We found Rocinante Piccolo

[Rocinante]

Good point on the solar, I am hearing the same thing from Fit RV videos. If one has 400+ AH of lithium and a good generator or alternator (or both), one will get far more charging from those than from 300-400 watts of solar on the roof. It's not a trailer, so maybe I should stop thinking of powering it like one.

[Lily&Me]

I did purchase a 100 watt Renogy solar suitcase this year, which is compact, much less inexpensive than installing panels on your roof, and can be placed to get the best sun.

It works just as advertised...attach it to your battery, place in the sun, and it charges.

It fits nicely behind my drivers seat.

May be an option for you.

Maggie

[Rocinante]

Thanks, Maggie, that is a good idea, too!

[Heckler56]

I went with a Sterling dc to dc charger to charge my lithium batteries. It makes for quick charging when the engine is running. It is activated off of the ignition and runs off of the chassis battery (less stress on the alternator). I did put 300 watts of solar on the roof which allows me some daily charging without using the generator or idling the engine excessively when I am remote.

[nateallen80]

I, too, have the Sterling, which has been fantastic. We still have only the 50w solar panel, and with 400 ah of lithium, really haven’t needed the extra solar.

[Rocinante]

We're currently thinking of adding 300-400 watts of solar. At the same time we're probably going to have him remove the one thing on the roof we really don't want up there: a Winegard self-aiming satellite dish antenna in a little dome. We will never use it, as we barely watch the OTA channels even when we can get them, so we can't imagine using the dish antenna. Sadly, they likely made a bunch of holes mounting the darn thing, so we'd have to cover them up, seal them, and hope they don't leak in the future. The irony is that a previous owner spent nearly $3k to put the darn thing up there.

[Rocinante]

Rocinante Piccolo is home.

[nateallen80]

Congrats! She’s a beaut!

[subfan1]

Congratulations, we will be following you guys and your experiences with your Interstate. We will in the future be doing the same thing. We are not there yet but not far behind you guys.

[Rocinante]

Great, thanks folks. We're pretty excited.

[GETRIDAONE]

Congrats on the new to you Interstate. Daydreaming about lithium batteries and more solar panels and TPMS and upgrades ? One thing I did that was mundane but effective was to have the windshield and front side windows tinted with ceramic film. It makes a big difference in the inside temperature and glare of the sun coming in.
Have fun with the new toy !

[Rocinante]

Thanks for the ceramic tinting idea. I like it for the front side windows and may in fact do that.

I'm reluctant to do the windshield, because I know the moment I spend over a hundred bucks putting on a nice ceramic 3M "clear" tint that blocks IR and UV, some nasty rock will see that and jump up to crack the windshield! It's my understanding insurance won't cover the tint, since we're not technically supposed to do it anyway. I'd love to be wrong on that, but I've heard it said more than once.

[Lily&Me]

Yep, I can tell you that it’s true insurance won’t cover the tint, as I have just had a windshield replaced.

Maggie

[jmbaute]

Wanted to name our van Rocinante, as we also travel with a Charlie. Wife wouldn't have it though....she wasn't a Steinbeck fan....

[Rocinante]

Originally Posted by jmbaute

Wanted to name our van Rocinante, as we also travel with a Charlie. Wife wouldn't have it though....she wasn't a Steinbeck fan....

Ah well, we can't all name our campers Rocinante, can we?

[perri]

Hey, great to see fellow Brompton riders. We love them. I commuted to work in nyc on mine, and we’ve taken them on air travel, too. So fun, so easy, so stealthy. I guess I’ve ridden one for 15 years now.
✌️👍

[Rocinante]

Well, it looks like her "less than one year old Lifeline AGM batteries" are toast. Charged them all night, unplugged, and saw a voltage of 11.7. Not a huge deal since we're going to replace the electrical system anyway, hopefully in December, but wow.
BTW, found a number of battery suckers and killed them. The propane switch is now off unless we need propane, and the inverter is in manual mode (e.g. we turned off the "search" function). Any other things besides the obvious "store / use" switch?

[Heckler56]

Originally Posted by Rocinante

Well, it looks like her "less than one year old Lifeline AGM batteries" are toast. Charged them all night, unplugged, and saw a voltage of 11.7. Not a huge deal since we're going to replace the electrical system anyway, hopefully in December, but wow.
BTW, found a number of battery suckers and killed them. The propane switch is now off unless we need propane, and the inverter is in manual mode (e.g. we turned off the "search" function). Any other things besides the obvious "store / use" switch?

The radio draws power. There no real off on it. I am in the process of adding shutoff switches to accomplish that. One switch to disconnect from the chassis batteries and a second to disconnect from the coach. Contrary to people installing theirs off of the red and yellow wires to the radio, mine did not.

[Rocinante]

Thanks for that tip. When we re-wire as we add Lithium and a 3kWatt inverter / charger, we will ask them to put in what would literally be a BRS that turns off every possible draw from the coach batteries. Every. Single. One.

One more thing: Since Lifeline AGM batteries can be equalized, if we can get the Magnum to believe they are in Float mode, we'll force an equalization cycle or two or three through the batteries, as I have no doubt they've sulfated a bit, at a minimum. If it brings them back from the nearly dead, great! If not, no money lost, as they already seem to be in poor condition.

[Rocinante]

Hey, exciting day today.
* We got the system up to "float" status and threw it into Equalization mode. We'll see whether that helps the batteries. Probably not, but worth a try, per my notes above.
* We found the terminals under the hood that we would use to jump start the vehicle if necessary, or to power our new Viair 400P-RV automatic portable compressor that we'll be using to manage inflation of the tires. Apparently, it's too powerful to run off a 12V socket - in fact the compressor recommends the engine be running when you operate it. I assume it draws pretty decent current.