Battle Born Lithium Ion 12 Volt Batteries in an Oliver?

[Overland]

Yep, $500 plus I know that Oliver is a little afraid of Victron gear since it allows people to change so many settings.  Still, that would be $500 very well spent imo.  

[WhatDa]

I don't think most would be getting into the settings -- maybe some have.  The factory system is a little user unfriendly.  "How much battery do I have left?"  Well take a look at the voltage, but that could be off based on whether Solar is charging or not, there is a high load or not, etc...

I have two, ugly displays inside that basically provide useless information about electricity.  

The electricity system is probably my #3 peeve about the Oliver.  The top two are the Truma's lack of re-circulation (wasting water/gray tank - one SKU away from optimal) and the Air Conditioner/Heating System (there's room for a much more efficient, quieter mini-split).  The electricity is probably the easiest to fix though - I just need to wrap my head around the full build I need for the new Victron 200Ah batteries and setup the time to tear everything apart and if I am going to make the jump to support 240V (for future mini split install). 

[Brian Z]

We have a Legacy Elite II (2020). Has anyone tried to install 4 Battle Born lithium 100 Ah 12 Volt GC2 upright batteries into what was the stock, 4 lead acid batteries tray? Will 4 of the lithium upright GC2 batteries fit in the existing tray? Thanks much!!

[Minnesota Oli]

Yes they fit very nicely.

[Brian Z]

Wow, very nice. I was afraid they would be too wide. What device have you used in the center to connect them?

Also, did you use a BMS installed inside or the blue tooth monitor?

Thank you!

[Minnesota Oli]

You can use cables or what I used was buss bars and locked the four batteries together with a piece of material called star board which I machined to interlock the batteries together. I used that to mount the main fuse, the disconnect switch and the Victron battery monitor. Here is a link to the project.

http:// Home Oliver Campers Ollie Modifications Lithium Battery Upgrade  

[Brian Z]

It looks like a terrific solution. You do great work. I will definitely take a closer look. Thanks, I am grateful for you sharing the design and information.

[Minnesota Oli]

40 minutes ago, Brian Z said:

It looks like a terrific solution. You do great work. I will definitely take a closer look. Thanks, I am grateful for you sharing the design and information.

I see that the link is not working so I'll try again.

https://olivertraveltrailers.com/forums/topic/4956-lithium-battery-upgrade/

[Brian Z]

Wow, that is amazing! It is all showing up now. Thanks so much again!

[John E Davies]

In an RV, solid copper bus bars between the battery terminals are great IF you can ensure there is no motion whatsoever. If the batteries can shift even a small amount, there can be extensive damage. I doubt that BB would warrant them in that case. If you hit a deep pothole at highway speeds and they shift, uh oh.... I installed two regular sized ones, with room for a third. All batteries have two Mil-Spec (zero stretch) straps crossing them, for redundancy, plus tight fitting spacers at the bottom. Remove two nuts at the wall posts, pop off the cables, slide out the tray. Easy

John Davies

Spokane WA

[Mike and Carol]

My install is similar to John’s.  2 BB 100aH with room for a third.  After a lot of camping I’m not sure I need the third.

 

[Brian Z]

Hey, thanks for sharing you guys! I am trying to decide between using four BB GC2 batteries and three regular BB 100 amp batteries.

So you must not be using your batteries for the air conditioner, even the little amount it could be used?

Do you have the solar panels?

Thanks again!

[Mike and Carol]

4 hours ago, Brian Z said:

Hey, thanks for sharing you guys! I am trying to decide between using four BB GC2 batteries and three regular BB 100 amp batteries.

So you must not be using your batteries for the air conditioner, even the little amount it could be used?

Do you have the solar panels?

Thanks again!

I’ve got the older 320W solar panels.  We don’t use the AC much at all.  Too loud.  No, we’ve never run the AC off of the batteries.  The two BB’s do fine running everything else.  We’ve never been below 80% in the morning after running the furnace, lights, occasional microwave, etc.  Mike

[Brian Z]

22 hours ago, Mike and Carol said:

I’ve got the older 320W solar panels.  We don’t use the AC much at all.  Too loud.  No, we’ve never run the AC off of the batteries.  The two BB’s do fine running everything else.  We’ve never been below 80% in the morning after running the furnace, lights, occasional microwave, etc.  Mike

The AC is definitely loud! We did not realize you could run the microwave on the batteries. We have the 340 W solar... pretty much rookies with our Oliver. We are grateful for you insight! Thanks!

[topgun2]

Brian Z - 

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but, having just re-read the last couple of entries in this thread, I believe that there just might be some mixing of apples and oranges going on here.

All your solar panels do is put a charge/current into your batteries.  In turn, your batteries are then used directly for power for 12 volts things like your lights, TV, radio, fridge, etc.  Anything that requires 110/120 volts takes current from your 12 volt batteries (whether lead acid, AGM's or lithiums), runs the 12 volts through your inverter/converter to change from the 12 volts to 110/120 volts and then powers your device.  So, there are two things then that come into play - your battery capacity and the capacity of your inverter/converter.  Besides having a big enough battery bank with enough amp hours to run/operate whatever it is you're trying to use for the amount of time you'd like to use it, you must have an inverter/converter that will be big enough to supply the converted voltage.  This is one of the reasons that the Oliver lithium package has a 3,000 watt inverter/converter as part of the package versus the "standard" 2,000 inverter/converter that is in most other Ollies.  And, even with that inverter/converter size of 3,000 watts, the fairly large battery of lithium batteries will only run the air conditioner for about 4 hours. 

Hopefully I have not confused the issue for you.

