Flagstaff, Arizona ~ 7,300ft Elevation 33º & Adding To Solar
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- Опубліковано 10 вер 2024
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My name is Eric and I travel with my 26lb cat, “Jax” in a 2012 Coachmen Mirada 32BH Class A Motorhome on a Ford Super Duty truck chassis. (V10 Triton) We travel about 35 miles a day chasing 70 degrees year-round. I travel with a 2009 Honda CMX 250 on the back of my RV on a Titan Ramp 600lb carrier. Bike goes 78mph and gets 70mpg. Here is my gear & some popular questions answered:
Gear: (UPDATED 2019)*
*Video: Canon M50 Mirrorless
*Main Vlog Lens: Rokinon 12mm 2.0F EF-M
*Stabilizer: Zhiyun Crane 2
*Additional Lenses: Canon 11-22mm ef-m, 15-45mm ef-m, 50mm ef-s, 75-300mm ef-s & 10-18mm ef-s
*Audio: (On Camera) Rode VideoMic Pro+ With Rycote VMP+ Deadcat
*GoPro 7 Black for water/action shots
*GoPro Hero 6 Silver with Purple Panda Lavalier Lapel mic for Driving Narration
*GoPro Hero 4 Black for Timelapses
*SJ4000 for driving shots out the front window.
Time Lapses: Gopro Hero 4: 2 second intervals. Sped up 1200x, cropped 4K down to 1080 for panning
Night Lapses: Gopro Hero 4 Black manual settings: 800 ISO, 30 second Shutter, 3000K WB, Protune On
Slow Motion: Shot 1080p 240fps. Reduced to 8% in Post Production
Additional Audio: Sony ICD-PX333
Editing Laptop: 2015 MacBook Pro 2.8ghz i7 16GB Ram, 500 SSD
Editing Software: Adobe Premiere Pro CC
Editing Encoder: Adobe Encoder - Presets: MP4 VBR H.264 16mbps
Aerial Drone Shots: DJI Phantom 3 Standard Shot in 2.7K Downscaled to 1080p
RV MPG: 7-8mpg depending on generator use.
Solar: 1280 Watts (320x4) Rec N-Peak Monocrystalline 120 cell panels on Roof.
Charge Controller: Victron MPPT 150/85-TR
Inverter/Charger: Victron 3000 watt MultiPlus
Batteries: Battle Born Lithium 100ah x 3 = 300 amp hours.
Mobile Wifi: AT&T Unlimited & Verizon Unlimited
Music: / audiolibrary
Jax is a MaineCoon/Ragdoll Tabby mix. He weighs 26lbs. Born April 21st 2010.
Tennessee Hayride by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommon...)
Artist: audionautix.com/
Eric, keep in mind, if you are venting an enclosure any air coming out has to be replaced by air going in with the same cfm (cubic feet per minute).
Great vid. Love that Battery Bank.
Always fabulous to wake up to a nomadic fanatic video starring Jax and his servant/chauffeur Eric!
We usually run a 2” duct hose directly from furnace for winter heat needed for the batteries, try Grainger supply for a better cooling fan , I believe they have a good online for all their products.
60 watt light bulb keeps my water from freezing in NE Ohio.
Exactly right! I was about to tell Eric, but you beat me to it. Just wire in a porcelain surface mount fixture with a pull chain, or add a wall switch if you want it fancier. Also possible to use a wire cage type industrial fixture to protect the bulb.
All you need to keep it warm in the battery compartment is 2 incandescent light bulbs on a 2x4 board placed inside. We use it down in our well up north Michigan. It has never froze on us. Any way I love your videos. We can tell the amount of effort that you put into them. And makes them pleasant to watch. Keep up the good work.
Steve from Mi.
So pleased you are taking lithium temperatures seriously. Really pleased Wind & Sun are telling their customers too. So many people a) don't know or b) have been told lies by distributors!
