Rocketman3

One video you should probably watch is YouTube AZExpert

This Video he talks about installing. He says next weeks will be all about the stuff he does so it charges correctly. He is an RV repair guy in AZ.  He has a Beaver about our same age.

One thing about Dc-Dc charger - mine is a 30amp - which makes it really slow to recharge if the battery is down a ways - 300 ah down divided by 30amps = 10 hrs of drive time - way too much. But it does help.  This summer Victron will have one that is 50amp.

If you put in a Victron Multiplus inverter/charger - it will charge at like 100 or 120amps - which on my 544ah battery is about .2C rate - I don’t want to charge any faster than that - and I still have solar going in. So if you go that route you won’t need a charger.

What batteries are you getting?

Issue#2 - the bms will not help with this.  Because the charging from the alternator is 14.4-ish that is below the bms overvoltage cutoff- so the cells keep “overcharging”. This is very hard - but not deadly to the lithium battery.

Issue#3 how close is close… There are some ranges that work with lithium- but the float must be within the proper range (as the battery manufacturer states).

Here is what I did:

Broke the electric connection so my alternator doesn’t charge the lithium - later added a Victron Dc-Dc charger.

My inverter had died so I replaced it with a Victron Multiplus 12/3000 - fully adjustable lithium settings are included.

solar - used Victron smartsolar mppt’s- they work great.

Boost - haven’t needed it yet - but the plan is to just use it to recharge the battery.

Generator - mine came attached to the engine battery - if my generator is on and I start the MotorHome - it kills the generator (and that is hard on the generators electronics).

I use the Victron Bmv712 for the monitoring.

With Lithium batteries (in MotorHomes) there are several issues you need to solve (there are several solutions for each issue).

Overall, you need at least one good charging source that charges the battery how it wants.

Issue#1.  The alternator … in most MotorHomes the alternator is connected to the house battery with thick cables through either a BIRD or a dual charger (w/a Duvac alternator).  The issue is the battery (when low) can take massive numbers of amps and you can overheat the alternator. This can destroy the alternator.

Issue#2. Alternator pt2. If your house battery is full and your drive is not, you could be charging the lithium battery at 14.4-ish volts when it is full for hours on end.  This is very hard on the lithium battery.

Issue#3. 120v Charger. Your 120v charger may or may not have a lithium setting. If no lithium setting you may need to replace or accept a different charging strategy.  Make sure the temperature compensation and equalization are both turned OFF.  One issue is when at an RV park the float charge on many chargers is too high.

issue#4 solar. Your solar because it is on all the time should have the lithium setting.

Issue#5 Boost starting. Many MotorHome have a boost feature - where you can use the house to help start the big diesel engine. The FET’s in the bms cannot handle the large amp draw of the engine starting. You can hit the boost to “recharge” the engine battery, but be sure and turn it off before trying to start the big engine.

Issue#6 generator. Many generators use the house battery to start - others use the chassis. You may need to move it, or have a large enough bms (usually several batteries in parallel) to handle the start.  

Issue#7 - monitoring. The old 4 led battery monitor will no longer work. You should have a shunt based battery monitor. I use a Victron BMV712 (or Smartshunt), Magnum also has a shunt.

Good Luck

I have the gen2 dish.  $145/month (Grandfatherd resident plan + mobility - basically the same as Roaming plan).

it is usually on a ladder pole mount. 

I think the in-motion plan requires a much more expensive plan.  

I have been using it for a while - as long as we are not under a lot of trees - it works great!

After you get the emergency of a charge into the battery…

you need to figure out why that happened.  You probably have a “BIRD” system that is supposed to keep both sets of batteries charged.  You probably need to troubleshoot it.  

If you start the generator - are both batteries being charged?

if you plug the rig into shore power (15amps is fine) are both batteries being charged?

And then, when your big diesel motor is running- are both batteries being charged?

Maybe make it from wood (3/8”plywood - then put fiberglass on it - like if it was for a boat.

There are a couple of RV salvage yards that may be able to help too.

If your old screen (brother) is nearby…

call some local glass installation companies- the ones that repair glass windows.  Using the old one as a template- they may be able to make a nice new one for you.

We full-time in our RV. I have 1400w of solar. Plenty in summer - spring & fall usually it’s enough- winter it’s barely enough in AZ with panels tilted. 
 

