IH45 goes Lithium

May 09, 2024, 02:45:06 pm

I am doing this post to help others that the GEL batteries die in there coach and are thinking about upgrading to Lithium. I have been doing a lot of reading and looking at what others have done.

The IH45 has 6-8D GEL batteries for the house. My batteries were 11 years old, still doing OK, until my coach sat at Cummings Houston for about 3 weeks and they never plugged the coach in and ran the batteries all the way down. I figured the coach was only going to be there for 2 or 3 days but it ended up being around 3 weeks. Getting coach back and charging the batteries up I ended up having 2 batteries with shorted cells and the other 4 checked out around 80% I started to look around what my options were. To buy new GEL batteries was going to be around $833.00 each. to replace.

After much searching I decided to go with 3 - 12V 460Ah | Heated & Bluetooth | LiFePO4 Battery - Epoch Essentials. With this it will give me more capacity then what I had. The batteries came with about 38% charge and it is recommended that you charge them all up to full before you tie them together. My son has a 24 amp Lithium charger so I used that to top off each battery. I was going to take the existing cables, cut off the battery post end and install a lug but got lazy and ordered the battery posts that go on Lithium batteries so it was a simple disconnect, remove old, install new, reconnect. Before I started I disconnected the coach from shore power, turned the RV-C switch off in the water / power bay, Shut the VSS battery switch in inverter compartment, and turned the battery switch off in the second passenger bay. From what I could tell that killed power to everything except the inverters. I make sure I disconnected the positives first since they say the old way of ground first, might leave a stray ground somewhere and cause problems. The swap out when well, new batteries are lighter 89 lbs vs 145 lbs, but they both were tough for an old man line me to pick up and move. I went and connected all of the ground first and when connecting my first hot I got a large spark that scared me. I then made the first connection fast. After that they all connected with no problems.

The batteries I got say to Bulk and absorption to be at 14.2 V The 2 Outback VFX2812 chargers were sent up at 14.4 volts and Epoch recommends that it be at 14.2 v. The chargers were sent at 13.6 v for float and is recommended by Epoch. I got the programing manual for the Outback chargers and after spending some time understanding them I figured it would be easy to program the Mate2. The problem is the screens on the Mate in the coach did not match any if the information. Outback tech support is now only by email for out of warranty products so I sent them a email and did a post on the Outback forum after going through and reading about 50 posts on programing the Mate. I removed the Mate and tried to find a part # or anything on it but no luck. Based on pictures I have a Mate2 display,/programmer but every screen I found did not match the screens on my unit. After spending all day studying I found out that I have a Mate2M This unit which is hard to find out about has a totally different screens and button presses to program. I have now set the Outback to the 14.2 & 13.6 volts and looking at the display and the Bluetooth app I think I have finally gotten the Outback's figured out. Today when I went in the coach the Silverleaf display said the batteries were floating at 13.5 volts and the app was saying the batteries were at 99% full charge and were at 13.4 volts. I put a RMS volt meter I have and I was getting 13.14v on each battery. I called Epoch tech support and phone was answered by a tech support guy. I explained to him what I had and he told me that all was OK , but if I wanted to up the float volt by .1 I could to see what that would do. At this point I figured I would leave it where it is to see what happens. With the batteries at 13.4 volts and 99% charge the batteries are not discharging or charging via the app and the inverters are putting out enough current to handle the loads of coach.

I tried starting the generator with the new batteries and it stared with no problem.

With the IH45 you can run #2 AC unit off the inverter. When running the AC on the inverter it is pulling 44.3 amps from each battery for a total of 132.9 amps. This was not a problem going down the road since the coach comes with 340 amp Alternator. I started the coach with the batteries around 90% charge, AC off, refrigerator on and each battery was taking a 73.8 charge. So the batteries were taking a 219 amp charge from the alternator. I did not put an amp meter on the alternator to see what the total output it. I am trying to figure out what the duty cycle of my alternator is. In looking around I have found the typical car's is 30% but the more heavy duty ones are at 100%. If I find out mine is 100%, I am not going to remove my isolator and install a B2B charger. If I have to install a B2B charger I am going to go with a Sterling 120A B2B

Re: IH45 goes Lithium

Reply #1 – May 10, 2024, 02:29:08 pm

Congrats on figuring out the Outback charger/inverter programming. I tried to help program one on a 2008 Nimbus and it ate my lunch. Didn't help that all the instructions assumed 24 volt.

Re: IH45 goes Lithium

Reply #2 – May 10, 2024, 08:35:57 pm

It was a valiant effort though Patrick....😂👍

Re: IH45 goes Lithium

Reply #3 – October 15, 2024, 12:42:26 am

It looks like I'm following in your footsteps. I also have a 2014 IH-45 and in need of house batteries. The Epoch batteries are the leading choice for me as well. I'd really appreciate any help you can give me.
Would you do anything different or any advice?
I'm also assuming the alternator is 100% duty rating, but were you able to get a confirmation?
Does your auto gen start still work correctly?

Re: IH45 goes Lithium

Reply #4 – October 15, 2024, 10:25:52 am

Quote from: Ted_L – October 15, 2024, 12:42:26 am

I'm also assuming the alternator is 100% duty rating, but were you able to get a confirmation?
Does your auto gen start still work correctly?

The company that made our alternator is no longer in business. I have talked to people that have rebuild them and make new ones. They did not say our alternator was "100% rated" but did say it can run under full load for a very long time. He said they were used in Fire trucks and Ambulances.

If you send me a private message I can give you my phone #.

I had changed the setting where auto generator start may work when the batteries run down. I have never used AGS and have never got the batteries that low to find out.

Re: IH45 goes Lithium Alternator Manufacturer no longer in Business?

Reply #5 – October 16, 2024, 10:26:42 am

Which manufacturer is that?
For most of our engines the alternator mount is standardized. There are many choices that can be fitted. Reasonable sized upgrades can often be done as drop-in replacements. The diode blocks and battery cables size can be limiting. Why I said reasonable size upgrades.

Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 11, 2025 ...