DC to DC charging (LE I)

[Olive2Roam]

Hey folks, I have found several folks that do this and have gotten a couple of quotes on installing a Victron DC-DC charging system on our tow vehicle for the Ollie. I was curious to hear if any of you have had that done by a Victron dealer (or other) and what your ball park costs may have been. Also, has anyone tackled that as a DYI project? If so, how did that go? 

Since we have a composting toilet we are assuming it would be a game changer with regard to being able to harvest host and otherwise boondock for multiple days in a row. Have you found it to be a significant benefit?

Thanks in advance!

Bob

[Olive2Roam]

1 hour ago, Olive2Roam said:

Hey folks, I have found several folks that do this and have gotten a couple of quotes on installing a Victron DC-DC charging system on our tow vehicle for the Ollie. I was curious to hear if any of you have had that done by a Victron dealer (or other) and what your ball park costs may have been. Also, has anyone tackled that as a DYI project? If so, how did that go? 

Since we have a composting toilet we are assuming it would be a game changer with regard to being able to harvest host and otherwise boondock for multiple days in a row. Have you found it to be a significant benefit?

Thanks in advance!

Bob

I did find some great info here. Maybe that is what I need.

 

[jd1923]

3 hours ago, Olive2Roam said:

... being able to harvest host and otherwise boondock for multiple days in a row. Have you found it to be a significant benefit?

Hello Bob, our DC-to-DC charger installation has been very beneficial. For every hour we tow the Oliver on average we add 35 Ah to the LiFePO4 batteries in SOC. If you travel every few days, the DC-DC charger is very helpful. Say we tow 4 1/2 hours in a day, SOC will increase 26% on our 600 Ah battery bank. 

However, if you prefer to stay at one boondocking site for 1-2 weeks at a time then additional solar is the way to go. We have both upgrades and with the DC-DC charger I have not pulled out the suitcase solar in months! We have not had the time to stay at one campsite for more than a few consecutive days. On the road again, charging again!

Definitely purchase the 50A Victron Orion XS vs. the older technology 30A version or other brands for that matter. We run Victron everything. There are so many install threads. I have listed some below. the last one is my installation with a lot of use case test results.

The thread you linked above was about the sale OTT had including older 30A model wiring only the trailer side of the install at a very high price. Read through these to see if it's something you could do yourself, as Art, Geoff and I did in these posts: 

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/9733-dc-dc-charger-install/

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/9972-more-dc-to-dc-charger-installation-tidbits/

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/10757-the-victron-orion-xs-1212-50a-dc-dc-charger-complete-installation-and-testing/

 

[DavePhelps]

I just completed a Victron update to all the solar components in our trailer, including the Victron 50amp DC-DC charger. It has been great.
I was originally thinking of doing the work myself but soon realized I was too far out of my comfort zone regarding the complexities of the install.
This job I delegated! Expensive, yes. But The job as it was done went way beyond my expectations. I was very lucky to find an outfit locally that really knew what they were doing and take great pride in their work. 

The cost of the DC-DC charger was part of a much larger project so hard to break it out. There will be two sides to your install, the TV and your trailer.
I found a way to fish 4awg cables from the streetside rear dining seat (where the battery box is) forward, under the bathroom sink, and then out the front of the trailer next to the 7-pin plug cable. The charger is mounted on top of the battery box. My truck luckily has a battery distribution fuse block with multiple fuses up for grabs including a 60 amp fuse to which the truck-side wiring was attached. The truck wiring terminated with an Anderson plug that was bolted to the underside of my bumper with a custom bracket directly under the 7 pin plug (which is next to my license plate). This location I highly recommend as it makes attaching your fairly large 7 pin and DC-DC charging cables nicely aligned and easier to manage.

I'm getting similar charging profiles as JD iirc. For me, I don't like traveling with propane on, so I switch to DC mode on my fridge when under way. Always have full batteries on arrival! These new lithium batteries charge up fast if they can get the power and this little charger really delivers! Of course, it only works when your running your TV. So, as JD mentioned, this will be of no benefit if boondocking and stationary. That's where your remote solar panels come in to play if you have them. I suppose worst case, you could use your TV as a giant generator to charge your batteries but many campgrounds, especially in the National Park system, or in CG's that don't allow portable generators, this would not be allowed.

Super glad I got the charger, no regrets! 👍👍

Dave

[DavePhelps]

OK, better pic.....

[jd1923]

1 hour ago, DavePhelps said:

I'm getting similar charging profiles as JD iirc. For me, I don't like traveling with propane on, so I switch to DC mode on my fridge when under way. Always have full batteries on arrival!

Excellent Dave, good to hear! CLEAN installation! From just a couple of pics I can see you found a quality service company, as you mentioned.

For a guy who at first did not want an inverter!!!!! You've come a long way. Your rig, your little E1 has come a long way in off-grid excellence! 🤣

We have found that we can run the fridge AND electric to the hot water heater (HWH) on DC while towing and the Orion XS 50A still adds good charge to the batteries while doing so. Or run the A/C in the last hour or two driving to a campsite with hookups and the DC2DC charger carries a good portion of the load and you arrive cool and calm...

