2022 400 BD battery box dimensions

DMattern · December 2023

I'm considering replacing our stock AGM batteries with lithiums. I need to know how big the battery box is, and before I go through the chore of opening that up I thought I'd ask and see if someone has that information on hand. If anyone also has thoughts on this they'd like to add that would be great as well. (I have been reading over discussions on this forum).

Thanks!

pthomas745 · December 2023

If you have the "dual 6V Harris batteries", they are inside a vented box. The box, when you change to lithium, will no longer be needed. You should try to look at the actual space where the new lithiums can fit.

This thread has a photo of some "Battleborn" batteries that had to be adjusted to fit into the spot (if this is the same spot your dual 6v are now.)

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/10498/lithium-battery-in-400/p1

Keep in mind: the lithium battery revolution continues to change since this older thread. There are many newer battery options that have larger capacities so that you may need a single 200 ah lithium to completely upgrade your AGM. There are small 100 ah lithium batteries that will fit in that space easily.

This thread has discussions of the same swap, with a link to the models of the Harris dual 6V batteries.

https://www.harrisbattery.com/product/hbdagmgc6-a/

You can see the dimensions of the dual 6V there, and compare to the lithium setup you might choose.

Here is the thread about the 2020 trailer. I always get a little lost on which trailers have the "plastic box" covered batteries and which ones have the simple space that you see in this thread.

https://tab-rv.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/16870/time-to-replace-my-tab-400-batteries

rh5555 · December 2023

Battery box on my TAB measures 7.375" (w) x 25.25" (l) x 11.375" (h).

A LiTime 230Ah battery fits in with room to spare. IMO it is easier to have one battery with its own battery monitoring system than paralleling 2 smaller batteries where you may need to worry about cabling, balancing, etc.

manyman297 · December 2023

If the single LiTime 230Ah battery isn't to your liking for whatever reason, there's also a new group 24 battery they released that should easily fit in the space (two of them for 200ah) as well. I've been eyeing the 230Ah and these. I like the idea of a single, large battery to simplify wiring but have no idea if there are downsides.

NorthIsUp · December 2023

If the 2022 battery boxes are the same size as the AGM box from 2019, size GC2 batteries will fit perfectly. I upgraded both AGM batteries with the same physical size Battle Born batteries this past season.
https://battlebornbatteries.com/product/100ah-12v-gc2-lifepo4-deep-cycle-battery/

Denny16 · January 2024

The 2019 TaB400 had a vented battery box, the 2022 and later models have the batteries inside a plywood box under the back part of the bunk. Both will hold two 100-amp Battleborn lithium batteries,
cheers

rh5555 · January 2024

manyman297 said:

If the single LiTime 230Ah battery isn't to your liking for whatever reason, there's also a new group 24 battery they released that should easily fit in the space (two of them for 200ah) as well. I've been eyeing the 230Ah and these. I like the idea of a single, large battery to simplify wiring but have no idea if there are downsides.

There does seem to be a downside to paralleling these smart lithium batteries. When you recharge a depleted set, then both batteries receive approximately half of your maximum charge current. When the BMS in one of the batteries decides it is fully charged, it stops that battery from accepting any more current. Now all your charge current is going into the the other battery, and if that current is too high, it seems that the BMS gets confused, shuts down the charging, and shows a terminal voltage of about 12.8V instead of 13.3V. Now when you discharge, all the current initially flows from the first battery until its terminal voltage drops to 12.8V, then the second cell kicks in. I don't know if this applies to the LiTime 100Ah batteries, but I've observed this in the 230Ah versions. I intend to write this up fully once I've done a few more experiments.

Anyways, using a single larger battery avoids this problem entirely.

Note: I have only observed this behavior in LiTime 230Ah batteries being charged with a 120A charger. I have no information on how Battle Born batteries behave.

elbolillo · January 2024

rh5555 said:

manyman297 said:

If the single LiTime 230Ah battery isn't to your liking for whatever reason, there's also a new group 24 battery they released that should easily fit in the space (two of them for 200ah) as well. I've been eyeing the 230Ah and these. I like the idea of a single, large battery to simplify wiring but have no idea if there are downsides.

There does seem to be a downside to paralleling these smart lithium batteries. When you recharge a depleted set, then both batteries receive approximately half of your maximum charge current. When the BMS in one of the batteries decides it is fully charged, it stops that battery from accepting any more current. Now all your charge current is going into the the other battery, and if that current is too high, it seems that the BMS gets confused, shuts down the charging, and shows a terminal voltage of about 12.8V instead of 13.3V. Now when you discharge, all the current initially flows from the first battery until its terminal voltage drops to 12.8V, then the second cell kicks in. I don't know if this applies to the LiTime 100Ah batteries, but I've observed this in the 230Ah versions. I intend to write this up fully once I've done a few more experiments.
Anyways, using a single larger battery avoids this problem entirely.
Note: I have only observed this behavior in LiTime 230Ah batteries being charged with a 120A charger. I have no information on how Battle Born batteries behave.

Battleborn batteries do not have a problem with parallel installation. My four 100ah batteries have performed flawlessly.

RTWCTS · January 2024

rh5555 said:

... Note: I have only observed this behavior in LiTime 230Ah batteries being charged with a 120A charger. I have no information on how Battle Born batteries behave.

No charging (or other) issues with our 3-pack of 100AH Battleborn batteries in parallel.

rh5555 · January 2024

I would never have noticed this problem if I had just wired up the batteries in parallel and turned on the charger. They would have appeared to behave flawlessly. It was only because I charged each battery independently before connecting them that I caught this anomalous behavior. Unless you have a Victron smart shunt attached to each battery you cannot detect preferential charging/discharging of one of the paralleled batteries.

elbolillo · January 2024

rh5555 said:

I would never have noticed this problem if I had just wired up the batteries in parallel and turned on the charger. They would have appeared to behave flawlessly. It was only because I charged each battery independently before connecting them that I caught this anomalous behavior. Unless you have a Victron smart shunt attached to each battery you cannot detect preferential charging/discharging of one of the paralleled batteries.

Roger. This is what Battleborn states regarding balancing: "As for balancing the lithium-ion batteries, we typically expect them to be charged up to 14.4V as that’s when the passive balancing mechanism kicks in. If you’re floating at 13.6V, there’s no balancing happening and you’re not going to balance the cells until you charge it up to around 14.4V, or at least 14.2V. This won’t be required if you’ve got a solar charge controller or if you have a battery-to-battery charger for alternator charging. These devices can accommodate 14.4V on every charge, so you don’t need to worry about it.

If you don’t typically charge at up to 14.4V your cells may get a bit out of balance because of temperature extremes or larger loads. To rebalance your system, we recommend being able to charge it up to 14.4V once a month or even once a week. Please note that it depends on your system usage. You may not notice anything, but if the batteries are hitting high voltage disconnect sooner than you’d expect, for example at 14V, or if they’re hitting low voltage disconnect sooner than you’d expect, such as at 11.5V , then you may want to think about rebalancing the battery cells internally and all you must do is charge it up to 14.4V in order to rebalance the cells."

I am not an expert on batteries and charging, so I just have relied upon BB's site and their technicians to guide me with my setup. I haven't noticed any anomalies with my setup since installation.

2022 400 BD battery box dimensions

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