Lithium Battery and Tow vehicle

AustinHealey

For thowe or you that use Lithium Batteries - two questions 1. Since they have a higher charged voltage than you TV, does the TV end up drawing the lithium battery down on long trips? 2. Has anyone had trouble with their TV alternator using a lithium battery on the TAG? My TV is. 2020 Colorado ZR2 diesel.

Gerald98053

This isn’t quite an answer to the question, but ... if you fully charge the Lithium battery, then attach your TV, your TV will draw down the lithium a little bit. Some say expect about 80 or 82% of a full charge. You would then have to top it off with solar panels or a lithium-ready power converter if you need full capacity. It won’t actually damage anything.

On my Subaru (my former TV) the cheap 200 CCA battery the car company put in was starting to go bad. I left my trailer hooked up to it and it used the juice from the trailer battery to start the car (that’s good) but it twice blew the main fuse in the trailer (bad). Newer cars may have current limiting devices in the power to the trailer connection, but mine was not. It was home-wired. Oops. It never blew the fuse to the lighter outlet in the car I was drawing power from, but that’s another mystery for another day.

I’m still holding off on the lithium conversion, for now.

MrGGBrown

I suspect the answer to your question depends on the TV and what Lithium battery you install in the T@G. I know that's not really helpful, but I just finished installing a Lion Energy UT-1300 LiFePo battery in our T@G and my experience has been different than those who installed a Renogy Lithium battery. For one thing, the WFCO 8725 charge controller built into the T@G will charge our Lion Energy LiFePo battery to 100%, unlike what others have reported with Lithium batteries. I just did it again yesterday.

On our recent trip, I saw the T@G battery getting charged while the TV was running, and discharging while the TV was not running. So the alternator in our TV is generating a high enough voltage to charge the Lithium battery when running, and the Lithium battery is a higher voltage than the TV battery so it's charging the TV battery when the car isn't running. This isn't a guess as I have a shunt-based battery monitor installed and can read directly charge/discharge.

FWIW, our TV is a 2008 Acura RDX and I ran a 10 gauge wire with a 40 amp fuse directly from the battery terminal to the 7-pin connector in the back. I have no idea the rating on the alternator, but the car has a lot of electronics for it's age, so it's probably a high-capacity alternator.

JamesDow

I have a Smart Renogy lithium battery. I am thinking of adding a switch near the battery fuse of my charging line run heading back to the trailer. (Or just pull the fuse) Thinking of normally just to have it off, unless I really need to charge when on the road (seldom). That way I would minimize the probability of overheating my alternator in my Rav4 and eliminate the reverse charge flow from the T@G back to Rav4.