Drew Callahan · July 29, 2026
A battery monitor is only as honest as its shunt wiring. The one rule that decides whether your state-of-charge reading means anything, and the programming steps people skip.
Drew Callahan · July 29, 2026
Cable gauge answers two separate questions and most people only ask one. How ampacity and voltage drop differ, why the fuse protects the wire rather than the device, and how close to the battery it has to sit.
Drew Callahan · July 29, 2026
Wiring a lithium house bank straight to the alternator either undercharges it or cooks the alternator. What a DC-DC charger actually does differently, and how to size one.
Drew Callahan · June 11, 2026
Eighteen months ago, I was sitting in a Walmart parking lot in Tucson, watching my inverter shut down mid-dinner because my AGM batteries had given up again. That was the moment I decided enough was enough. I’d been researching a…
Drew Callahan · May 21, 2026
I’ve spent enough mornings elbow-deep in the battery compartment of a Chinook Bayside that I can practically diagnose its power problems by sound alone. The click-click-click of a dying lead-acid bank trying to crank the inverter. The way the lights dim halfway through coffee because the voltage sags as soon as the compressor kicks in. … Read more
Drew Callahan · May 21, 2026
Mess up a lithium battery swap on a Melbourne and you’ll spend the next three weeks troubleshooting a system that won’t charge, won’t discharge, and leaves you stranded with zero margin for error in the field. I’ve watched owners install a lithium bank that’s technically compatible on paper but fundamentally incompatible in practice — dropped … Read more
Drew Callahan · May 20, 2026
I’m looking at the battery terminals on my Galleria right now — corrosion creeping up the cable lugs, voltage sagging to 10V by dinner time, and the alternator spinning its wheels trying to keep up. That’s what a lead-acid bank in an RV tells you after a few seasons of real use: you’ve hit the … Read more
Drew Callahan · May 20, 2026
“Drew, I’m looking at this Thor Dazzle with what the seller says is a lithium battery setup, but the wiring looks sketchy and I can’t tell if it’s actually safe or just a ticking time bomb.” That’s the conversation I had with a friend last spring, and it’s the exact reason I pull the battery … Read more
Drew Callahan · May 19, 2026
I’ve got the Aterra’s battery box open and I’m staring at what was supposed to be a state-of-the-art lithium setup. The charge controller’s readout doesn’t match the battery voltage. The inverter’s cutting out under load it should handle. The wiring upstream of the main breaker is undersized—I can feel the heat on the insulation. This … Read more
Drew Callahan · May 19, 2026
A shop quote for installing a 12V lithium battery system on a Class B van runs $2,500 to $4,000 in labor alone—sometimes more if they have to rework your existing wiring or jury-rigged solar already in the rig. That number hung in my head the first time I sat down to map out what a … Read more
