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Re: Lithium Battery (LiFePO4) Venting and Battery Box Questions
As others have already indicated, LiFePO4 batteries do not require venting and are agnostic regarding orientation. It seems most of us install them with the terminals facing up however, and the passenger-side bench is a popular location for a pair for many 320 owners.
Re: 2021 T@B 320 Wiring Batteries
I decided to move my Dr. Prepare Powermax battery and my Smart Shunt from the tub to the interior next to the passenger side seat/bin. The idea is the battery will stay warmer inside the trailer and therefore accept more solar charging when it's cold out. I'm not going to futz with a battery warmer.
The discussion and images in this thread are very helpful. On our 2023 320s, the power cutoff is located on the front of that passenger side compartment, so I just detached the OEM wires there and will reuse that switch with the new 8 AWG wire I'll use for the short run over to the controller and ground bus.
In our bin, there are two fused sets of OEM wires that connect to the battery. One is for the trailer's main power circuit and the other comes from the Victron solar controller. But there are two negative wires crimped together at the lug for the main power. I need to figure out where the second negative wire comes from. Perhaps from the tow wiring junction box.
I think I'm going to take advantage of the hub device for the Powermax battery and install a port to hook up a portable solar panel via that hub. The hub can handle 100w of of solar, and I think I'll put an SAE-type solar port in the wall near the battery. I'd rather have another Victron controller with Bluetooth controls, but for the money I've decided to use the stuff I already own. I'll have to run new wires from my Victron solar to the battery, but that's also a short and easy interior run.
Rather than undercharge from the WFCO "never detect" controller, I have a Victron Blue Smart IP65 12-Volt 15 amp battery charger that works great and I can plug into the AC outlet under the dinette seating.
The discussion and images in this thread are very helpful. On our 2023 320s, the power cutoff is located on the front of that passenger side compartment, so I just detached the OEM wires there and will reuse that switch with the new 8 AWG wire I'll use for the short run over to the controller and ground bus.
In our bin, there are two fused sets of OEM wires that connect to the battery. One is for the trailer's main power circuit and the other comes from the Victron solar controller. But there are two negative wires crimped together at the lug for the main power. I need to figure out where the second negative wire comes from. Perhaps from the tow wiring junction box.
I think I'm going to take advantage of the hub device for the Powermax battery and install a port to hook up a portable solar panel via that hub. The hub can handle 100w of of solar, and I think I'll put an SAE-type solar port in the wall near the battery. I'd rather have another Victron controller with Bluetooth controls, but for the money I've decided to use the stuff I already own. I'll have to run new wires from my Victron solar to the battery, but that's also a short and easy interior run.
Rather than undercharge from the WFCO "never detect" controller, I have a Victron Blue Smart IP65 12-Volt 15 amp battery charger that works great and I can plug into the AC outlet under the dinette seating.
Re: 2021 T@B 320 Wiring Batteries
I see no reason why you couldn't do this. In fact, running new wires between the interior benches sounds a lot easier than running new wires from the WFCO to the tub (been there, done that...). You would just need to run your battery (-) into the DC ground bus, and splice your battery (+) into the existing line from the tub. You could (and probably should) mount a new cutoff switch next to to the WFCO.
The one caveat I would add is to NOT disconnect the existing battery lines from the power center to the front tub. Assuming your 2021 is wired similarly to my 2015, these wires run through a forward junction box that also connects them to the pigtail (to allow charging from your tow vehicle) as well as to the breakaway brake system (which draws power from the house battery in the event of complete trailer separation). If you relocate the battery to the inside, you will want to make sure those connections to the forward junction box are maintained.
Re: Post up some shots of your T@B set-up at the camp site! #3
First outing with our 320 (Sep 23). Wilson Lake KS.
Re: Spare Tire under Galley
I have a clamshell and the day I bought it (6 years ago) I scraped the tire on the curb pulling out of the seller's driveway. so the first thing I did was move the spare to the tongue. There hasn't been any negative effect on trailer handling. I do pack my camper pretty carefully for travel with anything heavy on the floor over the axle. There is no way that I'd ever put the spare under the back again.
