Another fabulous trip on Vancouver Island, BC Canada

Mellow_Yellow

This recent trip was 5 hours drive northwest from Victoria, in the centre of Vancouver Island, amongst the highest peaks and (last remaining) glaciers on the island. The orange dot marks the location of Ralph River, a stunning 'old style' campground with pit toilets and hand pumps, set amongst a rare stand of old growth Douglas Fir and cedar trees in Strathcona Park. The story is that the loggers loved the site so much that they spared it from clear cutting. Ralph River flows alongside the campground and provides easy access to a snow-fed stream, ideal for cooling off during the recent, unusually hot weather.

It was a test of my boondocking gear and revealed the following less-than-ideal capabilities of my 2014 T@B 320 S during extremely hot weather:
- the fridge fan sucks battery, big time. Even with a daily charge with the solar panel, the battery barely kept up. I actually turned off the fridge during the hottest part of the day to conserve battery. The 8-year old fridge runs beautifully, but the fan is on my list to improve/upgrade, although this is first time it has been an issue. 
- this was the last trip with the original fantastic fan, which I actually replaced yesterday. It was not spinning freely and also sucked a lot of battery. Hopefully the replacement will be more efficient.
- I broke off one of the prongs of my SAE connector for the solar panel and reverted to direct battery terminal connections. Pain, having to unlock/open the battery box to charge the battery. I'm ordering a new connector plus a spare.
Here are a few photos: me with a 500-year old, recently toppled, 7-foot wide Doug fir that fell in the campground, my T@B in its site with a huge cedar, and some other campers (with consent) showing the size of the trees throughout the campground.

Da_Birds

I had the pleasure of working for a couple weeks in Nanaimo many years ago. I loved the area and the people. Unfortunately I didn't have much time to get out on foot to sight see. I was the only person on our team that was allowed to have a rental car so I was responsible for driving everyone else around. Any non-work activities were decided by majority which ended up being mostly bar, restaurant and shopping outings. I would love to get back there someday to see more of the natural beauty!

Sharon_is_SAM

@Mellow_Yellow - the solar SAE port can be a weak link.  We added pigtails with MC4 connectors to our charge controller and battery to prevent what you experienced.  The weight of the cable can be too much for the SAE.  

Mellow_Yellow

Interesting @Sharon_is_SAM!  Do you have a photo of what that looks like?

Sharon_is_SAM

Sharon_is_SAM

Pigtails at the battery.  Our negative is attached at the front junction box as we have the Victron battery monitor.
(Sorry - I can’t upload the picture right now😬)

Mellow_Yellow

OIC! that sounds like a really great setup. I'll see about incorporating that. I currently have a basic, bluetooth, non-lithium compatible battery monitor that often shows a lower reading than the Renogy controller, especially under load. I tend to go with the Renogy because it is on a LifePo4 setting, which is specific to my lithium battery.

MuttonChops

@Mellow_Yellow;
Have never taken my T@B to Vancouver Island.

Have done several car road trips with forest hikes and quite ocean side town visits.  First visit was a USCGC liberty call in 1975 last was a multi-day working freighter 'cruise' that was based on Vancouver Island in 2000. With several long weekend trips in between.

Wonderful place.
Maybe when C-19 is really in the past - - - will visit with the T@B.

Denny16

I spent a grand two weeks on Vacouver Island several years ago, spent several days in Victoria staying at a mates home, and a week going up through the inside passage on a converted Ocean going tug boat, a grand trip, we went ashore every day at different historical locations on both the mainland and the island.  We also want to go back with out TaB soon, a beautiful place to visit and live.
cheers

ScottG

@Mellow_Yellow, do you have a 3-way fridge? I'm guessing so, given the vintage of your T@B.

Mellow_Yellow

Indeed I do have 3-way fridge @ScottG and it works fabulously except when it is hot over 100F. The fridge is so cold on propane, I run it on "2 out of 5" and it uses hardly any propane at all in 'average' temperatures. I'm going to see if I can rig a small, rechargeable battery-powered mini fan through the side panel to the fridge for hot weather use. I don't want to add any more drain to my battery, so that's why I'm going with the rechargeable fan.

