Changing CBE 516 Charger to a Lithium Charger

Sider5

New Member
Recently bought a 2nd hand Camperking converted van. Previous owner said I would probably need a new battery as he hadn't used it for a long time (hence the reason for selling it). I bought a Eco- Worthy 12V 100Ah LiFePO4 Lithium Battery and fitted it. I currently have a CBE 516 charger. Since then I understand that I'll need to change the charger? So my questions are:
1. Do I have to change the charger?
2. What you be the best Lithium charger to buy?
3. How easy is it to change the charger over? for example, will the wires and connections from the original charger fit the new one easily.
4. Is there anything else I need to add/change?
 
Recently bought a 2nd hand Camperking converted van. Previous owner said I would probably need a new battery as he hadn't used it for a long time (hence the reason for selling it). I bought a Eco- Worthy 12V 100Ah LiFePO4 Lithium Battery and fitted it. I currently have a CBE 516 charger. Since then I understand that I'll need to change the charger? So my questions are:
1. Do I have to change the charger?
2. What you be the best Lithium charger to buy?
3. How easy is it to change the charger over? for example, will the wires and connections from the original charger fit the new one easily.
4. Is there anything else I need to add/change?
Are we talking mains charger or DC-DC? They’re both going to need changing. The answer to both is Victron imho.
 
Thanks for replying, sorry to sound ignorant but I’m not sure what DC-DC is. I have 1 leisure battery that is charges via the EHU or the van when driving.
Is it simple to fit the Victron?
 
Yes so you have 2 chargers.

One is the 12v power supply in your EHU system.

One is the vans alternator.

Both can only charge lead acid type batteries so both will need to be changed.

To charge from the van you will need a DC-DC charger.

To charge from EHU you will need a lithium capable 240v charger - and you'll need to disable the built in charger.
 
Adding some pictures of your existing setup will help people advise.

LiFePo batteries are not drop in replacements, if you have fitted the lithium battery without changing anything else you should consider disconnecting it until you have the chargers sorted out.

Lithium batteries should not be connected directly to vehicle alternators in most cases, they can draw considerable current and can damage vehicle electrics.

The EcoWorthy doesn't have a built in low temperature cutoff so it's vital that any charger you add has one, charging a Lithium battery below freezing is dangerous and can cause them to burst.

This is a common thread around here so do some reading, this search is against Sargent but all the all in one systems need pretty much the same changes to move over to lithium

 
When we upgraded our LB to a Fogstar lithium we changed the EHU charger to a Victron Blue Smart 30a. The DC -DC charger is an Ablemail 30a and we had the charging profile changed to lithium via a Bluetooth dongle. All in all it was very straightforward.
 
Exactly what needs doing will depend on your current setup beyond just the 516. As mentioned by Roadtripper a few pictures of your setup would help.

To answer Q1, you do need a new mains charger as the 516 is not lithium compatible.

Q2 will depend on what else you need to change, your budget and what you want the kit to do. Victron is an excellent choice.

Q3 is where more info is needed. What other electrical boxes do you have besides the 516? I seem to remember CK use CBE kit and will likely have their other elements too. Is there also a white CBE DS300 with a row of car fuses across the top? And also a white CBE consumer unit for the 240v? If so the 516 power lead connects to the 240v consumer unit via a bespoke connector like one of these:

IMG_6897.png

The output from the 516 goes to the DS300 and connects to the ring terminals (left and centre) in the pic below:

IMG_6611.jpeg

This means straight swap is not that simple as the 240v plug needs changing (or plugging into one of the 3-pin 240v plug sockets). Not difficult at all but not plug and play.

Q4 depends entirely on the rest of the setup. If you have it, the DS300 is not lithium or smart alternator compatible although converters keep fitting it to smart alternator vehicles like the T6 (mine had it!). This means a lithium capable DC-DC charger is also needed to charge the lifepo4 from the engine as described by Roadtripper. This means the DS300 either needs bypassing, modifying or removing depending on the final solution so it doesn’t try to charge the lithium battery. Having said all that, if I remember correctly some CK conversions have a Sergeant DC-DC charger hidden away behind the rear quarter panel with only the CBE kit in view. There was a thread on here a couple of months ago covering that in detail. If that is there, and it has a lithium profile, then that’s one problem solved. The other issue is wiring and fusing, as lifepo4 can take a higher charge amperage you can fit a more powerful charger which may need larger cables and fuses. All depends on what is there and what you fit.

I have just made the switch to lifepo4 (Fogstar Drift 105ah) and had to make numerous changes as I had the CBE kit mentioned above. It took a bit of research but I’m mega happy with the result. 3x the power, 1/3rd the weight, smaller battery, faster charging…. To test it out I’ve had my fridge running since Sunday afternoon and still had 30% charge left this afternoon. At this rate I’ll get nearly a week! Pic of my new setup part way through the install:

IMG_6625.jpeg

Pop some pics up.
 
Thank you for these amazing responses. I’m new to this and the information you have provided is very helpful. At the moment I think I’ll return the LiFePO4 Lithium Battery and replace the original it came with. I’ve just bought the van and swapping everything over is adding to the already mounting cost. I’ll probably upgrade in a year or so.

Thank you all so much
 
If you need a replacement AGM while you plan I've always had good service from Tanya Batteries.

If you replace like for like everything you have will work fine and as it's the leisure battery you don't need to worry about updating the coding (which you may read about on battery replacement threads but only applies to the starter battery on stop start vans)

Just remember lead acid batteries are not fuel tanks you empty and refill, to keep them from being damaged don't let them drop much below 50% capacity (~12.0v) and maybe consider fitting a BM2 monitor to keep an eye on things (a popular pretty cheap Bluetooth battery monitor)

Get out and find out what you enjoy doing in the van, after a season you'll have a much better idea what you want from the electrics long term and can update accordingly.
 
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