Sixty four folks ..... it's a NICE sixty four degrees on this dark morning. Anyone notice how you used to go to sleep when it was still light ... and now it's dark once again!! Unless you are night owl. Of course that makes mornings come pretty early, but that's okay! I have to let Mr. Coop Dog out early anyway.
Meet Lizzie ... she lives in the rosemary bush in the back yard. She's quite tiny ... maybe only 3 inches long. Gizzard lives on the front porch and T-Rex lives out by the garage under the spikey fern. I'm surrounded. You can see them most every day around noon ... out scouting for yummy critters to eat. I put up a big sign ..... FREE ANTS!! COME AND GET 'EM!!!
I think I may be getting my head around the electrical system on the van ... maybe ... just a little. I still want to know if the 12 volt fridge HAS to have the inverter to run whether on shore power or not. Can't it just run off the batteries?
Turns out, according to the manual, the inverter is under the front passenger seat. This noisy thing may be something else. Mr. Ed sent a picture of a CHARGER with two big fans. I'm guessing that's what this is. So anyone know what ITS job might be? And how do I put a rag in its mouth?? I guess more reading is required. I may be too old for this!!
SO ... it's time for an outing. They say do not leave it parked for too long because the engine battery needs to stay charged. How long is too long? I've no idea. A couple weeks they say, probably because there is so much electronic stuff going on in the dash ... like the list of ASSISTS a mile long.
Good grief ... I looked at the Settings tab and found a BUNCH more. I'm learning how to turn them all off. Here's another weird one ... you cannot lock all the doors unless the engine is OFF. Why oh why wouldn't you want to be able to lock all the doors at any time?
At any rate, I think I'll actually do this every two weeks because it's good practice for being on the road. The more I turn on and off everything, store everything and run through my check list, the better. Practice makes perfect.
It's super easy to drive. We took off just driving for driving's sake. I have no idea how FAR or how LONG I'm supposed to drive it. Mr. Cooper came with me, but he wasn't the best of company. I think he gets car sick in the beginning, then finally lays down to sleep.
Over hill and dale ... not really, there's no hills or dales around here, but lots of really bad roads to practice missing potholes. I thought that one road went through, but alas, I ended up in the middle of a field, having to do a 39 point turn around. I also noticed I can hardly see out the bug encrusted windshield, so a van-washer tool is in order.
Once home, I parked it like a champ. One who lost the fight. I already marked the concrete with black paint so I could see better ... and I could, but to save me, I cannot park exactly straight. I never have been able to. Horse trailers ... perfectly straight. Motorhomes of any kind or size ... not a chance. She's all tucked in for a couple weeks unless I find some place fabulous to travel to.
While out roaming around, I passed our local Panda Express. I have to say THIS one makes the BEST food. Some of them aren't that great ... overcooked comes to mind. The cook at this one however, is definitely good. Lots of sauce and SO tasty.
There's enough food here for three days. Not a bad deal for $11.00. Unfortunately Coop Dog doesn't get any, so I had to make something special for him. Pork chops!! Yup he's a spoiled pup!
In other news ... I'm finally biting the bullet and getting internet service at my house. There will be no more of those fancy meals in a box delivered. Turns out one of those will pay for a month of service. Everyone else in my neighborhood uses this company ... not with glowing recommendations, but with okay ones. The good news is I can cancel any time if I want to. We shall see if they work any better than the MiFi.
And there's more good news coming down the pike, but it can wait a day or two when I'm SURE it's going to happen ... especially since it's been five months in the waiting!!
I love Panda!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to hear the good news!
Happy Monday!
Frances:)
Good news on a Monday with a full moon is hard to come by.
Delete
ReplyDeleteYour refrigerator is 12 V it has an off and on switch ,so there’s no need to worry about your inverter. It doesn’t connect That way. you might want to look at your circuit breaker panel. There may be an off-line switch there as well? .
I’m not sure where the inverter is but the 👉inverter has 👉two fans with the inverter is running the fans do also
The DC to DC controller which run all things 12 V has 👉no fans that’s in the very back under the couch
The engine start batteries are usually a standalone feature, not tied into your solar generator shore however double check with pleasure way
Here’s a little trick with the ignition off find your 12 V cigarette type adapter plug something in that runs on 12 V in that adapter. if it does cool pat yourself on the back then go to Harbor freight or Amazon and buy a 10 V solar dash mounted panel, plug it into that cigarette type adapter when you’re home, not using it lay it on the dash
That will trickle charge your battery
💸Half a buck says you don’t know where the battery is ⚙️🤡
Since it’s been five months in the waiting, cool?? boy or girl
Drive it more it will improve your comfort level when you back up back up . do it slower than what you normally do now once you do that you’ll get the hang of it
You would lose that bet! LOL
DeleteChow mein and no rice...perfect. Orange chicken and ???
ReplyDeleteIt was some kind of beef and pretty HOT, as in pepper hot. I tried to look it up but could not find their menu.
DeleteYour Lithium house batteries will last a long time before they need recharging. It's only the starter battery that you have to keep in mind, therefore drive a bit every now and then. As to the fridge, leave it off if you don't use it. I'm sure you know all that and just need to get comfortable with your new RV. Make sure your new Internet connection has unlimited or you'll be disappointed in the speed.
