DC-DC Charger Install Question

[AJMike]

Sorry for the length of this post.

When Lithium batteries and a DC-DC Charger are installed in an RV to replace the OEM batteries, is the normal charge line from the alternator to the OEM batteries supposed to be removed?

We have traded our Fuse for a new (non Winnebago) RV for a variety of reasons, which I won't bother you with now. The new RV (actually a slightly used 2020 Sprinter based B+ on a 2019 Sprinter chassis) had wet cells and the dealer offered to transfer the 2 100AH BB batteries and the Victron DC-DC Charger in our Fuse to the RV we were buying, and it seemed like a good idea at the time; now I am not so sure because I am not sure they knew what they were doing. They did not transfer the Victron 712 Smart so I had no specific information about the state of the batteries in the new RV aside from the information on the solar controller.

In any case we went on our shakedown trip and during the night the BB batteries drained to cutoff value. When I woke up at 2 am the entire coach section was completely dark and the only things that had been running aside from the overhead was the absorption refrigerator (set on propane) and a single LED light, rated at 0.5 watts, which we keep in the toilet for obvious reasons. The solar controller said the batteries were at 80% when we went to bed so, if that is accurate, we lost something like 60% or 70% of our 200AH during the 6 hour period.

In the morning I started the chassis, which gave the coach enough power to start the generator which allowed us to raise the auto levelers and return home. That is only a 2 hour trip and when we arrived back home I noticed that the solar controller now said that the batteries were at 100% and that seemed a bit odd to me. In 2 hours the DC-DC Charger, rated at 30 amps, and the solar should have added perhaps 90 amps so the batteries should have been at perhaps 65%, not 100%, and if the 100% figure is accurate the only thing I can think is that the dealer might not have removed the normal charge line from the alternator to the batteries when they installed the DC-DC Charger. Hence the question.

There are some unknowns here. First, without a BM I can not actually know how much current was pushed to the batteries so I am relying on the SOC from the solar controller (which is a cheap Chinese model) and it must be relying on the battery voltage since I never told it how large the battery capacity was. I will have a Victron SmartShunt installed next week but am trying to figure this out now.

There is also one known thing. The RV dealer service department is not really familiar with Lithium batteries and their requirements. When they first installed the batteries and the DC-DC Charger I checked the voltage input to the charger on my smartphone during the walkthrough and found it was jumping all over the place - 11 volts, then 19 volts, then 15 volts, then 12 and so on. Every second it was a different value - and the service people came out, tore out the existing connection to the charger and completely rewired it. After that it was the proper 14.4 volts and steady, so the initial install was done improperly. Given that I am suspicious of the entire install and so thought I would post this question.

Again, I apologize for the length of this post. I could have just left the original question but wanted to give some context.

[DavidM]

Congratulations on your new coach. I would like to hear sometime about your reasons for doing this. I suspect the absorption fridge was a big reason.

It does sound like the DC to DC charger was installed in parallel with whatever battery isolator you may have and as a result wasn't doing any good. Also the SOC you read on the solar controller is solely based on battery voltage which is a very approximate indication, so I wouldn't believe its 100% reading when you got home nor the 80% reading when you went to bed.

There are a couple of ways to diagnose this. Installing the Victron shunt BM is a good first step. Then you might try disconnecting the DC to DC charger and see if you still get charging current from the alternator to the house batteries. I suspect you will.

And do you really need the DC to DC charger. It is to protect the chassis alternator from overloading while charging Li batteries. But others have reported that the Sprinter alternator only supplies about 40 amps of charging into a pair of 100 Ah Lis. That much extra load should not harm your chassis alternator.

I am not a big fan of DC to DC chargers. If installed like yours may have been- in parallel with the battery isolator, then they are worthless. If installed in place of the battery isolator then the circuit becomes one way and the coach batteries will not charge the house batteries nor will the aux start switch work.

What kind of battery isolator does your coach have? Most older coaches have the Intellitec BIRD/Trombetta system. Newer ones have the Precision Circuits BIM 160 which can be upgraded to the Li BIM 225 which offers some overcurrent protection and should be an easy swap out. That is what I would do.

Good luck on figuring out your new coach and enjoy it!

David

[BobC]

Originally Posted by AJMike

When Lithium batteries and a DC-DC Charger are installed in an RV to replace the OEM batteries, is the normal charge line from the alternator to the OEM batteries supposed to be removed?

