Auxilliary battery

vgfinch

New member
I am planning on adding a second battery to my Sprinter passenger van, which I am converting to a Class B. Has anyone had any experience with the GoalZero battery charger system?
Is it safe to use indoors?
What I like about its stated benefits is that I can charge it from either 12v power when driving or 110 volt shore power.
Would it be safer to have a battery shelf installed under the frame?
I am concerned about battery fumes.
Any help and experiences would be appreciated.
Thanks guys.
 

Midwestdrifter

Engineer In Residence
I am planning on adding a second battery to my Sprinter passenger van, which I am converting to a Class B. Has anyone had any experience with the GoalZero battery charger system?
Is it safe to use indoors?
What I like about its stated benefits is that I can charge it from either 12v power when driving or 110 volt shore power.
Would it be safer to have a battery shelf installed under the frame?
I am concerned about battery fumes.
Any help and experiences would be appreciated.
Thanks guys.
As far as I know the goalzero systems all use sealed batteries. Check with them to confirm. Sealed batteries are safe to use inside a vehicle without additional venting.

Take a close look at the specs for the Goalzero units. They are quite small for the cost. The ones I looked at had fairly slow charging systems as well.

There is a reason that most DIY conversions use a battery system made from discrete components instead of an all-in-one device. You often get much more capacity for the cost, and the system is better integrated into the vehicle.
 

Nautamaran

2004 140” HRC 2500 (Crewed)
You will need to add a battery manager if you convert the aux system to lithium.

The factory install uses a relay switch to charge the aux battery, simply connecting it in parallel with the starting battery. The crossover relay can be Terminal-15 (Run/Start) or D+ triggered. This is inadequate for a lithium battery, which REQUIRE that charging/discharge halt once the battery is charged/discharged. I suspect the money can be put to better use, but if you choose to install a second lithium bank then the factory crossover cabling can be used to power the DC-input of the battery manager.

-dave
 

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