Battery Modifications

We camped for a year and a half before upgrading the single 12-volt lead acid battery that came with the camper.  We were interested in visiting many sites with only dry camping, such as Assateague State Park.  We planned a two-night dry camping trial at Elk Neck State Park.  We took a second lead acid backup battery.  By the end of the first day the camper's original 12-volt battery was toast.  Fortunately, the camp store generously allows campers to charge batteries there.  We spent the entire weekend constantly alternately charging one or the other of the batteries and still lost all the food in the refrigerator.  We did not have enough power to bring the slide in at the end of the weekend.  (Later we realized we should be able to hook up to the truck to do it).  The entire experience fell squarely under our definition of ordeal!

We installed two 100Ah 12V lithium-ion Battle Born batteries. They are LiFePO4 chemistry, which is not the same as used in scooters and phones that often catches fire.  We followed others' solutions and placed the batteries under our couch/Murphy bed.  We added a Victron battery monitor shunt, an on-off switch, a terminal block, and a fuse holder.  

We did not upgrade the power converter or add an inverter (yet).  We switched the existing converter to its "lithium" setting, but it supplies 13.6V instead of the 14.5V that Battle Born specifies.