No Options Apply My endless list of jobs (or feels like)

[jazzeddie1234]

Being home is great for a while but the list of maintenance jobs just seems to be endless sometimes. Thought I would keep a record in case they are useful.

I've already replaced the awning fabric and hws relief valve...

The fridge chimney plate...thing keeps breaking so after several repairs I found the external hole is probably cut too high and the 90' elbow weighting the external pipe down too much. I cut a small ring spacer so it sits higher on the chimney...

Cupboard shelves are a ongoing source of entertainment so started making my own brackets with 3 holes for more grip. Also adding brackets under the shelf which being really awkward, can see why jayco don't...
At least you can't see this one...

This cupboard is much improved with relocated light controllers and my more streamlined brackets. Just need to cover that hole...

Spent a wonderful afternoon removing the failed (1 year old) solar panel and glue from the roof. A new, rigid 200w is on it's way

Then my job from hell. I didn't like the drum mounted jayco leds so decided on rgb ones tucked up under the awning. Had to relocate the channel screws , fish around for the power cable tucked behind that tiny hole. Make a water tight box for the controller because I cant mount it inside easily, redo the control wires to get rid of that 4 pin plug (the controller wires use different colours so red to blue, blue to red, white to green... gaaah. But it's working now...

 

[MDS69]

At Bunnings you can buy in the electrical section a blank plate to cover that hole.

 

[Drover]

Flashing leds on a caravan, seen one with them going, I think they got stoned during the night as it didn't happen the next night.......... I don't like flashing lights, have a friend who has epilepse and the flashing lights send them off, not good at all.

 

[jazzeddie1234]

I don't like flashing lights

Absolutely. My main objective was to be able to use them with the awning part open and red for when bugs are a problem

Today's job
All the anderson connectors are showing their age after 5 years of hard use so time for new ones, plus new extension cables.

Trying out my new $20 crimping tool. I normally solder so I can dismantle but these seem ok.

 

[Drover]

I prefer solder so I can dismantle..............which reminds me I have to buy a new bag of andersons. I have had to replace some covers due to damage but never pins.

 

[jazzeddie1234]

busy week again

New 200 watt from sunyee arrived to replace the failed flexible panel on the caravan roof. Made brackets out of 40x40x1.5mm. same as used by jayco on the other panel
Noticed quite a number of hairline cracks in the fiberglass roof where the panel will go so , just in case, cleaned carefully, undercoated with special hi grip undercoat for gloss surfaces, and 2 coats of UV resistant sealer. Seems to have stuck well but time will tell
Used a magnet to find the nails in the rafters and put the L brackets there so I could get at least 1 decent screw hold plus adhesive. Of course the front row of nails HAD NO RAFTER !!! They must have just nailed 2 overlapping ply sheets or the installer just missed completely. Fortunately I had some 10mm rubber well nuts on hand (just in case) so I made the brackets much larger to spread the load.
Plenty of adhesive and careful to keep at least a 1mm layer under the supports for maximum grip. A decent screw in the mid & rear brackets , 4 well nuts up front. Seems to be pretty solid. Hope this one lasts more than a year. I really hate climbing on a 3m high roof

What to do while glue dries? Use up some spare led strip in the cloths cupboaard. Push switch is under that cover

And why not service the winch while I'm at it...

Day off tomorrow as that bar is heavy


And of course I notice the uhf antenna has broken so that gets the list back to the starting number... Next up is to remove the flexible panel on the ute and replace with a rigid one.

 

[Drover]

Nails since when did they stop using staples......

So touching up the stone chips, removing is a bull bar is such fun..........

I did wash and polish the floor yesterday then remembered something Ive been going to do for a year or so, fix the runners on the sliding on-suite door, now it won't jump the track next trip.... I hope.

 

[jazzeddie1234]

Took the plunge and ordered 2 POWERANT 12V 100ah Lithium batteries on ebay. Seller is one I have used before for sla batteries so fingers crossed. Supposed to have 3 year warranty, 100a continuous discharge and 80a charge... They weigh 11.5kg so power to weight is about right.

Joined ebay plus because it offered $50 voucher for the $49 joining fee and free returns which is useful insurance I reckon. Buying 2 with voucher came to $803 (plus $49 of course) so price is good.

 

[jazzeddie1234]

My good soldering iron is 80w and temp controlled but not up to soldering lugs in a breeze.
My ancient gas powered soldering iron

needs to be replaced with a more portable job on the road so bought a 200W cheapie on ebay

It's huge!

As with anything from china I first checked the earth on all exposed metal areas. Nothing. Cut the cord - 3 pins but a 2 wire cable...

Not brave enough to use it I contacted the seller who immediately gave me my money back. Found a 3 wire cable and rewired properly.

Works great on heavy cables but the tip (if you can call it that) is huge so needs to be filed down by 30%.

 

[Drover]

I just use a 40W for the electrical stuff like lugs and a smaller one for delicate stuff, but if a starter cable battery lug needs doing the gas torch comes out, no need for something tor repair a radiator unless its a plastic welder or supaglue.

I think you will find a lot of equipment like that doesn't have an earth like drills, saws etc as they are supposed to be double insulted or some such thing. Had a few irons melt down no zap though.

 

[jazzeddie1234]

Batteries arrived well packed but no documentation other than the stuff on the side. Weighs 10.4kg - not 11.5kg on listing.

