Search results

VHF radio outings on Lion Rock, WA and Mt Ellinor, WA (with Mt Rainier in distance at sunrise).

I thought my 2008 and 2013 camper's stock foam was not firm enough. 6 years without a camper and now the 2022 seems very firm to me. Did not use the camper in 2022. The first and only night in the camper in 2023 I thought it was too much. In 2024 I finally got to use the camper and after...

I have had 3 FWC campers over time, the latest 2022. The 2022 has the firmest foam of the 3. The first night I thought, wow, this is really hard. It was another year before I got to camp in it, I did the whole month of June this year and some other nights since. Now I think it is firm (my...

I would look closely at the camper CG and resulting rear axle weight relative to the rear axle limit. I have 1945lb payload in my F-150 6'4" bed, with a loaded 2022 front dinette Hawk and cassette toilet. The CG is further back than the previous Hawk and Grandby I have had with rollover...

Weld a post on the hitch extender. Slip onto that post a step plate with a short tube welded to the underside. Insert a pin to keep it in place and make it easily removable, or to spin it at various angles.

I stared at the wiring some more which equals more problem solving. Having to throttle down the DC charging rate from the truck (and possible solar if an integrated unit) to stay within the 30A limit of the DLS30/IQ4 wired on the truck side of the DC-DC charger is wasting capability. It really...

I plugged in the DC-DC charger to the camper 12V bus, connected a 50Ah LiFe battery and high power radio/amp for load on that LiFe battery to draw charger current. The camper battery (2 AGMS in parallel) started at 74% SOC. Plugged in shore power, AGM charge current started at 30A quickly...

I have a 50Ah LiFe battery here. I will run my DC-DC charger set for 10A and 20A rates on the Iota output and observe what happens. I have 75A powerpole set up on my LiFe and camper batteries and my charger leads to run my radio gear so it is a very simple experiment.

Agree. I solve that problem by configuring the max output to 20A. Not all DC-DC chargers will do that though.

This afternoon I was trying to look at the battery/solar side wiring in my 2022 Hawk inside the cabinet. With the right tool it looks like I could remove the 4 screws mounting the Iota DL30/IQ4 and pull it out without too much trouble assuming the wire slack permits. I would assume the IQ4...

Yes, Replace DC Charger with DC-DC charger, not to be confused wit the Iota which is a DC charger :-).

Edit: Changed DC Charger to DC-DC Charger for clarity. The Iota is an AC to DC charger. When I get around to putting my DC-DC charger (up to 50A output) in the camper, I plan to move the Iota DLS30/IQ4 DC output from the fuse block bus to the input side of the DC-DC charger (which is the input...

Some pictures or it did not happen! MoFi unit is on the floor for now, it gets moved around, until I decide the best place to mount and run wire to it. Might elect to use external antennas and mount it under the cabinet or front dinette seat. Can drill a hole in the plywood camper side and run...

I am converting to LiFEPO4 battery or batteries over time in phases. Many have tread this path before here and have enjoyed reading the related Li conversion posts out of interest being a marine electronic tech and marine electrican for many years. I now have a need for LiFe battery in my truck...

2M yagi, 2M and 6M loop antennas. One handed pull on a cord to raises the yagi to 6ft. The 2ft leverage arm pins in place and easily removed. It doubles as the support for the 6M loop. A 2M loop is in left corner. I have since replaced the yagi with the 6M loop for even simpler deployment...

Check the voltage of the stater battery with engine in and off. Do the same at both sides of the camper isolation relay. Look or listen to that relay energize above 12.8v or so (engine on), and de-energize at less (engine off). Like others have said, tug wires, check connectors.

6M and 2M loops, plus 6 element 2M yagi on 6ft tall tilt-up mast on roof rack rear bar. Yagi stays parallel to roof. 2 front guy lines act as tie downs to the front bar when lowered for travel. A 2ft tube pins perpendicular to mast base, clips to center mast pull line and another line goes...

The IOTA powers all 12V loads when on shore power so I cannot see any reason to have a 120VAC option on that 12V compressor fridge. For the old style power monsters (usually ran on propane) AC was preferred over 12V operation. Not so for the low power compressor fridges talked about here...

Came across this today. Gives some insight to the BMS and hall effect sensor used in the battery negative lead. G0000144 12 Volt Battery Charging and Testing Quick Reference Guide.pdf There are 2 types of sensors defined in this doc, one for Auto Start-Stop and the other without.

This may be due to the size of the stock battery to chassis ground wire jumper. The winch probably can draw far higher currents so they are bypassing this jumper rather than upgrade the jumper. I do not have a F-250 so do not know what size they use. Just a guess. At winch currents, the...

The description sounds like the longitudinal support may have broke at the welds with the front cross frame tube. Going to have to take the roof off and flip it over, remove the headliner and look for and repair the damage. If you are handy, you might be able to peel back the headliner up...

If the controller case is metal, grounding it may help reduce the often reported RFI from many of these units. Finding a way to do that ground connection effectively is another matter.

Have a small steel plate welded to the top of small square tube. Better, weld square tube to the bottom of the step plate that fits over the racks vertical square tube. Here I had round tune welded to a 12" extension. I have large and small size step plates that drop onto the tube. Can...

Or this, no space taken in camper. Just follows you around :-);

2) There are 10 awg wires from the battery compartment to the dc fuse panel. I don’t recall seeing a fuse on this line during the disassembly of the stock system. The loads on the panel are all fused but shouldn’t the 10 awg cable be fused. I believe 30 amps is the maximum current for a 10...