Aluminum Camper Forum

Quote from: MitchB on December 22, 2018, 08:31:47 AM
I saw on your Victron thread that they told you to get the unit replaced under warranty.  Just to be sure, did you triple check both ends of the small red wire that goes from B1 on the shunt to the battery positive post?

Yep. Disconnected and Reconnected all wires and nothing changed.  Went out a couple hours later to take pics of install at the request of Victron and it was working.... Sigh... will keep an eye on it but suspect I have a flakey meter.  Hoping it fails again OR lasts through my trip south in a couple of weeks.   No desire to attempt to de-install wiring under trailer and try to get a replacement delivered and then re-installed within 2 weeks.

I posted the following over at: https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/3633/bmv700-blank-screen-will-display-momentarily-when.html

I installed a BMV700, BT dongle and shunt a couple weeks ago in my camper and everything worked great. Monitor read fine, connected easily to iphone, all was good. I'm preparing to head south after the holidays so have left the camper powered up on shore power.

I just went in camper to check things out and the meter was blank. If I hit select it will scroll through readings quickly then go blank. Bluetooth dongle was reading an error light and would not reconnect.

Factory battery monitor in camper reads 100%. Unplugged shore power, no change. Checked battery wiring including fuse for BMV and all looks good. Did a reset of the meter (pressing setup and select for 3 seconds) still no luck...

Suggestions?

Quote from: Merlin on December 07, 2018, 02:04:40 PM
When you do that, see what the range is on the BT. I'd like to have a wireless connection to my battery info, but range could be an issue with BT. Thanks!

I did set it up, but didn't try to  determine how far away it would work.  With the camper parked in my driveway I could not get the BT signal inside my brick house less than 50' away - but that honestly does not surprise me.  I recall Gary M saying that he could use the BT interface around the campsite while camping.   Haven't played with it much, but data is much more readable on the phone compared to the meter.  Not that the meter is bad - a phone screen just allow more data, graphics, etc.  I liked being able to set an alarm for when the batteries reach 50%.  Not sure if you need the app to do this or not. 

There's a bunch of screens, but here's a pic of the first screen while it was still plugged into shore power (not yet run off of 12v).

Just realized I forgot to play with the Bluetooth app for the Victron after I got it setup yesterday.  I installed the bluetooth dongle at the meter, but then forgot all about it.     Will definitely do that today.

Below is a pic of the mast with the antenna on.



Below is what it looks like when the antenna wire is pushed into the water heater area under the bathroom sink.



Below is where I mounted the Weboost, under bathroom sink.



Below is the inside antenna and Victron battery meter. 



Will tuck wires away a little neater.  Also plan on installing an on/off switch for the weboost - although I mounted it so that pulling the 12V power plug is pretty convenient - so that might fall off the list.

I still haven't gotten around to rewiring the TV, putting all connections under the cabinet, and making it a permanent 12V connection - rather than having to swap between AC and DC depending upon whether we have power.  No idea why factory didn't just make this a 12V connection to begin with.

Still need to install all TPMS sensors before our Jan trip, but that'll just take a few minutes.

I've been testing out the Weboost external antenna location.   I'm using a pvc mast on a suction cup mount.

Originally I was going to go through the slide but realized that I'd have to start/stop the slide during the in/out process and Schwintek slides have a reputation for the motors getting out of synch if you do not extend them fully.   

The mast has been in place for about 4 days and it's holding up well. Thought of the moment is to run the antenna wire in through the external shower access, but still thinking about that one.  I could push most of the antenna wire inside when not in use and it would just coil behind the water heater.  There is plenty of room in that compartment and I could install a mesh bag inside there for it to coil into as well.

(Obviously this is put up as needed and you do not travel with it like this )

I have the Noco HM426.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VAUG5A

I had to make a new holder bracket for it.

Now installing a Weboost, Victron, and a TPMS on my 21RBS.

