Rednecktek
Solar Wizard
So I started with preliminary designs and ideas in another thread, and then wouldn't ya know it a 1998 Coleman Pop-Up camper suddenly showed up in my driveway!
According to the seller everything works!
Except that the propane is disconnected...
The battery was half hooked up backwards and ratchet strapped to the tongue as there was no battery tray or box...
And the furnace didn't work...
No power was getting to the house battery...
The rubber lip around the roof fell off...
The water pump isn't pumping...
The pulleys and gears were running their factory grease...
The second propane tank was missing...
But other than that!
At least all the canvas and windows and upholstery is in good condition.
So I got my pieces on order and started playing with it. Had to take the heater to a specialist for a week to get it running and replace the regulator. There is no power going to the house battery to charge it even though the house battery DOES power the lights and furnace... Odd... And then some weirdo shows up with some steel and a welder! Man, just LOOK at those krappy welds! I oughta fire whoever put that thing together! ?
I still gotta engineer how I'm going to support this assembly and where I can attach more steel to the frame to reach it, but that's for the next few weeks when it stops raining (hopefully).
I messed up ONE of my penetrations to the breaker and distribution box in the Apache case, so now I gotta drill a whole new set of holes, but that's coming along nicely. I just got the parts today (I think) to build the pre-charge circuit that is going to the left of the main breaker. Hopefully the 250a Class-T fuse will mount in the current holder, right now it's just a 160a I'm using for sizing.
I special ordered a pair of JBD 200a 4s Heated BMS's from the JBD store... come to find out today after stuffing ALL THE KRAP into those Noco Group-31 boxes that there is NO HEATER PLUG!!!! Gods damnit!!! So now I'm going to have to get external thermostats involved to get the heating pad in the bottom to work because there is NO WAY in HELL that I'm taking those batteries apart now that I've got everything tucked in there!
Fortunately I have thermostats on hand (I think) that I can re-route power to externally to get the 12w heating pad (the red plaid thing in the bottom of the boxes) to kick on and off. So far I'm 0 for 4 on BMS's that supposedly have heating functions.
Since the converter box is right at the ass end of the camper and I'm going to be mounting that new tray to the back bumper, I figure the new Ionic 2Kw 12v Low Freq AIO inverter can go right under the seat along with a DIN box with AC and DC breakers for distribution...
Hopefully... This thing is HUGE!!!!
In order to avoid having to run a single wire all the way forward to the emergency brake system, I decided I'd just mount a small AGM battery up there dedicated to the brakes. I grabbed a 35Ah AGM, a cheapie 10a PWM controller, and a 25w panel to throw up front. That should (in theory) never need to be touched once it's mounted.
The SAE plug hanging out there goes to the little 25w mono panel I gotta figure out how to mount where it's not in the way of the nose wheel crank.
So yeah, gotta keep myself busy!! On the To-Do list still (in no particular order):
Mount 4x 200w 10BB Bi-facial panels and a 4-port combiner box to the roof and run cable down to the Apache for the PV disconnect breaker
Build a brake battery mount
Flip the axel over
Install the electric lift motor and controller
Mount the battery tray back aft
Figure out the water pump situation
Test the propane water heater (requires working pump)
Replace the absorption fridge with a compressor fridge
Install a 2nd AC circuit to feed the fridge and coffee pot
Install the fold out awning
Replace the lights with LED's
Mount USB charging ports inside
Cut and stitch in Reflectix window insulation
Trace and separate DC circuits, it seems everything is on a single 15a fuse currently
Install a power port to power a portable water pump so I can fill the water tank from the river
Replace the factory matresses
Ceiling projector?
LED light strips outside?
Wire in the new inverter and AC/DC circuit breaker box
Get pots/pans/dishes/stores/linens/etc
Bluetooth speaker system?
Insert Third Thing Here
Catch Phrase!
So yeah, nothing really to do! ?
According to the seller everything works!
Except that the propane is disconnected...
The battery was half hooked up backwards and ratchet strapped to the tongue as there was no battery tray or box...
And the furnace didn't work...
No power was getting to the house battery...
The rubber lip around the roof fell off...
The water pump isn't pumping...
The pulleys and gears were running their factory grease...
The second propane tank was missing...
But other than that!
At least all the canvas and windows and upholstery is in good condition.
So I got my pieces on order and started playing with it. Had to take the heater to a specialist for a week to get it running and replace the regulator. There is no power going to the house battery to charge it even though the house battery DOES power the lights and furnace... Odd... And then some weirdo shows up with some steel and a welder! Man, just LOOK at those krappy welds! I oughta fire whoever put that thing together! ?
I still gotta engineer how I'm going to support this assembly and where I can attach more steel to the frame to reach it, but that's for the next few weeks when it stops raining (hopefully).
I messed up ONE of my penetrations to the breaker and distribution box in the Apache case, so now I gotta drill a whole new set of holes, but that's coming along nicely. I just got the parts today (I think) to build the pre-charge circuit that is going to the left of the main breaker. Hopefully the 250a Class-T fuse will mount in the current holder, right now it's just a 160a I'm using for sizing.
I special ordered a pair of JBD 200a 4s Heated BMS's from the JBD store... come to find out today after stuffing ALL THE KRAP into those Noco Group-31 boxes that there is NO HEATER PLUG!!!! Gods damnit!!! So now I'm going to have to get external thermostats involved to get the heating pad in the bottom to work because there is NO WAY in HELL that I'm taking those batteries apart now that I've got everything tucked in there!
Fortunately I have thermostats on hand (I think) that I can re-route power to externally to get the 12w heating pad (the red plaid thing in the bottom of the boxes) to kick on and off. So far I'm 0 for 4 on BMS's that supposedly have heating functions.
Since the converter box is right at the ass end of the camper and I'm going to be mounting that new tray to the back bumper, I figure the new Ionic 2Kw 12v Low Freq AIO inverter can go right under the seat along with a DIN box with AC and DC breakers for distribution...
Hopefully... This thing is HUGE!!!!
In order to avoid having to run a single wire all the way forward to the emergency brake system, I decided I'd just mount a small AGM battery up there dedicated to the brakes. I grabbed a 35Ah AGM, a cheapie 10a PWM controller, and a 25w panel to throw up front. That should (in theory) never need to be touched once it's mounted.
The SAE plug hanging out there goes to the little 25w mono panel I gotta figure out how to mount where it's not in the way of the nose wheel crank.
So yeah, gotta keep myself busy!! On the To-Do list still (in no particular order):
Mount 4x 200w 10BB Bi-facial panels and a 4-port combiner box to the roof and run cable down to the Apache for the PV disconnect breaker
Build a brake battery mount
Flip the axel over
Install the electric lift motor and controller
Mount the battery tray back aft
Figure out the water pump situation
Test the propane water heater (requires working pump)
Replace the absorption fridge with a compressor fridge
Install a 2nd AC circuit to feed the fridge and coffee pot
Install the fold out awning
Replace the lights with LED's
Mount USB charging ports inside
Cut and stitch in Reflectix window insulation
Trace and separate DC circuits, it seems everything is on a single 15a fuse currently
Install a power port to power a portable water pump so I can fill the water tank from the river
Replace the factory matresses
Ceiling projector?
LED light strips outside?
Wire in the new inverter and AC/DC circuit breaker box
Get pots/pans/dishes/stores/linens/etc
Bluetooth speaker system?
Insert Third Thing Here
Catch Phrase!
So yeah, nothing really to do! ?
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