You will love having 500Ah of lithium. I've recently upgraded to 600Ah Victron lithium and it's great! More solar coming on the roof of my boat before winter here in Great Britain :-)
Eric, how about using a *boat bilge blower fan!?* I believe they make them up to 4”. They’re pretty powerful, compact, & most commonly made by Attwood & are used to remove fuel fumes/vapors from the bilge/fuel tank area(s) of boats so they don’t blow up 💥 🔥 upon startup!
I had a similar problem. I went with a marine bilge fan. Runs on 12v too. Works very well. I am not worrying about it getting too cold. With the inverter in the same compartment it is NOT going to get too cold.
Hey man use a computer fan for that and they run on 12 volts to
My first thought was computer fan. Some of them can be pretty powerful.
On my class B I used two large CPU fans to draw out hot air for my refrigerator , they move a fair amount of air and have very little amp draw along with pretty quiet .
Great idea
Yeah, much better, I use 12V fans for the same type of issues. Can even add a temperature switch so it hands off. You need to consider moisture issues if you have a hole in your electronics bay. No splashing back in, ever, right!
i concur
Hi Eric! Great location! And, congratulations on the extra battery power! I did want to mention a few things, though.
First of all, you don't want to drain your batteries below 20% - ever! No matter what anyone tells you about lithium batteries, you WILL damage them and shorten their life, if you draw them down below 20%. I realize that there is some confusion about that, because things like iPhones, for example, will show you a battery gauge that goes down to 0% and Apple wouldn't want to damage your battery in your phone, would they? But, what they're showing you is the percentage of USABLE battery power available, which is different than the actual battery capacity percentage. The good news is that the Battle Born batteries have a built in BMS that won't allow you to drain them all the way down to zero volts. But, the higher the percentage you keep in them, the longer they will last.
I would also like to make a couple of suggestions as far as temperature management for your batteries is concerned: For both hot and cold weather, I would advise that you attach insulation to the inside of your bay door to prevent the sun from heating up the compartment so much and to prevent too much heat escaping during cold winter nights. Indeed, insulating the walls of the inside of the bay would probably be a good idea, as well. If it were me, I would probably enclose all of the batteries in an insulated box. But, the inverter and solar charge controller will stay healthier if they're not allowed to get too hot, either.
Then, to keep your batteries above freezing, let me suggest that you get a couple of reptile tank heating mats that are thermostat controlled. These are cheap and draw very little power and take almost no space, because your batteries will sit on top of them. They typically draw about 20 watts for the sizes you would need. Set the thermostat at the lowest setting and you should be fine! They will automatically turn on when the temperatures fall and shut off when they're not needed. And, they plug into a standard AC wall outlet, like you already have in the bay. So, installation will be very easy! You might also consider attaching those same heating mats to the underside of your tanks to keep them from freezing.
I hope these suggestions help! Take care, and give Jax a hug for me!
I'm with you on getting ALL you can with SOLAR. I have 1005 watts of Solar and 300 amp hours of batteries! NO generator/charger. (yet)
You are by far the best RV channel out there always looking forward to your videos happy trails
I love how fun and informative your videos are. Thank You !
The problem you have in the summer with cooling is going to keep the batteries warm in the winter. If that's not quite enough the next battery blankets that don't use very much power that will keep you batteries warm.
Michael T my thoughts exactly!
For cooling that area I can think of two options: 1) Can you run just the fan on your furnace. That should bring cooler air from your cab into the ducting in that area. 2) They make small waterproof 12v fans for PC's then add a vent cover: Search amazon on "TITAN IP55" for the fan and "RV Range Hood Vent". I also see some Multipurpose rack fans for venting fridge cavities that come with controllers that look ideal...search on "Titan TTC-SC09TZ". Probably not final solutions, but something else to consider. Good luck!
Think of all the rattling noises, that the shutters will make down a bumpy road!
