Upgrade to LIPO4 in 2001 Journey DL

[Azpilot]

First post here, I purchased a 2001 Journey DL and am wanting to upgrade the batteries to Lithium Ion Phosphate.

My inverter/charger is the heart interface freedom 15 inverter/charger. From what i understand, this wont fully charge the LiPo4 batteries and i should change the inverter/charger, and also dc to dc? I don't really understand that but read i could damage my alternator if i don't change something.

I am looking for others advise on what you did when switching to lithium.



My plan in the near future is to boon-dock more often. I plan on purchasing a Ecoflow delta max and some extra batteries for it along with their portable solar panels, or possibly wire some panels on the roof. So I would be plugging into the Ecoflow (30a) most of the time while boon-docking.



Any advise, or direction would be appreciated.

[creativepart]

It's a great project... but it will require you to do quite a bit of research into all the important parts.

Yes, you should replace the inverter. Inverters have come a very long way since 2001.

It's time to make a lot of decisions, and those should be based on your particular RV and your boondocking plans. You need to decide first on what you want to be able to run off of your batteries and how much power you will need. That will help you decide how many LFP (LiFePO4 = Lithium Iron Phosphate) batteries you'll need.

This will lead you to figuring out what size inverter/charger you want to buy to replace your current inverter. I assume the current inverter in your rig is a 1,500w device, but you might want to replace it with 2,000w or even 3,000w.

The DC2DC charger is one common solution to the alternator charging of those new LFP batteries. But that's further down the road. You've got a lot of decisions to make before that.

Adding solar to the roof is another common solution to recharge your new LFP batteries without running a generator. But how much you need is again part of your current research project into how many batteries and what you want to run and how big your inverter turns out to be.

The internet has TONS of advice and information on all of this. I like to use YouTube for this kind of learning project.

Lastly, the Ecoflow is really just a mirror image of what you plan to install in your RV - LFP batteries, 3000w inverter, etc. It's great - but just like your RVs new batteries it only goes so far. For instance, you'll not run your air conditioning off of either your RV's new LFP batteries... nor the Ecoflow. At least you wouldn't be able to do so for more than an hour or so a day and then you'd have totally dead batteries and Ecoflow and need to run a generator to recharge everything.

There is no short cut for doing all the research that lies ahead. Start reading and watching everything and slowly pick up all the details and your work will just be beginning.

Good luck!

[creativepart]

This video gives you a beginning idea of the process. The info is good, but there's a lot of sales pitch in there too. I'd ignore the sales pitch. You're just getting started on learning:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4DaAxzGclA

[jimrussell90]

Originally Posted by Azpilot

First post here, I purchased a 2001 Journey DL and am wanting to upgrade the batteries to Lithium Ion Phosphate.

My inverter/charger is the heart interface freedom 15 inverter/charger. From what i understand, this wont fully charge the LiPo4 batteries and i should change the inverter/charger, and also dc to dc? I don't really understand that but read i could damage my alternator if i don't change something.

I am looking for others advise on what you did when switching to lithium.



My plan in the near future is to boon-dock more often. I plan on purchasing a Ecoflow delta max and some extra batteries for it along with their portable solar panels, or possibly wire some panels on the roof. So I would be plugging into the Ecoflow (30a) most of the time while boon-docking.



Any advise, or direction would be appreciated.

I upgraded my Winnebago Outlook to Lithium Iron Phosate batteries a couple of years ago. I looked up a company called Battleborn Batteries on the internet. I bought their batteries and they walked me through buying a DC to DC Converter so I could use my existing alternator without damaging it. They also told me what to buy and how to change my converter/charger/fuse panel so that it would charge the batteries properly. I suspect that other battery makers might have a technical department that would walk you through it also. By the way, I have been really happy with the Battleborn brand batteries. Best of luck with your project.