Imagine XLS 22MLE solar question

[Soundsailor]

I can tell you from first hand experience over the last 4 days. I have a 2024 22 mle. It has the Standard 12 volt battery that comes with the rig. We were off shore power or boondocking for roughly four nights. I can tell you that I expected ahead of time that this battery would not last. In fact I found myself running the refrigerator on off grid mode to try to save on the draw. I also brought along my when 1800 generator just in case cuz I figured something would be needed. And I also had a portable solar panel on hand. The challenge for me was I wanted to see that battery percentage back up to 100%. It never got back to that level. I ran the solar panel when I could during the daytime and I ran the generator because I just wasn't seeing good results from the solar panels charging it. On the last night I actually drain the battery down to nothing. I knew this because the CO2 detector started beeping. CO2 detector beeping usually indicates that there's no power to the detector itself. I've had this happen in the past with other campers so I knew that the battery was toast. Fortunately I had the little generator in eco mode during the night and was able to quiet the CO2 detector and put power back to the fridge. Bottom line is we are right on The Fringe of having our refrigerator lose the ability to keep food at the right temperatures to keep from going bad. No we didn't lose any food but I couldn't rest because I was constantly keeping an eye on the battery. I'm in the process of considering making some changes as well. I'm open to suggestions to going to the Dual 6 volt batteries or potentially looking at lithium battery as has been mentioned in other post. I hope this is helpful information.

Yep, a standard 12-volt LA battery won't have enough power to run a 12-volt frig for very long. Lithium batteries are what you need to support your frig.

 

[Soundsailor]

With my basic experience on forums typically there might be a vendor section that we can reference when it comes to looking for items for our rigs like the life po4 battery wondering if that is true on this forum? If not I'd be open to suggestions for who's giving the best deals on Life PO4 Batteries these days.

We don't have many vendors on the forum. However, some of our members are very knowledgeable, so let us know what your questions are. I also highly recommend Will Prowse's videos on YouTube.

 

[gchalifoux]

One thing I would recommend you do while taking delivery of your new camper just have a conversation with your dealer regarding the fact that when boondocking that 12 volt refrigerator is going to draw down any standard 12-volt battery eight of the AGM are sealed type. I would try to work on a deal for them to supply you with a lithium battery the life po4 type battery.

 

[BoredWeasel]

8 agm'S? WOW, so your gonna burn up 500 pounds of your 1500 pound payload capacity for just batterys? Sounds like a bad decision, but to each their own.

 

[Soundsailor]

8 agm'S? WOW, so your gonna burn up 500 pounds of your 1500 pound payload capacity for just batterys? Sounds like a bad decision, but to each their own.

Not sure who you're referring to, but my 4 batteries supplying 800 Ah of capacity weigh together about 180 pounds.