Best Of
Re: Driving Self Crazy What If'ing on Next Trailer & Tow Vehicle {long rambling}
@dsfdogs, Thanks sharing your Escape story. I did find someone in Phoenix who shows his, but we could not connect this summer. It would be a two hour drive for me to see it and I was starting to see some of the less desirable features you noted, especially the outside battery storage and tiny bathroom. So I decided to hold off on Escape for now. There may be an Escape 19 in my future if I decide to go with them.
The more I look around, the more I appreciate the design of the 320 for a small trailer.
The more I look around, the more I appreciate the design of the 320 for a small trailer.
Re: Expectations of solar vs reality?
@tabranger - first screenshot indicates that you are bulk charging at 1.20 A and the shunt indicates the battery is fully charged. The shunt rested battery voltage typically drops over several hours. 13.26 seems low. Show us your shunt settings.
Re: Expectations of solar vs reality?
I would set the tail current at .5%, otherwise, the SOC will read 100% when your battery current is 8 A. Not sure I would set the discharge floor to 0 on any battery. Set the charged detection time to 5 minutes (this will prevent passing clouds causing the current to drop before the voltage resulting in a premature 100% SOC. I would turn off the Battery Charge on reset. If the battery becomes disconnected and discharges, you don’t want an artificial SOC when you hook back up.
Re: How do you secure items in your fridge while traveling?
I use several different size/shape plastic food storage bins/containers {cheap TupperWare} without the lids. I also cut large holes in the container side walls and bottoms to allow cool air flow.
Small 3-Way style Fridge.
Small 3-Way style Fridge.
Re: Microwave Outlet
My T@B (same model and year as @ Yoshi_TAB, had the same components: 12 Ga romex, a single outlet receptacle, stamped 20 amp, with the quick connect back. Again, I'm going to leave it as is for now....I don't really use the receptacles that much. It just came up with on my last trip with my wife. We ended up using my small DVD player....and that's the perfect place to plug it in.
Thanks once more to everyone....I thought I knew 'enough' about electrical wiring but I did learn something here!
Thanks once more to everyone....I thought I knew 'enough' about electrical wiring but I did learn something here!
Moved Propane Tank to tongue on my 2023 Boondock 320s
I decided to make the Utility Box strictly a Utility box and moved the propane bottle out onto the tongue. It was easy with the right parts and I like the way it looks.
I thought about buying a full size spare tire and mounting it there. But, I’m ok with the current 14” spare tire stowed under the tongue. It’s in the perfect spot and a 15” wheel wouldn’t fit under there. So, even though it’s not the same size as my main wheels, I’m okay with using the mismatch sizes in an emergency. If a tire fails I plan to replace it immediately or at my nearest destination any way. So having a third tire isn’t that important to me. The stock 14” spare tire suits me just fine.
I put a bucket in the original propane tank bracket and filled it with all the hoses and essentials I use for the nautilus water system. Now that the propane bottle is out of the utility box I’m going to add a cabinet lock to keep honest people honest.
Re: The Truck Charging Trailer thread...
My Ford Maverick with the factory tow package and built in factory brake controller provides 7.5 amps (100 watts) to my T@B when idling. More than enough to run my 12 volt fridge and have 5 amps left for battery charging.
Re: The Truck Charging Trailer thread...
I’ll borrow from @Mouseketab here:
” FYI, the easiest way to tell if you have a charge line without any meters. (This method does not tell you how efficient it is).
Turn off your T@B battery by disconnecting the negative, turning the battery cutoff, or removing the fuse at the battery.
Hook your camper to the 7-pin, crank the engine. Turn on an interior trailer light. If it comes on, you have a charge line. Turn off the engine, if the light goes out, you have an isolation relay. If the light stays on, you do not have an isolation relay.”
” FYI, the easiest way to tell if you have a charge line without any meters. (This method does not tell you how efficient it is).
Turn off your T@B battery by disconnecting the negative, turning the battery cutoff, or removing the fuse at the battery.
Hook your camper to the 7-pin, crank the engine. Turn on an interior trailer light. If it comes on, you have a charge line. Turn off the engine, if the light goes out, you have an isolation relay. If the light stays on, you do not have an isolation relay.”
Re: The Truck Charging Trailer thread...
Our tow vehicle is an EV (Kia EV9.) The camper is equipped with a BB 100 a/h lithium battery and solar, both of which I monitor with the Victron Connect app. The main draw on the battery is of course the 2 way fridge, there's very little else drawing from it and when the fridge compressor kicks on, its draw can be seen on the app. We were on a trip and had stopped for lunch and I thought to check on the battery with the Victron app and saw that it was supplying almost nothing to the camper, even though the fridge was on at setting 5 for the trip. I then disconnected the camper from the car and instantly saw the lithium battery begin supplying the usual voltage that the fridge draws. I could only conclude that the 12V car battery probably supplies what power the camper demands as the fridge cycles, along with powering running and brake lights. I don't know whether the car is also constantly charging the lithium battery. I would hope that rooftop solar would remain active while traveling to do that job.
Re: Dry camping with Alde system
Hi Bill&Suze. Yes, the water pump will keep the Alde's hot water tank filled. I'm not sure what's going on with your unit, but I can confirm that power to the Alde (including the control panel) is in no way related the the level of water in the hot water tank.
