Ski RV's, who's sleeping in parking lots?

[hutash]

Speaking of vans, I was looking at specs on the F150 Hybrid PowerBoost yesterday. EV tech isn’t yet where it is to make an all electric Class B RV (Winnebago just unveiled their concept prototype that has like 100mi range?), but plug in hybrid tech totally seems in a place to make an extended range gas van where you can run the DC power center and probably even a healthy sized inverter off the drive battery! I wonder if Ford has looked into this yet for the transit platform. Just seems to me if you can build a hybrid crew cab 4x4 F150 with 1800 lbs payload maybe you can make a hybrid 4x2 Transit van with minimal RV upfitting?

My understanding is the a transit is going to be hybrid next year.

[byates1]

Stopped by my Ford guy the other day. He said they are only building transit trails now. He wanted me to order one. Then sell it back to the dealer for a grand or 2 More. Base spec is like 71k.

I'd do it to help him, but I can't be bothered.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Be careful with that stove!

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/cto...583295683.html

How many Dead shows has that been to?

[toastybroski]

Can any electrical gurus help me out? It’s giving me a headache. I replaced my converter last night (which nicely had a lithium switch!). All went well. No more buzzing. I plugged into shore right after. 120v from a regular outlet. This was at about 8pm. Battery was showing 12.0V under a -.13 amp draw.

New converter did not seem to go into boost mode and continuously charged at 13.6V and 8amps according to the new fancy battery meter. 22 hours later it’s still at 13.6 charging at 4amps. Shouldn’t it be full by now? Dropping down to 13.2 and 0.2 amps? I would think a full battery wouldn’t be taking 4 amps. 100AH / 4 amps is 25 hours at most but it was no where near 0 percent charge. What’s going on?

[snowaddict91]

Can any electrical gurus help me out? It’s giving me a headache. I replaced my converter last night (which nicely had a lithium switch!). All went well. No more buzzing. I plugged into shore right after. 120v from a regular outlet. This was at about 8pm. Battery was showing 12.0V under a -.13 amp draw.

New converter did not seem to go into boost mode and continuously charged at 13.6V and 8amps according to the new fancy battery meter. 22 hours later it’s still at 13.6 charging at 4amps. Shouldn’t it be full by now? Dropping down to 13.2 and 0.2 amps? I would think a full battery wouldn’t be taking 4 amps. 100AH / 4 amps is 25 hours at most but it was no where near 0 percent charge. What’s going on?

You might have just confirmed your theory that you have a bad battery?

[toastybroski]

I would think a bad battery would drop down to small amps at some point.

Do I need to do anything else other than drop in a lifepo4 battery if I have a compatible converter and then the switch?

[Huskier]

You might have just confirmed your theory that you have a bad battery?

Lithium gone bad will read about 10.6 and won't take much charge at all. Where did you source your battery? Onboard BMS?

[toastybroski]

One last question before I fuck off for the night. If I need a battery should I go to lifepo4? Are the Amazon brands with good reviews ok even though they are only a third of the price? $300 for 100ah.

Not going to lie camper forums are pretty garbage overall.

[toastybroski]

Lithium gone bad will read about 10.6 and won't take much charge at all. Where did you source your battery? Onboard BMS?

The battery came with the camper although he said it was brand new. It’s an interstate deep cycle agm.

It’s still taking 5 amps. We will see in the morning. Still get a bit of light flicker in the cabin.

[Trackhead]

Random shit: Drive 300 miles with family, pull into mom/pop ski hill lot at 10pm and see Ford Transit all alone, Caterpillar stickers on the side and immediately recognize it from the interwebz. Tell wife I know the guy and skied with him 15 yrs ago. Sure enough it’s OG Yates, the real vanlifer. What are the chances of that?

[SchralphMacchio]

One last question before I fuck off for the night. If I need a battery should I go to lifepo4? Are the Amazon brands with good reviews ok even though they are only a third of the price? $300 for 100ah.

Not going to lie camper forums are pretty garbage overall.

Questions for you regarding new battery.
1) Do you boondock / use the battery a lot? (Number of discharge/charge cycles per year is relevant here)
2) Where is the current battery located? On the tongue of a trailer in a plastic box, in a vented but not heated battery compartment of a Class B or C?
3) What do you plan to use the battery for - would you ideally like to change your use patterns if possible?
4) Do you already have a solar setup?

