Today's RV time?

[dragoneggs]

In the spirit of a few other thread titles, I start this one because I recently purchased a used Class C RV. So many people are jumping into or spending more time in their RV's because in part... the pandemic. But also to see the USA!

I was going stir crazy around xmas, and after my son and DIL bought an RV this past fall, We decided to take our savings earmarked for a boat and buy a Winnebago View.

Because the market is so hot, we ended up flying to San Diego from Seattle one way to find our 'home away from home' RV and drove it back about 1300mi for its maiden (to us) voyage. What a blast to jump in an empty RV and start figuring out how you want to outfit 'her'. After almost 5 months, we have put about 6K visting the west most states while working remotely. Yes, these things are fun if you are game.

Also making lots of mods... such as solar power and lithium batteries. If anyone else wants to share share their RV adventures and mods... please dive in. Here are a few photos from the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, a BLM site at Lake Havasu, and a peek at my solar panel install.

 

[ronjhall]

In the spirit of a few other thread titles, I start this one because I recently purchased a used Class C RV. So many people are jumping into or spending more time in their RV's because in part... the pandemic. But also to see the USA!

I was going stir crazy around xmas, and after my son and DIL bought an RV this past fall, We decided to take our savings earmarked for a boat and buy a Winnebago View.

Because the market is so hot, we ended up flying to San Diego from Seattle one way to find our 'home away from home' RV and drove it back about 1300mi on its . After almost 5 months, we have put about 6K visting the west most states while working remotely. These things are fun.

Also making lots of mods... such as solar power and lithium batteries. If anyone else wants to share share their RV adventures and mods... please dive in. Here are a few photos from the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, a BLM site at Lake Havasu, and a peek at my solar panel install.

My wife and I travel the southwest with our 35' Super C for 12 years. Lots of great places to visit. We also got to meet many TBN members during those trips.

 

[square1]

Slowly doing a build out of a T350 Ford Transit high roof extended. Trying to keep it simple but accommodating, yet able to convert relatively quickly back to the cargo van it was

Visited the geographic center of the continental United States during a shake down voyage in early April.

And of course, Living in a Van Down by the River. The mighty Mississippi

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

You gotta work on your salesmanship Franken,

Call it "rustic", "rugged" or "spartan". Let's see, "cozy" that's another one the realtors like to use, and "ready for your remodeling ideas".

I think it would be easier to dispose of before you burn it. Way too much stuff will be falling out of it and flying off on the highway if you burn it before hauling it to the dump.

 

[ponytug]

Love to hear about solar / lithium. I have been looking at Nissan Leaf batteries / battery packs and thinking about a 48V replacement system for the RV, vs going whole hog and just putting in a whole 20kWh Nissan battery pack to backup the RV, and house, when needed.

We have a Renegade toterhome which I love. Easy to drive, easy to service Cat 3126, and turns easily (as in U-turn in three lanes).

All the best,

Peter

 

[oosik]

My RV is now my Taco Wagon( Ram 2500 Power Wagon ). Rear seat folds flat and with an air mattress - it's not that bad. Allows me to go places and camp where there is no competition. I've had my days with pull trailers and fifth wheel. Besides it's just me and Brownie now. Limited spaces - limited problems. More time to enjoy the outdoors.

 

[LittleBill21]

I also got a class c this summer, been on it for weeks getting it ready. I was going to go lithium but I don't think it makes sense for non full time. I guess we will see

 

[dragoneggs]

On Solar... my RV now has a modest 520W of monocrystalline panels on the roof. I removed the two OEM 100w flexible panels because of the degradation of the fiberglass under them due to the direct contact and heat. The new rigid panels are stood off the roof allowing some breathing room under them.

For the energy storage... I removed the two lead-acid coach batteries and swapped them for two 100amp-hour, LiFePO4 (lithium) batteries. This more than doubled my storage capacity since you can run your lithiums down to near zero unlike a lead acid where you start damaging it below 50% SOC (state of charge). The batteries have a built in BMS (Battery Monitor System) but I decided to add a app driven BIM (Battery Information Monitor). This allows me to easily know the state of the battery and i can quickly understand what is the current draw in real time for anything I am powering in the RV. This also will estimate days/hours of battery life and will update as my power usage changes.

A few other 'tweaks'... I swapped out the convertor for one that is lithium compatible. OEM unit would have sufficed but this allows me to fully charge the batteries from shore power or the on board diesel generator.

For best 'communication' between the new lithium batteries and the chassis battery and alternator I added two components. The first, is a Amp-L-Start that allows the lithium batteries to keep the chassis lead acid battery topped off without over charging. Note that Lithium batteries have a slightly higher voltage. The other component is a DC-DC charger that protects the alternator from damage as the Lithium batteries will suck as much current as they can and have the potential to burn up a standard sized alternator.

Been a fun project and I'm very happy with the results so far... will allow me to go unplugged much longer and I won't have to run the generator as much making for quieter camping.

 

[ponytug]

I would love to learn more of the details of your conversion. (He says, selfishly.)

All the best, Peter

 

[oosik]

I don't understand enough of what dragoneggs posted to ask an intelligent question.