If you're really worried I suppose that you could put a couple of pieces of cast iron cookware in the galley. 
Re: Upper cabinet mods to keep the door open?
Mine stay open by themselves on my 2018 T@B 400, but if they started falling down, I'd check the hinge first to see if there's an adjustment that could be made, and if not, I'd go with the something like this:
DerBlue 4-Pack 10inch 100N/25lb Gas Struts for Cabinets - Professional Cabinet Shocks and Gas Struts https://a.co/d/3DcpoDb
DerBlue 4-Pack 10inch 100N/25lb Gas Struts for Cabinets - Professional Cabinet Shocks and Gas Struts https://a.co/d/3DcpoDb
Re: Help! Antifreeze not being pumped in
@Buckster find your pump, and look at the inlet side of the pump. The "three way" adapter connects there. It just unscrews from the pump, the adapter screws in. The video from Travels with Delaney below shows how they used it on their 2018 Tab 400. About the 3 minute mark. Your setup may look different, of course.
So, find the pump, take pictures if you need to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU3YPMKm4iE&t=195sHere is a thread showing the same trailer, but there are photos showing the adapter being connected directly to the pump inlet.
Re: Post up some shots of your T@B set-up at the camp site! #3
We stayed for 3 nights this past week at Douthat, one of our longtime favorite VA state parks in the Allegheny Highlands.
Here we were at site 9, with a nice overlook to the creek in the valley below the damn..
And another shot from a different angle..
It seemed that everywhere we looked, there was spectacular color..
So, we couldn't have timed this trip any better! But alas, with all the good things, there sometimes come some bad ones..
On our first night it got very cold, like 38°, but our Alde kicked in and kept us toasty. That is, until about 3 am when I was awakened by assorted noises coming from our Alde..
When I sprang to my feet, I knew it was a glycol leak when my feet got wet & warm. I turned the system off, but by then we already had a half gallon of glycol on the floor. I'll follow up in another thread with more details on what I found, cause, fix, etc, but I have only myself to blame. Cleaning up at 3am was no fun,but fortunately we had enough old rags on hand. The rest of the night was too cold for me, even with 3 or more layers, and by the next day I realized I had a cold & sore throat as we drove for an hour down to Salem to pick up a couple jugs of glycol at Tonie's.
After getting the Alde tightened & re-juiced, we toured some of lake-side scenery..
The next day we took a 30-min ride farther west to the Covington, VA area to see the spectacular Falling Springs waterfall..
One of my favorites & 70+ ft tall.
Finally, we celebrated having a warm Alde & I put up the party lights..
Now, if I can just kick this cold!
10/30/23: PS:
After our our return, I realized yesterday that I still wasn't well enough for general anesthia (cough, sore throat, headache, low grade fever, conjunctivitis, nasal congestion, watery eyes) so cancelled my colonoscopy for tomorrow. That's a relief, as I want to 100% for that procedure.
As far as our Alde issue, I can provide a bit more info, since I found this photo I took of the problem..
Like the leak I had last spring from a rear convector where I used this same heat shrink tubing with high temperature glue coated inside, these connections at the U-shaped tube joining the front ends of the two passenger side convectors had no provision for a physical barrier that would prevent the U-tube from sliding forward if the glue became too soft to hold.
What I also realized, from an engineering standpoint, the fluid flowing through the U will apply a constant force at the end of the U, thereby pushing/pulling it loose from the end of the pipes.
Since I had already coated all the aluminum pipe stubs with epoxy sealant, I figured we'd be ok without any heat-shrink tubing, but double clamped. Indeed, we finished our next 2 days with good heat & no incidents. However, I feel like it wouldn't hurt to fasten an L-shaped metal bracket inside the removeable cover over those side convectors.