If the OEM batteries are gone and the "normal charge line" is no longer connected to anything at the battery end, it doesn't have to be removed, just disconnected at both ends and insulated to avoid shorting out. If removal isn't too difficult I'd remove it. What you don't want is to have it connected to the LiFePO4 batteries in addition to the DC-to-DC charger. This was possibly the cause of the fluctuating voltage before the dealer re-wired everything.

On the other hand, if the dealer used this line to feed the DC-to-DC charger, you don't want to remove it. Before doing anything, I suggest checking out the wiring of the DC-to-DC charger against that in the charger's user manual. You didn't mention the model # of your charger but here's a link to the manual for the Victron Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-30A charger:

https://www.solar-electric.com/lib/w...r-Isolated.pdf

In terms of your charge level, you're correct about your solar controller's only reading battery voltage to determine the state of charge. Once you have the Victron SmartShunt installed and set-up, you'll have a clearer idea of what's going on with your battery charging.

You should consider replacing your cheap solar controller with a suitable Victron model. Then you'll be wall-to-wall Victron and will know that your system components are compatible and working together.

[AJMike]

Originally Posted by DavidM

Congratulations on your new coach. I would like to hear sometime about your reasons for doing this. I suspect the absorption fridge was a big reason.

There were several, and none by itself seems very important, but together they added up. Add to that the fact that my wife fell in love with the floor plan of the RV we bought. And that may be the biggest reason ...

1) The Fuse is the bedroom slide so the slide has to be out when camping or there is no decent place to sleep. We live in Arizona and boondock most of the time and we have constantly run into very high winds when camping. Anything over 15 mph winds causes the slide topper to begin vibrating badly and because I worry about it damaging itself we end up retracting the slide. Once that is done there is no place to get a decent night's sleep.

This was only a minor issue for some time, but lately it seems we keep running into fairly high winds and it is either find some shelter space (which is not where DW wants to camp) or try to sleep without the slide.

2) Winnebago advertised the Fuse as having a "walk around bed", but I assume that was some marketing guy's joke as it should be advertised as a shuffle around bed. As we have gotten older we both find that we are making an increasing number of bathroom trips at night and it was just getting really old trying to get around the bed.

3) My wife has always felt that the Fuse was too big. She actually wanted a B, not a C, but we could not find a B with outside storage, so we bought the Fuse. Even so, she always felt it was too large for what she wanted. I, of course, thought that we should be looking at something around 28-30 feet and she thought that something around 20 feet was about right.

4) Although I was mostly happy with the Ford Transit 350 HD, and very happy with the diesel economy and power, we had issues with the info center. The existing interface could not talk to our Android phones as the Sync 3 system was just too old to be able to properly shake hands with the newer Android phones. In fact we could not even use our old Samsung S7 since the Sync 3 system just would not acknowledge it, so we ended up having to use my iPhone for Navigation. That made it increasingly difficult to use the phone for anything else while traveling.

5) The cab setup in the Transit does not provide for much room between the seats and my wife, who is constantly getting up and moving around while we are traveling, always had a hard time getting out of the cab area and back into it. The Sprinter has much more room and was just one more factor in why she preferred that setup.

We were, in fact, waiting for the Ekko to come in, but finally gave up on its appearing in any reasonable time period. We had been assured by our local WBO dealer that they would be in by the beginning of April, then the middle of April, then the beginning of May, and then the middle of May. When even the demo never arrived we just gave up, but my wife would probably not have liked it because the twin bed bedroom has 2 steps and she has some difficulty getting up and down them, especially at night, at our age so she told me after looking at photos that she did not think it was something she could live with.

Interestingly enough the compressor refrigerator was not one of the issues. I loved it, as did DW, since it was large and able to keep cool even in the Arizona heat. The only refrigerator issue was it being a power hog and with 400 watts of solar and 2 100AH Lithium batteries we were good to go.

Originally Posted by DavidM

It does sound like the DC to DC charger was installed in parallel with whatever battery isolator you may have and as a result wasn't doing any good. Also the SOC you read on the solar controller is solely based on battery voltage which is a very approximate indication, so I wouldn't believe its 100% reading when you got home nor the 80% reading when you went to bed.

