer to your question is "yes", the Victron Smart Solar unit will still charge the house battery in your T@B if you change from lead-acid to lithium. The drawback to the stock solar panel is that it is a fixed mount type. This means that you often are not parked with your T@B's panel oriented toward the sun. When that happens, you will not get sufficient output to charge any battery, regardless of type.

We also have a 320 BD, and to fix that shortcoming, added a 200W Renogy solar suitcase to augment the stock panel. It comes complete with controller, cabling and connectors, so is a mostly plug-and-play system. The cables supplied are a bit too short to allow you to place the panels in the sun on occasion however, so we replaced them with a 30 foot run of marine cable. As @Sharon_is_SAM points out however, the 200W suitcase is fairly heavy, so you could consider a pair of 100W units instead. We also added a Victron Smart Shunt as @Maple_Geek suggested. You need to have some way to measure your current usage, and the Victron makes this pretty easy. It's fairly expensive however. A much less costly alternative would be to use a cheap volt-ohm meter (HF has one that's less than $5); you should have a VOM around regardless though.

If you decide that you want to go the lithium route, you will find that there are number of suppliers offering LFP batteries at various price points. All are significantly more expensive than lead-acid batteries, but have a number of advantages, not the least of which is much greater longevity along with the ability to discharge more deeply without harm.

We chose Battle Born 100Ah batteries that are among the more pricey alternatives, but have a sophisticated and effective battery management system that eliminates damage worries in very cold or hot weather. As importantly, the batteries have a 10 year warranty. Battle Born runs a sale of "blemished" batteries at something like a 25% discount once a year. I put blemished in quotes because the defect is cosmetic in nature, and the batteries come with the full 10 year warranty. FWIW. we have not been able to find the blemish on our BB's.