Undersize charging wire, WFCO to batteries, Upgrading to lithium in 2019 T@B 400

jimcenname said:

I removed the lower third of the bed platform. Then unscrewed about 10 screws holding the cover in place. I lifted the cover on the outbound side, disconnected the battery cables and feed them through the hole on the side of the cover. Then the cover lifted off. The AGM batteries weigh about 60 lb each. I flipped them on their side and pushed them out the cargo access door. The roughly 11 X 8 inch space of one AGM battery was used for the new charger, shunt and fuse. I gained no space but lost about 90 pounds. I'll have to see how much the tongue weight changed.

Thanks for the inspiration @jimcenname! I just checked my 2019 AGMs in my 400 and they are definitely not able to keep up with even an overnight on the road. After a lot of scanning threads I finally decided on the LiTime since the sale was too good to pass up.

LiTime 12V 230Ah Plus Deep Cycle LiFePO4 Battery with Low-Temp Protection. This single 12 V is small enough to fit the space of the Harris AGMS with a little to spare. I was just worried how to get them out and the idea of going out the cargo door is great.

I also have no solar on board and no  inverter, just a solar charging port on the driver side and a shunt next to the distribution box. I was wondering about the need to remove the passenger third of the bed platform. Did you remove the hinges to do that?

And did your require more cables for your new battery?

Thanks


My cover looks like this:

@jimcenname many thanks for the nudge to change out the batteries in my 2019 400. Like you I had no solar but a solar port on the driver side, and no inverter.

The battery cover on the Harris batteries was keeping me from starting but when I did, I only found 4 screws securing the top of the cover, and I only had to remove one bed panel along the passenger wall to get access.

The LiTime 230 amp hour with low temp protection was a slightly smaller footprint, and allowed room for the small 10 am Lithium charger on the cargo door side.



As you mentioned, the cover was able to angle back and then tilt to the middle of the trailer to get access to the battery posts. The existing wires (White is Neg and Red is Pos) were plenty long enough and basically required no wiring changes at all. Just hooked up the lithium and done. I had an inexpensive shunt that turned on and I reset to the new 230 amp hour level and it all worked!

Now as I understand the original WFCO converter will not bring the lithium to 100%, I used the space next to the cargo door for the new small charger, which in my model can plug into the AC plug (for the frig) that is on the wall just inside the cargo door. It is a 20 amp circuit so I can just swap plugs when I need to top off the battery or can use a splitter. Again, no rewiring so very relieved on that count.

Hope these pictures can help others as needed, though our 400 is now over 5 years old and likely does not resemble the build of the new units.

Thanks again to all on the forum

Thanks and my final question is if you isolated your current WFCO converter from the new battery, and if so, how?
Since we rarely boondock, like you, I felt my need for a charger for the lithium would be infrequent. And I had the small frig which has a 20 amp AC plug right inside the cargo door I use for the new charger. I think I can rely on the small charger to keep my battery topped off from time to time, but I am worried about leaving the WFCO non lithium connected all the time. What did you do? 

Got it, thanks. I must have pulled the wrong wire on my converter as it cut the trailer circuits as well. For me just keeping the battery disconnect switched on while on she power will be the easiest 

Yoshi_TAB said:

Hi,

Not sure if this is helpful of a typical connection.    The AC power is  on the left and the  DC wires  are on right.

The white and black wires will disconnect AC from the converter.  Black is connected to a breaker.

So this is the diagram I used when attempting to isolate the WFCO from the battery at the board but retain the rest of the functions. The diagram shows a White neg in a dual connector (the other goes to the Main Board below. The Red wire is on a similar dual connector on the lower L of the board, though mine has a second Red on the L side of that connector. Not sure where that one goes cause the other large wire is Pink in the middle single connector and that one clearly goes to main board below.

I pulled both the White and Red with all power off, thinking these only went to the battery. Turned shore power on and none of the 12 V circuits worked. Same with pulling only Red or only White. So not sure where I messed up.