getting off grid is part of what makes traveling in a camper van
so exciting and when you are equipped with the 200 amp hour reliable battery system
even better so let's head into the thor motor coach garage and show you how it works
the cutting edge technology of the reliable 200 amp hour power system is the new evolution of
ev motor homing thor motor coach retired the traditional generator with a balmar underhood
alternator supplying electrical current to a pair of lithium batteries to provide you with clean
efficient power all that power is harnessed by the 3000 watt inverter charger which brings everything
to life inside your van before we show you around the controller make sure the battery disconnect
switch is on this way you can use all the 12-volt systems in your camper van like the lights and
your rapid cam plus now in order to use all the 120 volt power in your camper van for items like
your air conditioner microwave and your outlets make sure the master volt smart remote is turned
on by pressing the first button on your left this is going to fire up the 3000 watt inverter charger
when you are not plugged into shore power you need this on so you can use all your lights
and appliances and to make it easy the inverter does not have to be on to charge the batteries
either through shore power or when you are running the engine in fact the battery disconnects which
can be in the off position if you are plugged into shore power and simply want to charge the
batteries which is great when you are getting ready to store your rv you're going to love
this nice clear display and it easily shows you if you are inverting if you are charging if you
are in standby mode you can take a quick look at your battery voltage and you can see if you are
using reliable battery power or if you are plugged in at your favorite campsite then right next door
another control panel you'll find intuitive and easy to use this balmar digital gauge all the
info you need about your reliable battery system is right here there's all kinds of info you can
check in the display and it changes when you have the engine on or off so let's fire this b
van up when the engine is running the 170 amp under hood generator or second alternator
charges the lithium batteries with that in mind as we look at the display the first number we
see represents how full the batteries are and as you can see here they need a little charging soc
stands for state of charge you simply tap this black button to go to the next screen
soh is the state of health of your batteries give that button a tap and now we are on the amp page
this number represents how many amps the batteries are being served up from the charge
as you drive and increase your engine speed you are going to send more juice into your batteries
the next menu shows the voltage of the batteries and they are looking good
one more click and the number you see here represents how many minutes you have left until
the batteries are fully charged and we have a ways to go here so to get these batteries charging
run your van like we're doing now or plug it into the 30 amp shore power and how about some bonus
charging because you have a solar panel on the roof when you are in full sunlight that panel can
produce about 9 amps of charging which keeps those batteries healthy when not in use or when you're
using just a few 12 volt lights so now let's turn the engine off start powering things up and take a
look at the display when you toggle through the menus now you still have your state of charge
and you can see when you have lights on and gear plugged in you are now pulling amps as before we
have your battery voltage and here we can see how many hours you have left on the battery and this
number will change as you turn items on or off and with the 3000 watt inverter let's go ahead
and turn on the ac if the engine is off like it is now it is going to show you how much time you have
left in the batteries until you drop to zero so when these hours get down to where you think hey
i should probably go charge these batteries simply turn the fan on and let it run because
the alternator is set up to provide you with bulk charging even at idle speeds you can also go for a
drive and do some exploring and if available just plug into shore power alright so what about the
cold well the batteries in the reliable battery system are cold weather performance batteries
and they can charge at temperatures down to four below zero fahrenheit there are actually heating
elements in the batteries that evenly heat the cells to a safe temperature so they can be charged
at the full recommended current so let's say the look of it isn't matching your mood check this out
you can customize the color you have a number of great colors to choose from there are other
features in here too so let's check them out to get into the menu you're going to hold the button
down it will flash then the menu pops up now this display shows display and advanced display simply
allows you to change the screen brightness from high medium low or dim you can also change the
theme or color high visibility is what we're seeing now this is the default there's also
ocean which is my favorite you have silver white swamp camo and cute when you go to power save this
is the amount of time before the display shuts off test is going to cycle through a few colors
to test the display you hold the button and move to the next menu here you can restart the device
reset the network do a factory reset and the last one here is simply a loopback test if you really
want to do a deep dive into these batteries and read about every spec and every feature all you
need to do is click the link below now that you know how to keep your batteries at peak power go
out there and have some fun and don't forget you can find more useful information about
your coach on the owner's resource page and we'll see you next time at the thor motor coach garage
you