Pegaso 745 advice solar and battery

[keepinglocal]

I am trying to find a little info on the battery location in the 2024 Pegaso 745.
I want to go for lithium ion and upgrade maybe to two or three batteries. Maybe also increasing solar from 120w to 800w ish.
I know I will have to upgrade the charge controller and that looks simple enough possible with thicker heavier gauge wiring needed to the battery.
My question is more around where are the batteries called to a dealer before I buy and he could not be sure. But while I am waiting for a response from them wondering if anyone already halls pictures of the battery location compartment and has already upgraded solar.

Thanks. I want to be certain I can go offgrid for a few days with some high usage IT kit.

 

[LostInSpace]

Possibly under the front seats.

You may well be to get additional Lithium Iron (LiFePO4) batteries in the locker - front left hand side.

Check out weights carefully - that is big vehicle for a 3500 Kg maximum permisable weight.

 

[The Wino]

I'd work out the power required first I don't think IT equipment is likely to need that high a supply

 

[keepinglocal]

Thanks guys for the guidance so far. Will try and find sizes dimension for that locker. If anyone has them already or some photos of current setups brill... I have a 120w charger on the laptop alone, not even including two screens and constant WiFi and me working some days 10 hours solid, that's just my own kit not including the wife's laptop i will obviously have to scale back a little like headsets instead of monitos for weight and power . Looking at having 3/4 days in winter months off grid with enough solar to top up. I will do a bit more on the calculation side of things as weight is definitely a big concern with this motorgpme model

 

[Bessy765]

We have 700 watts of solar 2 x 100 amp Lithium Transporter batteries but find even in Portugal solar gain is not as much as you might expect. And no matter how many batteries you have the power to recharge them has to come from somewhere. We have a 150 amps alternator and no B2B. Our installer assured us with the system he installed a B2B was not necessary, he warranted the whole system for 5 years and the batteries for 10, over 4 years and 24,000 miles worked faultlessly.

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[headlight]

I am trying to find a little info on the battery location in the 2024 Pegaso 745.
I want to go for lithium ion and upgrade maybe to two or three batteries. Maybe also increasing solar from 120w to 800w ish.
I know I will have to upgrade the charge controller and that looks simple enough possible with thicker heavier gauge wiring needed to the battery.
My question is more around where are the batteries called to a dealer before I buy and he could not be sure. But while I am waiting for a response from them wondering if anyone already halls pictures of the battery location compartment and has already upgraded solar.

Thanks. I want to be certain I can go offgrid for a few days with some high usage IT kit.

Your problem will be recharging the batteries as even with 800 watts of solar in UK winter solar is minimal.
It all depends how much electric you use as it will all be coming from the battery/batteries, any solar input will be a bonus.
We use between 40 and 60 amps a day in winter depending on the weather and what we use electric wise.
We can do 4 nights off grid on our battery and I don't bank on any solar charge at all.
After 4 days it's either drive to recharge the battery from the B2B or plug in to EHU to let the onboard mains charger charge the battery.

 

[Just smiffy]

My concern would be that you are considering these upgrades without having the knowledge on where they are going and more concerned that the dealer doesn’t (which doesn’t surprise me) I would want to see the van I’m buying and know everything about it before I bought it otherwise you may find that if you can not fit your proposed upgrades the van may not be fit for purpose….

 

[LostInSpace]

The only big change we have done was to remove the big heavy Hymer fitted AGM leisure battery and fit the same physical weight of LiFePo4 lithium batteries.

A huge (HUGE) increase in usable battery capacity for no decrease in payload availabilty.

The new Hymer Exsis now come with a 45amp B2B and a mains charger which can be used with Sterling Power LiFePO4 batteries. The pegaso 745 motorhome may well be the same.

Like you, we have to be carefull with payload, so this change was a no brainer.

 

[autorouter]

I think you have to consider your lifestyle- will you be moving on every couple of days, or staying in one place for a few weeks? A good high-power B2B is useful if you are moving around a lot, it will get charge back into the batteries quickly.

The new 50A Victron B2B is excellent.and if necessary you can put two or more in parallel, and with a couple of connections they will act like one big B2B.

You may want to consider recharging the leisure batteries from an EV charging point. It could be useful in the winter, to avoid having to book in on a campsite for mains hookup. You can get a cable, with built-in electronics, that will allow you to plug the motorhome mains inlet into a Type2 EV charge point. When you get to that point, you want to spend as little time at the charge point as possible, so if you are buying a new mains charger you should get one that is as powerful as possible. 60A minimum, maybe 120A or 140A. That would put in a useful amount of charge in a couple of hours.

I'm saying this because the usual advice for mains chargers is that a small charger is perfectly adequate, because normally if you book on a campsite you have the mains connection for 12 hours or more at least. Charging from an EV charge point is not common, so is not considered when sizing a new mains charger.

I have a 120w charger on the laptop alone,

That charger is sized for the worst case scenario, recharging a flat laptop battery but also you working at full chat on the laptop at the same time. Once the laptop is charged the power requirement drops quite a lot.

