If you want to stay self-sufficient it is crucial to ensure good battery power to supply all necessary electrical units in the camper with proper voltage and energy. Our camper was equipped with 3x120Ah of AGM power units (about 90 Kg), which is a well calculated dimension for our style of traveling. But if you face a period of no sunshine (rain, snow, clouds) over days and no movement (no driving and charging from the engine), even no external power line, you are lucky if you have modern battery technology with good capacity on board. So we decided to update our battery.
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| New battery pack in place, but first .... |
To avoid damage while dismantling the old battery blocks, the shut down of all electrical systems of the camper is necessary.
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| Electricity panel and instalment under the floor ... |
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| Lets disconnect all supply and switch off all fuses before changing the battery! |
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| Now we open the battery compartment hidden behind the cargo space. |
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| This is the place where the three AGM battery packs are hidden ... |
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| The new LIFEPO battery pack, lets hope it fits! |
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| Looking good, only 30 Kg instead of the existing 90Kg! |
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| Inside the camper, opening the compartment underneath the kitchen to access the power lines. |
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| There they are ... |
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| Power lines disconnected, one pack removed ... |
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| Removing all three from outside, in total 90 Kg! |
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| They are out, two are indicating "end of life circle ..." |
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| Fighting the elements! |
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| Plenty of space .. |
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| Moving in the new one ... |
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| Perfect fit! |
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| Connected and tied down with the new strap. |
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| Power online again after 5 hours of work. |
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| After a first test everything seems to be perfect! |
We will see the next days if the change is a real improvement as it should be!
3 Month later: after about 30 days on the road the charging unit (VOTRONIC VCC1212-45 IUoU) stopped working. We changed it to a version for LIFEPO batteries and now everything is working perfectly again.