Take a page from the boat industry and use a 4’ bilge blower. Waterproof and 12v. They are made for EXACTLY what your trying to do. They make ports for them as well. You will also need a route for makeup air so consider a vent on each side of the door. In order to heat batteries look for heat tape used to prevent water lines from freezing on mobile homes.
At our RV Repair place we would install 2 vents. Top and Bottom and mount 12v fans on each. One push one pull. You could also go with one vent pulling interior.
This is what is used on the back of the RV Fridges (Dometic and Norcold)
It's good your taking your time in a place and taking a break from driving
Erik, forego the adapter and attach fan directly to inside wall of bay and without the extra distance those louvres will move.
4 inch DC computer fans move air real well!
I Agree with the computer fan idea. We have a computer fan set up in our bathroom window, it keeps the moisture down when using the propane heat in our 27' TT
Eric get one of those pool noodle thing's for a couple of bucks, cut down the center and place on the bottom of your slide, we do that to all our slides that way it protects you a little if you happen to forget and hit your shoulder or head when rising up, a lot less painful and just pull it off and store until needed again.
If I’m correct them battery’s don’t put off toxins so why not just put a vent that goes in to the right to inside the entrance door on the left that way it gets the heat and ac
Better yet is to get the batteries inside the coach.
It's really great that you show your RV mistakes so others can learn from them. And by the way, you're probably out of the area by now, but the next time you're in Flagstaff, you should visit Sedona. I've been there twice and it is one of the most beautiful places in America.
All you need to heat is a 100 watt flood lamp hooked up to a duct thermostat. The lamp will come on only when needed. We use this for well pumps in freezing areas. For summer use a marine engine compartment blower on a timer hooked to your load outlet on your mppt controller.
Good work Eric. Safe travels to you and Jax👍🌵
Use a bilge blower like they use in boat motor enclosures. They move a lot of air and are designed to vent fuel fumes and work really well. They’re small and compact and you can also get nice decorative vents in any color so they’re not an eye sore. Try Eddie Marine or CP Performance.
Grab yourself a 4" centrifugal fan, commonly used in small hydroponic grows. They have the power to do what you need and are fairly quiet.
Eric I agree with Michael T, I would think that the inverter will give you enough heat in the colder weather or get the battery blankets and keep just the batteries warm and not the space. It's an enclosed area below a heated space so I doubt it would freeze Also I would imagine that heat build up you talk about coming from the inverter working hard (probably because you're running the air conditioner) would also be rising up through the vents into the cabin area making your AC having to run even more.
Great stuff 👍 Eric, your idea with fan vent was good but it seems never that easy when you think you figured it out. Great solar addition!!
I would think about venting into the wheel well. Just need to only allow when pushed out. Insulation should help for winter... maybe a heating pad or such for winter warming.
Marine Bilge Blowers Fan and done, its designed for exactly what you are doing, cooling a small area with equipment.
Order yourself some noctua industrial grade pc fans. The problem with that duct fan is static pressure, it's not designed to deal with any sort of obstruction in the air flow path. Another option would be car radiator fans but that is probably serious overkill and it's going to be noisy. My suggestion would be a pair of 140mm 3000 rpm noctuas one to pull in air and one to exhaust. They will move a lot of air while remaining fairly quiet and not drawing a ton of power.
I think I would be installing a huge lock on that door! That's a serious battery investment :-)
I agree! I would install the strongest lock which is the heavy duty (round lock) that you see on most of the public storage units and maybe add an alarm sensor on the door to set the alarm siren blaring if someone opens the door.
LOOKING SWEET IN THAT ELECTRONICS BAY ... KEEP ON TRUCKINN BROTHER !!!
Maybe you can look into the small 12 volt radiator fans. They are 12 volt and you can use a thermostat to trigger it when needed. Then you can just add a home louvered vent as needed.
You should modify your furnace to put a manual switch on the fan so it would blow the ambient air from the RV into the battery compartment.
Also that drier vent will let rain water in especially when driving down the road.
Winter time run your Rv heater as much as possible. That takes care of that. Summer, run a regular fan directly on your battery bank when your stopped and hanging out.
