RoadTripper2084

2 hours ago, lake49068 said:

This is a real reach but here goes.  We had a noise in the same general area but it was more of a bang that I initially thought was  something loose on the roof but found nothing.  Moved onto loose wiring in and over cabinets, loose cabinet panels or electronics.   Resecured everything, added bracing in the cabinets but the noise continued.  FINALLY noticed during a washing that the front door awning support arm had left a mark on the coach body...it was flopping/banging against the coach wall.  The velcro "dot" that holds the support arm in the awning arm channel had aged out allowing the arm to bang against the side wall.   Secured both support arms with short velcro straps and no more noise.  That "repair" took a year+...

Similar scenario here, though it only took me a few months to determine what was causing the issue. 🙂 

I could actually see the awning arm moving against the coach in my side mirror as well.

6 hours ago, RoadTripper2084 said:

40-60% for long term storage is ideal. 

You don't want to leave them completely drained for very long ("I usually turn inverter and charger off when stored and they drop down about 1% every 24-36 hours.  Just minor parasitic DC loads.").  I remove mine for the winter and leave it in the garage to protect it from extreme cold temps as well (Canada, eh).  They can sit disconnected for 6 months and lose about 1% of their state of charge. Amazing.

...and the project's not done until you remove that fugly plastic over the screen!  🙂

 

In fact I just re-installed the battery into the coach this morning.  Here is the before/after view of the battery state from when I removed it in October and today:

Interestingly the battery "gained" 0.03v in storage. 😎  

Perhaps the long rest did it good?  😉

40-60% for long term storage is ideal. 

You don't want to leave them completely drained for very long ("I usually turn inverter and charger off when stored and they drop down about 1% every 24-36 hours.  Just minor parasitic DC loads.").  I remove mine for the winter and leave it in the garage to protect it from extreme cold temps as well (Canada, eh).  They can sit disconnected for 6 months and lose about 1% of their state of charge. Amazing.

...and the project's not done until you remove that fugly plastic over the screen!  🙂

Now I am curious and want to read the bad and dangerous advice.  😉

12 hours ago, Bill C said:

Hi Bob, thanks for the info. I am considering "easter egging" the parts on this control board.

In which order would you try replacing the components?

I'm attaching a pic of the board for reference.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks,

Bill

I'd start with the capacitors, diode, and transistors. Resistors don't usually fail and when they do they tend to be burned up in appearance. 

On 4/19/2024 at 3:52 PM, Martinvz said:

We covered the rupture with a piece of paper towel and then wrapped it with magic tape (duck tape) to minimize fluid leaks. 

I'm assuming you meant to slow leaks while there was zero pressure in the lines?  I don't see how duct tape is going to keep a pressurized hydraulic line from losing all its fluid immediately?

8 hours ago, 96 EVO said:

Here's a Borg inner dually long stem installed.

So that's the inner dually valve stem poking out of the outer dually wheel, correct? So easy to access.

On 2/17/2024 at 5:00 PM, JDCrow said:

I’ve had the floor down for a year now and just haven’t been able to get over the “hump” of the engine cover. 
 

I’ve seen a few here with some trim on the edges, and it kinda stuck out a bit. Buddy said let him try something, and it worked insanely well. 
 

He heated and formed the plank for perfect corners. 
 

Here’s the progress 

He did a test 90 angle 

Fantastic!  I love the sleek modern look that provides, and no sharp corners to slam your shins into. 🙂

15 hours ago, 96 EVO said:

You're lucky!

Seen on the news back in Nov or Dec, a guy purchased a used Kia EV, and shortly after the purchase, his battery went.

Kia wanted to charge him about $50,000 CAD for a replacement. 

He scrapped the car! 

I will say that I've found 3/4 KIA dealers I've had the displeasure of dealing with to be simply awful.  They will quote you outrageous prices for work on these 1st gen cars, they clearly don't want to do the work.  I would never buy another KIA for this reason.

Having said that, you can purchase a new battery pack for this car now for $12,348.63 USD - Kia Part Store .  You can also purchase a refurbished used battery pack (like the one I have) for far less $1595USD.

But then if you pay KIA to install it you'll get soaked for sure. I've taken to using local shops for my stuff if it's off warranty, much easier to deal with (or doing it myself). It's just nuts and bolts and far simpler and easier than working on a DP. 😉

Also, careful what the media chooses to elevate as a story, they are always looking for the outrageous vs the boring and typical situations.

