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RE: Battery for TC
Check your battery tray/box footprint first and see what you can get in there.
Example: You can only use up to 50% of the AH (amp hour) rating of the battery... 100 AH battery =50 AH...Most of us only use 30-40%...Batteries last longer if you do not discharge them past 30%.
What you do not want to do is get a battery that is too big for your battery tray/box and then want 2 of them...
Rough battery capacity:
GP 24 = 85 AH
Gp 27 = 100 AH
Gp 29 = 130 AH
You need to determine what your 12vdc needs will be. We call that an energy audit..
Lots of cold, hot or both camping?
The biggest user of the 12vdc will be your furnace if you have one.
Look at the model number and post it...We can determine how much your battery size needs will be.
Check your fridge and post to model number/make...
Want a little tv later to run it on 12vdc?
Want to charge your computer/laptop etc?
Do you like to read at night? 12vdc lights unless they are led consume energy..
Example: 1 light may draw 2.2amps... So if you leave that light on for 2 hrs that will draw 4.4 AH from your battery...
If your fridge runs on gas and needs 12vdc to operate it will need about .3 amps when cooling...Summer it might run all the time...
24 hrs X .3 is 7.2 AH....
If the fridge cools 30 min out of the hour you will use 3.6 AH and around an extra 1.2ah each day for the standby mode...So 4.8AH per day for the fridge during non hot days.
A little to absorb and there is a lot more to energy management in our rigs weather large or small.
Jim
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bigfootford
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05/22/12 08:18am |
Truck Campers
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RE: does solar play well with a converter?
Similar results with my system...Nice post Don!
Converter PD 9260
2 100 watt panels =200 watts solar 23vdc Vmp
Morningstar Sunsaver 15 Mppt..
When my battery (s) are cold my Morningstar will push the Battery voltage up to 14.95 if the battery (s) are near full.
I will not see any converter current after about 14.5vdc, all solar unless there is something that loads the Morningstar down below the converter set voltage (charge mode,,, Bulk 14.4, Absorb 13.6 or Float 13.2)....Then they begin to share the load.
Jim
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bigfootford
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05/21/12 08:36am |
Tech Issues
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RE: First camping trip in the new Lance camper
Wonderful! What a great way to start off your son's life!
Sure does bring back memories!
Jim
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bigfootford
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05/21/12 08:17am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Progressive Dynamics 4655 Converter ?s Updated
One other thing I just noticed the light blinks even when unpluged for shore power. Is this normal? Man what a pain.
That's the way it works...The battery is keeping the converter electronics alive and the timers working, the LED will continue to flash.
If the button will not change the state of charge.... Float-Absorb-Bulk then something is wrong...
Yes, holding it in for about 10 seconds will change the state.
If you remove shore power and remove the battery so the converter sees neither shore or battery for about 30 seconds the LED goes off and the converter will reset..It will default to Bulk mode when shore power is restored....LED on solid. If it will not do this something is wrong.
Jim
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bigfootford
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05/19/12 07:59pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Shelf Life and AGM Question
Bestconverter has the Lifeline batteries he sells dropped shipped from lifeline...Not sure about the Universal's he sells.
Great prices too..
Might check with him.
http://www.bestconverter.com/AGM-Batteries_c_180.html
Jim
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bigfootford
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05/19/12 07:51pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: yellow plastic vent -- paint it?
I will add this to the Colonial White....
Bigfoot made the early campers this Colonial White....Everyone said the Gel coat was faded....Not so!
So did some of the small Fiberglass trailers like the Skamp etc....
Jim
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bigfootford
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05/19/12 07:39pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: yellow plastic vent -- paint it?
The color is called Colonial White. That's the way it comes.
There are 2 colors, Colonial White and Royal White...
I painted mine...Just old Rustoleum. I buffed with steel wool first.
Check this link for color avail:
http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/rv-stoves/range-hood-vents.htm
And this one:
http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/rv-refrigerators/refrigerator-roof-vent.htm
Jim
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bigfootford
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05/19/12 07:36pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Securing Batteries
it would be safer if it was in a battery box with lid, then the strap goes around .with the post exposed something could fall on them and short things out. or explode.
The box the battery is in is a battery box...I see no reason to put the battery in a box.
Please refer us to a battery in a camper battery compartment that has exploded for any reason!
OP just install another battery in the same way the one is secured from the factory. If there was a reason for that battery to come out of there, strapped in there like that you are going to have more trouble than a battery falling out.
Check with the camper mfg if you have some doubt...
Jim
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bigfootford
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05/18/12 03:59pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Made it to Honeyman SP, Florence,OR. "PICTURES ADDED" Page 1
Thanks for the suggestions people. The problem was fuse #24, a 10 amp circuit that controls the factory trailer charge circuit, the new heavy charge circuit, the ABS circuit, and turn signal. Have not driven yet so don't know if Speedo is working.