PPS:
Feel free @ScottG to move this last part about my failed convector fix somewhere else or let me know where. Or I may do it if I find an appropriate spot.
PPPS, (7-5-2024):
About the above-mentioned L-shaped bracket idea to prevent the U-hose from slipping off the pair of convectors, I finally got around to it..
Just 2 very short screws plus a small L-bracket. (Careful, because the other side of the wood is the exposed side of the cabinet under the seat.)
After our our return, I realized yesterday that I still wasn't well enough for general anesthia (cough, sore throat, headache, low grade fever, conjunctivitis, nasal congestion, watery eyes) so cancelled my colonoscopy for tomorrow. That's a relief, as I want to 100% for that procedure.
As far as our Alde issue, I can provide a bit more info, since I found this photo I took of the problem..
Like the leak I had last spring from a rear convector where I used this same heat shrink tubing with high temperature glue coated inside, these connections at the U-shaped tube joining the front ends of the two passenger side convectors had no provision for a physical barrier that would prevent the U-tube from sliding forward if the glue became too soft to hold.
What I also realized, from an engineering standpoint, the fluid flowing through the U will apply a constant force at the end of the U, thereby pushing/pulling it loose from the end of the pipes.
Since I had already coated all the aluminum pipe stubs with epoxy sealant, I figured we'd be ok without any heat-shrink tubing, but double clamped. Indeed, we finished our next 2 days with good heat & no incidents. However, I feel like it wouldn't hurt to fasten an L-shaped metal bracket inside the removeable cover over those side convectors.
PPS:
Feel free @ScottG to move this last part about my failed convector fix somewhere else or let me know where. Or I may do it if I find an appropriate spot.
PPPS, (7-5-2024):
About the above-mentioned L-shaped bracket idea to prevent the U-hose from slipping off the pair of convectors, I finally got around to it..
Just 2 very short screws plus a small L-bracket. (Careful, because the other side of the wood is the exposed side of the cabinet under the seat.)
Re: Corrosion of Alde Convectors
As stated on September 16th, I see signs of corrosion at various places. Preparing to pull all hoses, exchangers, pump, etc -all except the main unit to assess, clean and repair all corrosion. As stated earlier I plan to clean corrosion with glass beading and using a 2 part epoxy coating on all metal ends (id and od) to protect from corrosion. Where there is severe corrosion pitting, will fill with Defcon for aluminum prior to epoxy coating. Plan may change once I get it disassembled.
I am ready to drain glycol out and rinse with water first then drain/evacuate the water before disassembling to avoid glycol inside the trailer.
Looking at the system it seems the simplest way to accomplish this is by dismounting the two passenger side (small) exchangers so they can be held in a vertical position higher than the reservoir to pull the end hose off to get access to installing 7/8 inch hoses to the two exchangers which are run outside the trailer to buckets- one filled with rinse water and the other to catch the glycol. The rinse water bucket will be set at a height to keep the reservoir filled while running the Alde pump which will then circulate water through the system until all signs of glycol are gone. This followed by a wet vac to pull the water out.
I know there are many ways posted to replace the glycol, but I cannot recall reading a procedure to simply get all the glycol out before disassembly. Comment? Is there a better way?
I am ready to drain glycol out and rinse with water first then drain/evacuate the water before disassembling to avoid glycol inside the trailer.
Looking at the system it seems the simplest way to accomplish this is by dismounting the two passenger side (small) exchangers so they can be held in a vertical position higher than the reservoir to pull the end hose off to get access to installing 7/8 inch hoses to the two exchangers which are run outside the trailer to buckets- one filled with rinse water and the other to catch the glycol. The rinse water bucket will be set at a height to keep the reservoir filled while running the Alde pump which will then circulate water through the system until all signs of glycol are gone. This followed by a wet vac to pull the water out.
I know there are many ways posted to replace the glycol, but I cannot recall reading a procedure to simply get all the glycol out before disassembly. Comment? Is there a better way?