If you are sucking air out of the compartment, you need to allow more air in. The slow rotation speed of the fan isn't that much of an issue, a gentle breeze is far more effective than a gale force fan. Another consideration, is those louvers won't be waterproof and in some rain storm you might get rain in the locker and over the electronics.
You've got it nailed, to bad camper van Kevin has had so many problems with his solar install.
My install was very good on Ms Gypsy. I had a faulty inverter that was replaced.
@@russpost2557 I agree Russ, I do have issues with so many things! I didn't even know you were watching in the first place, so I have not missed you since you are gone.
@Maxima You must be thinking about the Promaster install. The first time it was HORRIBLE!
Campervan Kevin You love the camper life, and that's what it is all about, if all were perfect, this would be heaven and not earth.
@@CampervanKevin You still got me! I saw her catch that fishy fishy.
Another great review and understanding of solar power. I especially liked the battery charging and depletion summary. Good information for us guys that like a some tech but don’t want all the math and science to go with it👍.
As for making what you already have work, I would use tin snips and trim a few inches away from the back end of that tube. It looks like there is room to do that.
If your door comes off easily... for the summer, replace it with a refrigerator door and put a small car electric fan with a temp sensor on the backside of the door it's move and its thin.
Another idea put a light bulb in there I keep light on in my pump house to keep the pipes from bursting it will help keep that area warm too
Did same on caravan I added a domestic fridge vent it’s rectangular and then added cpu fans 12v x2 sucking the air out from the compartment. Also with the add3d vents it doesn’t suffer from negative pressure.. I then used the 220v heated cable around the water tank, sorry uk 120 in us.
Use a 100w incandescent light bulb in the storage area. It doesn't get too hot and it doesn't draw as much power as a heater. if it does get to warm you can always step down to a 60 or 75 watt bulb.
Use a piece of PVC pipe as a chimney. Run it up behind the reefer and up to near the vent on the roof. Add a fan if you want.
Vent straight up - open to inside when cold outside and closed venting outside when hot outside. Hi to Catman Jax.
Use the vent in the motor home with a couple small fans to blow inside air into the battery compartment through that vent.
You could insulate the battery compartment with that two inch hard form board from home Depot and then mount two 100 watt incondescent bulbs in there that you turn on for the cold nights. Just a thought.
you need a blower that is designed to blow pressure through tubes and pipes.. , like the blower heater unit in a car.. (usually a squirrel cage design) a pull-your-own-part place would be a good start.. and running it off of native 12v dc will be the most efficient.. no conversion losses.. put a thermostat on it and it would be "automagic".
Hello Eric, I have a similar problem about cooling my Batteries. My only 2 lithium Batteries are on the tongue in a metal box. I first welded in Louvres on both sides. Then I insulated the inside of the box. I bought 2 four inch solar fans from Amazon. I aim one fan in and the other fan out for best air circulation. The small solar panels attach to the lid. Good luck.
I talked to JAMES and told him YOU>NF" sent me. I got all I needed and so far so good! Thanks Eric!
Sweet! Hi, solar friend!
Eric one way you could rent your compartment is to use a boat engine compartment blower in the event that you already bought and some flexible tubing that they also use on the boat that way you can put the blower wherever you have the space in this route the tubing
Computer fans, 12v. Two holes in the bottom of the RV or in the door. One of them should have a fan to push air out of the compartment. The other just a vent to allow air to come in. Just use some screen over the hole to keep bugs out.
Eric why not get a air vent just like your outdoor fridge vent. Put that on the battery door. Then in winter just insulate the vent on the inside. They make fridge vent fans for rv’s. Would work for your batteries also.
I was up there on A1 mtn road when you were there. I was the guy with the red pickup and red trailer with the gray home made camper on it. I was a couple sites farther down from you, I recognized the skeleton
Walk up the street a few hundred yards look for a cattle gate on the right hand side walk on the dirt road about 600 ft you'll see a beautiful little valley and tank. We say a heard of Elk all around the tank one evening. In the background you will see the observatory. NAWS was a life saver for me this past summer. Saw you up there wanted to say hello but you left to fast.