Weather is nice. The new TC AGM batteries have a ton of power and are still at 12.6-7 volts after deliberate heavy use.
Will keep posted.
PS. The smart phones are spoiling us ;)
Good so far....Hope all is ok..
Jeff, the Agm batteries will show in the neighborhood of +.15 to +.2 vdc more than flooded wet cells for a given state of charge...Be aware of that!
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bigfootford
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05/18/12 12:26pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Bigfoot mounted on new truck
Wow!
Jim
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bigfootford
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05/18/12 08:10am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Made it to Honeyman SP, Florence,OR. "PICTURES ADDED" Page 1
Florence is one of our favorite stops along the coastal route we take to visit our Son and family in Portland....
If you have time, there is a Pizza place on the main drag...
West end on the North side of the street..The best Pizza we have ever had....Unbelievable!!!
Love that rv park. Dry camping spots are the best...
We were there in Nov....70+mph winds, rain...Crazy...
Then again for Easter, Sun shining, beautiful!
Yep, sounds like the speed sensor on the 3rd member...
Might be a connection problem...
Hope all goes well..
Jim
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bigfootford
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05/18/12 08:07am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Initial Solar Hookup only shows partial watts and amps
If your battery (s) are charged, or almost then you will see only what they will accept..
Turn on a fan and see if the amps go up...Keep turning on 12vdc stuff until the amps stop climbing.
Do you have a battery monitor like the Trimtric or Link-10.
Jim
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bigfootford
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05/15/12 01:55pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: !000 nights in our TC, all boondocking and traveling
Doesn't get much better than that!
Hope ya have another 1000!!
Jim
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bigfootford
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05/13/12 12:03pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: New electric Happijac rust on inner tubes??
Hats off to Happijac!!!:)
Figured they would come through for ya...
Jim
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bigfootford
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05/11/12 11:14am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Test (never mind)
Yes simple responds ok but if after (unknown) certain amount message wont post. Also been using trailerlife portal (and to my knowledge most of the others are working). Also been doing a lot of previews before posting-if it doesnt preview its not going to post. Cut and paste into another portal.
Mark
Preview is what I have been doing also...Good point...
Funny that Trailer life, Woodalls, rv.net etc are all nothing but portals all controlled by Affinity..It's not like the hardware and management/web software is spread through all those portals...
Jim
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bigfootford
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05/10/12 08:07am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Test (never mind)
Had the same problem a couple of days ago..It was very persistent.
Went to Trailerlife.com and everything worked fine...Came back to Rv.net and it was still inop for links and pix links...
Just sucks!
Jim
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bigfootford
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05/09/12 04:31pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: "Ole School" Amp Meter on Solar Panel
That's what it says in the Morningstar literature but its a little misleading. My meter on the Sunsaver MPPT shows *battery* amps, watts and amp-hrs but not the amp value for 2 different panels like the Sunsaver Duo meter. It also keeps a log of max min values for the last 30 days.
Bruce
I really like the logging although I have not acquired the serial interface stuff to read logs and set parameters for voltages etc on my MS..
You don't need a serial interface it to read the 30 day log, you can scroll through them on the meter. You just hold the middle and right buttons down at the same time and it will take you to the log.
The MS view software is pretty cool though if you want to hook up a PC and tweak values or do a custom log. It's how I logged the amp-hr usage of my compressor fridge.
Bruce
I have the RM-1 panel...I do not recall that feature...I will try it...
Jim
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bigfootford
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05/08/12 08:13pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: "Ole School" Amp Meter on Solar Panel
That's what it says in the Morningstar literature but its a little misleading. My meter on the Sunsaver MPPT shows *battery* amps, watts and amp-hrs but not the amp value for 2 different panels like the Sunsaver Duo meter. It also keeps a log of max min values for the last 30 days.
Bruce
I really like the logging although I have not acquired the serial interface stuff to read logs and set parameters for voltages etc on my MS..
Just a thought, you may already know this:
You have to be careful thinking that the amps out of your/any solar, converter is all going to go to the battery....That's a mistake many make...
The Battery is the last device to get the juice...Lights, fans and all the parasitic share the amps from the solar. A charger/converter is the same way.
There have been several folks that would read 10 amps solar from the controller but the battery is only taking 6 per their Trimetric/Link10. They knew that the battery was down enough in SOC to take all 10 amps etc and there would be confusion.
Jim
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bigfootford
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05/08/12 07:18pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: "Ole School" Amp Meter on Solar Panel
nice work, I've posted links to "all" quite a few times
I hate to admit it, but those guys recognize me on sight, im on a first name basis with several of them, they are my first stop when i'm on a project
Thanks. I too, probably spent well over $2000 in electronic components over the years..
Jim
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bigfootford
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05/08/12 05:16pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: "Ole School" Amp Meter on Solar Panel
Pretty! Would a lithium 9-volt battery be an optional consideration?
Sure..
Jim
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bigfootford
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05/08/12 02:19pm |
Tech Issues
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