I actually haven’t made the switch to lithium but will eventually. Main reason I didn’t was because when I first got the trailer, very few manufacturers made lithium batteries with onboard heating elements to preheat the battery and keep cell temp well above freezing before attempting to charge - and there was very little real world feedback on it at the time. However now almost every major manufacturer has lithium with a heating element that takes power from the 12V charging line and heats the battery if needed before starting a charge. Heated lithium batteries cost probably 2.25 to 2.75x what you would pay for a 6V GC2 setup, but they also have something like double the charging speed/current, a quarter of the weight, and something like 10x the cycle life.

So my advice to you, if you plan the use the batteries a lot (lots of discharge and charge cycles), and have the cash, go lithium as it’s less money in the long run. If you want the cheapest bang for the buck in the short term and not tying up too much cash you can’t beat Costco 6V flooded lead acid batteries. Just remember that you have to check water levels with 6V, I do it monthly, I keep a container of distilled water in my rig and use a cheap Amazon hose syringe to dispense the right amount without making a mess.

I asked a lot of the other questions because factory wiring to battery locations is usually woefully skinny and you may not get the benefits of high discharge and high charge currents because your wiring may limit you. Also it’s much easier to change out wiring for some locations than others. FLA and AGM require venting but lithium does not, so it can be located in the cabin for a shorter (and fatter) wiring run to your converter and power center. If you have a battery compartment that is vented and you upgrade to lithium, you can close off the vents and line the thing with cross linked polyethylene foam sheets cut and crammed in there to increase temperature stability in the winter which should cut down your charge times.

[m2711c]

Random shit: Drive 300 miles with family, pull into mom/pop ski hill lot at 10pm and see Ford Transit all alone, Caterpillar stickers on the side and immediately recognize it from the interwebz. Tell wife I know the guy and skied with him 15 yrs ago. Sure enough it’s OG Yates, the real vanlifer. What are the chances of that?

did he have change?

[sander_h]

Random shit: Drive 300 miles with family, pull into mom/pop ski hill lot at 10pm and see Ford Transit all alone, Caterpillar stickers on the side and immediately recognize it from the interwebz. Tell wife I know the guy and skied with him 15 yrs ago. Sure enough it’s OG Yates, the real vanlifer. What are the chances of that?

Saw you guys at Pebble Creek the other day, you nailed it on conditions!

[Trackhead]

Saw you guys at Pebble Creek the other day, you nailed it on conditions!

Super fun day! Great hill.

[altasnob]

Are the Amazon brands with good reviews ok even though they are only a third of the price? $300 for 100ah.

I have no idea about the Amazon LiFePO4 for $300 but at that price, I might be willing to just give it a try and find out. A 100 ah AGM battery is in that $300 range and you only get 50 ah out of a 100 ah AGM where as you will get 100 ah out of the 100 ah LiFePO4.

Your converter has a smart battery charger so it adjusts the voltage and amps of its charging depending on where the battery is in the bulk/absorption/float stage of charging. But it shouldn't take over 24 hours to charge up that AGM. My guess is that the "brand new" battery was not brand new or the previous owner (or you) depleted it down past 50% a few times, which could kill even a brand new AGM battery (I killed my original one in less than two years because I wasn't able to easily connect to shore power when parked at home; have solar now which helps keep my battery happy).

I would use this potentially bunk battery a few more times and if you think it is still not holding a charge, and fulfilling your needs, then it may be time for a new battery. I would say stick with AGM because your system doesn't seem sophisticated enough for LiFePO4. With that said, those LiFePO4 are getting so damn cheap these days I might just go with that. Why not?

[altasnob]

FLA and AGM require venting but lithium does not, so it can be located in the cabin for a shorter (and fatter) wiring run to your converter and power center.

AGM batteries do not HAVE to be vented. Some claim AGM batteries don't vent at all but I believe that is incorrect. They can vent Hydrogen, which is non-toxic, but flammable. My AGM is next to a small port door between my camper and my truck bed that I open to tighten the turn buckles (Four Wheel Campers have this setup). I could open that door to vent if I am really concerned but keep it closed so rodents don't come in. I guess I could put a screen door there to vent but All Terrain Camper (what I have a FWC rip off) has been building campers like this for decades and haven't heard about anyone exploding yet. To explode it would take sufficient hydrogen vented along with an ignition source.

[toastybroski]

I have no idea about the Amazon LiFePO4 for $300 but at that price, I might be willing to just give it a try and find out. A 100 ah AGM battery is in that $300 range and you only get 50 ah out of a 100 ah AGM where as you will get 100 ah out of the 100 ah LiFePO4.

