willald
Explorer II
Joined Jul 15, 2002
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Re: DIY LiFePO4 build
All valid points about solar. Reasons I’m hesitant to pull the trigger on solar is a couple things: Not sure how effective it will be, when 90% of the places we like to camp are out in the woods, very shaded, where solar panels would not bring in much power. Presently, we never camp off grid more than a few days, and as long as we don’t need air conditioning, batteries I have now can easily handle such without needing any recharging. Not crazy about expensive solar panels permanently mounted on roof, where they can be easily damaged by falling branches, tree debris, etc. After a recent trip to the scales, I found our Motorhome (fully loaded) is a bit heavier than I thought, closer to limits than I’d prefer. Not anxious to add even more weight and make that worse, at least not until I can find some ways to drop some weight (whole nother discussion). With an onboard built in 5500 watt generator to fall back on that will generate power rain or shine, really question if solar is really worth the trouble, expense. I probably will do it one day, just cause I really like tinkering, upgrading (it’s addictive, hahaha). But, not for a while. WillRe: DIY LiFePO4 build
Nice, Stircrazy. 😀 I did a lifepo4 conversion on our Newmar class A as well. Took over a year, and still tweaking it, but it’s been amazing what lithium batteries allow us to do. I ended up also having to tear out and completely rebuild the battery compartment from scratch. Replaced the 6 6 volt gc2 batteries that came from factory with 4 300 amp hour epoch essentials. Wired it using bus bars, two Victron DC DC chargers for charging, smart shunt, multiplus 3000 120x2 inverter/charger, and cerbo GX for monitoring. It is soo cool being able to run literally everything off batteries and camp off grid for several days at a time when we want. The monitoring Victron allows with their VRM portal online is amazing, too. Ended up buying an Amazon fire tablet, installing cerbo GX software on it and using it as a dedicated cerbo gx monitor. Next step is to add solar panels on roof, although not sure if we will. Very happy with the rig as it is. We can run everything off batteries and be off grid for several days easily. can even run one air conditioner off batteries for about 7 or 8 hours before we have to crank up genny or plug in to shore power to recharge. Here are some pictures: battery compartment: Here’s what it looked like without batteries in it (this was before I added the cutoff switch): wiring diagram i made illustrating all of it: cerbo display tablet over door:Re: Taking the top off your jeep while camping
Yeah, that is the big downside to a hard top. I've also been looking for a soft top for this reason. Challenge is, I want my cake and eat it, too - I want to be able to use the hard top sometimes when its very hot or cold outside and we want the hard top, but be able to take it off and easily put on a soft top for those times when the climate is a bit more favorable, and just need to be prepared for the pop up rain showers.Re: Taking the top off your jeep while camping
We have a 2018 Wrangler JK. And yes, we do on occasion remove the top when out camping. Two people can easily remove the top, me and my wife have done it many times. We bring along a couple of small wood blocks to sit the top on, to at least keep it off the ground. At home, we use a hoist in the carport we built to remove it. Jeeps make awesome towed vehicles for camping. Sooo easy to set up for flat towing, is only vehicle we set up 100% ourselves for flat towing. So simple procedure to hook up, too. Just hook it up, shift transfer case to neutral, transmission in park and go.Re: Overloading my Victron Multiplus II
Good find, Ramblin. I have a multiplus II 3000 120x2 in our rig, too, along with 1200 amp hours of lithium (4 epoch essential 300 ah). Love being able to run pretty much everything off batteries when we need to. I can run one air conditioner for about 7-8 hours off batteries before we have to fire up generator or hook up shore power to recharge. Allows us to run air conditioner all night if needed, and only have to fire up genny to recharge during the day. we use soft starts on our air conditioners, too, to allow the inverter to run them. Will have to keep this in mind if we ever have an overloading problem.Re: Coating peeling off seats
Yep, as already said, very common issue on a lot of RVs. They use cheap, fake leather that starts flaking apart after a couple years. And, it always seems to start happening right after warranty is up, so manufacturer probably isn't going to be much help. We had this happen on our 2012 Forest River Georgetown we used to own, not 2 years after we bought it (new). Ended up taking it to a local upholstery shop and had both captain chairs and the sofa re-upholstered with good quality leather. Was fine after that, new upholstery was still in great shape after several more years of use and when we traded that rig back in 2021. So far (knock on wood), this hasn't been an issue on our Newmar after 2 years of quite a bit of use. Newmar seems to use good quality furniture made from better material.Re: full wall slideout issue - maybe
wildtoad wrote: Sorry about the formatting. 72185 County Rd 3 Newmar Corporation 866.290.5371 Nappanee, IN 46550 Fax 574.773.2007 Product Information Bulletin Date Issued 01/29/15 PIB # Full-wall Slide-out 38 Operation YEAR / BRAND / TYPE / MODEL # The intent of this Product Information Bulletin is to inform of the recommended operating procedure for all Newmar Product with full-wall slide-outs. Product Information In the past, Newmar has recommended leveling the coach prior to deploying the slide-outs. Although this is still the recommendation for coaches without full wall slide-outs, Newmar makes the following recommendation for coaches equipped with a full wall slide-out. PLEASE REVIEW THIS RECOMMENDED PROCEDURE: Motorhomes, as all vehicles, flex in travel. Flexing may be different due to terrain and the coach’s fulcrums (resting on tires or jacks). This is normally not an issue for coaches without a full wall slide-out. Although the jacks and the slide-out mechanism are both welded to the chassis frame, with a full wall slide-out, you have a large box (the slide), inside another large box (the coach) and they both flex, especially the coach. As the coach flexes, this movement is more noticeable in the outside reveal due to the wider slide-out. Additional care should be taken once the coach is parked. Before operating the full wall slide-out, one should walk around the driver’s side and look at the “reveal” or “gap” of the two vertical wall trims around the full wall slide-out to make sure there is plenty of clearance so the trim will not rub when running the slide-out to the out position. If the gap looks good then the slide out can be operated. If the gap is tight in one or more places, try leveling the coach to see if that corrects it, then operate the slide out. If at any time there is cause for concern, do not operate the slide-out and call Newmar Customer Service. PLEASE NOTE: Most often the gap will look best when sitting on the tires and not the jacks. If you have any questions regarding this P.I.B., please contact a Warranty Service Representative at Newmar Corpo Thank you, Tom, this is very, very helpful. If I'd known this, would probably never have had this problem. I'll bet the gap or 'reveal' in our case after I did a not-so-good job of leveling last weekend, was very tight. Will definitely keep this in mind going forward.Re: full wall slideout issue - maybe
Horsedoc wrote: Full wall slide have duel motors? I might check and see that both drive motors and screws are synced and balanced. Yes, dual motors. Dealer checked that, and all is good there. Opnspaces has a good point. Could the entire structure be in a bind when this happened?? Yeah, I think thats what it was. Once got off that site, brought jacks up, all is good. Definitely a lesson learned from this, like said in the previous posts.
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