Moving Batteries to the Pass Thru

[Extreme]

Here's a good question
Instead of putting 2 Lithium 12v batteries in a metal box on the trailer hitch.
What about moving them to the "Pass Thru" and anchor them to the wall.
This would keep them from prying eyes and sticky fingers.
But I don't know how the electrical setup would work on a 2500RL
Any ideas on how I could do this?

Thanks for giving this some thought!

[Ynot4me2]

This can be easily achieved along with relocating the wiring. Its even better for lifepo4 to be inside and given the $ investment, recommended and what I'd do.

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[Extreme]

No doubt this would require drilling holes in the bottom of the rig and moving the wiring up.
Thanks

[Ynot4me2]

No doubt this would require drilling holes in the bottom of the rig and moving the wiring up.
Thanks

The wires for the solar pre wire run through the storage so you could re use those wholes. As long as your not planning on storing LA batteries inside. Just lifepo4.

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[RV Sailor]

The wires for the solar pre wire run through the storage so you could re use those wholes. As long as your not planning on storing LA batteries inside. Just lifepo4.

Sent from my SM-P610 using Tapatalk

Certain types of LA I think you’d mean. Our Oasis Firefly Carbon Foam AGM don’t gas and are stored in the pass through.

We also have the 2500RL.

We relocated everything to the pass through behind the water station.
Victron Multiplus 12/ 3000/ 120 inverter charger, batteries (3) , Victron mttp solar controller, blue sea battery switch, + and- busses, dongle, Victron 712 shunt, 400 amp T fuse, all located there. Wires for Multiplus, Mttp, and Victron Monitor led up into the bedroom. Victron 712 and Multiplus Monitor installed on the wall. Solar wires led to the roof. Controller is blue tooth. The whole Victron system can also be monitored and controlled from the Victron Smart App as well.

The relocation took up very little space ( 6 ft) in length and about 3 ft in width. Nice and protected. Good air flow.

[bertschb]

Certain types of LA I think you’d mean. Our Oasis Firefly Carbon Foam AGM don’t gas and are stored in the pass through.

From the Oasis Firefly owner's manual:
"The batteries may emit gas during the first 10-20 charge cycles."

[RV Sailor]

From the Oasis Firefly owner's manual:
"The batteries may emit gas during the first 10-20 charge cycles."

Yes I have read the manual quite extensively. Thanks for pointing it out to me for a refresher. Thank you for reading the manual, since you don’t have the Fireflys I assume it was to warn me and others. Hydrogen gas accumulation is no joke. Our batteries are in vented boxes per ACBY . In addition I added egg shell foam at the bottom of the boxes to minimize any vibration from the trailer.

AGM are exempt from CFR 49, Subchapter C regulations on storage vs say lithium’s

It’s a red herring. AGM batteries are stored on boats in many similar compartments. In fact the air flow is actually quite good in the storage compartment pass through of our 25000RL. These aren’t wet cells which gas all the time. Most AGM don’t even have vent portals. Most RV sites and many reputable Solar companies ( Northern Arizona, Go Power , Zamp, Renogy ) have pictures of both AGM and Lithium batteries in pass through, even under master bedroom beds, and many other inside spaces. Most aren’t even contained in battery boxes, just tied down .

If I were you I would more concerned by the thermal runaway of lithium batteries. They are inherently dangerous no matter which type by their very nature. I’ve never seen a boat fire caused by AGM batteries but have seen 2 caused by lithium ones. That’s anecdotal evidence. The batteries were in fact from one of the major manufacturers. The constant vibration of the boat eventually cause the thin separation plate between the electrolytes to have a small hole and then the thermal runaway stArted. If I used lithium I would be concerned about the constant vibration in a RV trailer and nestle or place the lithium batteries on a shock absorbing material to minimize their vibration.

There’s a reason lithium batteries have major restrictions on cargo / commercial planes. There is no similar restriction to AGM batteries. I have two friends who are commercial pilots for United and American. Both own sailboats and both have witnessed first hand lithium batteries during thermal runaway on their planes. One in fact required an emergency landing.

They are a great source of energy if properly handled. Great recharging capabilities. Their best usage is in static situations like solar fields and houses. The downside aside from the obvious price issue is when something goes wrong with them it’s catastrophic vs lead batteries.

I would suggest that those using lithium batteries take precautions on the vibration that could possible over time damage their cases and internal components by putting anti vibration foam under them.

[bertschb]

Thank you for reading the manual, since you don’t have the Fireflys I assume it was to warn me and others. Hydrogen gas accumulation is no joke.

Yes, just wanted to make sure folks understand there is hydrogen gas produced that needs to be vented. I watched a Youtube video the other day where people put their L/A batteries in an unvented box. Yikes!

As for "lithium" batteries-
There are many different types of "lithium" batteries and it can be misleading to simply call them "lithium" and lump them all together as they have very different properties. Most RV'ers use Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries (e.g. Battleborn, Lion Energy, Victron, etc) as replacements for lead acid batteries (flooded, AGM, etc). Manufacturers have specifically selected LiFePO4 lithium for RV/Boat batteries because of how safe they are compared to other chemistries. They are not subject to thermal runaway. Lots of information about the differences between LiFePO4 and other li-ion chemistries but here is one summary I found:

"In addition, it can be seen that LiFePO4 is slightly subject to thermal runaway phenomena, with a temperature rise of barely 1.5°C per minute. With this very low level of energy released, the thermal runaway of the Lithium Iron Phosphate technology is intrinsically impossible in normal operation, and even almost impossible to artificially trigger. Combined with a BMS, Lithium Iron Phosphate (LifePO4 – LFP) is currently the most secure Lithium-Ion technology on the market."

As mentioned above, LiFePO4 battery temperatures rise less than 2C per minute compared to 470C for Lithium Cobalt Oxyde (NCO) and Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum (NCA) which you may be referring to. Also, the reason there are transportation restrictions is because the government has grouped all "lithium" batteries into the same category to avoid confusion. When you consider how many different chemistries there are, I can understand why they did that but it's still unfortunate as once again, it leads to misunderstandings from people who aren't familiar with the technology.

[Flip94ta]

I have two UT1300’s in my pass though. Very happy with them and I eliminated a lot of the bad wiring/cheap 8ga wire that came with the trailer.

[goodoz]

Here's a good question
Instead of putting 2 Lithium 12v batteries in a metal box on the trailer hitch.
What about moving them to the "Pass Thru" and anchor them to the wall.
This would keep them from prying eyes and sticky fingers.
But I don't know how the electrical setup would work on a 2500RL
Any ideas on how I could do this?

Thanks for giving this some thought!

I just successfully pulled off placing three LiFePO4's, an inverter charger and all other associated components/cable in the bedroom closet...by fishing cable thru the interior (no new exterior holes). And, I was able to keep our shelf which now serves two purposes...(1) the continued storage of our coffee maker and InstantPot and (2) completely covering up the exposed battery posts. I did have to cut one small hole in the side of the closet wall to bring in 2 50A cables, a 6 GA cable and a 6GA copper grounding wire that goes back to the 12V fuse block.

Speaking of stick fingers, IMO, leave a cheap plastic battery box in place on the trailer tongue...no need to alert sticky fingers that there are goodies elsewhere in the trailer and you can use it to store gloves or tools, etc.