Your converter has a smart battery charger so it adjusts the voltage and amps of its charging depending on where the battery is in the bulk/absorption/float stage of charging. But it shouldn't take over 24 hours to charge up that AGM. My guess is that the "brand new" battery was not brand new or the previous owner (or you) depleted it down past 50% a few times, which could kill even a brand new battery.

I would use this potentially bunk battery a few more times and if you think it is still not holding a charge, and fulfilling your needs, then it may be time for a new battery. I would say stick with AGM because your system doesn't seem sophisticated enough for LiFePO4. With that said, those LiFePO4 are getting so damn cheap these days I might just go with that. Why not?

It lasted a couple of days at 20 degrees and it wasn’t dead so I’ll probably just wait it out a bit until I use it more in the summer. I noticed this morning the charger dropped to 13.2V which is what it states for storage mode. It was still showing 3amps charging though.

Battery is under a step to get to the cab over bed. It’s a vented area but kind of annoying to get to as you have to unscrew the floor.

I just thought if I did have to replace it eventually and my new converter supports lithium the extra 50ah would be nice. Not sure about the existing wiring though. I use almost no power other than the furnace blower. Everything else is propane.

[altasnob]

Ya, just run that existing battery into the ground before you upgrade. Sounds like it might be starting to go bunk but is still serviceable. Now that you have a battery monitor never run it below 50% (so 50 ah if it is a 100 ah battery). It will probably last a few more years and by that point, Lithiums will be like $100.

[SchralphMacchio]

AGM batteries do not HAVE to be vented. Some claim AGM batteries don't vent at all but I believe that is incorrect. They can vent Hydrogen, which is non-toxic, but flammable.

Right, no need to make a Hindenburg out of a dinette seat or under bed compartment (where I’ve seen people who don’t care about such risks install AGM batteries) in case you couple it with a Swiss cheese failure like a spark from a 12V switch located at that compartment turning on a phone charger or something! I think it’s most likely to vent if a converter overcharges it, so if a converter goes bad or tries to charge a cell that has a problem I could see some release of gases. Risk of internal shorts must be lower than with FLA, which can and do occasionally self destruct with “non-passive disassembly,” because Toyota is perfectly okay locating small capacity AGM 12V accessory/starter batteries inside the cargo area - directly behind rear seat passengers - in Toyota Priuses. I was curious about our Prius and discovered that they have a very elegant solution to the venting issue: the overpressure valve has a port for a 3/16” rubber hose that leads to a false plug below the spare tire and out to the ambient air - so any hydrogen gas released just goes right out under the vehicle and is dispersed/diluted. Gotta keep the hippies safe when they hotbox that shit while the alternator is charging the 12V batt!

Ya, just run that existing battery into the ground before you upgrade. Sounds like it might be starting to go bunk but is still serviceable.

I agree, sounds like it’s working for you.

I’m actually posting right now from the RV lot at White Pass WA, have been here since Weds and leaving Tues. 6 nights … 55 gallon fresh tank for the win, I might give my 2 and 4 year olds an actual bath tomorrow! (2 year old is starting to get stinky, plus that little guy got sick and puked right into the middle of my winter boot liners on Thursday night, so now I’m using my Scarpa tele boots as my casual apres wear that actually has traction on ice and snow!)

[beaterdit]

The Transit's AGM batteries are in the cabin under the driver's seat. Not sure if there's any outside venting but I don't' think there is.

[frorider]

There’s cabin venting in any vehicle.

[beaterdit]

Well yeah. I was referring to venting specifically for the battery compartment. I don't think there is but I'd have to take a closer look before.

[frorider]

As a Transit owner I can assure you the battery area is not sealed. I think there’s some confusion in the thread. In some camper or van builds, the batteries might be in a small interior or exterior cabinet. I think Alta was just pointing out that theoretically if such a box were sealed, H2 could accumulate.

[beaterdit]

Cool yeah, I thought you might have a Transit. I was referring to a sealed(ish) and exterior vented battery compartment. I didn’t think AGMs vented any gases at all. Hydrogen venting sounds a bit alarming but if Ford doesn’t think it poses a safety issue that’s good enough for me I guess.

My Transit will theoretically be built the week of March 6th. Fingers crossed!

[Trackhead]

My Transit will theoretically be built the week of March 6th. Fingers crossed!

That’s pretty damn exciting.