[Ronbrink]

17 hours ago, Olive2Roam said:

installing a Victron DC-DC charging system on our tow vehicle for the Ollie.

Typically the DC-DC is installed in the trailer as close to the battery bank as possible. 

[Olive2Roam]

14 hours ago, jd1923 said:

Hello Bob, our DC-to-DC charger installation has been very beneficial. For every hour we tow the Oliver on average we add 35 Ah to the LiFePO4 batteries in SOC. If you travel every few days, the DC-DC charger is very helpful. Say we tow 4 1/2 hours in a day, SOC will increase 26% on our 600 Ah battery bank. 

However, if you prefer to stay at one boondocking site for 1-2 weeks at a time then additional solar is the way to go. We have both upgrades and with the DC-DC charger I have not pulled out the suitcase solar in months! We have not had the time to stay at one campsite for more than a few consecutive days. On the road again, charging again!

Definitely purchase the 50A Victron Orion XS vs. the older technology 30A version or other brands for that matter. We run Victron everything. There are so many install threads. I have listed some below. the last one is my installation with a lot of use case test results.

The thread you linked above was about the sale OTT had including older 30A model wiring only the trailer side of the install at a very high price. Read through these to see if it's something you could do yourself, as Art, Geoff and I did in these posts: 

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/9733-dc-dc-charger-install/

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/9972-more-dc-to-dc-charger-installation-tidbits/

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/10757-the-victron-orion-xs-1212-50a-dc-dc-charger-complete-installation-and-testing/

 

Thanks! Great information. I probably should have done a little more leg work to find those links, but thanks for digging them up for me. We are definitely 2 or 3 days and then back on the road - travelers  not campers, we like to say. 🙂  I think our batteries are 260 AH so this is even more important for us since we can drain those pretty quickly. We will definitely go with the 50A Orion. 

[Olive2Roam]

12 hours ago, DavePhelps said:

I just completed a Victron update to all the solar components in our trailer, including the Victron 50amp DC-DC charger. It has been great.
I was originally thinking of doing the work myself but soon realized I was too far out of my comfort zone regarding the complexities of the install.
This job I delegated! Expensive, yes. But The job as it was done went way beyond my expectations. I was very lucky to find an outfit locally that really knew what they were doing and take great pride in their work. 

The cost of the DC-DC charger was part of a much larger project so hard to break it out. There will be two sides to your install, the TV and your trailer.
I found a way to fish 4awg cables from the streetside rear dining seat (where the battery box is) forward, under the bathroom sink, and then out the front of the trailer next to the 7-pin plug cable. The charger is mounted on top of the battery box. My truck luckily has a battery distribution fuse block with multiple fuses up for grabs including a 60 amp fuse to which the truck-side wiring was attached. The truck wiring terminated with an Anderson plug that was bolted to the underside of my bumper with a custom bracket directly under the 7 pin plug (which is next to my license plate). This location I highly recommend as it makes attaching your fairly large 7 pin and DC-DC charging cables nicely aligned and easier to manage.

I'm getting similar charging profiles as JD iirc. For me, I don't like traveling with propane on, so I switch to DC mode on my fridge when under way. Always have full batteries on arrival! These new lithium batteries charge up fast if they can get the power and this little charger really delivers! Of course, it only works when your running your TV. So, as JD mentioned, this will be of no benefit if boondocking and stationary. That's where your remote solar panels come in to play if you have them. I suppose worst case, you could use your TV as a giant generator to charge your batteries but many campgrounds, especially in the National Park system, or in CG's that don't allow portable generators, this would not be allowed.

Super glad I got the charger, no regrets! 👍👍

Dave

Thanks, Dave. This is really helpful, especially the thoughts about mounting location for the charger. We have a local (Nashville) outfit that I will have do the job and he has done a couple of Olivers, but probably not an LE I yet so it may be a little different from he other installs. Glad to hear "no regrets". I think this will be a game changer for us considering how we travel. 

Bob

[Olive2Roam]

10 hours ago, jd1923 said:

Excellent Dave, good to hear! CLEAN installation! From just a couple of pics I can see you found a quality service company, as you mentioned.

For a guy who at first did not want an inverter!!!!! You've come a long way. Your rig, your little E1 has come a long way in off-grid excellence! 🤣

We have found that we can run the fridge AND electric to the hot water heater (HWH) on DC while towing and the Orion XS 50A still adds good charge to the batteries while doing so. Or run the A/C in the last hour or two driving to a campsite with hookups and the DC2DC charger carries a good portion of the load and you arrive cool and calm...

Running the AC off our 2000 watt inverter in our LE I is our only challenge after this. If we end up in a lot of weather that requires the AC we may add the Honda 2200i generator, but that is not something we are excited about packing in our TV or on the trailer. One step at a time.