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  1. #1
    Setting Up Camp
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    Question about wire size

    I have a Solitude 310gk and I’m installing two Battle Born lithium 100Ah batteries. I’m replacing the WFCO converter with a Progressive Dynamics 55 amp lithium converter. I am moving the batteries behind the divider in the pass through near the existing converter. I plan to use #2 wire from the positive and negative bus bars at the old battery location about 7’ to the new battery bank. I thought the batteries being in a heated space would be better. Should I just leave the existing #6 wire running from the converter in place or do a shorter run right to the battery bank and should I use larger wires. I’m also installing a Victron Bluetooth battery monitor 712 and thought I could come off the negative terminal to the shunt and run the negative wire from the converter in front of the shunt. Any advice is appreciated!

  2. #2
    Site Sponsor SolarPoweredRV's Avatar
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    I would reconsider moving the batteries from the front hold to the middle of the coach. For two reasons:

    One, cold temps will not harm your batteries unless you are planning on doing a lot of camping in temps well below freezing, your batteries will give up their energy in temps below freezing, the only issue with freezing cold temps is that you can not charge them in temps below freezing (realistically, because, even in the front hold, the batteries will be protected from the elements and a good bit of heat will transfer into the front hold from the heated basement, I would say the front hold won't reach freezing temps until the outside temps reach the mid to low 20's).

    Two, your hydraulic pump for your Landing Gear and Leveling System is in the front hold and it draws 80 + amps, so, you want to keep your batteries as close to that Hydraulic Pump as possible to minimize amperage loss in your wiring. To that end, when I installed my auxiliary Lifepo4 batteries in the front hold, I increased the wire size for the Hydraulic Pump (both Pos. and Neg.) to/from the batteries.

    As far as increasing the wire size coming out of your new Converter goes; 6 awg is capable of handling 80 amps for 10 feet with less than a 3% loss so you should be okay with using the existing 6awg wires.
    David and Peggy
    2019 Ford F350 Lariat, 6.7L Diesel, Dually, Long Bed
    Running with 20k Reese Goosebox (Love It) and Ford Factory "Puck" system.
    Stopping with 8,000 lb Disc Brakes and Titan Hydraulic over Electric Brakes system.
    Powering all this fun with 1200 Watts of Solar, two Tesla, Model S, battery modules, 24 volt Victron Inverter.
    2018 Solitude 310 GK

  3. #3
    Setting Up Camp
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    Quote Originally Posted by SolarPoweredRV View Post
    I would reconsider moving the batteries from the front hold to the middle of the coach. For two reasons:

    One, cold temps will not harm your batteries unless you are planning on doing a lot of camping in temps well below freezing, your batteries will give up their energy in temps below freezing, the only issue with freezing cold temps is that you can not charge them in temps below freezing (realistically, because, even in the front hold, the batteries will be protected from the elements and a good bit of heat will transfer into the front hold from the heated basement, I would say the front hold won't reach freezing temps until the outside temps reach the mid to low 20's).

    Two, your hydraulic pump for your Landing Gear and Leveling System is in the front hold and it draws 80 + amps, so, you want to keep your batteries as close to that Hydraulic Pump as possible to minimize amperage loss in your wiring. To that end, when I installed my auxiliary Lifepo4 batteries in the front hold, I increased the wire size for the Hydraulic Pump (both Pos. and Neg.) to/from the batteries.

    As far as increasing the wire size coming out of your new Converter goes; 6 awg is capable of handling 80 amps for 10 feet with less than a 3% loss so you should be okay with using the existing 6awg wires.
    Thank you for the reply! I didn’t consider the amp draw of the hydraulic pump although I did see in Changing Lanes that they upsized the fuse size on their wiring. I will only probably dry camp in the warmer times of the year so leaving the batteries in the original location should be fine.

  4. #4
    Site Team Second Chance's Avatar
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    To add to what @SolarPoweredRV had to say... we have two Battle Born LiFePO4 batteries in the front compartment of our 2020 310GK-R (factory solar). I installed the BB thermostat-controlled heating pads on the batteries this fall. It was a bit of a tight fit in the battery boxes, but everything fit. I'm sitting here looking at my multi-channel thermometer/hygrometer as I type this. In addition to the inside readings on the console, there are sensors outside the RV (under the front overhang), in the basement, and on top of one of the battery boxes (isolated so it doesn't pick up the heat from the heating pads). The forecast calls for 21F tonight, but right now it's only 27 on my thermometer. The Army airfield a couple of miles away is reporting 23, but the temps vary quite a bit sometimes on this little peninsula that is Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, on the Chesapeake Bay.

    Anyway, we're using the electric fireplace in the living room and a portable heater in the bathroom where my wife just got out of the shower. The thermostat is set on 68, so the main furnace has only cycled twice this evening. That's a lot of parameters, I know, but I wanted to paint a complete picture: the basement is at 45F and the front compartment where the batteries are is 37F. OK... now that I'm finishing writing this, the furnace has cycled for a third time this evening (it had not cycled all day as our high got up into the mid-30s). When I get out of the shower, I'll leave the fireplace on (set on 64F), turn off the portable heater, and set the main thermostat to 64F. With the fireplace set to 64F, the furnace will cycle periodically through the night and the temps in the basement and front compartment won't get any lower than they are now.