There are a couple of ways to diagnose this. Installing the Victron shunt BM is a good first step. Then you might try disconnecting the DC to DC charger and see if you still get charging current from the alternator to the house batteries. I suspect you will.

Normally I would have been prepared and had the BM installed at the same time as the batteries, just so I would know what was going on, but the battery install came as a surprise. We had gone to see what the dealer wanted for the RV (which is a Regency Ultra Brougham, island bed model) and we could not come to an agreement about price and left. We were not far apart, but I had a top figure that I did not want to exceed and we were not at it. I planned to leave the whole solar setup, batteries, solar panels, DC-DC Charger and BM, in the Fuse for the next user so I never really thought about taking them with us. I mean, do people really do that?

The next morning the sales guy called (of course) and asked me if I could come up in price, and I told him I gave him my top price and they turned me down. He then offered to move the BB batteries and DC-DC Charger to the new RV and that cost difference was pretty much the price difference, so I agreed. Given that I was not expecting to move the batteries I had not thought about having a new BM installed, and so ended up without one, but I will remedy that next week.

Without the BM I realize that everything I am assuming may be wrong and that I need to know the charging current and SOC to be sure. In addition I assume the BM would help me diagnose where the power loss is showing up. I can watch it and start switching items out of circuit to see if anything drops the drain to near 0. If that does not work I assume it must be something in the basic wiring. I spoke with the previous owner and he mentioned nothing about any battery issues so I assume this is new and perhaps related to the work the dealer did in moving the batteries and charger.

It seems odd to me. The RV came from the factory with 400 watts of solar and that cheap PWM solar controller, but apparently no one thought about Lithium because the converter is not Lithium compatible. It is something from WFCO (I think that is right) and has no dongle or device that will allow it to be Lithium compatible so that will have to be upgraded, but I am not confident that the dealer has any idea how to do that. The solar controller has a Lithium setting so that seems OK for the short run.

Originally Posted by DavidM

And do you really need the DC to DC charger. It is to protect the chassis alternator from overloading while charging Li batteries. But others have reported that the Sprinter alternator only supplies about 40 amps of charging into a pair of 100 Ah Lis. That much extra load should not harm your chassis alternator.

I am not a big fan of DC to DC chargers. If installed like yours may have been- in parallel with the battery isolator, then they are worthless. If installed in place of the battery isolator then the circuit becomes one way and the coach batteries will not charge the house batteries nor will the aux start switch work.

What kind of battery isolator does your coach have? Most older coaches have the Intellitec BIRD/Trombetta system. Newer ones have the Precision Circuits BIM 160 which can be upgraded to the Li BIM 225 which offers some overcurrent protection and should be an easy swap out. That is what I would do.

One thought I had was to disconnect the DC-DC Charger and see if the batteries still charge when the RV is driven, but of course that has to wait for the SmartShunt to be installed so I have some idea what is going on. The big question for me is whether or not the Sprinter 3500 alternator is really OK with the Lithium batteries. If so I not only don't need the DC-DC Charger but it then becomes just one more point of failure. It would be good to get more information about that, but I don't really know where to do that, and I would prefer not to have to replace the alternator ...

[AJMike]

Originally Posted by BobC

If the OEM batteries are gone and the "normal charge line" is no longer connected to anything at the battery end, it doesn't have to be removed, just disconnected at both ends and insulated to avoid shorting out. If removal isn't too difficult I'd remove it. What you don't want is to have it connected to the LiFePO4 batteries in addition to the DC-to-DC charger. This was possibly the cause of the fluctuating voltage before the dealer re-wired everything.

On the other hand, if the dealer used this line to feed the DC-to-DC charger, you don't want to remove it. Before doing anything, I suggest checking out the wiring of the DC-to-DC charger against that in the charger's user manual. You didn't mention the model # of your charger but here's a link to the manual for the Victron Orion-Tr Smart 12/12-30A charger:

The charger is the Victron Orion Tr Smart 12/12/30 isolated and the manual specifically says that the input must be connected to the starter battery, not the alternator, so I assume if they just moved the regular charging line to the charger they were wiring it incorrectly. When I tested the charger during the walkthrough (which I insisted had to be before the session with Finance) and saw the fluctuating voltage the service guy doing the walkthrough called the tech who did the wiring and asked how he connected it. He said he connected it from the alternator and when I said that the manual specifically said to not do that he said something like "Well, not from the alternator directly, but from the starting battery", but that did not give me any real reassurance.