A lot depends where you live. You could buy a  large solar charge controller and wire it up to your rig - then if you ever need it (have instructions already figured out) unplug part of the house and plug into the rig.  As was said above - a lot depends on how your house solar is engineered - it could be easy - it could be difficult. 
 

you could also look into adding a house battery- then on normal days - charge battery during the day - then use battery in the evening and night.

Good Luck

Go talk to a few (Not-Cummins) Diesel mechanics in your area.  They may be slow right now because the farming is in winter so you may be able to get them to do the install.

Good Luck

I would not put solid wire 12-2 romex into the movement part of the slide.

Our Marine neighbors use a stranded 12ga for 110v wire (the kind that is rated for high voltage). I don’t know the letter codes. I think a 12 ga “extension cord” would be much better than romex.

I installed the Fisher-Paykel counter depth fridge in my 2000 Dynasty - we really like the fridge. Got it special ordered from Best Buy. 
 

For install - I had to drop the furnace 3-1/2” - it was mounted on the 2x4 - so I removed the 2x4 put in on the floor fixed the inlet and exhaust- then I could lower the shelf and the fridge would fit.

to keep it in place added some blocking on the sides and top - so it can only slide in and not tip in or out. Also I added a 3/4” piece of plywood under the back between the wheels. Then when the fridge was in place drove screws through the bottom metal fridge plate into the wood. It has held great!

a little trim on the sides and it looks good

My brother-in-law is an appliance repair guy and I asked him his opinion on the Samsung and Fisher& Paykel - he said stay away from Samsung… and you will love the Fisher &Paykel until you have to order parts - then it will take a while.

good luck

The reasons I put on Ez starts on my A/C’s is we have been in several parks when we want the air conditioner- but when the compressor kicks in- it drops the voltage low enough the transfer switch kills the power. Very frustrating…

Yesterday, I installed the Ez start in our oem dometic unit. (I get the Bluetooth style), because it is cold I used the heat pump for the 5 starts. My first start used 27.4a for the startup and the final one used 15.3a. This unit is old enough- I didn’t put in on when I put the first on on - but I found I really like them. And I can easily pull it off when I replace the unit.

we often find ourselves staying at relatives houses - with the ez start and our Victron Multiplus inverter we can run the bedroom A/C while plugged into a 15a cord and only drawing 10amps of it.

On the EZ start - I put it on one A/C (Rec-Pro 3800).  The initial start up surge went from 27.9 amps to 16.5 amps.

I remember he used the “most” popular commercial penetration spray (don’t remember now what it was).

I don’t remember what he used to break loose the bolts. 

At our last annual service the tech noticed the carbon indicator that 2 of the gaskets had failed.  
 

I had him order (all 6) them in and replace them- he put penetration oil on them as soon as I gave him the go signal- then more the next morning - then more just as he started the job when parts arrived (abt noon). No broken bolts! Yea!

Good Luck

One other issue of having the shore on and then starting the generator is when the transfer happens the sign waves of the power will not be in sync and probably not even close. (The same thing when running the generator then shutting it down and the transfer switch immediately switches back to grid).

While this will be fine for some loads - it can cause problems for other items - especially stuff with computer chips in them.

Just after I bought my rig -83kmiles the mechanic noticed the lift pump was leaking- had him replace it.

At about 100k I installed the FASS lift pump. I also installed two fuel pressure gauges on the fuel lines after all the fuel filters. A mechanical one to read in the engine bay, and one to display at the driver seat.  I really like the gauges… it lets me know what fuel pressures are being fed to the engine and if/when I need to replace the fuel filters.

Good Luck

My drivers map light is on the dash lights circuit.

to turn it on it is like a “dome” light in a car. Turn the dash lights brightness all the way up - then it clicks on.

Your may be different.

Good Luck

Electric blankets don’t use much power.  I find we use less power in the winter by having the electric blanket on at whatever comfort setting we want and have the furnace low. The furnace uses much more power - especially when it keeps coming on at night.

I changed out my inverter to a Victron Multiplus 3000 (plus 540ah of lithium batteries). We run everything we want  - microwave, computers, etc.  Our only limits are air conditioner is limited to one hour - then need to start the generator.

