Rick March, General Manager
Customer Relations Group

Greetings! I hope you all enjoyed your Summer. I can’t believe how quickly it flew by and we are talking about
Fall already! Unfortunately, next month I will be going over winterization and storage tips. But this month I
want to discuss Lithium batteries. We have recently created a lithium battery package for travel trailers and I
wanted to go over some of the components of this package. We get asked many questions about Lithium
batteries and what are the benefits of using them. There are many, but the two main benefits are quicker charge
rates and the ability to use 100% of the battery amps which is 100 amp hours if you are dry camping.
Remember as we have discussed in previous articles that lead acid batteries do not want you to go beneath 50%
of the amps which gives you 50 amp hours. When a lead acid battery is discharged beneath that 50% it starts to
weaken the battery and over time loses some of its ability to be charged back to full capacity.
There are many factors to consider if you are thinking of replacing your batteries with Lithium. Mainly the
convertor, and whether or not you trailer has solar charging capabilities, as the Lithium batteries will require
more voltage for optimum use. I will do my best to explain them.

Lithium Batteries
Airstream uses Battle Born Lithium batteries for replacement of the lead acid models. The model number is
BBGC2H. This is a 100 amp hour battery. It has a bulk rating charge of 14.2 to 14.6 volts with a max voltage of
14.7 and will stop charging if this voltage is exceeded. It will also shut off at a low voltage of 10 volts which
means it will stop discharging at that point. The battery has a high temperature rating of 135 degrees and will
not charge or discharge if this temperature is exceeded. The minimum temperature is 25 degrees and will not
charge below this temperature. Each Battle Born battery has an internal heater that can be wired in if you decide
to use your trailer in temperatures below 35 degrees. Remember if you wired the heater in and you decide to
store the trailer in cold temperatures you will want to disconnect the heater as it will have a draw of roughly 250
milliamps. The batteries should be stored with at least a 50% charge in them. Below are pictures of the batteries
and the heater connection.

Airstream Part Number 513862

AC to DC Converter
The converters that come standard in the travel trailers has a charge rate of 13.6 to 13.8 volts which is the
maximum charge rate for lead acid batteries. If you decide to upgrade to Lithium batteries you will need to
replace the converter to gain the charge rate needed for this type of battery.
If you have a 30 amp WFCO power center installed you can replace just the lower converter portion with
WFCO WF-8950L2-MBA to give you the charging parameters needed. If you have a 50 amp system you will
replace the converter with WFCO WF-9850L2. They are pictured below.

Airstream Part Number 513889

Airstream Part Number 513890

Solar Charge Controllers

If you have solar panels installed on your trailer you may have to change the solar charge controller and
possibly the display depending on the year and model of solar controller, you have. This can get a little more
complicated so I will explain. In 2021 model year Airstream switched the solar charging system to the Vectron
charger and display. This 3 stage charger has a dial indicator on the side that can be switched to position 7 for
Lithium batteries. Nothing will need to be replaced.

If you have a 2017 to 2020 model year trailer, Airstream installed the 40 amp Sun Explorer controller and
display. In this scenario the controller would have to be replaced with a model that has the option to choose the
battery type. Airstream part number for the updated controller is 51186-102. You can use the current display.

Current Controller and Display

Updated Controller with Battery Choice

If you have a 2016 or older trailer and it had factory solar installed, then both the controller and display will
need to be replaced.

Current 25 Amp Display and Controller

New 40 Amp Display and Controller

Display Part Number
513247-100

Controller Part Number
511846-102

Battery Storage Box
Another point to consider is the Airstream installed steel battery storage box on the front of the trailers. In 2016
model year we changed the depth of the battery storage box to 12 inches deep. At that time many owners were
switching the batteries over to 6 volt batteries so the deeper box allowed them to fit. The Battle Born Lithium
batteries will also fit in this box. Prior to 2016 model year the battery box measures 8 ¼ inches deep so the
battery box would need to be replaced to fit the larger Lithium batteries.

Prior to 2016 Model Year

2016 Model Year and Newer

Lithium Charging Notice

The last point I will bring up is safety. If you decide to upgrade your system to the Lithium batteries, we
recommend that you put a Notice sticker directly on the batteries. This will ensure that anyone who comes in
contact with your batteries can be made aware that the charging system has been upgraded and only Lithium
batteries can be installed. With the higher voltage converter, you can damage lead acid or AGM batteries.

Part Number 386433

I would love to hear from you and if you have a suggestion or topic you would like to see covered in a future
article, or have a question just drop me a line at rmarch@airstream.com .
Have a great month!

Rick March