16 replies to this topic

[howtomountaingoat]

Hi everyone


I have a new-to-me Hawk that I am adding 150ah of Lithiums to. It has the standard Bluesea Charging relay and Iota Converter. My first change will be adding a Victron 30amp dc to dc charger. I do not have any wiring in my truck because I bought it new, but I plan to use some 2awg wiring (excessive I know), an anderson power pole connector, 1/2 inch plastic tubing, zip ties, and black silicon to seal the wiring exit. I've run into some questions that I have not seen covered on forum explicitly. Also, yes I have the KP Lithium Manifesto, yes I have seen AM Solars diagrams, and yes I have poured through FWCs posted information, and even called them (they couldn't of been less excited to help...).


1. What do y'all do with the green running lights wire, the anderson power pole connector that seems to be what other upfitters use only has two pins for the thicker positive and ground wires? I'd like to retain the running light function if possible.

2. I would like to retain the ability to use the Iota shorepower converter. I traced the white wire that exits the Iota to the Fuse box and then to the Blue Sea charging relay where it shares the same post as the wire that then goes to the stock AGM batteries.

 

Any other learnings from folks doing this upgrade also welcome.

 

Thanks,

 

[pvstoy]

I just used a separate connection for the green running lights and zipped tied it to the Anderson connection and wires.

[Jon R]

I have a Victron Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-30 Isolated DC to DC charger installed in my 2021 Grandby front dinette with 200 ah lithium battery. The camper is on a 2021 GMC cclb truck with a smart alternator. That combination probably has the longest wire run from truck battery to camper battery of any normal pickup installation.

First, 2 awg is unnecessary unless you are using that wiring for other loads. It is bulky and stiff to work with in routing on the truck and camper. 6 awg from the truck battery to the Orion in the camper is adequate to limit voltage drop to where the Orion does not trigger its periodic cycling to verify the engine is still running. That’s important. Beyond that, the charger compensates for any voltage drop to properly charge the lithium battery. That’s what it’s for. The most that wire will ever carry when supplying the Orion will be 35 amps. If you are going to connect other equipment to the truck bed connector at times, such as a compressor or other high current equipment, that may be a reason to run larger wire to that point.

Second, yes you can and should tie the camper clearance lights into your running lights, and that is done separately from the 12 volt charging wiring. Like pvstoy above, I have a small side connector tethered to my Anderson SB50 power connector. I did not install plugs in my truck bed. I just ran a pigtail over the front wall of the bed and stow it underneath when the camper s off. I use the SB50 rubber environmental boots with caps so the stowed connector is dry and safe.

Finally, you can leave the Iota in there and it will still be useful as a 12 volt power supply when connected to shore power. However, if it’s a DLS30-IQ4 like I have, it’s almost useless for charging the lithium battery in most scenarios because it does not apply adequate voltage to drive much charging current due to its control logic. There are other recent threads about that.

Edited by Jon R, 03 March 2023 - 12:09 AM.

[Jon R]

I think your choice of 150ah of lithium battery is about the right size for a Grandby for most people. I can go 5 nights in Summer and 4 nights in Winter on my fully charged 200 ah battery with no charging. You should be able to easily go a full 3 day weekend with no charging on 150 ah.

I also think installing the dc to dc charger as your first charging system upgrade with lithium is a good choice. Next solar, then last (if at all) shore power.

[Vic Harder]

When running your 6AWG (or bigger) wires, remember to add breakers at both ends so that a short won't cause a catastrophic disaster.  I used Blue Sea 285 series surface mounts on mine.  

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Hi howtomountaingoat,

 

I’m going to let the electrical experts weigh in, but I did want to welcome you to Wander the West, it’s the best place to hangout on the web.

[howtomountaingoat]

When running your 6AWG (or bigger) wires, remember to add breakers at both ends so that a short won't cause a catastrophic disaster.  I used Blue Sea 285 series surface mounts on mine.  

Planning on it, what amperage would you recommend?

[pvstoy]

I ran 4 gauge welding wire and used 80 Amp breakers at both ends.

[Jon R]

I have 6 awg Ancor marine type 3 wire and used an 80 amp fuse at the truck battery fuse block. A 50 amp fuse would have been sufficient to supply the Orion with margin, but the fuses are proprietary to GM and there was an available 80 amp fuse on the block, and it was adequate to prevent excessive wire heating per the Ancor and Blue Sea charts.

I did not put a fuse at the camper end of that wire because it only goes into the Orion dc to dc converter input. The converter output is connected to my positive bus bar. I do have an 80 amp fuse between my camper battery positive and my positive bus bar. So even if there was a wire short to ground AND a failure of the converter that somehow passed current in the opposite direction, the current supplies from both the camper and truck battery are fused at 80 amps.

The battery fuse size was driven by my 6 awg wire size throughout the main power system wiring, which was driven by the desire to limit voltage drop from the to the Orion, and the total possible simultaneous charging current from the Orion and my solar charger, which was 60 amps. I was not worried about adding shore power charging in at the same time. If someone did that, my wire would be fine but the fuse may blow, but I never use shore power.

Edited by Jon R, 02 March 2023 - 08:19 PM.

[Vic Harder]

Planning on it, what amperage would you recommend?

What Jon R said above is a good guide.