2 hours ago, Dr4Film said:

To add-on to my previous post about Borg Tire Stems here are photos of the kit that I purchased to install on the dynasty wheels when switching to new tires. The dually kit is called DL4M which includes the long straight one piece stems, the "donuts" for support of the long stems and a set of the short angles stems for the outside duals.

The tag stems are in a separate zip-loc bag. They are at a specific angle so they don't interfere with the large chrome cover hub on that wheel. I believe they are the same ones that go onto the outside wheel on the dualies.

I also included a photo of the current stems on my tag axle wheels.

 

Can you post a picture of what the inside dually stem looks like when mounted as well?

I find this entire subject of tire stem extenders, etc. to be very confusing, for some reason. More pictures and less words always helps. 🙂

11 minutes ago, 96 EVO said:

What did the new battery cost you?

Nothing. It was covered under warranty. Also it wasn't a brand-new battery pack, but rather a reconditioned one, where they test each cell and then replace the bad ones and balance the pack, etc.

2 hours ago, John C said:

Sorry totally forgot to switch my Brower I will remember it next time.

My previous coach I was using 24v battery system( the coach is still 12v system) that is why I have the 24v Victroninverter/charger

Wouldn't it make more sense to go to a 48v system then?  Aren't there far more options in terms of batteries and other components for 48v than 24v?

15 minutes ago, JDCrow said:

Yes, but what does your Xantrax have? Sorry I not responding quickly. If you quote me in your response, I’m alerted that I need to get off my butt

So the only issue I have run into with the DC-DC charger is for those who run their genset while underway to power the ACs. You will have to turn the Dc-Dc charger off if you run the genset and engine at the same time. You would be essentially charging the batteries from 2  different sources at the same time. My Victron shut completely down and stated I had a “ripple” which I dug into but really only understood that the two chargers interfered with each other and the System just shut down to protect its self. 
 

Turning Dc~Dc off is easy in the Victron App

That is interesting, I remember when you posted about that previously.  With my rig, I have not seen that issue, but I am using the older Heart Interface 2000 converter with a Renogy 60A DC-DC charger.  One time I checked my BMS app and I was charging the battery at a full 160A using both the converter and DC-DC charger.  I would have assumed that the converter might cut out when it detected the higher voltage on the line put out by the DC-DC, and indeed, it probably does eventually. So this issue might be specific to a particular setup.  In any case, easy enough to manage by turning off the converter charger when underway if necessary (or the DC-DC if your has a way to do that easily).

AZ Expert just posted a timely video showing how he did his conversion on his 2000? Beaver, while keeping his OEM Magnun inverter.

Note that people in the comments have noted issues with the reliability of the Lithium Battery Isolation Manager he uses causes their house and chassis batteries to become fully drained, so I would recommend going the DC-DC charger route instead.

https://youtu.be/-3sHpgQK2R4

As an off-topic counter-point, I bought a heavily abused 2016 KIA Soul EV+ from a Copart (wrecker) auction in 2019 for $8900 Cdn.  I had no idea what the actual mileage was, but it had been used as a taxi in Montreal and had a missing side window and a dented passenger door. lol.

I knew the EV system warranty was good for 10 years or 170,000 KMs, so I took the chance that it would be less mileage than that (and it was, barely).

Long story short, I had it shipped on a truck across the country to Alberta and when I went to pick it up from the lot it wouldn't "start". Basically nothing worked. A few minutes searching through the fuse box showed some missing fuses and a very important relay. Got those, and boom, car ran fine!  Oh, and the window was just stuck in the down position, was able to pull it up a few inches and it works fine. 😎

After 2 days of intensive cleaning/shampooing/detailing it became my daily driver.  Back when I was commuting to the office everyday I calculated it cost me 5X less to pay for the electricity at home to charge it each night vs gas in my previous vehicle (manual transmission RAV4).  It has a max range of about 130km (90 miles) in the summer and maybe 90 km (60 miles) in the worst case winter conditions.  Which is still enough for all but the longest trips I would take just running around town.  I don't use it for roadtrips. Range-anxiety?!  I like to call it "range anticipation!" 😉 

In 2020 I had the battery replaced under factory warranty due to degradation, these 1st gen KIA EVs had some issues in that dept. The new stuff is far more advanced in terms of not just battery chemistry but also cooling/heating systems, charging logic, etc.

Car is so quiet I can hear the brake callipers snapping shut when stopping at lights, and I can pull away from just about anything when the light turns green - love it!

