Suppose you are like the growing number of RVers that want to get off the beaten path and enjoy RVing on your terms. Then this Solar Lithium battery upgrade will make your RV life better. I’m talking about upgrading your RV electrical system by adding solar panels and upgrading to lithium batteries.
With this combination, you will never be without the power to run the essentials in your RV. These include lights, a fridge (on propane), a furnace, and fans. To indeed go off-grid and have 120volts ac to run small appliances such as TV, microwave, etc., you will need to add an inverter. With a solar and lithium upgrade, you will be more than 2/3rds of the way there to being genuinely self-sufficient.
Do You Need This Solar Lithium Battery Upgrade To Make Your RV Life Better
The simple answer to this is; if the majority of your camping is done off the grid, meaning that you are not plugged into 120volt power, then yes. I believe this is an upgrade you should seriously look into as it makes your RV life better. But if you are the type of camper that goes camping at serviced campgrounds and are plugged into power, then no, this is not something that you should be looking at.
Solar, Lithium Batteries Upgrade Make Your RV Life Better only if it makes sense to do so. This upgrade can be expensive as there are many parts required to make this upgrade work and function properly.
Solar Explained
Solar power takes energy from the sun and converts it to useable energy that we can harness and use as we need. This energy can be used immediately or stored in a battery and used later. Solar panels are used to capture the sun’s energy, and they come in two main types.
Types Of Solar Panels
There are two main types of solar panels (PV photovoltaic) monocrystalline and polycrystalline. The main difference between the two technologies is the type of silicon solar cell they use: monocrystalline solar panels have solar cells made from a single crystal of silicon. In contrast, polycrystalline solar panels have solar cells made from many silicon fragments melted together.
Monocrystalline solar panels are viewed as the premium solar product. The main advantages of monocrystalline panels are higher efficiencies and sleeker aesthetics.
Polycrystalline solar panels generally have lower efficiencies than monocrystalline options, but their advantage is a lower cost.
| Monocrystalline Solar Panel | Polycrystalline Solar Panel | |
| Efficiency | efficiencies of approx 23% | efficiencies of approx 20% |
| Cost | more expensive to purchase | least expensive to purchase |
| Lifespan | + 25 years reaching 40 | + 25 years reaching 35 |
| Aesthetics | black hue | blue hue |
Solar panels come in many different sizes, as in watts per hour. What you need will depend on the power requirements of your RV. We, for instance, went with two 305 watt solar panels. Physical size is also a concern as you need the space on your roof to mount these panels.
Choosing Your RV Batteries
Choosing the batteries for your RV is not a simple decision. There are lots of options out there. These include flooded lead-acid, AGM sealed lead-acid battery (absorbent glass mat), gel cell, and lithium. If that was not enough, you also need to consider the amp hrs available. They can range anywhere from less than 100Ah to 200Ah and from 6volt to 12volt. You want a deep cycle battery to provide a steady amount of current over a long period of time.
| Flooded Lead Acid | AGM | Gel cell | Lithium (LiFePO4) | |
| cost | least expensive | second to the lithium | less than the AGM | most expensive |
| maintenance | high maintenance | no maintenance | no maintenance | no maintenance |
| rate of charge | normal rate of charge | normal rate of charge | low rate of charge | high rate of charge |
| discharge level | 60% | 50% | 80% | 90 + % |
| charging cycles | 100 cycles | 300 cycles | 500 cycles | 4000 – 6000 cycles |
| battery monitoring system | no | no | no | yes |
| Weight | 70 lbs | 60 lbs | 60 lbs | 31 lbs |
We purchased three 100ah 12vdc LITHIUM IRON PHOSPHATE CanBat batteries, our loads are not that large, and we will be installing an inverter when money permits to provide 120vac while living off the grid.
Amp Hours Explained
The amp hour rating is given to batteries to define how much current is available to do work in your RV. How many amps the battery can provide, and for how many hours before the battery is discharged. Amps times hours are defined by the length of time a battery can supply X amount of amps. A battery that can deliver ten amps for 10 hours before it is discharged would have a 100 amp hour rating. Thus 10 Amps X 10 Hours = 100 Amp Hours.
If you have the room, you can do what many RVers do and switch from the standard 12-volt batteries to two of the larger 6-volt golf cart batteries. These pairs of 6-volt batteries need to be wired in series to produce the required 12-volts. Series wiring increases voltage but not amp-hours.
The Many Ways To Supply Your Trailer With 12vdc power
Why upgrade to solar and lithium batteries? The answer is to have consistent 12vdc power when camping off the grid. With this 12vdc power, you have the bare essentials for RV living. Lighting, furnace power for your fan and controls, power for your fridge while running off propane, as well as some other items.
