Lithium Upgrade for a caravan
I’ve had quite a few people email me asking for more information about the Victron system for a caravan that I was planning mentioned in the previous post. As this seems to have generated a number of questions, rather than give detailed answers to each one I thought I’d post the drawings. For the moment it’s on hold but here are the drawings.
While Victron would seem the obvious choice, there are a number of recent new products from Sterling Power that have rekindled my interest in the project…. watch this space.
Caravan Chronicles 
Hi Simon! Thanks for sharing this. To confirm my understanding – you have routed power to the Orion TR Smart separately from the 13-pin connection to allow for higher power transfer and therefore charging than the 13-pin connections will allow? I am currently looking at a small off-grid system to update my caravan, and arrived (independently) at a design very similar to yours. Since I am not (currently) planning to go for LiPo, and expect the battery to be in good condition from the solar array and our relatively low consumption needs, I was planning to use the ignition power (pin 10) for charging, or pin 9 and detect engine running condition with the Orion TR Smart (I need to explore this more).
I am glad to have come across your site – looks like many interesting articles for me! I will also check out your affiliate links for stuff I need.
Just in case anyone else comes across my comment – charging the battery should be from pin 9, not pin 10. Have a look around Simon’s wonderful site – you will find you answers there! 🙂
Hi Paul
On our old caravan I routed a separate 60A feed via Anderson connectors. I removed everything when we sold the caravan. I will be installing a similar setup in our new 5th wheel caravan early next year.
Hi Simon, Hopefully you have made some progress with this project. Originally our plan was to purchase a Hyundai 2000w inverter generator for home during the winter and the odd occasion if we went off grid with the caravan, however with the possibility of load shedding during the winter we are now wondering on the feasibility of using a lithium battery which could also be used in the 2018 Buccaneer caravan, but we were unsure if the current charger in the caravan could handle it? We would be going for the highest AH battery that could fit into the caravan locker.
The lithium battery could fulfil two purposes as we seldom use the caravan over the winter. During the winter for the tracker and alarm we could refit the AGM battery which is recharged via a solar panel.
At home the battery would be mainly used to power a Sky HD box (max 45w) and TV (60w). We have backup gas stove and gas lamps as we live in a rural area.
We are thinking of using the battery with a Victron inverter as I am not familiar with the Sterling inverter. I think a 300-500w inverter should suffice.
Problem is I am unsure what size of battery AH to purchase as it will need to fit into the battery locker, re-charging the battery whether fitted in the caravan or at home and how long the battery would last if only used at home for the box and TV.
Are you able to offer any input and whether it ii feasible or are we better off with the generator which can run for about 8 hours a day? We are both retired so at home most days during the winter. Thanks.
Hi Ian
After a lot of cost calculations… converting a caravan over to Lithium batteries is not worth it. All caravans have an inbuilt charger that is NOT suitable for Lithium technology therefore a lot of work has to be done to replace this with a suitable inverter. To be honest the best option in your circumstance is to look at one of the larger solar generators that have everything built in one box…Have a look at this… https://www.anker.com/products/a1780?variant=42174367400086&ref=collectionBuy You can plug it in at home and plug devices into it, if the power goes off your devices continue to run seamlessly. Pack it into the car and you can simply transfer it over to the caravan to power 240 volt stuff and keep the existing systems intact, even the existing 12 volt battery.
This is the North American version. The UK version is due out in Feb/March 2023 and this is the option I’m going for.
Very detailed from John’s web site a good source of information. Do you know if an RCD will function with the Victron or Sterling units.
Generally if the output of an inverter has to be hard wired in, not a socket, then an RCD device will work.
Been wondering about using Lithium batteries with an inverter & connecting into the caravan sockets and came across this link which is very interesting, gone off the idea given the earth arrangment and two or more things being driven, please see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzCGE5wnWos
Hi
I’ve seen John’s videos… always provides good info.
One of the reasons I usually only recommend Victron or Sterling Power is because they have the earth side sorted out correctly for caravan / motorhome / marine applications.