New here and looks like a lot of very informed owners. Wife and I looked at a TAB 400 Black Canyon yesterday that had the Lithium 400ah upgrade. I'm familiar with solar installs having done a 48v install at our offgrid place.
I cannot find info on what is included with the "convenience package" option that comes with one 100ah Battleborn and the 1,200 watt AIMS inverter so I thought I would ask the experts here. I don't do Facebook but could use my wife's account if all the info is there. 7k is a steep price for the lithium package when I could probably put in as good or better for half that price.
- Does the 1,200 watt inverter charge the battery or does the WYCO converter charge the battery?
- The Black Canyon package has 620 watts of solar so I assume it has the same Victron charge controller as the lithium package?
- Dealer told me the 1,200 watt inverter powers one 120v outlet inside the TAB. How do they wire this to isolate the one outlet from the Converter?
The 2024 manual only has info on the pricey lithium package. It doesn't have any info on the 1,200 watt inverter that comes with the "convenience package". Anyone know if there is a separate manual?
Basically I'm trying to determine how much work/cost is involved to upgrade the solar to as good or better than the 7k lithium upgrade.
Thanks for any advice.
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Here is a link which shows what's included:
TAB 400 Teardrop Campers – The Largest Teardrop Camper (nucamprv.com)
The Convenience Package has:
If you upgrade to Lithium Battery Package you get:
- 400 Ah 12-volt Lithium Battery Bank w/ Internal Heat
- 3,000-watt MultiPlus Inverter/Charger
(eliminates the AIMS inverter and adds 300 Ah of battery). The multiplus is a combo inverter/charger/transfer switchIf you upgrade to Black Canyon you get:
For the Convenience package level and the 1,200 inverter; the WFCO would charge your batteries. An inverter does not charge your batteries but converts 12V to 110 AC power.
The AIMS inverter has a built in transfer switch to automatically supply 110V power to the one outlet. I would hope all the outlets would power with the Multiplus (but I'm not sure)
If you ROM out the cost of components, . 4 Battle born approx. $3200; Multiplus : $1200; say $300 for wiring and fuzing, 20- 25 hours to install at $75/ hr. plus profit To me the $7000 is not that far off. One could debate the labor numbers..but $7K is not that far off IMO.
(Others will chime in) but IMO if you are comfortable doing this work you could install that capability (using Battleborn) and save maybe 25-30%. Having the pictures in Paul's post almost does the design work for you. You could use other brand batteries and save even more. I installed a similar system my TAB 320 for 1/2 the cost NuCamp charges for the TAB 320 package. The intangible factor is I know that quality of the install and the selection of fuses and wiring is beyond just the minimum. You could also do more than just one outlet for the inverter. Best wishes.
2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Southern Maryland
Is there an easy wire route going from the inverter location to the Converter. The shore power must go to the converter first with just the convenience package. My dealer thinks it is routed under the bed on the way to the converter so it would be easy to install the Multiplus. Then I guess 10 ga Romex would need to go from the Multiplus to the converter.
If I did this I'm not sure I would use Battleborns. I've read they don't charge when the heater is activated and no way to calculate the heat load through the shunt.
I'm thinking four of Will Prowse's budget favorite batteries and a seed heater under them. Then selll the Battleborn for $500 or keep it for another project.
I use a seed heater set to 50 degrees with our 48v offgrid bank. It's probably not needed since I insulated the battery box with 4" foam but it's cheap insurance.
https://www.litime.com/products/litime-12v-230ah-plus-lifepo4-battery-built-in-200a-bms-max-2944wh-energy?currency=USD&variant=43846095339740&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&stkn=a05d7c18f02e&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAz8GuBhCxARIsAOpzk8z5LC7AwYY0PwW58n1qQLj3hQ9uQqQM5XFU5LFmn4sCC1Ut6ilBKcQaAiQOEALw_wcB
Now I just need to convince my wife that we need the camper. She doesn't retire for three years so won't be camping a ton. My main argument is our barndominium in Montana only has 800 sq.ft. of living space with only one bedroom. It has 1,600 sq.ft of garage space and was designed to hold an RV. A 42k TAB 400 surely is much cheaper than putting a small tiny house on a slab for guests. And you can't take a tiny house camping.
2018 Nissan Titan Pro 4X "Big Bird"
Leadville Colorado
So for $2,130 a TAB 400 can have 460ah of battery with a 3000w inverter/charger with remote monitoring/configuration. Pretty reasonable and you will have a 1,200w AIMS inverter and 100ah Battleborn to play with or sell.
There is no doubt that it could be done for substantially less, however, I appreciate the track record of the Victron products (Multiplus, Smart Shunt, MPPT solar charger) and my experience with Battleborn has been extremely positive. As a newbie to this all I consulted on a number of occasions with Battleborn tech support and they were very quick to respond and very helpful.
i wanted a setup that I didn’t have to fiddle with once I got it up and running. A little over a year later, 15,000+ miles and it has performed flawlessly.
Ken / 2023 Tab 400 “La Bolita” (20,000+ miles) / 2024 Toyota Sequoia
2024 - 2 Trips - 25 nights - 4 National Parks, 3 National Forests
Congrats on a great setup. Do you have 310kw or 620kw of solar? I'm not sure if the Black Canyon option is worth it. Dealer claims it is the best bang for the buck option. I'd like the tank heaters as we have no issues with cold camping. Not sure how hard they are to add later but I'd rather have them factory.
Ken / 2023 Tab 400 “La Bolita” (20,000+ miles) / 2024 Toyota Sequoia
2024 - 2 Trips - 25 nights - 4 National Parks, 3 National Forests
400 Boondock: $41,270
400 Boondock Black Canyon: $42,825
400 Boondock Black Canyon 400ah Lithium: $49,200
No idea what people hare paying. Is it OK to start a thread with what people paid?
As far as the dark gray sidewalls I do agree that it looks really cool. As far as I know it's the same paint just a darker color. Maybe it's an upcharge since it's not too common and it's a special order? And with the way the T@b heats up in the sun I'd go with the light gray or the white sidewalls. We have the light gray ones and don't feel too much heat transfer in the walls. However the roof, even with it's light color is a different story.
2018 Nissan Titan Pro 4X "Big Bird"
Leadville Colorado
2018 T@B 320 Sold
Racing the Wind and Chasing the Sun
Ken / 2023 Tab 400 “La Bolita” (20,000+ miles) / 2024 Toyota Sequoia
2024 - 2 Trips - 25 nights - 4 National Parks, 3 National Forests
2018 Nissan Titan Pro 4X "Big Bird"
Leadville Colorado
2018 Nissan Titan Pro 4X "Big Bird"
Leadville Colorado
2018 Nissan Titan Pro 4X "Big Bird"
Leadville Colorado
Ken / 2023 Tab 400 “La Bolita” (20,000+ miles) / 2024 Toyota Sequoia
2024 - 2 Trips - 25 nights - 4 National Parks, 3 National Forests
2018 T@B 320 Sold
Racing the Wind and Chasing the Sun
Thanks.