In fact the service folks seem never to have even seen one of these, and they clearly did not really read the manual because at the start of the walkthrough I could not even talk to the charger. It just never showed up on the Victron smartphone app. When I had them open the electrics area up I could see that the charger was not on and asked them if they had removed the charger "wire bridge" connection before hooking it up. They looked at me blankly and I asked them to disconnect it. I then removed the connector and, sure enough, when they reconnected it it came to life and I replaced the connector. It was then that I noticed the fluctuating voltage and they began the rewiring.

I also noticed that they had installed the charger with the heat sink horizontal and facing down instead of vertical and I have no idea how they thought that the heat from the heat sink would except, but just decided I would move it later. This was the third walkthrough (there was something seriously wrong at each of the previous 2 walkthroughs) and I was just getting tired of having to make the trip from home to the dealer, go through the walkthrough, tell them to fix such-and-such and call me when it was done so we could do it all over again.

The service guy who was doing the walkthrough seemed knowledgeable enough about the RV and very embarrassed by the repeated issues, but just not familiar with the Victron stuff or the concept of the DC-DC Charger, so perhaps they just don't do much with Lithium batteries with these RVs.

Originally Posted by BobC

You should consider replacing your cheap solar controller with a suitable Victron model. Then you'll be wall-to-wall Victron and will know that your system components are compatible and working together.

Perhaps that is the best thing, but there are some side issues as well.

First, the existing PWM solar controller sits in a special area that houses most of the electronic controls for the RV and my first thought was that any new solar controller should fit into that space. It is not large - something like 7 x 5 x 2 inches - and none of the MPPT controllers that I looked at would fit.

In addition, since the refrigerator is an absorption model, there is not a lot of power usage, at least compared to our earlier Fuse with its compressor fridge. Given that the RV has 400 watts of solar and little to use power I thought that a PWM controller, which would fit nicely into the space, would be suitable as I would not need the extra power generation from an MPPT controller to replace the little power being used. Clearly I was not expecting the batteries to go dead in the middle of the night.

[DavidM]

Originally Posted by AJMike

One thought I had was to disconnect the DC-DC Charger and see if the batteries still charge when the RV is driven, but of course that has to wait for the SmartShunt to be installed so I have some idea what is going on. The big question for me is whether or not the Sprinter 3500 alternator is really OK with the Lithium batteries. If so I not only don't need the DC-DC Charger but it then becomes just one more point of failure. It would be good to get more information about that, but I don't really know where to do that, and I would prefer not to have to replace the alternator ...

I researched the Sprinter's alternator capability pretty thoroughly before finally deciding on the new V8 gasoline engine in the new Axis 24.1. I never read any Mercedes specs directly, but several people on iRV2 said that Mercedes recommends keeping the additional external load on their 200+ amp alternator down to 40 amps. One said his 60A DC2DC charger works fine on the Sprinter.

So I am pretty confident that 40A is ok and also have one indication that the Sprinter alternator charging 200 Ahs of Lithium batteries only pulls 40 amps. Of course that may be limited by wire size and voltage drop.

Here is what I would do. Remove the DC2DC charger and go back to whatever battery isolator was originally on the coach. Then run your 200 Ah BB batteries down and start the engine. Measure the current. If 40A or less, leave it alone. If more, then use an IR gun on the alternator case and watch its temps. Any more than 200 deg F would worry me.

David

[AJMike]

Originally Posted by DavidM

I researched the Sprinter's alternator capability pretty thoroughly before finally deciding on the new V8 gasoline engine in the new Axis 24.1. I never read any Mercedes specs directly, but several people on iRV2 said that Mercedes recommends keeping the additional external load on their 200+ amp alternator down to 40 amps. One said his 60A DC2DC charger works fine on the Sprinter.

So I am pretty confident that 40A is ok and also have one indication that the Sprinter alternator charging 200 Ahs of Lithium batteries only pulls 40 amps. Of course that may be limited by wire size and voltage drop.

Here is what I would do. Remove the DC2DC charger and go back to whatever battery isolator was originally on the coach. Then run your 200 Ah BB batteries down and start the engine. Measure the current. If 40A or less, leave it alone. If more, then use an IR gun on the alternator case and watch its temps. Any more than 200 deg F would worry me.

