Dave Carter & Associates Bringing New Lithium Technology to Market - RVBusiness

GOSHEN, Ind. – The excitement in Mike Mohr’s voice is palpable as he describes the latest technology Dave Carter and Associates hopes to bring to RV OEMs later this year: a DCX power solution from Australia-based OZXCorp. increase.

Mohr, sales manager at Carter, a leading supplier of fixtures, wiring and electrical components to the RV and manufactured housing industry since 1978, said his company and Australia-based OZXCorp have partnered to He explained that he would bring new technology to the United States.

Headquartered in Ocala, Florida and operating 11 distribution centers nationwide, including a 300,000-square-foot facility in Goshen, Indiana, Carter will be the exclusive multi-year distributor of DCX.

“It’s a plug-and-play solution designed from the ground up,” says Mohr. “The battery itself has been benchmarked as the lightest complete solution available. It’s completely self-managing.It’s technically bulletproof.”

OZXCorp co-founder Andrew Huett and his family are avid campers and have designed DCX power solutions to “drive the next generation of RVs with innovative, market-leading solutions that enhance the end-user experience.” improves and simplifies the manufacturer’s lifecycle, according to information provided by the company,

When Mohr says “robust”, the specs he’s talking about are:

The controller includes a 6,000 Watt AC inverter and a 4,000 Watt MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) solar controller. Currently configured for the 32 amp Australian market, the US version provides up to 60 amps at 120 volts continuous single phase. It also features his second set of MC4 (multi-contact 4mm diameter) connectors for up to a total of 8,000 watts under MPPT controllers.

“The system comes with two different battery packs,” Mohr explains. “Here’s the big one at 14.3 kW (290 lbs). The smaller version is 7.1 kW (150 lbs). It’s a complete electrified solution. Battery pack, brain, all harnesses, safety labels, instructions. It includes a manual, a digital display for the battery management system, all in one package.”

At 14.3 kilowatts and 12 volts conversion, the big battery produces 1,360 ampere hours. A small battery provides 650 ampere hours.

According to Moll, the battery management system won’t let it die completely. The controller sends a warning that the system is approaching critical levels and automatically shuts down, but reserves enough power for critical systems such as heat. Eventually it shuts down completely when not connected to solar or shore power.

The battery is designed to attach to the chassis of a travel trailer, with 6 mounting points designed into the build. The battery he is IP67 rated (water and dust proof), has crumpled zones and is intended to be mounted inside the frame rails alongside the black and gray tanks under the floor.

The controller needs to be accessible to the user, so it should be installed somewhere in the living space along with the digital display.

This compares to the largest offering in the RV power solutions space today with 100, 200 or 300 amp hour batteries and 3,000 watt inverters.

“So they try a similar solution by daisy-chaining 300-amp-hour batteries and combining some 3,000-watt inverters, but at that point there are a lot of installation and connection issues. Chassis mount the battery Kit is a box with the battery and a box with the inverter/converter Third box includes all harnesses No cutting or crimping required All safe Just connect placards and stickers, owner’s manuals, digital displays and everything.”

Technology inside the battery includes a floating ground system, dual jewel fire extinguisher, double pull and double fuse protection.

“Only certain types of blunt instruments can really damage this battery,” Mohr says. “But if you cut that harness completely, you’d blow the fuse inside.”

The system is designed to take off-grid to the extreme, providing a solution that allows RVers to be pulled from onshore power indefinitely if enough solar panels are used.

DCX has already been used in the ERV, a travel trailer billed as “the world’s first all-electric caravan” by Australian-based manufacturer Retreat Caravans. A 2,400-watt solar panel comes standard on top of the ERV.

“What do you want to do with it? How off-grid do you want it to be? How independent of the park posts do you want it to be?” Mohr asked. “For maximum efficiency, you want as much sunlight on your roof as possible. Then you don’t have to worry about running this too low and shutting it down.”

Mohr last week brought a fully charged unit to the RV Hall supplier show and demonstrated it by repeatedly running high-amperage small appliances like toasters and hair dryers.He did the same demonstration all week and even scheduled a follow-up. RV business The unit was on Thursday (October 6th) and the battery was still at 90% charge.

“There is nothing like this on the market,” says Mohr. “There are attempts to create this type of solution, but this one is designed from the ground up to provide this type of efficiency in electrical environments, using lithium power to provide both AC and DC electricity. It’s the first solution ever made.”

Mohr and Huett are now working with the Underwriters Laboratory and RV Industry Association to resolve any potential compliance issues and hope to bring the system to the US market by the end of the year.

price? For now, Mohr has to admit it’s not cheap.

“There’s not much to benchmark this on,” he said. “This is much smarter than two 3,000-watt inverters. In this example, the solar panel is wired to the hot side of the bus, so it goes from the top into the power system, and the rest goes to the battery through the inverter. It charges the battery instead of being pushed into the .. it’s more efficient so you can maximize its energy.This is actually a more affordable option when benchmarking against other systems I think.”