Lithium Battery Upgrade 2018 tab 400

CC19

I tried to upgrade to a 12 V lithium battery. It worked great for one day and now is completely dead. I believe it is over discharged and has an error message of load overloaded.

Before I made the switch, I talked to Nucamp about this, and here is what they said. 

I need a translation inlay spec as I really don’t understand, solar and batteries at all. If someone could help me, interpret this, I would be very grateful. Exactly what are they referring to when they say the power center?

From NUCAMP

Technically, lithium batteries would work with your unit but the Power Centers that were used in pre-2022 units were not running at the right voltage to fully charge a lithium battery – I believe it will charge a lithium battery to around 80%. You will need to upgrade the charging system on the unit to properly use lithium. Which will have to be discussed with your dealer. 

 

 

Lithium batteries should be charged using a LiFePO4 compatible charger. A Sealed Lead-Acid charger may work, but will reduce performance and lifespan of the battery.

 

The  WFCO charging circuit on your unit would be considered a Sealed Lead-Acid charger.

 

On the 2022 model year units, we switched to a power center that is lithium compatibe. Your dealer will have info on pricing and they would be the ones to install it. 

 

Best Regards,

AnOldUR

The new lithium compatible WFCO would be one solution, but many of us have not seen the need for the expense or work involved. If you have solar, you can change the Victron setting with the app to fully charge your LiFePO4. Another alternative is a smart lithium charger like the NOCO Geuius10. We use both of these methods to top off our battery.

As for it being "completely dead", we need more information. Are you measuring the voltage rested with a multimeter? To get an accurate reading there can be no power going in or out of the battery. What battery did you install? Did you have any problems installing it? A short could have tripped the converter breaker. Can you post a picture of the installation?

Grumpy_G

The "power center" is the box with the fuses and breakers, the converter is built into it. 

LiFePo batteries have a number of protection mechanisms. When the charge gets too low it turns off power output which is different from typical lead acid batteries. They also have a current limit, often 100A. Unlikely to reach that high current loads unless you have an inverter. 

d_v

This is what they are talking about changing. I saw a lot of people say the AD version did not actually detect Lithium. I bought the earlier version with the actual switch. https://youtu.be/WmdIfvGahWI

Before

After

Marceline

CC19 said:

I tried to upgrade to a 12 V lithium battery. It worked great for one day and now is completely dead. I believe it is over discharged and has an error message of load overloaded.

Before I made the switch, I talked to Nucamp about this, and here is what they said. 

I need a translation inlay spec as I really don’t understand, solar and batteries at all. If someone could help me, interpret this, I would be very grateful. Exactly what are they referring to when they say the power center?

From NUCAMP

Technically, lithium batteries would work with your unit but the Power Centers that were used in pre-2022 units were not running at the right voltage to fully charge a lithium battery – I believe it will charge a lithium battery to around 80%. You will need to upgrade the charging system on the unit to properly use lithium. Which will have to be discussed with your dealer. 

 

 

Lithium batteries should be charged using a LiFePO4 compatible charger. A Sealed Lead-Acid charger may work, but will reduce performance and lifespan of the battery.

 

The  WFCO charging circuit on your unit would be considered a Sealed Lead-Acid charger.

 

On the 2022 model year units, we switched to a power center that is lithium compatibe. Your dealer will have info on pricing and they would be the ones to install it. 

 

Best Regards,

Exactly what lithium battery did you buy- brand and capacity. It seems odd that you managed to draw down a battery in one day. I thought that a 2018 T@B 400 has a 3way fridge. Were you running it on battery? What exactly was drawing power from the battery?

Different manufacturers use different methods for "waking up" a lithium battery that's shut itself down. Where is this "error message of load overloaded" coming from? An app from the battery manufacturer? You need to look at the information about your particular battery to revive it. It has nothing to do with the "power center" in the trailer. 

Do you have solar? If so, you should be able to fully charge lithium battery using solar power. If you have solar, what kind of solar controller do you have and have you changed the settings so that it will properly charge a lithium battery.

If you don't have solar power, if you want to fully charge the lithium battery you'll have to use some other source of power. You can do as NuCamp recommends and change the converter, or you can use an external charger, like the NOCO Geuius10 mentioned by @AnOldUR.

Personally, I've had a lithium battery for 3 years and never felt the need to swap the converter/power center. I charge the battery from solar or occasionally an external charger. I'll swap out the converter when it dies.

GregChris

I changed the converter in my Winnie to a lithium comp WFCO. You can find them online for 1/3 of local cost. Got mine from United rv in Texas. Came in 3 days, free shipping. There are only 5 wires involved, the hard part is working in a confined space. Take pictures before you disconnect things.