This 12vdc power can come from several sources, your tow vehicle, a converter that takes 120vac and converts it to 12vdc, and lastly, the sun (solar). The 12vdc power is stored using the batteries that are a part of your trailer. The sources we talk about are supplying power for immediate use plus charging the batteries with energy to be used later.
The tow vehicle is not practical even though you get 12vdc power while plugging into it. To provide a constant 12vdc from your vehicle you would need to leave the tow vehicle running not to drain your battery. Not a very cost-effective or practical way to go camping.
Using the converter that is part of your RV, you will need to be plugged into a 120vac power source, the power provided by the campground that you are staying at or by a generator. Using a generator has its own set of problems, cost of purchase, carrying fuel, maintenance, heavy and awkward to move around, and lastly, they can be noisy, which may upset other campers around you.
Solar panels combined with lithium batteries are the best choice in providing your RV with a constant supply of 12vdc. Solar gets its energy from the sun, and then its passes through a solar controller that supplies a usable 12vdc to charge your batteries plus supply 12vdc to your trailer. The plus to using lithium batteries is that they have built-in BMS (Battery Monitoring System), which takes the guesswork out of the batteries as these systems will not let you damage the battery.
Solar, Lithium Batteries Upgrade Making Our RV Life Better
We decided to upgrade our 2013 toy hauler using solar and lithium batteries to improve our RV life. We love going camping off the grid, fishing at the lake or river, or just being out in the wilderness. The best camping is away from the crowd. We plan a two-month trip with our grandkids up to Canada’s north. This trip includes visiting Northwest Territories, Yukon Territory, and Alaska, plus areas in northern British Columbia. So being able to live off the grid was going to be very important to us.
Solar Panels And Essential Parts Needed
We don’t have a lot of load in our trailer. After researching what was all involved with an electrical upgrade to Solar and Lithium Batteries plus an inverter. I thought it would be useful to talk to a company that had experience in this kind of upgrade if nothing else to get tips, do’s, and don’ts. I was lucky enough to find a company out of Red Deer Alberta CBI Solar that does this kind of RV electrical upgrades for a living. CBI Solar sells Victron components some of the most trusted in the industry.
Mark at CBI Solar was very helpful in determining what I required in my trailer upgrade from switches and breakers to the size of solar panels and how many and everything in between, even basic drawing so that everything was laid out correctly. I was able to purchase everything that I needed from him and have it shipped. Mark was even able to get my solar panels shipped piggybacked on another load going past my area, at no cost to me. Can’t say enough good about working with CBI Solar, would highly recommend reaching out to them if you are looking for experience in your Solar, Lithium battery upgrade to make your RV life better.
Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) Batteries
Our trailer batteries had given up the ghost last year so this is something that we knew that we would have to purchase. I spent a lot of time researching the pros and cons of the batteries out there on the market. I felt the best direction to go with was the Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, indeed more money but the advantages seem to outweigh the cons (basically cost).
Looking into who makes and sells Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries I found Battle Borne out of the states and CanBat out of Vancouver British Columbia. First I thought to buy Canadian if one can so I looked into CanBat, after communications through email I find that they had free shipping. As well a promotion on that you could buy now and pay over 12 months interest-free. Well, I was looking for three batteries two for my trailer to replace my old ones and then I also needed to replace my electric trolling motor battery. This battery for the trolling motor I thought could do double duty, when not being needed for the trolling motor I could install it in the trailer for an extra 100ah in the Solar system for the trailer. The plus to using this kind of battery for my trolling motor is the battery is about a third of the weight. Problems solved.
Where To Install Our Upgraded Electrical System
As mentioned we have a toy hauler and no longer a toy, we had some room just beside the door leading to the bathroom beside the cabinet I had installed earlier. This cabinet would be different as it would be homemade to fit all my new electrics for my Solar, lithium battery upgrades. The bottom would be where I mounted my three batteries and going up the cabinet would be mounted most of my electrics and to the side, I would mount my Solar controller plus the interface for the whole system. It is very important to have your batteries and Inverter as close to each other as possible because of the high currents involved.
Installing New Feed To The 12VDC Fuse Panel
My trailer batteries previous to this upgrade were mounted in the front of the trailer on a deck welded to the steel of the hitch area. Removing my batteries from this location removed close to 150 lbs of weight from the hitch area. Opening up this location for a future aluminum tote box to store misc tools and hardware associated with the trailer. Bonus all the way around. After removing the batteries from this area I needed to disconnect any cabling associated with the batteries mounted there, this was a rather easy task as the cabling just went under the trailer several feet.