Bill

[rideandfly]

We don't have factory mounted solar panels or inverter on our Ollie.

Use a 100W solar suitcase with one 100AH BattleBorn Lithium battery with 20A solar charge control, shunt, and battery monitor in the battery tray.

[Brian Z]

I appreciate everyone's guidance. No worries about the confusion. I think I am starting to get this. Everybody's comments have inspired me to do more research also. Pretty amazing stuff! Our needs seem to be going towards the three regular BBs and keeping the 2000 watt inverter for now. I may change to the 3000 watt inverter before I am finished. With the additional potential of the 3000 watt inverter it seems like a good idea. Battle Born is having a great sale right now but still pretty pricey.

I really like your setup above with everything in the battery tray!  BB did not say anything about adding a fuse at the batteries but it looks like a very good option.

[John E Davies]

1 hour ago, Brian Z said:

BB did not say anything about adding a fuse at the batteries but it looks like a very good option.

The terminal post fuse is there to protect the wire(s) between there and the main 250 amp fuse. Otherwise a big cable could short out and cause problems. The factory wires are completely unprotected (electrically speaking). As delivered mine were not wrapped with plastic split loom and were wearing on the top edge of the steel battery tray. The insulation was about 1/3 gone. 😳

The tray sits on fiberglass, which won’t in itself conduct electricity, but the center bolt is attached to the aluminum floor support and then to the main frame. The floor has an aluminum “core” so anything attached to it (with rivets or bolts) will conduct through that path.

John Davies

Spokane WA

[Geronimo John]

On 5/30/2019 at 7:03 AM, donthompson said:

I haven't tried to figure out whether I can fit 4 in my battery compartment, but I'm thinking of starting with 2 and upgrading if I need more amp hours.

There are at least 22.5 opinions about how many BB's to pack into an OEII, and how to hook them up. 

One nice, but expensive and time consuming to do idea floated and done by several owners is to clean out as much as possible wiring from the battery compartment.  I figured that since LifePO4 batteries are pretty much maintenance free, I would not go that route. 

 My DYI install considerations were:

Ease of installation and inspection.

• Leave space for a master cut off switch
• Minimize changes to existing wiring
• Use as much existing wiring as possible.
• In the battery box, install three Battleborns, the Smart Shunt and a Master Cutoff Switch (350 Amp BlueSeas)

To do this I also used two terminal blocks (Red and Black) and some poly cutting board.  

When all said and done, the master cut off switch had about 1/4" clearance.  Here is a picture. it shows two heavy duty straps.  'll be adding a third this summer.  As you can see, there is no room for a 4th battery.

One important consideration of any layout is keeping all the connections easily visible for both mechanical and thermal check-up every once in a blue moon.  For the thermal check, I use the John Davies recommended IR detector that works well with wheel bearing and brake checks at road stops.  

GJ

[Ronbrink]

13 hours ago, Geronimo John said:

My DYI install considerations were:

Ease of installation and inspection.

• Leave space for a master cut off switch
• Minimize changes to existing wiring
• Use as much existing wiring as possible.
• In the battery box, install three Battleborns, the Smart Shunt and a Master Cutoff Switch (350 Amp BlueSeas)

 Very impressive setup, I like your install criteria!  I recently upgraded from four 6V Trojans to two LFPs and a Smart Shunt, but really like the cutoff switch you installed. Yet another project on the horizon!

[Geronimo John]

On 10/15/2021 at 12:27 PM, Minnesota Oli said:

You can use cables or what I used was buss bars and locked the four batteries together with a piece of material called star board which I machined to interlock the batteries together. I used that to mount the main fuse, the disconnect switch and the Victron battery monitor. Here is a link to the project.

Your extensive shop tooling, exceptional craftmanship, and willingness to spend the time certainly resulted in the most  elegant install I have seen.  But even if I had your shop and the time to invest, it would have been impossible for me to even consider trying replicating your skills.    

The much lower tech approach requires common tools plus a hydraulic cable crimper and hole saws to get the job done.  But we all marvel at your and John D's amazing mods.  They serve to elevate our thinking.  

GJ

[Southbird401]

The nice thing about Battleborn is they will package all necessary  components of the system and will program everything at the factory and send it to you as a package for install. I upgraded from lead acid to two 270ah batteries, Victron 3000 watt inverter and dongle (for cell phone connection) Victron Battery Monitor and solar charge controller. It all works great and we have a lot of battery capacity which comes in handy when you are camping off the grid or under trees for several days. The 2  batteries fit in the battery compartment with the tray removed. 

 

[Geronimo John]

1 hour ago, Southbird401 said:

I upgraded from lead acid to two 270ah batteries,

Impressive.  Who made your batteries?  540 amp hours is amazing from our battery bay.  Pictures?

[Geronimo John]

On 10/31/2023 at 5:51 AM, Ronbrink said:

Very impressive setup, I like your install criteria!

Thanks.

Creative using the existing rope handles for tiedowns.  I think that that may be an ORIGINAL idea as I have not seen it done before.  They also give two horizontal and vertical battery stability support to holding the batteries in place.   

GJ

[Ronbrink]

10 hours ago, Geronimo John said:

Creative using the existing rope handles for tiedowns. 

I must say the length of the rope handles was just right to be able to utilize them in this manner. I initially did so to keep the newly installed LFPs from shifting fore and aft while taking time to refurbish the original Oliver straps. Seems the former ‘wet’ Trojans deteriorated the plastic strap clips, as well as the thread stitching. The new clips and improved stitching should last much longer with this setup. That said, the batteries are now properly secured and the rope handles still being put to good use helping to keep tension on the slide knobs to hopefully prevent inadvertent movement.