The 23FB forum

[leedav]

Made my first "mod" today. After slicing my finger, I ground off the burr they left on the sheet metal of the bumper compartment and lid. (sigh)

[Jdubya]

Originally Posted by leedav

Made my first "mod" today. After slicing my finger, I ground off the burr they left on the sheet metal of the bumper compartment and lid. (sigh)

The first of many mods, I am sure. After a nightmare bumpy road last weekend that totaled in/out 14 miles I now have to secure the street side closet. I wish I were more handy!

Enjoy each mod....

[leedav]

Is there any reason to expect higher power consumption while dry camping than the Bambi 16?

[Fair_Enough]

You need to ‘splain more fellow earthling.

120 volt or battery power? Gut feeling is the batteries ran down faster than you expected??

How did you determine whatever is high is too high?

Clint

[Fair_Enough]

Today I finally did something about the awkward location of the comfort control. Where it was I could barely read the display. So it swings out now. Just bare wood right now.
Clint

[leedav]

Originally Posted by Wolfwhistle

You need to ‘splain more fellow earthling.

120 volt or battery power? Gut feeling is the batteries ran down faster than you expected??

How did you determine whatever is high is too high?

Clint

Battery power. Using basically the heater and one or two lights. With the Bambi we only needed to run the generator for an hour or so each day to recharge (had two batteries)

[GettinAway]

Originally Posted by leedav

Battery power. Using basically the heater and one or two lights. With the Bambi we only needed to run the generator for an hour or so each day to recharge (had two batteries)

This is a good question. I see posts here all the time about needing to recharge the batteries daily if you are running the furnace. I wonder if the furnace fan uses that much more power in a 23 than a 16. I am assuming the furnace blowers in the bigger trailers must pull a lot of power. We routinely go a few days without running the generator. However, we let the trailer get pretty cool at night. I’ll run the furnace a bit in the morning and make coffee inside. That usually warms up a 23 so my LW will come out from under the blankets. Make sure the stereo is off. Don’t leave the pump on. I would be surprised if the power consumption was a whole lot more than the 16, but I’m purely speculating.

[leedav]

Originally Posted by GettinAway

This is a good question. I see posts here all the time about needing to recharge the batteries daily if you are running the furnace. I wonder if the furnace fan uses that much more power in a 23 than a 16. I am assuming the furnace blowers in the bigger trailers must pull a lot of power. We routinely go a few days without running the generator. However, we let the trailer get pretty cool at night. I’ll run the furnace a bit in the morning and make coffee inside. That usually warms up a 23 so my LW will come out from under the blankets. Make sure the stereo is off. Don’t leave the pump on. I would be surprised if the power consumption was a whole lot more than the 16, but I’m purely speculating.

I was thinking the same. Pump stays on for us. Frequent visitor to the WC at night.

[Fair_Enough]

Originally Posted by Wolfwhistle

I have wondered if going LFP batteries, where I would place them in the 23FB IS (2013).


So, by removing the Use/Store solenoid and auto reset breakers, the J-Box (connects from the 7pin), the original ground bus and zip tie the rats next toward the sides as best I could, these 14.05 X 6.10 X 10.63 inches beasts might fit. And they do.


Clint

Oops! I didn't "remove" these components, I moved or relocated them within that space to free up space on the floor.

Sorry about that Chief, Clint

[Fair_Enough]

Originally Posted by leedav

Battery power. Using basically the heater and one or two lights. With the Bambi we only needed to run the generator for an hour or so each day to recharge (had two batteries)

Thanks, L. The furnace fan is surprisingly quite the power hog. If the lights are LED this is not the issue. The CO detector uses a little, as well.

First, charging an hour or two isn't enough. Not even with a good converter / charger and batteries, which you might not have; so, you're are starting the evening with far less than full batteries. Maybe closer to half than full. When new, the factory battery pair has only about 40 Ah usable power, and that is when fully charged. You can see that if they are half charged, the furnace might not have enough for a single cold night.

When a converter / charger is in a true Bulk mode (stage) and voltage is in the 14.4 volt range, a Flooded Lead Acid battery charges to 80% in about 20% of the time to fully charge. The remaining 20% then takes 80% of the time. If your converter only manages 13.6 volts, they will never be full and hours could stretch into days to be all they can be, with this charger.

A converter charger upgrade is what I did. I don't know what type you have but my old Parallax would only put out 13.6 v not enough to charge in under a day or two and too high a voltage to keep it on continuously. I was shocked to find out AS was still using them in 2013. But, the WFCO I had in a SOB was not much better since it would never reenter Bulk mode.