Good Luck

That is a good tip…

Because we boondock a LOT! We have an extra pump but I have it setup so I can pump water into the MotorHome- we carry a couple of 4gal jugs and a 50 gallon bladder - it fits in the back of the Jeep. Bonus - if we have leftover water in our bladder we can wash the Jeep out in the boonies.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions.  From what I can tell, the fabricators don’t make a replacement for the Volvo football tanks.
 

There was a different tank that was discontinued that they make - the big difference is how they bolt on - I would have to weld new brackets to use the nice alum tanks.

i decided to go with @veraken idea and just ordered a new tank from Amazon. I also got some JB WELD and added it all around the cap area. That’s where they have been leaking - I figure some extra support for the plastic might be helpful.

If this fix doesn’t work - I will get the alum custom ones and figure out the welding brackets.

Thanks for all the help.

I just had my whole cool-pac replaced (radiator,CAC, & Hydraulic radiator). Source Engineering ordered it in & also I had them do it in Oregon.  It runs a LOT cooler now!

Mail. Escapees has a full - time mail service. You send your mail there (Fl or Tx), when they get a piece of mail for you they scan the envelope and email you - you then tell them to open &scan it. Then you tell them to discard or save it. Occasionally you give them an address and they mail all your saved mail to you. That’s my understanding- we currently “moved back in with my parents”. Lol. So we are in the mail by relatives. But several of our Full-time friends use mail forwarding service.

Only you can answer the - keep what you have or get a new one. My opinion is every time we have been in a newer one, I like my setup and quality better.

Since you are going full-time:

consider adding a bunch of solar - especially if you plan on boondocking a bunch.  (We have gone from 800w to 1200 to 1400 to 1500w of solar).

Also consider putting in a Residential fridge.

Lithium batteries have been very nice for us too.  
 

Good Luck - I hope you enjoy it - we do. Full-time for 2-1/2 years.

For the vehicle- we got a Jeep JK Wrangler- then have done a bunch of stuff to it to make it better for us. Lifted- bigger tires- Roof Rack, Replaced front bumper (for towing brackets). Outfitted for camping in it. We keep our bicycles inside the Jeep (keeps them nice and out of the weather). BBQ & stepladder ride on the roof rack.

The Jeep is easy to attach to flat tow. Hook up tow bar, attach safety cables, attach breakaway cable, attach light electrical cable, attach air cable (AirForce1 brake system). And put the jeeps transfer case in neutral. Verify all steps and done. About 5 min total.

I wonder if that happened on my rig?

Mine has never worked…

a few days ago I pulled out a plastic air deflector and found the wires were neatly cut. 
 

I recrimped them and now the light works- we will see if it works too well.

This is just an FYI…

On my 23 year old rig a lot of the lights were dim- running lights - tail lights,etc.  So I have replaced them with LED Lights. Over the last couple of years, I have replaced all the lower running lights and tail lights (turn, brake, running).  I like the LED’s from M4 products- the 1157 bulb is really bright. 
 

However, all of a sudden the turn lights were not working correctly when the headlights were on.

Each side of my taillights are two (GM?) taillights (one of them is upside down) - so I have two bulbs per side. 
 

I figured out that with one or two regular 1157 bulb - it was working correctly but with two LED bulbs - it was wacko.  I think the flasher circuit just needs more draw than all LED will provide.

10 hours ago, Ingram Ranch said:

how hard is it to clean the smartwheel contact ring?   

There are 2 different “Smartwheel’s”.

Mine (a 2000 year) is a 2-wire - does not have lighted pads. For this one, you put the steering wheel flat and raise it up all the way - unsnap the plastic coverings around the column. You will see a brass(?) ring with a couple of electrical contacts - as you lay on the floor and look underneath the steering wheel. I clean the ring with a spray electronics cleaner and a Q-Tip. I also use the electrical cleaner and spray and clean each electric joint for the smartwheel controller as I plug them back in.

If you have lighted pads 4-wire then you have an electric ribbon in the steering wheel - and you just replace it.

My understanding- if I understand everything correctly is: The smartwheel controller sends 5v to the steering wheel- then when you press a button it drops the voltage and the controller senses the voltage drop and activates the appropriate device for that voltage. What I think is happened is somewhere the 5v voltage is fluctuating and the controller thinks it’s time to activate the wipers.  It seems to get better (for a while) after I clean all the electrical connections- but then it happens again.