My rig is an older model (97) and is quite different in terms of where and how the two battery circuits are connected. I didn't have a BiRD board, so my house batteries were connected to both:

• the Big Boy solenoid which only engaged when the "Boost" button was pressed on the dash to provide temporary connection between the two circuits.
• the oem battery isolator, which as far as I understood it would connect the circuits when the onboard charger was charging, but not certain of its actual implementation (it was  basically a couple of large diodes, I believe).

I believe with your system the BiRD board decides when to connect the house circuit to the chassis and then uses the Big Boy solenoid to actually make the connection. Though I am certainly not sure about this.

In any case, your thinking above sounds logical to me, disabling the BiRD, or perhaps even just the Big Boy solenoid, by disconnecting the control wire(s) should be sufficient (and easily undone). Then installing the DC-DC charger between the two battery circuits directly.

If you have any rooftop solar panels you'll also want to confirm how they are connected.  On mine if I remember correctly the panel/charger was wired to both circuits originally, I believe, but I moved it to solely charge the chassis batteries.

You will want to confirm this configuration by checking the relevant wiring diagrams for you coach, and then once you have disabled the BiRD/Big Boy solenoid via verifying that you see no voltage spike on the chassis batteries when the house batteries are being charged via your converter (when plugged in to shore power or via the generator running). You can do this with your existing house batteries in place, before you swap them out. The voltage of the chassis batteries should not change when charging the house batteries via the converter. Similarly, before installing the DC-DC charger, but with the BiRD/Big Boy disabled, when driving you should see the voltage spike on the chassis batteries due to being charged by the alternator, but no change on the house batteries which should now be completely disconnected from the chassis circuit.

Here's a write-up I did when I converted Blue Thunder to a single 280Ah LiFePO4 battery you might find of interest (on that other forum):

Setup Overview

• Removed the lead-acid 8D house batteries and installed a new self-assembled 280Ah LiFePO4 battery, with 200A Bluetooth-enabled BMS next to the converter/inverter in the service bay (indoors, heated).
• Disconnected the house circuit completely from the chassis batteries. This involved removing the oem battery isolator, chassis battery maintainer, and the "big boy" boost solenoid (used to boost the chassis battery from the house battery) from the rear engine bay electrical panel.
• Kept the oem Freedom Model 20 Inverter/Converter (2000w, 100A 3-stage battery charger, no Lithium charge profile), set it to use its lowest voltage gel battery charge profile (14.1v absorption, 13.8v float, no equalization).
• Installed a 60A Renogy DC-DC charger in the rear electrical panel, between the chassis batteries and the house battery circuits (200A alternator connected to the chassis batteries).
• Rewired the oem 80w solar panel to charge the chassis batteries, instead of the house batteries (keeps the chassis batteries charged will parked).

Pros

• The battery output is amazingly stable, no flickering or dimming of lights when high loads are turned on or off, unlike with the lead acid batteries.
• The battery output amperage is amazing. We can run our microwave or convection oven for 30mins to bake pizzas for dinner without issue. The only thing we don't run off the battery are the rooftop A/C units, and the electric hot water heat (use propane instead).
• The battery charges quickly, easily recharging during a travel day off the 60A DC-DC charger, and even faster (100A) when plugged in or running the generator. One time when travelling we had the generator running to operate the A/Cs and were getting a combined 160A charging from both the DC-DC and converter.
• In normal to warm weather the battery remains at optimal usage temps. generally between 20c and 30c in the service bay, even when it is cooler outside.
• The bluetooth BMS is a must-have for this simple configuration. With it I can monitor charge/discharge cycles/values, set warning notifications for certain events (cell over/under-charge cutoff, high/low temp cutoff, etc.). I am also able to manually disable charging using the app. if I want the battery to remain at say 70% charge because the coach will be parked for a week or two until the next use. I can also completely disable the battery input/output for storage. Without the BMS, I'd need to add a smart shunt, at the least.
• Using the tiny 80A (when it was new, 25 years ago!) solar panel to charge the chassis battery is working really nicely, at least in the peak summer months. I can park the rig, leave the chassis battery disconnect connected, and not worry about the chassis battery dying (of course, I can't leave the headlights on or anything with load).
• With the house battery installed next to the converter in the service bay I am able to repurpose it's tray in the semi-sheltered battery compartment which I now use for storing extra fluids (oil, anti-freeze, etc.) and filters.

