Largest Lithium AMP Hour Battery - 2023 Arctic Fox 865

[skanj0]

My wife and I are soon picking up a 2023 Arctic Fox 865 to replace our trusty 2005 Lance 845. We almost exclusively boondock so I am gathering all the pieces I need to add ~500 watts of solar on the roof, victron equipment, and now trying to figure out how large of lithium battery I can get into the Arctic Fox battery compartment. I’m fine with removing the Northwood sliding battery tray to accomplish this.

Does anyone know the dimensions of a late model Arctic Fox 865 battery compartment? Can I get a 300 amp/hr lithium battery in there? We are buying our camper 3 states away and unfortunately dont have access to an 865 on a lot anywhere near us.

Thanks for the help.

Update: Going back and adding the oem Arctic Fox 865 battery box measurements for others that may want them. The limiting factor is the battery compartment door which is smaller than the inside of the battery box.

Battery Box:
Once sliding battery tray is removed, inside dimensions of battery box are: 17” deep by 17” wide by 12.5” tall.

Battery compartment door opening:
14.75” wide by 11.375” tall by 1.25” deep.

[Ranger_Tim]

I am running three Redodo Mini 100 Ah batteries successfully in my Wolf Creek 840. They all fit in the original compartment. No complaints so far. Charging via the built-in converter which has a retro fitted upgrade to charge LiFePO4 batteries. These batteries cost me less than $350 each. I attached a disconnect to prevent any unwanted charge cycles.

[skanj0]

kevinn_63 wrote:
Incredible set up. I have a 24 AF 1150 on order with 600W solar on roof and Onan generator. Trying to find schematics and details for installing a similar system. Anything like this you can post will be appreciated. Where did you fit all of this equipment?

Will check into the batteries and removing the battery tray. Great idea!

Thanks, Kevin

Hey Kevin-

I started by emailing Northwood and requesting wiring diagrams for the 12v and 110v circuits. This helped me figure out where existing equipment was located (the converter, circuit breakers, tie in points, etc. I told them I was installing solar and they happily sent over pdf drawings within a few hours.

From here it was a matter of identifying space for the battery, and all the victron equipment. It quickly became obvious the original Arctic Fox battery box location would hold the lithium battery and the majority of other components since the 300 A/H Sun Fun Kits battery is pretty compact and has the usable power of 5-6 100 A/H lead acid batteries. I then opened up the underside of dinette seating and discovered there was more empty space inboard of the Arctic Fox battery box. This convinced me that the only answer was to get the sawzall out and remove the battery box. I then paneled the 3 sides with an additional piece of 1/2” plywood so I would have something to screw all my components, wire clamps, etc to without having screw tips come through and daylight. I then went to the compartment just below the battery box (on the left rear as the 865 is a non-slide model) and thats the access for the grey and black tank drains and has some exterior storage space in it as well. I needed a place to mount the Victron Multiplus, and since inverting DC to create AC power, I wanted to keep it very close to the Linksdistributer to keep the large diameter wire runs as short as possible. Plus it weighs about 25lbs so needed a secure location and wanted the weight as low as possible. In this same lower compartment I also mounted twin Victron 30a dc-dc chargers. Again the thinking was to keep as many components as close as possible to reduce wire runs (and weight - the nemesis of all TCs).

I’m not familiar with the 1150 but I would suggest requesting wiring diagrams from
Northwood. I will draw up a diagram of what I did and happy to share it. Use at your own risk as I’m not an electrician or an electrical engineer but have worked with AC and DC power on and off over the years and felt comfortable with it.

The system works really well and we can even run the microwave and air conditioner for a bit with the inverter. Havent stress tested it too much, but in peak sunlight with 500w of solar coming in it looked like I could run either one for about 1.5 hours before the battery would be dead. Not that I would ever do that, but on our last trip to Kings Canyon we did run the Furrion microwave for 1.5 to 3 mins here and there and the solar quickly brought the battery back to 100% and went into float mode.

I can also pass along the info for the gentlemen that builds relay boxes and a set of instructions to interlink the Cerbo GX and the Onan control panel. He builds them for Winnebagos but the concept is the same. I sent him the Northwood electrical drawing for the the comand center which is where the onan start switch is. He then mailed me a pair of relays pre configured and some instructions and it was easy peasy. Now if I happen to get below a 40% state of charge the generator will automatically start and the Multiplus then will charge the battery at up to 80a until it reachs 70% state of charge, and it will shut off. I can also manually start and stop the generator from my phone if the Cerbo GX has a connection to the internet.

More to come shortly. Perhaps PM me your email address and then I can more easilly share a layout and wiring sketch for what I did.

John

[kevinn_63]

Incredible set up. I have a 24 AF 1150 on order with 600W solar on roof and Onan generator. Trying to find schematics and details for installing a similar system. Anything like this you can post will be appreciated. Where did you fit all of this equipment?

Will check into the batteries and removing the battery tray. Great idea!