ScottG

Got it, but you can disregard. I misread your original post and you were complaining that the fridge itself was drawing too much power running off the battery (which of course the 3-ways are not intended to do).

Now I see you were talking about the fridge fan. I'm not really sure why the fan would require so much juice. I have two in my fridge (the thermostatically controlled one on the cooling fins, and the manually controlled one in the vent). They are both fans like what you find in electronic equipment, and they draw very little battery power when operating. (Unlike the Fantastic Fan in the roof, which I agree is a bit of a power hog.)

Are yours different? If not, I'd be inclined to suspect something else may be contributing to your battery woes. 

Mellow_Yellow

Hi @ScottG- Do the 2014's have a second manual fridge fan or was that new in 2015? Or did you add it after market?
I'm pretty sure it was the fridge fan that drained the battery but I cannot be sure. I have 2 battery monitors and they disagree under load: a wireless monitor on the battery and the Renogy solar panel controller. I tend to trust the Renogy because it is on a LifePo4 setting vs the generic battery monitor.
I was running the ceiling fan, but only now and then and as I said, only after it was removed did I realize the degree to which it was not spinning freely. Anyway, the weather is cooling back down now, so hopefully the next trip will be saner.

ScottG

@Mellow_Yellow, nuCamp started adding the manual fan after 2015, but for a time provided free retrofit kits for older models. That is where I got mine, which I installed myself.

It's easy enough to tell if you have one of these--look for a little black rocker switch installed in the cabinet face just above the right side of the fridge. 

The original thermostatically controlled fan is installed adjacent to the cooling fins on the left side of the fridge, and can only be seen if you remove the plastic cover on the face of the cabinets. It apparently comes on when convective airflow alone is not enough to draw heat off the fins. 

I have the Norcold 3163 three-way fridge. I'm not absolutely certain 2014s has the same unit, but it seems likely. Because of the way they were configured, the 3163s would tend to heat up the counter top above the fridge. Ostensibly, the second fan was to remove that heat for comfort purposes, but it is hard to believe it doesn't also contribute to function by pulling more hot air away from the cooling fins. I've considered rewiring my second fan so that it is also thermostatically controlled.    

Mellow_Yellow

Hi @ScottG - To confirm, I have the Norcold 3163 that heats up the countertop but the only rocker switch under the cabinets is for the kitchen lighting. So I took a closer look at what's there and discovered a handy vent hole where a fan would likely go.

I don't have any electrical abilities, so if/when it gets too hot again, I'll use a USB rechargeable fan blowing directly up into the fridge side panel, mounted on a rubber sleeve to the external vent. It might seem convoluted, but it's just for extreme situations when the one fan isn't keeping up. Maybe one day, I'll get a proper fan mounted in that hole.

pthomas745

There are many "fridge fan" threads, and all of them show only the smaller "computer case" type fans.  I wouldn't think any of this type of fan could draw that much power.  Easy to replace, though.

ScottG

@Mellow_Yellow, I have the same vent under the fridge, with no fan. I think the idea is that air flows up through the vent, over the cooling fins, across the gap between the top of the fridge and the stove, and out the vent on the sidewall by the door.

The thermostatically controlled fan I mentioned should be mounted up higher than the area shown in your photo, adjacent to the fins and blowing over them. If you don't have one it suggests they were added after 2014 when it may have been determined that convective air flow alone was not enough for proper fridge operation.

But...  If you don't have a fridge fan, that brings us back to the question of what is causing your battery to drain so quickly.

Mellow_Yellow

ScottG said:

But...  If you don't have a fridge fan, that brings us back to the question of what is causing your battery to drain so quickly.

I'm hoping the battery drain was mostly caused by the Fantastik Fan that was not moving freely. I'm hoping the replacement fan will be less of a drain. Might be worth some tests in the driveway this weekend while I'm re-doing the caulking around and under the wheel wells