I hesitate to say ditch the Interstates and go with something bigger and better. This depends, how do they test. Are they still as good as they should be? Will a converter upgrade be all you need? If they are bad, I would not replace with the same size and model, but look into more as much battery as the box will fit and even a pair of 6 volt golf cart, if possible.

The third thing I would recommend is installing a good battery monitor. What AS installs is not much. It goes by volts, which tells you nothing about state of charge. The first thing I did after getting the AS home was to order and install a Trimetric TM-2030RV. With that and the required shunt and a little rewiring you will know how much battery you have left and when they are charged. Easy to program and fairly easy to install. If you are near, I can help. Other's love the Victron unit. The fuel gauge analogy is probably worn out, but would you own a car without a fuel gauge and let it run out of fuel before filling up? It also doesn't make sense to charge when not necessary.

I actually have 2 good GC-2s that I would bless a fellow AS'er with.
Let me know if I can help further,
Clint

[leedav]

Thanks. I'm in Portland Oregon. I use an external 4 stage battery charger on the generator connected directly to recharge while camping. Goes to 14.4 and gives battery percentage on the readout. I charge til it reads 100% Bonus is it will crank the car if need be. I'll have to check my converter specs, I think this model will do the same. I'm loath to modify the electrical system with 3 years left on the warranty but I will read up on those two units.

Originally Posted by Wolfwhistle

Thanks, L. The furnace fan is surprisingly quite the power hog. If the lights are LED this is not the issue. The CO detector uses a little, as well.

First, charging an hour or two isn't enough. Not even with a good converter / charger and batteries, which you might not have; so, you're are starting the evening with far less than full batteries. Maybe closer to half than full. When new, the factory battery pair has only about 40 Ah usable power, and that is when fully charged. You can see that if they are half charged, the furnace might not have enough for a single cold night.

When a converter / charger is in a true Bulk mode (stage) and voltage is in the 14.4 volt range, a Flooded Lead Acid battery charges to 80% in about 20% of the time to fully charge. The remaining 20% then takes 80% of the time. If your converter only manages 13.6 volts, they will never be full and hours could stretch into days to be all they can be, with this charger.

A converter charger upgrade is what I did. I don't know what type you have but my old Parallax would only put out 13.6 v not enough to charge in under a day or two and too high a voltage to keep it on continuously. I was shocked to find out AS was still using them in 2013. But, the WFCO I had in a SOB was not much better since it would never reenter Bulk mode.

I hesitate to say ditch the Interstates and go with something bigger and better. This depends, how do they test. Are they still as good as they should be? Will a converter upgrade be all you need? If they are bad, I would not replace with the same size and model, but look into more as much battery as the box will fit and even a pair of 6 volt golf cart, if possible.

The third thing I would recommend is installing a good battery monitor. What AS installs is not much. It goes by volts, which tells you nothing about state of charge. The first thing I did after getting the AS home was to order and install a Trimetric TM-2030RV. With that and the required shunt and a little rewiring you will know how much battery you have left and when they are charged. Easy to program and fairly easy to install. If you are near, I can help. Other's love the Victron unit. The fuel gauge analogy is probably worn out, but would you own a car without a fuel gauge and let it run out of fuel before filling up? It also doesn't make sense to charge when not necessary.

I actually have 2 good GC-2s that I would bless a fellow AS'er with.
Let me know if I can help further,
Clint

[leedav]

PS on the Bambi first thing I did was replace all the automotive bulbs with LEDs. On this one I'm waiting for the orange gels. Awful light color.

Originally Posted by Wolfwhistle

Thanks, L. The furnace fan is surprisingly quite the power hog. If the lights are LED this is not the issue. The CO detector uses a little, as well.

First, charging an hour or two isn't enough. Not even with a good converter / charger and batteries, which you might not have; so, you're are starting the evening with far less than full batteries. Maybe closer to half than full. When new, the factory battery pair has only about 40 Ah usable power, and that is when fully charged. You can see that if they are half charged, the furnace might not have enough for a single cold night.

When a converter / charger is in a true Bulk mode (stage) and voltage is in the 14.4 volt range, a Flooded Lead Acid battery charges to 80% in about 20% of the time to fully charge. The remaining 20% then takes 80% of the time. If your converter only manages 13.6 volts, they will never be full and hours could stretch into days to be all they can be, with this charger.

A converter charger upgrade is what I did. I don't know what type you have but my old Parallax would only put out 13.6 v not enough to charge in under a day or two and too high a voltage to keep it on continuously. I was shocked to find out AS was still using them in 2013. But, the WFCO I had in a SOB was not much better since it would never reenter Bulk mode.

