Power To Go: Doubling My RV’s Battery Capacity!

The RV came from the factory in 2000 with all of the cables attached to the battery posts. 20 years later, with the addition of a second battery bank, I decided it was time to clean that up with some power distribution bars. In this pic, we are still working on the clean up!

For me, having the plan sketched out on paper meant that it was a simple matter of just installing the pieces in an orderly fashion. The plan was done. While Lordco, my local auto parts store was a huge help with the switch, the cables, the ring ends, and the list goes on, they were stumped when I asked for a four post 5/16″ distribution bar. It just didn’t show up in any of their catalogues. They had other options but none that would work as I had planned. A search turned up Blue Sea Systems distribution or bus bars – at a marine parts facility no less – and they were in my hands in no time. The positive bar got the common feed line from the multi-way switch, the power line from the inverter, the line feeding the house, and the line from the E450’s alternator. Neither of the battery feeds comes to this distribution bar – they go to the interior switch and then the common feed returns to the distribution bar. Meanwhile, on the negative distribution bar both battery negative lines are attached here along with the negative line from the inverter. Just like that, the battery compartment is much neater, organized, and feeding twice the capacity through the junction points.

The factory box doesn’t look much different from a quick glance – except for my new tubular aluminum battery tie down.
The new location for battery box 2 was a storage compartment, lockable of course, that I used a hole saw to put a 2″ outlet at the upper back and a 2″ ventilation outlet in the bottom. As I didn’t have an amazing rubber collar to protect the cable from the sheet metal, I looked around my garage and saw some 2″ ABS water pipe/couplers. Presto! The cables now have a secure path with little risk of damage from the metal edges. That wrench at the bottom came with the RV and I have no idea what it is for. I’ve never used it in ten years, but I still carry it around. Just in case.
The two plastic battery boxes are needed in the storage compartment, because it is used for storage still.  I carved the box lids to ensure a tight fit – you can see in the pic that they mesh together. The battery tie downs hold the securely in place. The angle iron used in this pic has since been replaced with a length of tubular aluminum. To protect the wire as it goes through the galvanized compartment wall I used 2″ ABS water pipe – because it was on hand and I think it will be ideal at protecting the wire. I glued two 45° joints on to the pipe to hold it in place. For air flow in addition to the hole at the top for the wire there is a 2″ drain hole at the bottom of the compartment. Again, courtesy of my hole saw. That wrapped up the installation process; now it’s time to go camping!
While we were doing some updates, we did one more that I am very pleased with. I talked with Kyle at Chilliwack RV about ‘solid’ stairs that I’d seen on some RV’s. Kyle walked me over to a demo set of Step Above stairs in their showroom and, after bouncing on them, I was sold. This is a fantastic upgrade!
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15 comments

    1. ERK, tons and tons of love. Not sure about the best Grandpa, but I certainly have the best Grandson! 🙂
      Thank you!
      Frank

      Reply

  2. I don’t have a camper… I’m not from Canada… I don’t have anyone in my life with a similar condition to Emmett… But I really enjoyed this article. Thank you.

    Reply

  3. Incredible article! I don’t understand the innards of automotive repair, but after observing my brother’s love for car-racing for years at Mosport (now Canadian Tire Motorsport Park) in Ontario and then after his move to BC, his love for everything Emmett I can fully appreciate all 7 pages of this article! His love for car-racing, RV Camping and Grandson combined! I love my brother Frank and so proud of him and all his accomplishments!

    Reply

    1. Thank you, Janice. Love you too! I’m pretty sure that you’re going to get into car racing and track days sometime soon!

      Reply

  4. Great article! Its good to be reminded from time to time that our hobbies can mean so much more and that its important to enjoy life with those we love! Thank you!

    One nit pick though: According to your diagram, if you put your battery switch into the “Both” position you are connecting you banks in parallel not series. In effect it turns both banks into one large 12v bank.

    In the marine world this position is used to charge both battery banks with the alternator while the engine is running, then you can choose between the two banks when your docked or at anchor and the engine is no longer charging.

    Functionally, this doesn’t change how you are currently using the switch, but if someone were to accidently set the switch to “both” you wouldn’t suddenly get a 24v surge that would damage any electrical components.

    Reply

    1. Joel, Thank you.
      And thank you even more for your update on my battery switch. I’m going to be reaching out to you as you’re knowledge base on this is obviously way better than mine!
      Frank

      Reply

    1. Rockwood, 6 volt is absolutely a longer lasting battery. But two years ago when I bought a new set of house batteries my RV manufacturer recommended 12 volt. This was the manufacturer not the dealer. I didn’t have time to research so I just went with their recommendation. (I briefly comment on this on page 4). Too bad as 6 volt would have given much better life. And with this upgrade I wanted both banks to be the same, so 12 volt is what it had to be. When it comes time to replace all four, then I will probably go to a 6 volt solution.

      Reply

    2. Now you’re talking. No savvy sailboat guy would use anything but 6 volt golf cart deep cycle batteries. They work just as well in my RV, just don’t buy cheapies.

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      1. JD, if only I were a sailboat guy. I don’t even need to be a savvy one! Ha ha ha. I’ve certainly expanded my knowledge base over the years and 6 volt will be the next step. But only once I’ve used these up!

        Reply

  7. Given your use case, minimum of 4 batteries will be needed. Biggest bummer about 6v batteries is if one dies, you’re (you guessed it) stuck at 6v only.

    A bunch of guys are experimenting with LiFePOs, but the danger of fire is waaaaaaay too high for me. Anyone who’s seen an RV fire live will agree. They go up FAST

    Reply

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