ReplyDeleteI finally got some good info on the RV. You are right ... set up and drive it more often and I'll become more comfortable with it.
DeleteYou do not need the invertor on to run the twelve volt stuff, only to run anything that is 110 volts. Twelve volts doesn't need the invertor on, nor to charge the batteries. You might be hearing the refrigeration compressor which would stop if you shut the refrigerator off at night. The invertor has a fan that runs when it is on and you are running something that uses 110 volts. I just put one of these systems in my van. The lithium batteries will also keep the car start battery charged up through the solar controller on my system, so I don't have to run the rig to keep the van battery charged up and I would think your system would be the same, but maybe not? Newer systems work this way.
ReplyDeletebobseyes
I finally got some good info from the manufacturer.
DeleteAll above is good advice except converters (charger) do have fans...all of mine have had fans and that list is a 5th Wheel, 3 different motorhomes and now the camper van. Inverters have fans too.
ReplyDeleteMy solar controller doesn''t have a fan, only a heat sink. It's a modern one. My friend has another model that works the same as mine does.
DeleteThe solar panels charge the lithium batteries and so does the rigs alterantor when the engine is running. When the rigs engine is not running and the sun panels aren't charging much the solar controller charges the rigs starter battery from the lithium batteries, calleld DC to DC charging.
Anyway, the best way to find out what her's is, is to find the name on the solar controller and read the manual for it. Just a warning to Nancy, not to use the rigs manual for the added on RV stuff as they would say different stuff, confusing things. The units controller will say what it does. I think a solar controller and a converter are the same thing, but maybe the solar controller is a more modern way to call it as it is hooked to solar panels.
OH, one more thing. Since you also have a generator, it also likely charges your rigs battery.
I'm not really an expert on this, but I recently installed this on my old van and that's how the one I have works.
Bobseyes
DeleteBob
your pretty much spot on in the day originally you went from 12 V 24 V 48 V solar panel to solar controller that converted that 12V / 24v 48v Down to 12 V to charge whatever bank of batteries you had
Unfortunately, all of that required an extremely large and expensive cables 6 or 8 gauge
The older solar controllers were not efficient enough in the speed department
So they came up with an MPPT solar controller which allowed them to use a standard in out wire
12AWG pv wire. from the solar panel all the way through to the battery ( Commercial application use a 10 AWG wire.)
Now if you remember, you originally only had an inverter again. They took it one step further and added a charger (some RVs had it and some cheaper models did not )in there so then you have inverter charger then in there, infinite wisdom, because of lithium ion they put a DC to DC management controller. And some high end coaches they use that DC to DC to charge the start batteries . however it appears reading pleasure ways manual I don’t think that’s the case because they specifically tell you to run your engine to charge your start batteries every so often so because of that warning I don’t think DC to DC chargers that start batteries
Mercedes in the front builds the engine/electrical /chassis pleasure way. Does everything from their back . Don’t you just love it when they screw with you
Now you just about have to be an electrical engineer.
In your case you were smart enough to put a DC to DC controller to run your house and you start batteries did you have to put a backfeed blocking diode in line??
I think you need to invite Nancy up to your area and take her kayaking just check and make sure she doesn’t wear her cowboy boots in the yak
Lizzie is one of those creatures I like from a distance and do not want to hold. Not being able to lock all the doors while the engine is running seems weird to me
ReplyDeleteDave B. Bob is also right but for a little more insight
ReplyDeleteIn RV applications, the terms 'power converter' and 'battery charger' are used interchangeably. The converter takes AC power (from shore power or a generator), converts it to DC, and uses it to charge the RV batteries.
Mr. Ed 👉Unless at the time of build, they used a different system is another ball of wax, this is why I asked her to take a clear picture of it and post it,
but
According to pleasure way there build list states they use a Mastervolt Mac Plus 12/12-50 dc /dc Which is a fan less unit
It’s location in the center by the rear door
This location appears where she indicated hearing the fan ??
MasterVolt Features
* Fast and safe charging during short trips.
* 👉👉Fanless design for silent operation.
* Suitable for flooded, Gel, AGM and Li-Ion batteries (incl. LiFePO4).
* Charges even fully depleted batteries.
* Engine run detection protects starter battery.
* Adjustable current limits to meet Euro 5/6 requirements.
* Voltage stabilisation protects sensitive equipment, lights and loads.
* Parallel operation to obtain charging capacities well over 100 Amps.
* MasterBus for intelligent system monitoring and automation.
* 👉👉Temperature compensation and voltage sense for an optimal charging result.
* E-mark certification for mobile applications.
* Power supply mode.
* Heavy duty connections for easy installation and quick set up via DIP switches.
* Low costs.
* 👉👉Efficient: low heat generation.
* Compact.
* Suited to applications with negative earthing.
However, there inverter a Xantrex (freedom ) XC PRO 3000W Inverter/Charger - 12V has two fans
those fans are power-based cooling and load-based fans
OK, that controller works just like mine does. It seems to me all the modern ones work like this. The key here is to find the manual for the controller or whatever you want to call it and then, the answers will be found, or at least some of them. :O)
ReplyDeleteBobseyes
You can get a small solar panel just made to keep your engine battery charged. It can plug into the dash or directly to the battery. I had to get one for my C-class RV. It wasn't much, around $30, I think. It has worked great. Vern
ReplyDelete