David

I assume this sort of test would work even if the batteries were not close to being completely discharged. If I could get them down to perhaps 80-85% and then drive somewhere it should give me enough information about the charge rate to know.

Once I have the BM installed I can probably use something as simple as a toaster or electric tea kettle to drop the SOC down 15% or so. With the DC-DC charger disconnected I should then be able to see what the charging current is. I can then hook the charger back up and see what it is then and see if there is any difference.

But everything depends upon the BM and without that I have no idea. And as it is now I don't even know if both the alternator and the charger are connected or if only the charger is. I suspect both, but have no real idea and won't until I can measure the actual charging current.

The temperature test sounds like a good idea, but I don't have an IR gun and although I could buy one (they are inexpensive enough) I could only use it when the vehicle was not moving, and I am not sure how useful that would be. I suppose that the theory is that the alternator would be cooler when running because of the air flow, but I am not sure that is true. When idling the hood is up allowing heat to escape while when driving the hood is down trapping the heat. Yes, there is air flow, but I am not sure that provides the same cooling as having the hood up. I just don't know.

Interesting how a simple item like the BM, which I did not even know existed before I switched to Lithium batteries, is central to all of this information.

[DavidM]

If you are going to mess around with solar panels, lithium batteries, alternator charging, etc buy yourself a few instruments for about $100. An IR gun is about $20. I use mine all of the time. One thing I use it for is to check when the absorption fridge has cooled enough to put food into it.

Another is a DC clamp on ammeter. With one of these you can check current in any wire. This one from Amazon looks good and is $70 by Extech: https://www.amazon.com/Extech-MA120-...310115&sr=8-55

Others are cheaper but I have never heard of them. Extech and Klein are two well known brands.

I came up with that 200 deg F alternator case temp limitation from my boating experience where there is little air flow through the engine room whose ambient temp is often 100+ F. Balmar high output alternators which are used to replace the OEM ones on marine engines, come with a smart three stage regulator and a temperature probe. When the alternator case temp gets to be 180+ it starts cutting back alternator current which is often close to 100A, near their maximum rated output. It then settles down to about 50A with a case temp of about 200F which seems to work ok long term.

David

[BobC]

Since AJMike already has the DC-to-DC charger, why go back to the alternator? Just make sure the charger is installed properly and use it.

[DavidM]

Originally Posted by BobC

Since AJMike already has the DC-to-DC charger, why go back to the alternator? Just make sure the charger is installed properly and use it.

Because the DC to DC charger only works one way- you will no longer be able to charge the chassis batteries from the coach DC system, nor will the aux start switch work. That is why I don't like DC to DC chargers on a MH.

David

[Wyatt]

Victron sells a shunt that has built in Bluetooth, that you just connect to your coach batteries and employs an app to read SOC. Easiest way to do that.
Also, WFCO does have a driop in Lithium charger available that replaces that one component in their system, so putting in a whole new unit is not necessary—check their website.

[AJMike]

Originally Posted by Wyatt

Victron sells a shunt that has built in Bluetooth, that you just connect to your coach batteries and employs an app to read SOC. Easiest way to do that.

Yes. I have already bought it and plan to have it installed next week. I would try to do this myself but I think that the wiring is already screwed up by the work that the dealer did and I want to be sure it is done properly and professionally.

I have a Mobile Tech who I have already worked with coming out next Wednesday and I will see how much trouble it is getting the batteries out and checking the wiring. My hope is that he will be able to sort out the wiring while he is there. The dealer offered to take care of the issue free as it is either warranty work or repair of their existing modification, but I am a bit leery of the work they have already done.

I am a bit concerned about the BT distance in the SmartShunt since most of the reviews say it is limited to about 6 feet and depending upon where it ends up it may be too far away to see when driving.

Originally Posted by Wyatt

Also, WFCO does have a driop in Lithium charger available that replaces that one component in their system, so putting in a whole new unit is not necessary—check their website.

I have already done that. What I need to do now is go to the RV and check to see exactly what model is installed now so I can figure out what the proper replacement would be.

I am not sure what "drop in" means in this case. Normally I would assume it means that the removal and replacement of the unit is dead simple, but the dealer wants an hour labor to do the job. I assumed I would contact WFCO on Tuesday to ask about how to do the replacement and if it was "dead simple" I would just order it and try to do the work myself. I am beginning to see the wisdom in the suggestion that an owner might want to learn how to do this stuff himself or herself.