    Rob
    U.S. Army Retired
    2012 F350 DRW CC LB Lariat PS 6.7
    2020 Solitude 310GK-R, MORryde IS, disc brakes,
    Sailun LRG tires, solar, DP windows, W/D
    (Previously in a Reflection 337RLS)
    Full time since 08/2015

  5. #5
    Seasoned Camper yobigal's Avatar
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    I stuck our BB batteries in the front compartment back in August of this year. We typically do not camp in real cold weather so I'm not worried about that. I did a plug and play stile install where I kept everything the same and just replaced the convertor and batteries. The only issue I had was if the batteries got below a certain point and had to charge up a lot the reset-able fuse in the bus strip would get triggered and then auto reset constantly until the batteries got charged to a certain point. I want to put in a bigger fuse to prevent that from happening.

    Do you think I should run a second set of wires from the convertor right to the batteries with a bigger fuse and then disconnect the batteries from the bus bar. The power for bus bar would still be coming from panel like it is now?
    Allen & Denise
    Ford F350 Lariat CC SRW SB 4x4 Diesel
    2018 Solitude 310GK R

  6. #6
    Setting Up Camp
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    https://www.bluesea.com/files/resour...on_chartlg.jpg
    When I look at this chart, and consider that the converter is a 55 amp one, just a rough estimate of the converter to the front battery compartment round trip is about 20’. It looks like 6 wire isn’t enough and at least 4 or 2 should be used. That would probably keep the fuse from tripping. There is a BB video of hooking the converter directly to the battery bank and they show it without a fuse. I assume if you abandoned the 6 wire and ran a set of bigger wires from the converter direct to the batteries the internal fuse in the converter and the battery management system in the batteries would be adequate protection.

  7. #7
    Setting Up Camp
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    I have a question! I see that older GD trailers had a 50 amp breaker for the hydraulic pump and now have an 80amp breaker. So if the hydraulic pump draws 80 plus amps, why didn’t the old 50 amp breaker blow all the time and for that matter, why doesn’t the 80amp breaker blow if the draw is 80 plus?
    Quote Originally Posted by SolarPoweredRV View Post
    I would reconsider moving the batteries from the front hold to the middle of the coach. For two reasons:

    One, cold temps will not harm your batteries unless you are planning on doing a lot of camping in temps well below freezing, your batteries will give up their energy in temps below freezing, the only issue with freezing cold temps is that you can not charge them in temps below freezing (realistically, because, even in the front hold, the batteries will be protected from the elements and a good bit of heat will transfer into the front hold from the heated basement, I would say the front hold won't reach freezing temps until the outside temps reach the mid to low 20's).

    Two, your hydraulic pump for your Landing Gear and Leveling System is in the front hold and it draws 80 + amps, so, you want to keep your batteries as close to that Hydraulic Pump as possible to minimize amperage loss in your wiring. To that end, when I installed my auxiliary Lifepo4 batteries in the front hold, I increased the wire size for the Hydraulic Pump (both Pos. and Neg.) to/from the batteries.

    As far as increasing the wire size coming out of your new Converter goes; 6 awg is capable of handling 80 amps for 10 feet with less than a 3% loss so you should be okay with using the existing 6awg wires.

  8. #8
    Site Team traveldawg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by riverdrifter1 View Post
    I have a question! I see that older GD trailers had a 50 amp breaker for the hydraulic pump and now have an 80amp breaker. So if the hydraulic pump draws 80 plus amps, why didn’t the old 50 amp breaker blow all the time and for that matter, why doesn’t the 80amp breaker blow if the draw is 80 plus?
    Maybe answer 2 questions at once..... why upgrade the wiring from the new batteries to the pump? Seems to me that the old wire gauge would be fine in that the pump doesn't draw more current just because the batteries are a different kind.
    Larry KE4DMG
    2022 F-350 KRU SRW LB - Airlift 5000+, ForScan, 37 RDS Aux Tank,
    2019 310GK-R - Sailuns; MorRyde IS; Disc Brakes; 20K Reese Goosebox
    Search kalakamods for my mods


  9. #9
    Site Team traveldawg's Avatar
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    Why not just put the new converter in the front bay next to the batteries? Seems it would require less expense on wire; enough to offset the cost of running an electric outlet to that area.
    Larry KE4DMG
    2022 F-350 KRU SRW LB - Airlift 5000+, ForScan, 37 RDS Aux Tank,
    2019 310GK-R - Sailuns; MorRyde IS; Disc Brakes; 20K Reese Goosebox
    Search kalakamods for my mods


  10. #10
    Setting Up Camp
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    Quote Originally Posted by traveldawg View Post
    Why not just put the new converter in the front bay next to the batteries? Seems it would require less expense on wire; enough to offset the cost of running an electric outlet to that area.
    I got a deal on #2 wire from Amazon. It is welding wire which is flexible and easy to work with. I have been camping in 15 degree weather before, and since it is a quick job to run DC wire to the area behind the pass through storage, which is heated and since #2 wire will carry 80 amps of current 25 feet with 3% loss why not? I’m just confused on how much current the hydraulic pump really draws.

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