Batteries are often shipped at 50% so I'm encouraged this one soaked up 50ah. Now it's on load to measure capacity. BTW the giantz 20a charger is really a 12a charger but that's ebay for you

 

[jazzeddie1234]

Finished rewiring the electric brakes. The main feed comes to a central point with equal (and considerably fatter) length runs to each magnet. I left the original wiring in place to simplify the breakaway and sway power connections.

The batteries are keepers because the load test was excellent. Next job is to build a box under the floor to house them - that frees up the under bed space for more junk

 

[Macca_75]

View attachment 66515 Batteries arrived well packed but no documentation other than the stuff on the side. Weighs 10.4kg - not 11.5kg on listing.

View attachment 66516 Batteries are often shipped at 50% so I'm encouraged this one soaked up 50ah. Now it's on load to measure capacity. BTW the giantz 20a charger is really a 12a charger but that's ebay for you

Not raining on anyone's parade and good on you for taking the plunge into Lithium, but for me "cheap" batteries that are underweight make we wonder about the "quality" of the electronics as well. Lithium is basically a little bomb waiting to explode if the electronics fail. Sometimes it's worth the extra $$$ for piece of mind.

Looks like to you take time to do stuff correctly anyway and you seem pretty handy so I'm sure it will be fine.

Interested to see how it all goes long term. Would love to reduce the weight of my van by removing to 2 x AGM's

 

[jazzeddie1234]

"cheap" batteries that are underweight

Important point because lithium has known efficiency of around 130 watt hours per kg so there is no way a 8kg battery will be 135 amp hours as some claim and youtubers demonstrate. This guy https://off-grid-garage.com/batteries/ has recorded his buying costs and lithium prices have fallen dramatically ($800ish for a diy 250ah battery which includes a quality bms) so expensive batteries may suggest some profit making by the big name manufacturers.

 

[Drover]

Would love to reduce the weight of my van by removing to 2 x AGM's

Me too, Me too

so expensive batteries may suggest some profit making by the big name manufacturers.

Oh surely not ?????????? Sounds like a conspiracy theory to me, how could such a thing happen in the RV industry.......

 

[jazzeddie1234]

From what I have seen on youtube, the biggest issue with cheap (but genuine capacity) batteries such as Voltex is the limited charge current. The bms can't balance the cells fast enough so the charge current gets it to say 80% and then the bms shuts off. The cells slowly balance and charging resumes, etc until 100%. Many quality bms's on the market have very low balance currents for some odd reason but get around it with clever software.

 

[Drover]

Lots of Battery Maintenance Systems I have looked at are rubbish when you look closely at the Lithium side....and I'm a dumb truckie, one needs to look past the PR blurb....

 

[jazzeddie1234]

It's been a few days and I don't want to give the impression that I've been slacking...

Thought I should tidy up the jayco rats nest and my random add ons. The mppt controllers are just behind the bed strut. Did you know that jayco assemble things from the outside in so removing panels with hidden screws is a contortion, many bad words and some muscle?
Trying a few layout ideas

While making a box for the new lithium batteries to be mounted under the floor. The trick will be loading the batteries in to a fairly tight spot so I will hinge the base

I bought this fuse mount but , for some unknown reason, the cover is over the fuses and not the cables which is useless so onto my new (emerging....some may say well hidden) skillset which is
Drawing up a box design for my son's very smart 3d printer (smart as in too smart for me)

But the end result from my first attempt turned out pretty good although the cables may decide that a bigger version is required.

My 2kw inverter arrives tomorrow so I can do the final battery load test with the microwave - which is why I wanted an inverter....sometimes the 5mins to get the generator started is eating into beer o'clock

 

[jazzeddie1234]

The rewiring is taking longer than expected which is typical for me

Battery box test for size - seems ok
Disassemble for painting
Mounting under the floor. The batteries sit on the drop down floor and swing up into the box before being wired and the front fitted. I plan to make a stone guard like the water tank, held by a couple of steel straps for extra safety
Then I discover the terminals are too close to the steel floor joist for my liking so the batteries will be flipped - requiring a few design changes...
Meanwhile I pulled out the setec to run a new cable from the battery (the original is under size and twice as long as necessary. Of course I discover the setec mounts are chewed out from rough roads so a more robust solution is needed. I glued an aluminum strip on the back of each side so the self tappers bite into that and replaced those plastic joinery brackets on the floor with hinges so I can rotate the top forward when I need to access the connectors instead of removing the unit
The inverter arrived so I did one final load test using the van microwave . 140amps peak and warm batteries but seems ok. The inverter is heavy so a solid mount will be needed.

 

[jazzeddie1234]

Slow progress

Bent up some steel strip for the battery box


Batteries in, stone shield (sort of bent) and fitted. Straps reuse existing holes.

Wiring terminates in some jaycar jiffy boxes but heavy cables are a real pain to run neatly. The inverter mounts on the other side of the bed box and is not visible when the bed frame is down.

My printed hole covers look great but I will print longer ones to hide more of the cable

I removed a floor trim where the main 12 pin loom comes through the floor. Found the dust leak....no sealant in the hole. I pulled out the cable running from the battery, around the bed, through the cupboard, through the trim, through another cupboard, and ending at the setec. About 5 metres in total. Then ran a much fatter 6awg direct from the battery to the setec, about 2 metres in total. Now the lights don't dim when the pump runs!

I noticed the white wall veneer is peeling at the junction to the floor. Looks like it's caused by movement rather than moisture so need ideas on how to stop any cracks spreading up past the trim. Tape? Paint? a knife cut?

Next job is tidying all the cables and printing some more cable covers