 

[autorouter]

Another thing worth considering if you are doing a lot of IT is a rooftop aerial and a router. That will give you a wifi signal inside the MH just like your home router. You can get a local data SIM for the country you are in at the time, probably a better deal than a roaming UK deal. Also you can link your phones to the wifi, and use wifi calling or WhatsApp for calls to save your roaming data. But you can still be contacted on your usual number if necessary. I use a Teltonika router and a Poynting roof aerial. Something like these:

Solwise - MIMO-3-17 POYNTING 7-in-1 Transportation & Automotive Antenna; 410 – 3800 MHz; 4X4 LTE (MIMO), 6.2 dBi; 2X2 Wi-Fi (MIMO), 7 dBi; GPS/GLONASS, 21 dBi - A-MIMO-3-V2-17 | Solwise Ltd

www.solwise.co.uk

Solwise - RUTX50 Teltonika CAT20 5G and WiFi Router - TL-RUTX50 | Solwise Ltd

www.solwise.co.uk

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[keepinglocal]

I think you have to consider your lifestyle- will you be moving on every couple of days, or staying in one place for a few weeks? A good high-power B2B is useful if you are moving around a lot, it will get charge back into the batteries quickly.

The new 50A Victron B2B is excellent.and if necessary you can put two or more in parallel, and with a couple of connections they will act like one big B2B.

You may want to consider recharging the leisure batteries from an EV charging point. It could be useful in the winter, to avoid having to book in on a campsite for mains hookup. You can get a cable, with built-in electronics, that will allow you to plug the motorhome mains inlet into a Type2 EV charge point. When you get to that point, you want to spend as little time at the charge point as possible, so if you are buying a new mains charger you should get one that is as powerful as possible. 60A minimum, maybe 120A or 140A. That would put in a useful amount of charge in a couple of hours.

I'm saying this because the usual advice for mains chargers is that a small charger is perfectly adequate, because normally if you book on a campsite you have the mains connection for 12 hours or more at least. Charging from an EV charge point is not common, so is not considered when sizing a new mains charger.

That charger is sized for the worst case scenario, recharging a flat laptop battery but also you working at full chat on the laptop at the same time. Once the laptop is charged the power requirement drops quite a lot. aww this laptop works hard

aww this laptop works hard trust me i eat juice.. but this is a really good post i have an electic car so very familiar with the charge points great idea

 

[keepinglocal]

So here is the scenario i am in and the reason these forums are great for info and help -

I rang the dealer in Perth today - i wont say which one - I asked them would they be able to switch the charge controller to something that works for lithium and while there also add a lithium battery in place of the current one, and sure why not add an inverter wihile in there, they have a workshop and apparently do this type of work.

The sales guy of course said yeah should be no bother - yeah we can upgrade, yeah we can add an extra solar panel yeah we can switch the battery.

After sales team got the request through via email of what i would have liked with a caveat to say if you cant deliver this can you offer me the next best option, they have come back with this reply below - how can their sales guy think they will do the extra work and their aftersales team say hey ho no - looks like i have to find an installer myself if i do want this van and do some more research.

from aftersales
Hi,

Unfortunately we are unable to carry out these upgrades, we do not deviate from the manufacturers electrics, and we do not get involved with Victron or lithium batteries.

I’m sorry we can’t be of any further assistance on this one.

 

[keepinglocal]

Your problem will be recharging the batteries as even with 800 watts of solar in UK winter solar is minimal.
It all depends how much electric you use as it will all be coming from the battery/batteries, any solar input will be a bonus.
We use between 40 and 60 amps a day in winter depending on the weather and what we use electric wise.
We can do 4 nights off grid on our battery and I don't bank on any solar charge at all.
After 4 days it's either drive to recharge the battery from the B2B or plug in to EHU to let the onboard mains charger charge the battery.

that's an interesting idea and making me think do i just forget solar given the dealer of the van seems unwilling to put in any lithium or extra solar for me... but i do want to travel so while uk solar will be poor it wont the the same on the continent. maybe plenty of batteries and a decent BRB will give enough.. thanks for the ideas

 

[autorouter]

looks like i have to find an installer myself if i do want this van and do some more research.

Obviously they don't have the time or expertise to do the work you want. But at least they are upfront about it - better than attempting something beyond their limits and making a mess of it. There are many people competent in motorhome electrics, including some members on here.

 

[Just smiffy]

So here is the scenario i am in and the reason these forums are great for info and help -

I rang the dealer in Perth today - i wont say which one - I asked them would they be able to switch the charge controller to something that works for lithium and while there also add a lithium battery in place of the current one, and sure why not add an inverter wihile in there, they have a workshop and apparently do this type of work.

The sales guy of course said yeah should be no bother - yeah we can upgrade, yeah we can add an extra solar panel yeah we can switch the battery.

After sales team got the request through via email of what i would have liked with a caveat to say if you cant deliver this can you offer me the next best option, they have come back with this reply below - how can their sales guy think they will do the extra work and their aftersales team say hey ho no - looks like i have to find an installer myself if i do want this van and do some more research.

from aftersales
Hi,

Unfortunately we are unable to carry out these upgrades, we do not deviate from the manufacturers electrics, and we do not get involved with Victron or lithium batteries.

I’m sorry we can’t be of any further assistance on this one.

If your going to have the work done and the dealer doesn’t want to do it then they have done you a favour… get it done by people who specialise in it like https://offgridpower.solutions/ who are members on this forum and will give you a member discount, their knowledge is second to none and a great father and son team.. give RogerIvy a call to discuss your needs I’m sure you won’t be disappointed….

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[LostInSpace]

they have come back with this reply ......

Whilst you have their attention, ask them - does the vehicle come with a B2B and if so which one?

If it does, then you can do the change - all it will need is some DIP switches changing from AGM to lithium.