Birth of My Kimberley Karavan

[Tucson T4R]

LiFePO4 Battery Upgrade

For the last few months I have been working with a NC company LiFeBatt designing a custom Lithium Iron Phosphate battery pack to replace the Karavan's original AGM battery system. The rule of thumb for LiFEPO4 upgrades from AGM is you only need 50% of the amp hour capacity since the Lithium batteries keep their voltage constant for a much longer portion of the discharge curve.

But then you have folks like me that just want MORE POWER! :elkgrin:

I had them build a 40 cell 200AH LiFEPO4 battery pack that installed in the same location as the original AGM batteries. This pack is actually much lighter and narrower. I had to add spacers on each side to fill the extra space and keep the pack stable. After installing it yesterday I tested it out with the nastiest current draw I have, the infamous microwave. The microwave draws 118 amps when on full power. My old AGM battery voltage would drop from 13.2V down to 11.3V when supplying that many amps. If the batteries were not fully charged they would drop even further and set off the low voltage alarms. The new lithium pack is amazing. The same 118 amp current draw only dropped the voltage from 13.2V to 12.7V and stayed steady there for the 2 mins I ran the microwave.

So this pack has solved my high current draw challenge but more than that I should now be able to stay out for several days without running the generator to recharge. :victory: Pam and I head up to Colorado next week. This will be a good trip to test it out.

The pack has an external battery management system as well as an interface board that allows me to monitor the cell voltage levels and temperature when I want to play battery geek.

Checking the bus bar torque and applied Locktight to all the nuts.

Installing. The missing caps on some of the nuts were just left off so the fresh Locktight could dry.

Fully strapped in and ready for travel.

Left just enough room for the stove to fully close.

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Drools!!

 

[spressomon]

Brad,

Do you still use the 4R alt to charge these in route? If so do the Li batteries want similar current for charging as AGM? Curious to hear, assuming you will use the 4R alt for charging, how it all works over the long term with that many cells.

 

[Tucson T4R]

No I never set up my 4Runner to use the Anderson plug on the Karavan to charge the trailer batteries from the tow vehicle. I just use the Solar and AC charger as my two options. Your right, the charge voltages are different than the AGM. My new Morningstar solar charger is programmable so I am able to set the absorption and float voltage set points to exactly what the engineer at LiFeBatt recommended. By setting my Xantrex AC charger to flooded battery type it also puts out the correct charge voltage.

 

[Titanpat57]

Nice setup Rockstar..you never disappoint!!

 

[Tucson T4R]

Colorado Glamping

We made it back from our Colorado adventure. We did about a 2000mi loop up from Tucson through Durango and up to Lead King Basin near Marble, CO. Camped in Lead King Basin which was awesome for two nights and then hit a hotel in Ouray for a night. After that we got local directions to CR-7 off hwy62 which runs up to just below the treeline at the Blue Lake trail head. That was another beautiful spot. From there we went back to Durango and played tourist riding the Silverton to Durango narrow gauge railroad. After Durango we headed over to Mesa Verde for a couple cliff dwelling tours then back to Tucson.

The new lithium battery pack was a huge improvement over the original AGM batteries. We ran without external power and minimal solar due to partly cloudy skies for 4 days and the voltage was still sitting up at 12.8V and would run the microwave for my wife each morning with no problem. I am looking forward to getting out on a longer trip to see how long I can go now. I expect if was just me and I had good sun, I may be able to run indefinitely with this configuration and not have to deal with firing up a generator every few days for a recharge. Very nice. :victory:

Now for the fun stuff. I researched the road into Lead King Basin and got tons of good advice from several locals. They all said to go in past Crystal and turn left where the road forks to Scofield Pass. They all also agreed that I should not tow the trailer to Lead king Basin around the other direction on the loop. Well, I was tired when we got up there and wanted to get to camp before dark so I made a little boo boo and took the first left after marble which ran us right up the road everyone told us to avoid.

I have no photos to prove it so maybe it didn't happen but I think my wife will have PTSD for years to come. The road starts around 8700ft and climbs up over a 11.000ft ridge. All on loose shale and tight switchbacks, especially dropping down the other side into the basin. The 4Runner and Karavan had no problem technically, it was mostly just the emotional stress of not knowing what was around the next corner. Most of the climb I was in 4low and first gear keeping my revs up and hoping it didn't get much steeper. We even met 3 different vehicles coming the other way and had to find very interesting places for the two of us to pass each other on the narrow shelf roads. It worked out fine and looking back, I have the sense of accomplishment as well as knowing how capable the 4Runner and Karavan are together. That being said, I think I will try to avoid taking it to that level again in the future.:sombrero:


Here are some pics of the Lead King Basin where we camped and the road back out to the Crystal Mill that we should have taken on the way in. You can see there was one tight corner on the way out with a large rock on the inside that we only cleared by about 6 inches. That was really the only challenge on the way out, the rest of the road was no problem.

Lead King Basin Camp

The road back out

The tight corner

The motivation to go here to begin with...The Crystal Mill

 

[Tucson T4R]

Colorado cont....

Here was our next campsite at the end of CR-7

We are looking forward to return trip the area. Every direction you look was packed with beauty and enough unexplored back roads to keep you busy for a lifetime.

 

[spressomon]

Very, very nice Brad & Pam!

 

[Titanpat57]

Thank you!! Love it!

 

[Dendy Jarrett]

You are my new hero!
Love that. Wish we had those kinds of places here to camp!
D

 

[Ryanmb21]

Brad! Incredible photos and report! Seriously awesome, you are my hero as well!

 

[mhiscox]

Thanks, Brad. Great photos and thanks for the ongoing reports on the battery bank.

 

[Tucson T4R]

You bet Mike. When I get a better chance to really test it further I'll provide an update. So far I am blown away by the difference.

 

[jonharis]

Excellent photos. Lead King is fresh in my memory and seeing the Karavan in a familiar location is awesome.

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

This probably has to be one of my favorite trip reports EVAR!!