RV Update / Upgrade Thread

I had mentioned on one of my threads (Purchasing 46.5 Acres Near Kingman, AZ) that I had the inverter/charger fail on the RV while camping. Its a Prosine 2.0 made by Xantrex and lasted about 15 years so I can't complain. I purchased a new unit from Xantrex and its being shipped. Most of the camping I do is dry or boondocking. RV has 600 watt solar system along with the inverter so it does very well for extended stays off grid. I pulled the old unit out and don't like the way the batteries are wired, so I think that's going to be a redo and relocation of half of them. RV is a 35' Class A that is a very well maintained 18 years old.

The batteries for the system are 4 GS2 group size or golf cart batteries. I am upgrading to AGM's because they last twice as long, charge faster, discharge slower and have no maintenance. They are still heavy mothers though, about 65 pounds each. The current set up which was not installed by me has the inverter/charger in the storage compartment directly in front of the entry door, where most of the electronics are located. Good protected spot. There are two batteries in the entry step well, along with the chassis battery. There are two more in the storage compartment directly behind the step well. What I don't like about that is all the weight of the batteries is all in one spot, on one side. I also don't like how it was wired. I am going to relocate the batteries in the storage compartment to the driver side storage compartment directly across from the step well. It will even out the weight distribution, and free up valuable storage real estate since that is one of the few compartments you can easily access with the slides out. That part should be relatively simple; get a new battery box that is in line instead of side by side, mount it and install the batteries.

The wiring should be simple as well. The current set up has one in line 300 amp fuse that is located in the step well. The batteries in the step well connect to that fuse lug with a very short length of 4/0 welding wire, all good. The batteries in the storage compartment connect to that same lug with about a 4-5' length of same type/gauge wire that runs along with the main wiring harness for the coach. Not so good as there is nothing to protect that section of wire from shorting. From the 300 amp fuse is another 5-6' length of same type/gauge wire that goes to the inverter. Also not so good as there is nothing to protect that section of wire from shorting and frying the inverter. To make it much safer, there should be two more 300 amp in line fuses, one at the other set of batteries and one just before the inverter. The wiring from both battery locations should meet at that fuse with a short length of wire to the inverter. The relocated batteries will have the wiring inside the storage area, since its a full width pass through type compartment. I can use the existing wiring from the step well battery location that already goes to the inverter location for that half.

I found everything on eBay, can't believe how much wire has gone up in the past few months. $4 a foot for 4/0.

 

[Mbrooks420]

I figured if that was an option you’d have done it.

 

[BKennedy]

I figured if that was an option you’d have done it.

Yes sir.

I went ahead and ordered the EPEVER 40 amp controller. It went up $11 in price from what I had in my Amazon cart, and they only have two left so I decided to pull the trigger. They sell a longer data cable if the one that's included is too short.

I'm posting this from KOFA, leaving in a few minutes.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Need any contractors, or relays? I’ve got ton of stock I’ve gathered from the gettin’ spot stripping out defunct machines, and pulling the new stock parts that aren’t direct matches to our other equipment. Also, fuse holders, terminal blocks, and other DIN rail mounted accessories.

 

[BKennedy]

Thanks, but I have a bunch of that stuff

 

[BKennedy]

I've been calling around to get estimated to repair the RV windows. They are dual panels and all are getting fogged up. The driver window is the worst. On the way home, I couldn't see out of it when the sun was on it. It happens with older RV's when the seals between the panes fail. There are only a few places here that do that service. Most want to replace all the glass. It's still going to cost me about $3,000 to do all of them. The DIY kits are about $100 a pane. It's very labor intensive, and you need to know what your doing, so it's not worth it to spend a week doing it myself, and maybe breaking a few panes in the process. A glass place in Glendale will come down for a day and do all of them with a four year warranty. I use the RV enough to justify the costs, and I can save money other areas, like with the solar.

I passed a Tropi-Cal coach on the way home and noticed it's windows were fogged up like mine. It was made by National RV, which also made my coach. Same windows.

 

[BKennedy]

Made an appointment this weekend to get the windows repaired. I called the two other shops I found that do this kind of repair. They were a lot more money and a lot more time to completion.

This place will come to my house, and do it in one day.

Replacing vs repair of the windows is twice as much.

I was right on with my estimate of $3,000. It's a lot of money, but still cheaper than buying a new coach. A comparable new coach would be at least $200,000, plus I would have to modify it for dry camping.

 

[BKennedy]

I'm cleaning the RV and checked the solar. The PV is 18.3 and the battery is in float charge at 13.6. Typical of electronics to decide to function properly after they are set to be replaced.

 

[donalds]

Typical of electronics to decide to function properly after they are set to be replaced.

Story of our lives

 

[BKennedy]

I'm working on installing the new solar controller. The included three meter data cable is about 6" too short. According to the interweb, it's a standard ethernet cable. I don't have one here long enough, ordered a new one that should be here tomorrow. The manufacturer makes a 32' cable for over $30. I got a superflex 15' cat-8 for $8 off Amazon.

Battery and PV wiring is where it needs to be. Had to punch a new hole into the spray in insulation they used to fill the big hole where most of the wires come into the living area. Big enough for the ethernet cable plug, then run a fish tape through it. There is about 4" of space where it comes out with a bunch of other wiring. Have to wedge myself into the bay, and it's right at fingertip reach for me to get to the wires.

 

[BKennedy]

The charge controller temp sensor is about a foot too short. The controller needs to be where it is. I ordered another sensor because they are cheap, and am going to make an extension out of it. I've run into this same short wires problem before with lower costs electronics.