Thanks, Kevin

[StirCrazy]

riah wrote:
skanj0, We have 520 ampHr capacity LiFePO4. I bought 2 batteries from SFK, and I think they now have 280 and 300 aHr batteries available. We only initially installed 200 watts of solar, then added a dcdc 40 amp charger and installed 200 more watts of panels and found out we were over the rating the SCC capacity and had to upgrade to 40 amp SCC. That said, long story short, when we are moving we don’t seem to need to use the solar panels as the dcdc charger is keeping the batteries charged, so if you haven’t considered a dcdc charger, I highly recommend it!(.The DCDC charger also is running the absorption fridge on 12 volts saving us propane too while we’re driving.) …*** And apparently I should have read thru all the replies first lol

if you have it so you can switch your dc to dc charger on and off so you can use the panels while driving you will save a small amount of fuel as they alternator won't need to be driven as hard. I have mine set up so the dc to dc only works when I turn on a upfitter switch as I kind of use it like an emergency generator for days the solar isn't putting out.

[riah]

skanj0, We have 520 ampHr capacity LiFePO4. I bought 2 batteries from SFK, and I think they now have 280 and 300 aHr batteries available. We only initially installed 200 watts of solar, then added a dcdc 40 amp charger and installed 200 more watts of panels and found out we were over the rating the SCC capacity and had to upgrade to 40 amp SCC. That said, long story short, when we are moving we don’t seem to need to use the solar panels as the dcdc charger is keeping the batteries charged, so if you haven’t considered a dcdc charger, I highly recommend it!(.The DCDC charger also is running the absorption fridge on 12 volts saving us propane too while we’re driving.) …*** And apparently I should have read thru all the replies first lol

[deltabravo]

pianotuna wrote:
Golden_HVAC,

The best way to limit current may be a dc to DC converter (or charger). That allows for optimization of the charging voltage, too.

This is an excellent solution, and it's what I did to my truck and AF992

Installing a Victron Orion TR Smart 12-12-30 DC to DC Charger

[skanj0]

3 tons wrote:
That is truly a remarkable installation, possibly even the standard bearer of installs!! 🙂 GREAT Work!

3 tons

Thank you, Sir for the compliments. Its almost more of a work of art than anything else. At least my wife now understands the vision I had when I picked the camper up brand new in Spokane, drove it 880 miles back home, and the the next day began to tear it apart. We still havent slept in it. The inagural shakedown trip is very soon though.

[skanj0]

mellow wrote:
That is a sweet setup! Only thing you are lacking is a way to clean the grey water to make it drinkable again and you could stay offgrid for a long time!

Thank you, Sir for the complements. I like to take my time and do things the best possible way. Its not quick though.

I like the idea of grey water reuse. You got me thinking. :B

[3_tons]

That is truly a remarkable installation, possibly even the standard bearer of installs!! 🙂 GREAT Work!

3 tons

[mellow]

That is a sweet setup! Only thing you are lacking is a way to clean the greywater to make it drinkable again and you could stay offgrid for a long time!

[skanj0]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/MvDY5pAPB3U117e56


Update: Solar install and battery upgrade is complete. To answer my own original question (for the benefit of others) the stock Arctic Fox 865 battery box will hold two Sun Fun Kits 300 ah lithium batteries if you remove the oem slider battery tray. I only installed one as its plenty for our power needs.

I decided to start from just about scratch and remove the existing sliding battery tray and the battery box (with help from a Sawzall). Then installed 580 watts of Zamp Obsidian solar on the roof and routed it to a Victron 100/50 mppt controller. Then connected the oem Zamp 45 watt panel and a bumper plug in for my portable 90 watt zamp panel, to a Victron 75/15 mppt controller. Then installed 2 Victron Orion 30a dc-dc chargers in parallel and wired them to a 100amp phillips lift gate plug at the right front of the camper. Then installed a Victron links distributor and multiplus 2000/80 inverter charger. All this is tied together with a Victron Cerbo GX and routed to a Touch 50 digital display. The multiplus is also connected with a digital multiswitch for easy access to ac power. Then I tied in a generator auto start relay to the cerbo gx and set it such that if the battery state of charge drops below 40% the generator will start and charge the battery using the Multiplus. Once it gets to 70% SOC the generator will automatically shut down.

Overall quite pleased with the outcome. Will load a few pics.

[skanj0]

Reality Check wrote:

skanj0 wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
Fwiw, rough roads don’t blow out LP pilot lights. Unless you happen to be going really really fast on them…

Rough as in offroad, no where near level with, side to side rocking gi.e.oing over small to medium size rocks and ledges, etc.

Still won't be the cause. A strong gust of wind, sure, but LP could care less about motion.

I hope the fridge in the new Arctic Fox works this way. The one in the 2005 Lance worked great when parked and almost perfectly level, but would not light on propane if off level much at all and would not stay lit in motion. But it was also a 3-way fridge so it really didnt matter. I just flipped it to 12v and off we went with the solar on the roof and the truck keeping it charged.

[Reality_Check]

skanj0 wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
Fwiw, rough roads don’t blow out LP pilot lights. Unless you happen to be going really really fast on them…

Rough as in offroad, no where near level with, side to side rocking gi.e.oing over small to medium size rocks and ledges, etc.

Still won't be the cause. A strong gust of wind, sure, but LP could care less about motion.

[skanj0]

Grit dog wrote:
Fwiw, rough roads don’t blow out LP pilot lights. Unless you happen to be going really really fast on them…

Rough as in offroad, no where near level with, side to side rocking going over small to medium size rocks and ledges, etc.