Get you a 100mm server fan. It’s 12v uses next to no power and you can get a thermal switch to make it come on at a certain temperature. And they are cheap.
I have a question Eric, what ever happened to the 12v fridge u was reviewing? did u do a review on it and i missed it if so can u link me to that video please ?
for a fan use a boat blidge fan, (12 volt )use hose on both side if you want.
Northern wind is awesome so is alternative energy in concho
For warmer weather perhaps you could route a duct upward behind the fridge and just vent it with the fridge heat. A couple of high-end computer muffin fans at both ends might just pull enough to do the trick. 'Middle part of the duct could even be flatted a bit if space it too tight.
Just got to thinking about your heat and venting problem...how about a refrigerator vent fan kit? It’s very low power running what looks like a computer fan, but has a built in thermostat that only turns on the fan above 80 degrees F.
The one I have is a Valterra Black
A 10-2618 VP Fridge Exhaust Fan 12volt. Amazon $28.08
Just a thought. Keep on keeping on!
Thank you for sharing peace
They make fans for amps that move a ton of air.
Great video... computer fans are the way to go for compartment ventilation.
You can use a heat lamp or bulb to keep it warm
Sometimes you can't solve every problem with items off the shelf from the Home store. Go on Amazon and look at AC Infinity CLOUDLINE T4 exhaust fans. Temp and humidity control with alarm settings. Use some 4" flexible ducting.
Lithium battery' s don,t freeze . And as for the Inverter its normal for it to get hot. It will automatically cut of if it gets too hot.
Look into computer fans. For your Tower PC computers. There's also projector fans there in a squirrel cage they blow. But when you get the squirrel cage fans get a replacement because The Barbarians we're out and make noise. But they're very small. It looks like if you could vent the temperature are in the RV into the battery box with no Backdraft that would be a great idea.
You will also need an air input, otherwise it will not flow. I'd put a remote thermometer in there, alarmed when temp falls below 40 so you can rescue the batteries/ with the main furnace. We could put together a venting system with servo to open/close aimed down to not let rain/road splashes into the compartment with a 3d printed design and some durable plasttics.
Isn't the fridge above this, if so, what if there was a heat-pipe-chimney that allowed waste heat to rise up the back of the fridge and out the vent on top? The interior heating ducts would let the cooler air flow into the area via convection.
Walmart online sells a small plug in heater for small spaces. Plugs directly into your 110 receptacle in the bay.
I saw somewhere on the Internet that Hwy 40 runs from the Oregon coast directly to Boston Mass. I thought that would be a great trip you can do in the future!
to keep batteries warm in winter get battery covers..I live in northern BC and we use them on our cars in winter
Eric, hit up a semi truck dealer. They sell a heating pad to put under the batteries to keep them warm for extreme cold operations. They are 110v and work real good. We use 4 batteries in trucks, so it will be perfect sized for your needs.
Oh yeah, it is waterproof too.
Hey there, you can use a smal Oil Filled Radiator Heater for winter and Bathroom Extract Fans for summer
Gotta head out to ashurst lake area in flagstaff!! Very beautiful
HEY ERIC HI, WELL SINCE I DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING ABOUT BATTERIES LOL, I DON'T KNOW? BUT I STILL ENJOY YOUR VIDEOS. AND HOW'S JAX DOING? AWW MY BEUTYFUL JAX MEOW MEOW I LOVE YOU BUDDY. ERIC YOU TAKE CARE AND DRIVE CAREFULLY. KEEP YOURSELF WARM, AND JAX TOO. I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE NEXT VIDEO. THANK YOU FOR SHARING ALL THE KNOWLEDGE YOU KNOW ABOUT BATTERIES, AND STAYING IN DIFFERENT PLACES. THANK YOU, FOR ALL YOUR VIDEOS. 🤗🤗🤗🤗😻😽😽😽😽😺👍👍👍👍👍 MILAGROS MOGRO FROM FL.