Cons / Issues

• When I first configured the Freedom 20 converter/inverter I used a lightly higher voltage charge profile; 14.4v absorption, 13.8v float. This caused a couple of high-temp shutoff events on the BMS itself, reaching 80.6c. It also had a cell high voltage cutoff event. I think the BMS could use improved airflow over its cooler for sure. Lowering the inverter charge voltage profile to 14.1v absorption, 13.8v float has eliminated both of those issued thus far.
• The way the Freedom 20 converter works, when plugged in to shore or generator power, it actually doesn't provide 12v DC power other than via the battery charger. So if I manually turn off the charger, all 12v DC power is supplied from the battery alone. If I charge the battery and leave the charger on, it reduces the 12v DC output from the battery to 0 amps while it is charging, but eventually it lowers or stops charging current enough that the battery is once again providing the bulk of the 12v DC power. This isn't a deal-breaker, but it does mean I need to keep at least a half-open eye on my battery charge level while plugged in for multiple days in a row and eventually initiate the charger to recharge it. I suppose the converter would automatically enter a new charge cycle when the battery voltage got low enough, but I haven't witnessed this occurring yet so am not certain that it would do so before the BMS low-voltage cutoff would kick in.
• Having no boost solenoid means that I have no way to charge the chassis battery from the house battery. The solar panel negates this requirement, at least so far in the summer months. If I ever do flatten the chassis battery by leaving the headlights on or something, I can use jumper cables to provide a boost charge to the chassis to try to recover them before attempting to start as a temporary measure. Or get a boost from another vehicle/toad vehicle.

Overall I'm very pleased with my results thus far. The system is probably slightly more labour intensive in terms of my needing to manage the battery via the BMS app regularily than a complete new install with smart shunts, proper modern LiFePO4 charger, etc. would be (or maybe those would be worse, actually?), but I don't mind it at all and I love the attributes of the LiFeP04 battery (100% charge/discharge, zero physical maintenance, fast charge/discharge, stable output even under load, etc. etc.)
 

I also was able to secure my desired reservations in Banff yesterday morning, after waiting for 1hr 13 mins for my turn.  The wait time estimate grew as time went on as I presume the number of available sites decreased and each person took longer on their turn to find sites that worked for them (or not). I was thinking that maybe we'd be out of luck this year, but was pleasantly surprised.

At one point they paused the queue, not sure if the system crashed or they were just giving it some breathing room.  Considering the large problem they are trying to solve I think it worked out okay and is a relatively fair process. 

I had this happen to me after a rest stop last summer. Looked online and was quickly reminded that the transmission will lockout "D" if the idle is too fast (pretty sure it displayed a code to that effect as well).  My mistake, was fast idling and forgot about it.

Not sure how your steering wheel works but on my rig I find it's far easier/more comfortable to control in strong crosswinds, for example, if the wheel is close to horizontal and my hands are resting at 10 and 2 o clock, vs nearly vertical as in your video. 

In decent conditions I usually drive with my left hand only, but I have the TRW steering box and almost no slack in the wheel.

My experience from a previous thread:

10 minutes ago, Ivan K said:

How did you manage to totally isolate the house and chassis grounds? That would sound like a huge effort and why?

Sorry, I overstated my "isolation" lol.  The grounds are of course common to the frame.  My Renogy is made for common ground system between the two battery banks.

I use the Renogy 60A DC-DC and it's worked great the last two seasons. I have my house and chassis battery circuits isolated in my coach, so the DC-DC is the only bridge between the two (takes charge from chassis and uses it to charge house while driving).

On 11/4/2023 at 3:25 PM, JDCrow said:

Thanks everyone, 

As far as the accident, we were headed north on Hwy 95 about 40 mil out of Hawthorne, where we were stopping for the night. 
 

Was driving along and saw 3 semis in a row. The last one came over into our lane to pass the other two. I moved over has fast as I could, hit the gravel and as the truck was going by us the edge pavement must have caught the jeep and we veered out of control and hit the trailer axles head on.  It spun us around and snapped the hitch so the jeep came around and stuck the passenger side as well. 
 

2 trucks left, the one that hit us went 1/2 mile and couldn’t go any further as we broke his axles from the frame. Jerk (I’m being nice) never got out of his truck to even see if we were alive. 

Absolutely the stuff of nightmares.  So glad that you came out of it without apparent serious injuries.  Absolutely get legal council on this, you could have debilitating issues months down the line, and in any case, this guy could have killed you. Unbelievable that he didn't come to check on the situation, I hope the cops drug tested him, sounds like he something to hide. 

Yes, that is the same as the unit I posted a pic of above on mine as well.