When 'Googling' Goes Right

11 minutes ago
3 min read

As a first time camper, it's pretty common to hit a few glitches on the maiden voyage, and one can only imagine Karen's frustration when the battery system of her newly purchased Kings Camper went flat the first trip out, and had no 240V charging capabilities to get her back up and running. Turning to research via the internet, forums and the like, Karen soon realised her camper's system could do with an upgrade and conveniently, she found us to do it.

When the Kings Camper arrived at our workshop, it featured:

Three 120Ah Kings lithium batteries with main battery connection wires only 8mm sq.
The minimum requirement for connection to a 3000w inverter is 95mm sq!
Main battery and inverter wiring running through uninsulated metal holes which risked chaffing the outer wiring sheath from vibrations, and causing a fire.
Poor fusing and wiring in general.
One Kings 40A DC (vehicle) charger / solar controller combo
One Victron BMV 701 Bluetooth battery monitor - which is a great quality item but unfortunately the connections were loose, the wiring too small and it wasn't programmed for Lithium Batteries. At least we could retain the monitor for Karen and correct the issues surrounding it.
As mentioned previously, no 240V charger.
One Kings 3000W inverter which had a 250A breaker with the main battery terminal mounted 1mm from the metal floor. THIS IS DANGEROUS. If anything comes loose it will result in a direct short, which again, can cause a fire.

With the good, the mostly bad and to be honest, the very ugly identified, we set about making good on Karen's camper so she can experience much better and far safer times camping.

Here's what we did:

✅️ Upgraded all battery wiring to suit the 3000w inverter, removed the breaker and installed the appropriate fusing. This eliminated the fire risk.

✅️ Installed plastic bezels to all holes where wiring was running through. ✅️ Installed a Victron Bluetooth Orion XS 50A DC Charger for charging from the vehicle while driving.

✅️ Installed a Victron Bluetooth 15A MPPT Solar Controller for the roof top camper 200W Solar Panel

✅️ Installed a Victron Bluetooth 20A MPPT Solar Controller for extra input from a portable solar panel and installed a 50A yellow Anderson plug solar input connection.

✅️ Installed a Victron Bluetooth Smart IP43 50A, 240V Battery Charger and made a panel to mount the charger to. This also allowed us to relocate the BMV meter display to a more convenient position.

✅️Programmed all Victron components to suit the lithium batteries and linked them all for Synchronized Charging. This means all chargers and the battery monitor talk to each other to ensure they charge harmoniously

✅️Installed a Grey 50A Anderson plug for roof top power, which has electric lift, fans and USB sockets.

✅️ Relocated the 3000W inverter from the storage compartment to the electrical cabinet where it should have been installed in the first instance, and which freed up space for storage.

✅️ Installed an additional Anderson plug fridge point for a second fridge when Karen swaps out her 95L two door fridge for two smaller fridges. At the end of every day, we're all about seeing you out on your adventures, safely, efficiently and worry free.

For a solution to a less-than-ideal setup, contact us!