Q: Battery Location and Others

[Rahvin2j3]

Hi Guys,

 

Good day!

 

May I ask some questions?

 

- Can we add a house battery under the hood? Or it has to be inside the cargo area.

- For NV3500 SV/SL - what's the AH value of the so-called HD battery (as what I can see in the brochure)?

- I know that the alternator is 130AH - is this enough to charge house batteries via ACR and others? Or, there is a need to install another one.

 

Thank you in advance!

 

- Rahv

 

[radin2son]

Rahv, You could, but why? For simplicity’s sake, leave the vehicle battery/alternator alone.

 

Ford makes/made a bracket to mount the house batteries to the frame, yet E series owners put them under the floor in the back. DIY conversions have the batteries inside and rely on solar charging. No need to connect to the vehicle battery.

 

Check with other conversion specific forums to get answers. There just is not that much interest on this forum.

 

You have yet to disclose what vans and floor plans you are considering and when you hope to reside in Canada. This would make for more interesting posts than just asking questions... It would also let others on this forum, who have owned Chevys etc, to offer help and/or opinions.

Edited January 27, 2019 by radin2son

[Mdsnyder108]

Hi Guys,

 

Good day!

 

May I ask some questions?

 

- Can we add a house battery under the hood? Or it has to be inside the cargo area.

- For NV3500 SV/SL - what's the AH value of the so-called HD battery (as what I can see in the brochure)?

- I know that the alternator is 130AH - is this enough to charge house batteries via ACR and others? Or, there is a need to install another one.

 

Thank you in advance!

 

- Rahv

I mounted a house battery under the hood and posted the pics to my Instagram page at nvcampervan.

 

I went with an old-school deep-cycle lead acid battery which must be vented to the exterior if placed inside the van.  They can/will release harmful gasses when charging so i didn't want them inside.  It was fairly easy and I posted everything I used on there.  You could go with Lithium inside but the expense is prohibitive.  The alternator works perfectly to charge the battery we used.  If you need more AH I would definitely place it under the floor attached to the frame on the passenger side provided you can find a battery holder that works on the NV.  Good luck!

[cobymoby]

On 1/27/2019 at 2:59 AM, Rahvin2j3 said:

Hi Guys,

 

Good day!

 

May I ask some questions?

 

- Can we add a house battery under the hood? Or it has to be inside the cargo area.

- For NV3500 SV/SL - what's the AH value of the so-called HD battery (as what I can see in the brochure)?

- I know that the alternator is 130AH - is this enough to charge house batteries via ACR and others? Or, there is a need to install another one.

 

Thank you in advance!

 

- Rahv

 

1.  You could add the house battery under the hood with a custom mount, but it will be tight.  then you will have to run all of your wiring INTO the cabin to run your loads.  And then separate the two electrical systems so you don't accidently kill your starter battery.  IMO, just run your house battery inside the van itself....

 

2.  You don't want to use your starter battery to power your loads anyhow.... so the AH's are enough for the van, and just leave it at that....

 

3.  Depends on the house battery type...

 

traditional lead battery (AGM, deep cycle, lead acid, etc) - YES.  These won't demand a huge charge current from your alternator when they are running low. 

 

Lithium?  NO.  They can kill your alternator at low RPMS since they will demand a huge amount of power when depleted.   You will want to use a lithium specific battery relay (such as the LI-BIM 225), or use a DC to DC charger (aka battery to battery/B2B charger) that acts as a current limiting device, and gives you the proper charging profile for lithium.