Next was to run a cable from my 12vdc buss located in the new electrical cabinet to the 12vdc fuse panel. I used a two-conductor #8 copper cable, running this in a blank area under the bathroom sink, past the toilet, and onto the electrical box that has the 120vac breaker panel along with the 12vdc fuse panel. Disconnected the old 12vdc from the converter and removed the converter as I no longer required it as my solar panels and batteries would supply all the 12vdc that I required. This opened up an area under the breaker panel that might work as a good hiding spot for valuables.
Installing The Solar Panels Onto The Roof
Installing the Solar panels on the roof of the RV was a bit interesting as these are large panels 40″ X 60″ and weighing in at 72lbs each, no small task getting them on the roof. Thankfully my wife was around to assist in this endeavor. I had already mounted the mounting brackets to the panels so all I had to do now was apply some butyl tape to the feet of the mounting brackets to provide a water-tight seal. Once this was completed we set the Solar panels in place and screwed them to the roof after which we applied Dicor self-leveling calling.
Mounting The Victron Solar Charge Controller
I mounted the Victron solar panel controller inside my cabinet. The function of a charge controller or charge regulator is basically a voltage and/or current regulator to keep batteries from overcharging. It regulates the voltage and current coming from the solar panels going to the battery.
Solar and Lithium Battery Upgrade Complete For Now
Well, our solar system with new lithium batteries is up and running. Everything works properly, happy with the installation so far. Next on my list is to install a 3000-watt Inverter so that we can supply our own 120vac and truly live off the grid. This project will be added next spring so stay tuned for an update to this post.
Costs To Date For Our Solar, Lithium Batteries Upgrade Make Your RV Life Better
A list of items purchased to date at a cost of $5700 Canadian, I still wish to purchase a 3Kva Inverter to supply 120 Vac to the trailer, this will be an additional cost of $1800.
| 100ah 12vdc LITHIUM IRON PHOSPHATE 100 Ahr | 3 ea |
| Cerbo GX, GX Device, Victron | 1 ea |
| GX Touch 50, Cerbo display. Victron | 1 ea |
| Disconnect switch, Battery, Blue Sea Systems e-Series On/Off,350 Amp,48 Volt | 1 ea |
| SmartShunt 500A/50mV, Victron | 1 ea |
| Temperature sensor for BMV-702/712, Smart Shunt, Victron | 1 ea |
| 7 Point (4) 5/16″ power post, (3) screw, Junction block, Black, Bus Bar | 1 ea |
| 7 Point (4) 5/16″ power post, (3) screw, Junction block, Red, Bus Bar | 1 ea |
| Charge Controller, SmartSolar MPPT 100/50, Victron | 1 ea |
| Panel Solar, 305 Watt, Mono, Silver Frame, 60 Cell, Longi Solar. 1650 x 991 x 40 mm | 2 ea |
| Solar Mount, Z Kit, (4) brackets, bolts nuts, and screws. RV, Off-Grid | 2 sets |
| 100 Amp Circuit Breaker with Manual Reset, Waterproof 12v-48v | 1 ea |
| 50 Amp Circuit Breaker with Manual Reset, Waterproof 12v-48v | 1 ea |
| 30 Amp Circuit Breaker with Manual Reset, Waterproof 12v-48v | 1 ea |
| 10AWG 1000/2000VDC – RED PV WIRE | 12 meters |
| 10AWG 1000/2000VDC – Black PV WIRE | 12 meters |
| 4/0 – 1C DLO – 1KV 90C TC FT-4 CABLE | 4 meters |
| 4/0 GA 3/8″ Copper Lug – TINNED | 20 ea |
My thoughts on Solar, Lithium Battery Upgrade
- To date, I’m very pleased with my solar, Lithium Battery upgrade. I know that I have battery power available and how much power I have remaining. I can see exactly how much power is being consumed as well as how much charge I’m getting from my solar panels. I can’t wait to install the last piece of the inverter so that I can truly live off the grid.
The Positives
- Good, reliable 12 VDC power
- Having an interface that tells me the status of my power at a glance and that I can also see using Bluetooth on my phone
- With my new cabinet and electrical panel, I have installed lights in the cabinets nearby to make it easier to see what is in these cabinets
The Negatives
- I suppose the biggest downside to this installation has been cost
- If you are not a do-it-yourself type of person then this project might be a little overwhelming.
Recommended RV Essential
Cindy and I call ourselves nomadic. With this lifestyle, we use certain essentials to make this way of life in the RV easier, and more comfortable. With this in mind, we have composed a list of what we feel are essential. Plus some tips that you might use in planning or taking your next RV adventure.
- RV Travel Safety Essentials to make your life on the road a little safer, giving you peace of mind
- RV Living essentials to make life a little more comfortable, be this resting, working, or playing.
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