 

[caver]

• When I buy a trailer my standard mods are 2 Trojan 105 6volts.
• A Bogart Engineering battery monitor.
• Blue Sea marine type switch to disconnect batteries
• Fantastic vent to replace factory joke fan. (Fantastic got bought out and I hear it isn't the company it was so i found a fan that bolts into the existing joke fan)
• Small computer fan in propane reefer to circulate air (new camper it did not seem to help so will probably take it out)
• Detachable power cord unless it came factory with one.

 

[dragoneggs]

I don't understand enough of what dragoneggs posted to ask an intelligent question.

Don't feel bad... I didn't understand what I just said when I started the project!

 

[orezok]

We’ve been trailer camping since ‘95. Only on our second trailer. First lasted 16 years and the “new” one turns 10 this week!. As we get older, our boondocking days are over so Lithium batteries are expensive and unnecessary. The trailer has become more of a guest room during the pandemic but we will still do a number of 10 day trips a year.

An interesting fact is that we bought the trailer 10 years ago for $18K +/-. We just rewrote our auto policy with the same company we have been with for almost 50 continuous years and they determined the value of the trailer is now $23K. Apparently they use some type of database to determine value. I’ve NEVER hears of a trailer that appreciated over 10 years. The good news is that the premium only increased about $50 a year so I’m good to go.

 

[dragoneggs]

I would love to learn more of the details of your conversion. (He says, selfishly.)

All the best, Peter

You are welcome to pick my brain... FWIW. If you want to take something offline you can PM me as well.

 

[dragoneggs]

We’ve been trailer camping since ‘95. Only on our second trailer. First lasted 16 years and the “new” one turns 10 this week!. As we get older, our boondocking days are over so Lithium batteries are expensive and unnecessary. The trailer has become more of a guest room during the pandemic but we will still do a number of 10 day trips a year.

An interesting fact is that we bought the trailer 10 years ago for $18K +/-. We just rewrote our auto policy with the same company we have been with for almost 50 continuous years and they determined the value of the trailer is now $23K. Apparently they use some type of database to determine value. I’ve NEVER hears of a trailer that appreciated over 10 years. The good news is that the premium only increased about $50 a year so I’m good to go.

It is a crazy RV market this past year. Supply and demand is driving up the values significantly. Also the shortage of parts/components/appliances for new OEM builds is putting additional pressure on the used market.

 

[LittleBill21]

On Solar... my RV now has a modest 520W of monocrystalline panels on the roof. I removed the two OEM 100w flexible panels because of the degradation of the fiberglass under them due to the direct contact and heat. The new rigid panels are stood off the roof allowing some breathing room under them.

For the energy storage... I removed the two lead-acid coach batteries and swapped them for two 100watt hour, LiFePO4 (lithium) batteries. This more than doubled my storage capacity since you can run your lithiums down to near zero unlike a lead acid where you start damaging it below 50% SOC (state of charge). The batteries have a built in BMS (Battery Monitor System) but I decided to add a app driven BIM (Battery Information Monitor). This allows me to easily know the state of the battery and i can quickly understand what is the current draw in real time for anything I am powering in the RV. This also will estimate days/hours of battery life and will update as my power usage changes.

A few other 'tweaks'... I swapped out the convertor for one that is lithium compatible. OEM unit would have sufficed but this allows me to fully charge the batteries from shore power or the on board diesel generator.

For best 'communication' between the new lithium batteries and the chassis battery and alternator I added two components. The first, is a Amp-L-Start that allows the lithium batteries to keep the chassis lead acid battery topped off without over charging. Note that Lithium batteries have a slightly higher voltage. The other component is a DC-DC charger that protects the alternator from damage as the Lithium batteries will suck as much current as they can and have the potential to burn up a standard sized alternator.

Been a fun project and I'm very happy with the results so far... will allow me to go unplugged much longer and I won't have to run the generator as much making for quieter camping.

pretty sure you meant 100 amp hour

 

[dragoneggs]

pretty sure you meant 100 amp hour

Yep typo... fixed. Thank you.

 

[dmccarty]

I have been looking at solar, chargers, inverters, LiFePo, etc., for use on a boat we would like to build. Same system would work on the house though not sure it makes money sense.

Any who, be careful with "lithium" batteries. There are different lithium chemistries used for "lithium" batteries. Many of these lithium chemistries will burn and burn and burn. Putting out a fire in these batteries is problematic. The only lithium battery I would use for the house, boat, or even an RV, would be LiFePo chemistry. They are not supposed to burn.

If one has an existing battery system using lead acid, lithium batteries are NOT a drop in replacement. One has to change the charging voltages and times. A regular alternator can be burnt out quickly if charging of the lithium batteries is not controlled/limited. A lead acid battery will self limit how much power it can accept when charging, LiFePO does not self limit. It will basically take what it is given. Alternators in many vehicles are not designed to produce their rated output for very long and they can burn out under the charging load using LiFePo.

Many of the LiFePo batteries have internal controllers to protect the battery. The controllers can disconnect the alternator from charging. If this is done, and there is not another battery connected to the alternator, the alternator is gong to get fried.

Victron and Mastervolt sell integrated components, including alternators(though there are other sources and sometimes better ones), LiFePo batterers, BMS(Controllers), chargers, inverters, etc. These companies are selling to people going off grid, meaning boaters, RVers, and houses.

"Lithium" batteries are a game changer if living off grid. Expensive up front though.

Later,
Dan

 

[dragoneggs]

And exactly why I made the change... to go off the grid for longer.