I got the mount finished. It came out pretty good. I used some 3M spray adhesive and rivets to attach the plywood to the plastic acess cover. Needed rivets because the corner of one of the gray water holding tanks is directly behind the panel. I didn't want to risk running a screw into the tank. I am going to use wood screws through the plywood to secure the bottom half of the panel, and longer self tappers up top. The rectangular hole in the plastic is because there was a raised part I had to remove to get the plywood to lie flat. It's very ridged now.

Before. The metal box is for the 50 amp shore power feed. It was modified by Camping World when my parents had the coach, and it's crooked. They also should have mounted it to the back panel of the bay because it partially blocks the hatchway. Same installers ran battery cables between banks with no fuses.

This is the acess with the panel removed. They don't make anything easy.

 

[BKennedy]

This is what I have do deal with, nothing is straight or lined up in this coach. The right side mirror is mounted at a angle, a few of the marker lights are crooked, and more screws are crooked than straight. If you look at all the control panels, they are not centered.

I tried to straighten the marker lights, but they drilled a 1" hole through the body panels to run two wires, so I would have to replace the light fixtures. I've been thinking of getting some round LED marker lights that fit in the holes.

I'll make a patch panel out of the same 1/4" plywood I used for the mount and stain it with clear urethane. It will be centered.

My father went in a tour of National RV a few years after he bought the coach. At the end, the guide asked if there were any questions. My father asked him if he "could meet the cross eyes son-of-a-***** who put the coach together". The guide got a kick out of it, said he wasn't the first to complain about that.

 

[BKennedy]

I got the controller installed and wired up. It all works. The user manual leaves a lot to be desired. Trying to wade through the settings. I still need to clean up the mess, and permanently mount the remote display on the panel.

The PV voltage isn't enough to light the green indicator while it's under the canopy, but the display shows its producing 9.5 volts, so it's working.

I came up with a nifty way to pull wiring with a big plug on the end. Usually it's a chance that the plug will get stuck and pull off, ruining the wiring. I got a few giant sized caulk extention tubes from my daughters boyfriend, who works for a ship building company. The tubes are tapered to a point, and make excellent rope splicing fids. I cut one down and got the small end to fit tightly over the end of the fish tape. The ethernet cable plug fit snugly into the big end. I wrapped it all up with electrical tape. It easily pulled through the bulkhead and a few other spots where I thought I would have a problem.

 

[BKennedy]

Display is installed and everything is cleaned up. I woke up this morning thinking I was going to reconfigure the entire control panel to move the solar display higher so its easier to read. I ended up angling the patch panel instead. It's easy to read, and saved me a lot of work. I was going to cut wood wedges for the angle, but since the sides and bottom are not visible, I used long screws and spacers. Now that it's in the back of my mind, I'll end up reconfiguring the entire panel someday.

I also used the "USER" settings to set the battery charge/discharge, and amp hours parameters to the battery manufacturer recommendations. The temp sensor should show up today. I'll lengthen the wiring and have that done in a day or two.

The real test will be the next time I take the RV camping.

 

[BKennedy]

Made a protective cover for the wiring and covered it with the same carpet. Don't have to worry about throwing the heavy 50 amp RV shore power cable in there and yanking the wiring out. It looks a lot cleaner as well.

 

[BKennedy]

Finally got the RV out from under the canopy. It's raining and the panels are putting out 17.7 volts and 1.9 amps. The controller is charging at 13.2 volts.

The company that I have coming to repair the dual pane windows are supposedly coming today, and it's raining. See if they show.

 

[dvdswan]

Nice work. I love the ATD on the wiring. Looks very clean and professional. KUDOS.

 

[BKennedy]

What is "ATD"? I'm not up on my abbreviations.

This morning, completely overcast. This controller seems to take full advantage of every bit of PV.

The window crew should be here in a few minutes. Couldn't do it yesterday because of the rain.

 

[donalds]

Attention to detail

 

[BKennedy]

OK, brain fart. I must be getting old.

The window guys did about half of them today. Nice to see a bunch of kids 19-21 understand the value of hard work. They didn't know my window frames are metal on the outside and have a wide rubber seal holding them on the inside. I guess Dolphin (National RV) did that for about two years before they went to the screw in windows. It was a struggle for them to get the 22 year old seals to sit correctly. They will come back Tuesday and finish the job.

This is a picture I took during the process. They didn't leave it with missing windows. There is no way this is DIY friendly. Two of them pushing and holding the windows from the outside while one is cussing the inside seal into place. When they come back, they will use windshield adhesive as sealant around the metal outside flange.

I checked the solar several times throughout the day. It was always on float at 13.6-13.8 volts with the panels putting out 18-22 volts. It was overcast all day. Everything's working very well.

 

[BKennedy]

Every time I do anything with this RV I find shoddy workmanship. I pulled the MAF to clean it, thinking it might be causing the O2 sensor fault codes I occasionally get. I noticed it is sitting about 90 degrees from the alignment tab. After I clean it, I try to install it in the correct orientation, and the wiring is too short. I trace the harness back to where it goes across the front of the radiator. The harness has wiring for other things and where it separates is in the wrong spot by about six inches. Instead of fixing the issue, they rotated the MAF so the messed up wiring would fit.

After I fixed that, I noticed it was routed wrong as well. I ran it where I thought it should go, and I could see the way the harnesses sat that that was how it was intended.

Lots of room now.

After I fixed that, I noticed the coupler between the filter box and MAF was upside-down. They did it like that so the clamp screws were easier to access. I don't think that had any real effect on anything because it looks symmetrical, but the MAF has three or four sensors and might have needed to be aligned correctly.