1996 Vectra P30 Converter Wiring?

[pnsmorrell]

Hello , I have a 1996 Winnebago Vectra P30 chassis , my house batteries died , being 7 years old its due . Well I have decided to upgrade to lithium batteries 200ah and a new converter to charge them . The instructions say to use a minimum of 8 AWG wiring . so looking at the original wiring it looks to be 16 AWG , so its to small and needs to be rewired , that's not the problem . So looking at the wiring schematics it appears the original wiring goes to the breaker panel above the microwave and the somehow makes it way a solenoid then to the batteries . So the question is, if I leave it unhooked will everything work as normal , or does it power other things on the way to the batteries , its hard to tell from the schematics. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[creativepart]

Hi, Welcome!
I must admit you lost me at "if I leave it unhooked will everything work as normal" in your initial post.

What exactly are you planning to "leave unhooked? Seems like you'd simply swap out the old Converter with the new Converter. And, maybe upgrade the wiring from the Converter to the solenoid and from there to the batteries????

 

[Morich]

You've given us the info for possibly looking at the chassis wiring but there are several different 1996 Vectra if we want to look at the coach wiring that Winnebago gives us.
Click this snip:

We can only speak in general terms if we don't know which RV you have.
But as a starter, what we normally find, without details, is there will be a feed that is used in two different ways between the batteries and the load center where the converter is often just behind it.
I tend to think of power as flowing from "A" to "B" but in this case the power flow in the other direction as well at different times. The direction and flow can lead to big deep discussions, so please just bear with me if we can avoid getting way into the weeds?

When we have no AC power and use 12Volt items, the power does flow from the batteries to the 12VDC fuses in the load center and possibly to an inverter to power some of the 110VAC as well.
But when we have the RV plugged into 110, the converter is powered and "makes" the 12VDC running to the fuses. At the same time, any excess 12VDC power goes to the batteries to charge them.
That first path I mention is actually a two way path, depending on the situation! To the batteries for charging or out of the batteries to power the RV!

But another complication with simply cutting off the solenoid is that it is where the chassis battery and alternator connect together with the coach for charging while we drive!
That makes it not work to just disconnect from the solenoid if we want to maintain the two functions of the solenoid. charge while driving and boost start for a weak chassis battery!

I can't look at the correct drawing to see but I would have some doubt about a 16 gauge wire used for charge for a battery! But I may not be following where wire and under what situation you are speaking of using that wire.
For the charge while driving, I see it more often as two "normal" size battery cables on the solenoid are used for getting the charge from chassis to coach.

More specifics of the plan may be needed.

General idea on most RV.
Click this to see better!