[DavidM]

I replaced a WFCO converter with a Progressive Dynamics one in my Thor Axis. The wiring was dead simple: connect a red and a white wire to the DC side and black, green and white wires to the AC side. Since it is WFCO for WFCO I suspect the mechanical installation will just be to undo a few screws, pull out the old and put in the new and screw down. The PD converter was more difficult on mine because the screw holes weren't the same so it took a little bit of kludging to make it work.

David

[BobC]

Originally Posted by AJMike

I am a bit concerned about the BT distance in the SmartShunt since most of the reviews say it is limited to about 6 feet and depending upon where it ends up it may be too far away to see when driving

Here's a thread that may help with solving the range issue:

https://community.victronenergy.com/...bluetooth.html

It's only money!

[Wyatt]

Originally Posted by AJMike

Yes. I have already bought it and plan to have it installed next week. I would try to do this myself but I think that the wiring is already screwed up by the work that the dealer did and I want to be sure it is done properly and professionally.

I have a Mobile Tech who I have already worked with coming out next Wednesday and I will see how much trouble it is getting the batteries out and checking the wiring. My hope is that he will be able to sort out the wiring while he is there. The dealer offered to take care of the issue free as it is either warranty work or repair of their existing modification, but I am a bit leery of the work they have already done.

I am a bit concerned about the BT distance in the SmartShunt since most of the reviews say it is limited to about 6 feet and depending upon where it ends up it may be too far away to see when driving.



I have already done that. What I need to do now is go to the RV and check to see exactly what model is installed now so I can figure out what the proper replacement would be.

I am not sure what "drop in" means in this case. Normally I would assume it means that the removal and replacement of the unit is dead simple, but the dealer wants an hour labor to do the job. I assumed I would contact WFCO on Tuesday to ask about how to do the replacement and if it was "dead simple" I would just order it and try to do the work myself. I am beginning to see the wisdom in the suggestion that an owner might want to learn how to do this stuff himself or herself.

I’ve installed the Victron shunt on another friend’s RV, and it definitely doesn’t have the same range as the one I have with the display. But it’s good for 12’ for sure.

The charger swap out was literally a 15 minute job, once you gather the right tools. They have a video to watch, it’s really simple plug n play swap out. I think they only make one lithium charger upgrade, so that should make your decision easy, if it’s right for your current model. Best of luck!

[AJMike]

Originally Posted by Wyatt

Also, WFCO does have a driop in Lithium charger available that replaces that one component in their system, so putting in a whole new unit is not necessary—check their website.

I went back to the RV to find out exactly what WFCO unit is in it and found that it is a WF-9960. What is interesting is that that unit does not appear on the WFCO website at all. I can find the 9800 series but not the 9900 series. It is a valid model number because a Google search brings up the manual on the WFCO website, but I could not find this particular unit anywhere in the WFCO website dropdown links.

It is not Lithium compatible so the charging profile is wrong for the BB batteries, and that means that I am not certain exactly what replacement unit is needed for Lithium compatibility. The local dealer gave me an estimate for replacing it and they priced a WFCO 8950L2 MBA as the replacement unit, and perhaps that is correct but I will check with WFCO on Tuesday when they open again.

WFCO says the replacement is a simple drop in 5 wire replacement, but that is for the 8900 series, not the 9900 series so I will see what WFCO tells me about replacing the 9900 series. Perhaps there is also a drop in replacement for it. In any case the dealer wants about $360 for the unit while Camping World sells it for about $220. I can not find it on Amazon at all.

[AJMike]

WFCO tells me that the 9960 is not on their website because it was discontinued about 2 years ago. Of course.

There are no drop-in replacements, but they did give me two options for upgrading - the complete power center or a deck mount converter - and I will see what I can find out about prices and work. They did offer to help me do the work myself if I feel up to the job in my skill set.

[tjwoody]

Originally Posted by AJMike

WFCO tells me that the 9960 is not on their website because it was discontinued about 2 years ago. Of course.

There are no drop-in replacements, but they did give me two options for upgrading - the complete power center or a deck mount converter - and I will see what I can find out about prices and work. They did offer to help me do the work myself if I feel up to the job in my skill set.

I would also talk to Battle Born. It seems I heard/saw something that said their batteries, due to the BMS they use, can charge off of a standard rv converter charger.