Warwick XL purchase

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Hi, new forum user, great forum, very friendly. 

I'm in the process of buying a Warwick XL and wonder if you could give me a bit of help, 

1) The (new) Warwick XL I'm purchasing has a cut-out in the rear lip of the cab floor, next to the fire extinguisher on the driver's side of the gangway, exposing the insulation, the dealer has told me that all Warwick XL's have that, can anyone confirm it. 

2) The dealer reckons that there is no room on the roof for my Snipe 2 sat dish to be moved across from my previous MoHo, has anyone got one fitted to their Warwick XL?

ps thanks to this forum I realised that the hab battery was Lithium Iron and the 50ampHrs was totally inadequate for the way we use the van but expensive to add too. So thanks for preventing a costly mistake, and that the roof rails were cosmetic, and that the Lithium Iron Battery did not have a low temp thermal charging cut out, and the trick with the seat panels facing the rear doors, so thank you again Regards KevinKtwo

Yes mine is the same, it normally covered by the bulkhead when fitted

Little bit of gaffer tape makes it look much better.

Bilbobaggins - Yes we are downsizing from a Motorhome to Campervan the most important question was where to store the essential Gaffertape 

I thought lithium batteries were only fitted to the Anniversary  Nuevo and Anniversary  Broadway as part of the extras to those special editions and when Lithium are fitted, there is no solar panel fitted.

My gaffer tape is under driver's seat, along with tyre pump, bag with manuals, spare fuses and a multitool and compact screwdriver set.
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Hi Paulhood - Yes nothing in the literature, but this was lurking under the the bed! and I have miseread the label it is 60amp and you have now got me wondering about the solar panel all my photos of the roof are forward of the rear skylight and I believe the solar panel is at the very rear.

Paulmold wrote:I thought lithium batteries were only fitted to the Anniversary  Nuevo and Anniversary  Broadway as part of the extras to those special editions and when Lithium are fitted, there is no solar panel fitted.

I believe that all PVC's produced by A/S from Feb of this year will have Lithium batteries fitted!
Don't know about the solar panels.

Kevinktwo wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Hi Paulhood - Yes nothing in the literature, but this was lurking under the the bed! and I have miseread the label it is 60amp and you have now got me wondering about the solar panel all my photos of the roof are forward of the rear skylight and I believe the solar panel is at the very rear.

The solar panel is situated at the very rear (across the width) of the roof!

Just had it confirmed on FB group that Lithium battery and solar panel are both fitted.

Yep, our present MoHo is stored at the dealers, so had a quick check, lithium battery and solar, dealer trying to source a 2nd Battery to give us 120amps on Lithium.

Just to update, after being told by the dealer that the Warwick XL system would not cope with a larger (than 60ammp/hr) lithium battery and that they could source a second 60 amp/hr lithium battery through Autosleeper for £630, but with the caveat that if a second battery was fitted it would be at my own risk, with the likelihood of blown fuses and melted cables, due to the level of charge pulled through by lithium battery when they are being charged from at a low state of charge. (they estimate each battery will take 27 amps of charge). As I off-grid a fair amount, particularly in winter, I need about 100 of useable amps so 200ah of a conventional battery or 110 lithium, we have come to a compromise and I'm getting a 100 amp/hour lithium fitted for an additional £250, which I can live with. Thank for your help guys. Still not sure I understand Autosleepers thinking...

The 60Ah fitted by AS has an internal battery management system that limits the max charge current to 30A and the standard Sargent wiring and fusing can handle that. If you fit a larger Lithium battery you will have to add an external current limiting device to keep the charge and discharge currents below 30A.

If you want higher capacity then the most economic and effective way is to use standard Lead Acid batteries.

Thanks, Peter, do you know whether the Auto sleeper internal battery system has a thermal cut out to prevent the battery from being damaged by inadvertently charging at low temperature?

I believed that AS were going to use the 84Ah TN battery and I have the data sheet but I expect they found problems with excessive charge currents so reverted to the 60Ah.  I can find no trace of a 60Ah model thats pictured above but have found the data sheet for a 54Ah that I expect is very similar: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

The specs for the 84 and 54 are very similar except for capacity and charge/discharge currents.  Its quite clear that the battery should not be charged at temperatures below zero (as trying to do so will cause significant damage) but there is no indication that preventing an attempted charge below that temperature is prevented by the BMS.  As its very much a budget battery with only a two year warranty, I would assume there is no thermal cut out in the charge circuit (as that would also prevent discharge below zero) until seeing evidence to the contrary.

Thanks Peter, most useful, according to Autosleeper they have had a number of people dissatisfied with 60 amps and I’m not the first to have been given the 100 amp alternative…

You can only take about 50AH out of 100AH Lead Acid without drastically shortening its life but you can take 50Ah out of a 60Ah Lithium time and time again with no problem and it will replenish that 50Ah much quicker while charging. So the 60Ah Lithium is lighter and (in theory) should last for very many years and is providing a similar or slightly higher capacity to that that has been delivered with AS vans for many years.

The problem is that you can't add capacity without making major modifications to the standard wiring and charging systems that would be very costly, as is the cost of additional Lithium batteries.

surely with the 'change to lithium' and the assosciated advantages like fast charging, shouldnt the wiring be upgraded to suit the rest of the kit.
just bolting something on, at the bare minimum, doesnt seem like an integrated upgrade.
with the propensity of B2B chargers, lithium compatible mains chargers and solar controllers, all these and the infrastructure to support them is part of the 'change to lithium' isnt it?
surely we just havent got a drop in battery change and thats it?

bolero boy wrote:
surely we just havent got a drop in battery change and thats it?

Yes, that all that's changed.