Started on the Victron BMV 700 today.  This was the first time I spent a bunch of time under my camper really looking at it.  I crawled around under there during my PDI, but today I probably spent over an hour under there rolling around on a creeper trying to decide where to run wire, drill a hole, etc..  I have to say I was impressed as to how sealed up that sucker was.

I decided to drill a hole next to the water pump and will place the meter over by the TV.  I could not find a suitable grommet for the hole, so I bought a rubber stopper at HD, drilled a hole through it, and sliced it to make a secure pass through for the wire.  I have not run the wire on the inside yet, so it is loose in the picture.  I'll likely run it up the inside wall on the right and then over toward the TV.  Suspect I'll put the meter alongside outlets and switches on the kitchen counter wall over by the TV.



Shunt will be mounted on top of the batteries but I needed to order another battery cable before I can complete install.  Waterproof cover is a cut-up piece of tupperware.

Was looking at these yesterday and found one for $174. https://www.rv-table-mount.com/ Have not come up with a way they would work on my 21RBS w/ couch, but considering a truck camper build, where it may work quite well.

And a happy turkey back at ya.

Yes, been slow here.  Seems the LL owners are somewhat spread across the LL forum, here, and facebook.  I'm not a facebook fan, but have actually posted more over there recently because it is a little more active.

Last week I toured an aluminum wedge truck camper manufacturer (https://snapoutfitters.com/) and was impressed with their aluminum build quality.  They're a recent spin-off of an established large machine shop/fabricator.  The camper biz is in startup mode and have only sold about 10 so far, but I liked what I saw. I am looking for something to camp in when I am towing the boat rather than the LL.   Point being there may be other aluminum campers springing up that might be looking for a home.

In prep for an upcoming 3 week trip to FL I decided to put in a room darkening curtain in attempt to help my wife sleep in a little more, since I often wake up 1-2 hours before her.  I think it's going to work out pretty well.

If you have ever wondered what it looks like behind the angled black wire run in many of our campers, here ya go...



Trickiest part was placing the hole for the curtain rod in the right spot in the wire run cover.



We're not done yet.  My wife needs to trim about 8" off the bottom and make some ties to hold them tight against the wall.

But here's about what they'll look like:

We winterize when the freezing temps hit (last week) but still use trailer if desired. We bring jugs of drinking/cooking water and flush toilet with rv anti freeze until we hit warm temps on our Jan FL trip.  Dewinterize on the way south. Then rewinterize on the way north a few weeks later.  Then maybe do it again in March if schedule permits


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Yes, a bunch of us.  The search feature here is a little inconsistent, but google always works. 
Try searching "site:aluminumcamperforum.com overhead"

First result was this thread that contains this pic:

Cool.  I still need to add a real battery monitor. 

Dry camping for a few days and testing the pair of new 6volts ... stock monitor still reading 2/3 after 2 nights of watching movies (streaming via Roku stick in the 12v tv w/cell hotspot), running cpap all night, generously running lights, lots of fan use during the last 2 afternoons, water pump, charging phones, etc... 


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Quote from: DavidM on September 25, 2018, 03:41:33 PM
That looks like a "better than factory" installation. Curious why you put in the two length wise aluminum members. Wouldn't drilling through the box and screwing to the cross wise aluminum members work just as well? I would have thought that Noco box would be plenty strong mounted that way.

Also another 100 lbs near the tongue will help sway tremendously with or without the Andersen.

Davod

Thanks.  The Noco box has external slots on the 4 corners to screw through.  While unlikely, it seemed it could potentially slide left or right out of those slots.  The side brackets I made lock it into place - and the added weight of the extra aluminum angle that I had left over is noise.  So, while I may not have needed it, it me feel better.

Sway was never really an issue.  I figured the trailer would be fine 95% of the time.  Going over bridges in strong wind with trucks passing I could feel it a little, but it did not bother me (although it made my wife a little nervous).  I haven't used a WDH with sway in 15+ years.  I  suspect I am going to like it - especially because I'm pretty sure I'll be able to put my tailgate down easily once I get it fine tuned.  (ie. shave off enough plastic from the jack cover )