Upgrade to Lithium

jcook32937

I have bought some new Lithium batteries. I want to put them inside under the passenger side settee. My reasons for that are to shorten the distance to the charger and because I am not using the space now. I have sent my WFCO charger/panel to the vendor for a firmware update. I see that there is a second neutral (white) wire connected to the negative pole on the battery. It seems to go to the junction box near the spare tire. I am wondering what that is for and how to correct that if I move the batteries. Has anyone else done this? Also, does anyone have a wiring diagram? This is a 2022 TAB 320 CS-S.

bjn2

The box mounted below the tongue is where the electric brakes get their power. So you need to keep that wire connected to the neutral bus bar in the trailer, assuming your trailer is wired like ours. Ours was wired with the brake neutral and the battery neutral wires crimped together in the tub. The postive wire for the brakes goes directly into the trailer, so it's just the neutral you need to keep connected where it's crimped to the main neutral wire. And keep the main neutral connected to the bus bar. The only diagrams you'll find here are ones drawn by other owners. I saw someone else mention the brake junction box and confirmed continuity on mine with a wire tracer.

Interior mounting is a good idea IMO, especially if you may do cold weather camping. It's also a more secure spot. Is your battery cutoff switch located inside like it is in our 2023? If so, you could just disconnect the positive wires connected to it and run new wires through the seating to the converter. 

Yoshi_TAB

Hi,

I created this diagram of the OEM wiring when I moved my batteries inside of my '21 and think it's correct   The second neutral wire runs inside your TAB  for the solar controller.   A third neutral wire for the external solar port is not shown. The fuse for the solar  controller is also not shown.

The electric brakes are connected directly to the trailer junction box.  The positive wire from the electric brake is connected to the #6 stud and the ground is connected to the the #7 stud. You can go under your trailer, open the box and see the wires from the e-brakes go into the junction box.  There is a diagram here from a 2019.  But its the same on mine.  5nxe0b15ew2c.jpg (800×626) (v-cdn.net)

Here's a link to a recent post of a fellow Tabber who moved their batteries inside.  It contains another link of how to do it.  You can reuse all the wiring for the solar controller and external port.  LiTime 230AH Lithium Battery Install in 2021 Tab 320BD (vanillacommunity.com)

jcook32937

Thanks. I did something similar with moving the switch to the inside. Here is a FB link with my whole story. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/nucampowners/permalink/7056610051112903/

jcook32937

Yoshi_TAB said:

So I see you don't have a fuse on the solar charger. My 2022 320 came with a 30 A fuse on the positive line between the solar panel and the solar charger. I wasn't sure why they put it in front of the charger and not after the charger but I left it as-is. What do I know, I'm a Mechanical Engineer. Electrons scare me.  

Yoshi_TAB

cook32937 said:

So I see you don't have a fuse on the solar charger. My 2022 320 came with a 30 A fuse on the positive line between the solar panel and the solar charger.  What do I know, I'm a Mechanical Engineer. Electrons scare me.  

 oops..there is a fuse between the battery and solar controller that I forget to include.  The write up in the post where I posted this diagram noted that.  

Re:  Electrons...Ha..me too.  But not enough not to play with them

Marceline

Yoshi_TAB said:

cook32937 said:

So I see you don't have a fuse on the solar charger. My 2022 320 came with a 30 A fuse on the positive line between the solar panel and the solar charger.  What do I know, I'm a Mechanical Engineer. Electrons scare me.  

 oops..there is a fuse between the battery and solar controller that I forget to include.  The write up in the post where I posted this diagram noted that.  

Re:  Electrons...Ha..me too.  But not enough not to play with them

I used this surface mount circuit breaker between the battery and a Victron solar controller wired to a port for a portable panel. This gives me the option of easily cutting the power to the controller so that the controller isn’t drawing power when the panel isn’t plugged in.

jcook32937

I am the OP. I have installed my system as described above. I ran the fridge and some lights along with the background stuff and after 3 days with no solar or shore power input my power was at 46%. Not bad. Then I pulled the T@B into the sun and after only 1 day the batteries were fully charged! I'm ready to do some serious boondocking!!