DC-DC Charger Installation - Oliver LE2 and RAM 1500

[Grizz000]

As others have done, I recently completed a Victron Orion XS DC-DC charger installation between my 2023 Ram 1500 and 2019 Oliver Legacy Elite II, Hull 514.

 

The attached write-up covers the truck and trailer wiring, Anderson SB120 connection, cable routing, fuse locations, Victron settings, parts list, photos, and lessons learned. I thought I'd share in case it helps anyone considering a similar project.

 

Happy camping!

Oliver and RAM DC-DC Charger Installation FB pdf.pdf

[jd1923]

4 hours ago, Grizz000 said:

As others have done, I recently completed a Victron Orion XS DC-DC charger installation

Excellent work, Jeff! And happy to see a new Forum Member share such a great project providing such detail.

I installed ours March 2025 and we love this mod more than most! The Orion XS 50A DC-DC charger is the best possible upgrade for charging LI batteries. You need a whole lot of solar capacity and a lot of time sitting around the campsite, fussing with panels, and you won't get anywhere near the average 40 Ah per hour towing this installation will provide.

If interested, read my comment re running our A/C all day, towing just 2 hours, using only 20 Ah because the Orion provided most of the power needed. If I towed another 30 minutes SOC would have been 100%! We do have 320W rooftop solar but it was a cloudy/rainy day. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/11177-furrion-chill-cube-–-product-review-and-installation/page/3/#comment-126555

Those of us who boondock 1-3 nights at a time, moving often, don't need much else. Add an efficient A/C and Orion DC-DC charging will allow you to stay cool anywhere/anytime! We added 400W suitcase solar and wish I had saved the money since we rarely use it. We connect our Orion DC-DC charger every time we hitch the Oliver!

You love your Orion installation now. You'll love it even more after you benefit from it on the road! 😎

 

Edited yesterday at 06:35 PM by jd1923

[Grizz000]

8 hours ago, jd1923 said:

The Orion XS 50A DC-DC charger is the best possible upgrade for charging LI batteries. You need a whole lot of solar capacity and a lot of time sitting around the campsite, fussing with panels, and you won't get anywhere near the average 40 Ah per hour towing this installation will provide.

If interested, read my comment re running our A/C all day, towing just 2 hours, using only 20 Ah because the Orion provided most of the power needed. If I towed another 30 minutes SOC would have been 100%! We do have 320W rooftop solar but it was a cloudy/rainy day. https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/11177-furrion-chill-cube-–-product-review-and-installation/page/3/#comment-126555

Those of us who boondock 1-3 nights at a time, moving often, don't need much else. Add an efficient A/C and Orion DC-DC charging will allow you to stay cool anywhere/anytime! We added 400W suitcase solar and wish I had saved the money since we rarely use it. We connect our Orion DC-DC charger every time we hitch the Oliver!

You love your Orion installation now. You'll love it even more after you benefit from it on the road! 😎

 

Thanks for your kind words. Your comments about the DC-DC charger are great and my thinking as well. The 40A just keeps coming as long as you are hooked up and running. We boondock multiple days at a time quite often and I'm thinking I could even hook up in camp and charge via DC-DC if solar is inadequate and if for some reason I don't want to (or can't) run my generator to recharge. 

I still haven't totally ruled out adding roof solar at some point, but I'm on the fence about it since the vast majority of our camping is in areas with lots of shade. Our hull is prewired for it and has the embedded mounting plates. So far, our suitcase panels are good for accessing the sunny spots.

Thanks for the link. I love reading the AC posts and your data is impressive. I figure our AC will need to be replaced at some point (already 7 years old) and I'd love to have a high efficiency AC that could run from the battery bank for an extended time. We are in the humid south, so this can be a taller order at peak summer temps, but we could expand our current 400Ah battery bank as well. 

 

[Ronbrink]

21 hours ago, Grizz000 said:

I thought I'd share in case it helps anyone considering a similar project.

Thanks for sharing, vital information for owners considering such an install. Here’s a couple of pics on cable management: