Replacing AGM with lithium in 2021 tab320 BD

immanence

rickpool said:

I am trying to simplify the charging of my new LiFePO4 battery without swapping out my older WFCO in my 2021 320.  Is there a preferred way to “permanently” install a separate 20a LiFePO4 Battery Charger?  1. Is “permanent” a bad idea?  2. Can I connect it to the battery terminals directly or should I connect it to the Bus Bars?  3. Can I leave it plugged into the 110 circuit that feeds the Air8 (and manually swap the plugs if ever I need the Air8)?  4. Can I leave the WFCO unit switched on (to battery) when charging the battery (note I do not have an inverter)?  5.  Do I need to isolate anything else (like the TV 7-pin)?

Thanks!

I am thinking about this now, but I am going to wait on a few trips to see if it is really necessary. On longer trips I often mix boondocking with sites with shore power, so it would be pretty ideal to get a true full charge when on shore power. (This is one of the reasons I installed the new Lithium battery, the old AGMs weren't cutting it with my typical pattern of camping.)

What I plan to do if necessary is add a Victron smart charger, which comes with ring terminals as an option. I will mount those directly to the battery permanently. The other end of the smart charger is a standard three prong outlet, so when I am on shore power and before I leave to the next boondocking site, I can plug this in to my own outlets (letting it just snake out from under the seat).

If I do this, I will build a mounting point in, but I'd like to build something flexible here because I don't want to permanently mount it given that the smart charger is actually a tool with many other applications. In other words, I will want to pull it out of the trailer to charge my other batteries. I think the accommodate this I would build something with bungies that I can slot it into when I am storing it on trailer trips, so it has stable but but not permanent mounting.