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Topic: U300 Grand Villa Starter Battery Pictures? (Read 1877 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: U300 Grand Villa Starter Battery Pictures?

Reply #20 –
Quote from: kb0zke –
Our 1993 40' U300 has three start batteries just forward of the rear bumper. They are wired in parallel by two cables, and then the entine cables attach to those. The house batteries are on the driver's side. They are two 8D batteries, one above the other, and also wired in parallel.

My setup is the same as David and Pierce's.  I use three Optima Blue tops (AGM) BLUETOP® Batteries - Best Marine & RV Battery | OPTIMA Batteries for the starter and two Interstate HD-XHD's (wet cell)  Interstate Batteries | 8D-XHD for the House.

Jerry

Re: U300 Grand Villa Starter Battery Pictures?

Reply #21 –
Odometer: rolling today and tomorrow. Will be setting down tomorrow at Lake Havasu AZ. Elks for 10 days, Will take a look and let you know.

Re: U300 Grand Villa Starter Battery Pictures?

Reply #22 –
Thanks everyone!

I ended up with the following config - 3 x Optima red top group 34 in parallel, and 3 x O'Reilly 8D AGMs (two in trays behind driver side rear wheel, and one as seen in engine bay).

In seeing everyone's pics, I think my setup is not common with the battery frame in the engine compartment.

The three starter battery "trays" in the frame were definitely sized for red tops initially. Not quite large enough for any other type of Group 34. We are full time on the road now, so modifying the battery tray/frame wasn't something I wanted to tackle.

I'm certain this was the configuration from the original build. I used new military style terminals and pre-fabricated 4/0 battery cables from amazon for my parallel connections on the new starter batteries. I still have a little wire management to do tomorrow.

O'Reillys gave me $25 off each red top and $50 each 8D.
 

Re: U300 Grand Villa Starter Battery Pictures?

Reply #23 –
I may do a follow up post with settings for the Heart Interface charger and the Victron battery monitor once I get things dialed in.

I initially wanted to go lithium, but couldn't justify the expense. My battery bays are not enclosed at all, so there would have been a significant project to enclose or relocate the battery bank (you can't charge lithium's below 40 deg F unless you can heat the cells first), replace the inverter/charger with one to do the right charging profile, and then the batteries themselves. I estimated 400ah of lithium would have cost at least $6500 once you figure for the other expenses. Plus 20+ hrs on the project.

With the new AGM setup, I have 750ah, with 50% usable for a net of 375ah. Total spend was 3 hours and $2k (including new starter batteries). Folks at O'Reilly's helped me lift the one 8D over the bumper and into the engine bay. That was MUCH appreciated! I'd still like to upgrade the inverter/charger but I don't HAVE to right now. The charge profile settings are within the specs from Deka.