Search results

I cut a piece of Aluminum plate and match drilled holes through it. The plate is sandwiched between the Victron 100/30 solar controller (which calls for mounting against a non-combustible surface) and the wood that the controller is screwed into. The Aluminum will help dissipate any heat...

I am not aware of any thermal break between the Aluminum skin and the Aluminum frame. Indeed, the metal fasteners that hold the skin to the frame would defeat that. If there were a thermal break I would expect a thin non-conductive tape or equivalent on the side of the frame members facing the...

smlobx There is lots of oil left in the ground. The cost of extraction has been the primary limiting factor. The world has yet to experience the consequences of the increased mining of heavy metals along with the heavy metal disposal issues at the end of battery life that the push for 100's...

Partial shading of even one cell on a 36-cell solar panel will reduce its power output by as much as 50% (assuming series connection of cells). Some panels do better than others.

I stumbled onto CasterCity.com after searching for replacement casters after the casters on my dolly failed. Greg Howard was very helpful assisting my decision making to select an appropriate caster for my dolly and driveway surface (it is a sloped paver surface). Four years later and a lot of...

Vic et al. I checked the BattleBorn and Renogy mfg instructions and concur that both claim no venting is required for their batteries. By comparison I checked the Rolls-Surette, Lifeline -Concord, Interstate, NAPA and Renogy instructions for their AGM batteries and all call for venting...

rubberlegs, et. al., From a health and safety perspective all Lithium, FLA , AGM and GEL batteries should be in a ventilated compartment when used in the passenger compartment or living area of any dwelling or vehicle, including RVs, Campers and boats. All of these batteries have the potential...

Does the Northstar have lift plates (or equivalent) for removing and installing the camper? If so perhaps you could attach shallow strut channel (unistrut or similar) vertically from the lift brackets and then a piece horizontally at the height you want to attach the awning. That would leave a...

David, I don't know what temperature the blue foam can tolerate but I would be concerned that the panel may get hot enough to partially melt it. Further, as rubberlegs mentioned above, foam is an insulator and even with holes in the foam the areas where the panel contacts the foam will get hot...

As far as I am aware the all solar panels including flexible panels are recommended to be mounted with a minimum of 1 inch air gap under them. The back side of all solar panels gets very hot and the heat needs to be conducted away. If the heat is not conducted away hot spots can develop which...

Does the controller have a built in fuse? I do not see one mentioned in the manual but it does say that is has overload protection: "Charging and Discharging Overload Protection and Recovery Time In the charging and discharging overload protection mechanism, the relation between overload...

Interesting. I am not a mechanical engineer (rather Electro-Optical) but I have worked on a lot of mechanical hardware in the design and implementation stage during my 44 year aerospace engineering career. To the best of my recollection most if not all of the mechanical items that I...

We drove our truck with FWC camper to/from Anchorage in 2018 (something like 65 days) and we took the ferry to Whittier (with stops in Ketchikan, and Juneau) and drove back in 2021 going through Jasper, Banff, Wyoming , Iowa and then Colorado and home to California (82 days). I am glad we had...

I second Vic's comment. Do not use any Silicone products. Water may not be coming from where you think it is coming from. Best to try to isolate the leak by gradually wetting parts of the exterior. Our camper gets a wet spot on the fur in that corner that drips from a screw head in the...

I use two 6 v, deep cycle, Lifeline 220 Ah AGM batteries in our camper. Heavy but they have served us well since 2017. They are under the rollover couch. I use the original battery, less than convenient, location for storage of vehicle recovery straps and shackles.

ramblinChet, I'm curious, where did trying to limit loads to 50% of payload capacity (GVWR-curb weight) come from? As far as I am aware there are not many 3/4 ton pickups with payload capacities large enough to carry a fully outfitted FWC camper if the target was 50% of payload capacity...

Tacoma Austin, ski3pin, et al, If the following is true then it seems to me it should be OK - It will continue to charge the starting battery, if the voltage is lower than 12.7V and will stop charging if the voltage is higher than 13.2V." In this regard it apparently works similar to an ACR...

Steve, Look up Blue Sea ACR operation here: https://www.bluesea.com/support/articles/Charging_and_Charge_Management/1366/Automatic_Charging_Relay_%5BACR%5D_Explained I found this...

ski3pin, Does the Renogy controller provide two different output charging voltages with each adjustable (programmable) for different battery chemistries?

You wrote: <I have AGM in the truck and Li in the camper.> 1) AGM and LiFePO4 batteries have different chemistries and different charging needs. 2) The AGM battery wants about 13.8 v to 14.4 v during bulk/absorption charging phases dropping to about 13.5 v for float (maintenance charging) 3)...

What year and model camper do you have? Some FWC campers made from about 2006 - 2009 were prewired for solar. Many, if not most FWC campers were prewired for solar after about 2009 - 2011. If your camper is 2006 or newer contact FWC, give them your camper serial number and ask if your...

I noted the following at the bottom of the page at the Victron link you posted 1a) If more PV power is connected, the controller will limit input power. 1b) The PV voltage must exceed Vbat + 5 V for the controller to start. Thereafter the minimum PV voltage is Vbat + 1 V 2) A PV array with a...

Steve Whiteside, Some questions to aid in understanding the setup: Is the ACR near the truck battery? Is the ACR between the truck battery and the camper battery bank? What is the size of the wire connecting the ACR to the battery in the truck and to the camper? Are the truck battery and...

Typically, in the field, our solar panels rarely get illuminated in a way that produces the max power. The Sun angle, small out of plane tilts, dust, etc all conspire to crate less illumination on the cells in the panel. The Victron devices are pretty robust (but can be damaged so be...

I second Vic's recommendation to put the largest solar panel that will fit on your camper. Most campers will appreciate having over 300 W of solar, particularly if running an inverter. The weight of a single large panel is less than combinations of smaller panels and the cost is usually...