I hesitate to say ditch the Interstates and go with something bigger and better. This depends, how do they test. Are they still as good as they should be? Will a converter upgrade be all you need? If they are bad, I would not replace with the same size and model, but look into more as much battery as the box will fit and even a pair of 6 volt golf cart, if possible.

The third thing I would recommend is installing a good battery monitor. What AS installs is not much. It goes by volts, which tells you nothing about state of charge. The first thing I did after getting the AS home was to order and install a Trimetric TM-2030RV. With that and the required shunt and a little rewiring you will know how much battery you have left and when they are charged. Easy to program and fairly easy to install. If you are near, I can help. Other's love the Victron unit. The fuel gauge analogy is probably worn out, but would you own a car without a fuel gauge and let it run out of fuel before filling up? It also doesn't make sense to charge when not necessary.

I actually have 2 good GC-2s that I would bless a fellow AS'er with.
Let me know if I can help further,
Clint

[Fair_Enough]

Originally Posted by leedav

Thanks. I'm in Portland Oregon. I use an external 4 stage battery charger on the generator connected directly to recharge while camping. Goes to 14.4 and gives battery percentage on the readout. I charge til it reads 100% Bonus is it will crank the car if need be. I'll have to check my converter specs, I think this model will do the same. I'm loath to modify the electrical system with 3 years left on the warranty but I will read up on those two units.

Not heard of this arrangement, L. By, external you mean like a type of "jump start" device? I'd like to look it up; can you give me make and model. It might work on another project of mine.

Thanks
Clint

[leedav]

PPS. I looked at the installation guide for that monitor. No big deal to install and I doubt it would void any warranty. It's a strong maybe. The electrical installation is a no-brainer. Pulling the wire may be a challenge. Need to look.

Originally Posted by leedav

Thanks. I'm in Portland Oregon. I use an external 4 stage battery charger on the generator connected directly to recharge while camping. Goes to 14.4 and gives battery percentage on the readout. I charge til it reads 100% Bonus is it will crank the car if need be. I'll have to check my converter specs, I think this model will do the same. I'm loath to modify the electrical system with 3 years left on the warranty but I will read up on those two units.

[Fair_Enough]

Originally Posted by leedav

PS on the Bambi first thing I did was replace all the automotive bulbs with LEDs. On this one I'm waiting for the orange gels. Awful light color.

L, I also added the orange gels.
Clint

[Franktr]

Wife said there was something on the roof making noise. I never heard it until yesterday when it was very quiet. The Fan door above the bed randomly try’s to open than close. For less than a second. Ended up removing the fuse?

[Fair_Enough]

Originally Posted by Franktr

Wife said there was something on the roof making noise. I never heard it until yesterday when it was very quiet. The Fan door above the bed randomly try’s to open than close. For less than a second. Ended up removing the fuse?

You need a PhD to operate these.

Can you manually open the lid? The seal sticks to the lid and prevent the motor from going up; when it can't it goes back down. Maybe that's it.

After cleaning, I have wiped 303 protectant on the seal and it works for a season.

Clint

[leedav]

More random questions:

1. there is daylight at the bottom of the space where the water pump is. It looks intentional, like an ABS ell connection. Is that OK? Will I pick up road water and crap?

2. refrigerator fan. There was never a time in my Bambi when it was off. It's off in either position of the switch now, although it's 87 here and I just turned the refer on. Can I assume up and illuminated is "on"?

3. there is a port by the battery box. labeled for "Zamp portable solar only". Is this true? It looks like the connector on any old trickle charger. I doubt there is any control circuitry in there... (?). Will any old portable solar kit work?

[Fair_Enough]

1 I’ll look at mine but hadn’t noticed up to this point

2 fan is thermostatically controlled. I found mine needed more help in 100F situations, so I installed two 200mm fans and a manual switch inside. On turns the refer on, the other button is auto (switches to LP if 120 vac isn’t present) or LP only.

3 Zamp uses the same type of plug battery tenders use but polarity is reversed. If you go with portable panels it will have to have it’s own solar charge controller. Its a sales gimmick putting a plug there and calling it solar ready.

Clint

[Franktr]

Originally Posted by Wolfwhistle

You need a PhD to operate these.

Can you manually open the lid? The seal sticks to the lid and prevent the motor from going up; when it can't it goes back down. Maybe that's it.

After cleaning, I have wiped 303 protectant on the seal and it works for a season.

Clint

It will open electricity