just somthing to keep in mind!!!! hope u never blow a tire on that pass rear it will rip that compartment to pieces ive seen it happen on one of pippis videos when she showed a class a that blew that tire it was very bad tore it all hell!!!!! be safe man U GOT THE LIFE I WISH I HAD!!!!! JUST NOT ALL THE HARD VIDEO WORK U HAVE TO DO !!!!!!!! THAT PART SUCKS!!!!!!! BUT GREAT VIDEOS KEEP WORKING YOUR BUTT OFF FOR MY ENTERTAINMENT!!!!!! THANK U!!!!!!
It’s good you get your Solar fixed it now. 👍☕️🍩🌞
You need to go to a HVAC store and get a piece of sheet metal that has a binding end and cut the sheet metal to the length and need. See what diameter around has and may not need a reduce size end.
Just plug in a drop light with a 100W bulb in that compartment. It will keep things from freezing.
A lot of marijuana growers use small intake fans there about $70-$100 but they’re much smaller and much lighter you should take a look at those. You can look on Amazon for 4 inch intake fan. To keep the compartment warm in the winter I definitely think it’s a better idea to drill some holes inside of your RV and let the warm air circulate through there
The hole to bring in the heat from the rv may work in the summer too as the air conditioning will go out through the hole to the battery room, too, I think. Maybe that nice air vent would work if you used a thick magnet to hold the door open when you want it open. It would not have to be attached to the rv as the magnet will hold it there on both sides???? I was just going to say , "Can you put on an alarm?", and then I heard you say that you had done that.
I'd get a marine type blower which runs on 12 volts or 2 muffin fans like you see on a computer. That flappy dryer thing will self destruct going down the road. You might be near a vent that you could vent it out like the frigerator. Be careful not to put unwanted holes in your bus.
For the hot air extraction of the battery compartment, I suggest one (or even two stacked on top of each other) server case fans, they run on 12V, are really fast (and really noisy, but it's on the outside so it shouldn't bother you), and can push quite a lot of air. Plus, you don't have the loss in efficiency from stepping it up to 110V and then back down to whatever the fan motor is actually using. OK, the ductwork would have to be improvised, but Eric, you are handy, you will definitely find a solution!
lol, just get a boat bilge blower. Made for boats, move a ton of air, run efficiently on 12 volts. I would bring air from the cabin whether hot or cold outside. Just put an exhaust vent in to allow movement.
Beautiful place to camp and make home improvements. Is Jax ok? Really missed seeing him. Thanks for sharing your life.
Hey Eric. Just a thought on cooling the battery bay- Why not just get a couple of round vents like is used on BBQ grills and mount them high on the bay door? You can slide them open while driving without issue and keep them closed during the winter.
You have got to have time off. Glad you took it!
He deserves it indeed.
One needs time to get things done in life? Shouldn't just be about doing for others, it's doing for yourself as well!
I'm glad to see he's taking good care of that.
😊
Computer fans by noctua are quiet yet it moves a lot of air. Or find a loud, high rpm fan to move more air out of the compartment.
well by god,i thought you had that slide fixed,i saw the video myself,you repaired the track.
I know LiFePO4 is relatively safe, but look into putting a BlazeCut extinguishing tube in the top of that compartment. Cheap insurance when there's a lot of high power electrics. Painless installation, no wiring needed.
Hi we are big fans we are in Flagstaff tonight at Crackerbarrel
Just use a 90 degree elbow in the middle. Then it will be shorter and away from the back wall. If you own that fan I would give it a shot. It did look a little weak.
Small boats with enclosed compartments are required to have an air inlet and outlet to prevent gas fume explosions. You might look at a marine supply house to see if you can find some that will help your situation
I love Flagstaff camping area... nice setup 😀👍