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Camper and trip pictures

On my 2005 F250 I replaced the factory fog light bulbs with PIAA ion yellow bulbs and they work great, especially in fog and snow. I highly recommend the yellow bulbs for inclement weather. They also really light up the sides of the road-great for country two lane driving.

I recently put some Goodyear Duratracs on my F250 with Hawk. Very expensive but in my opinion worth it. On my spring trip to Death Valley they worked exceptionally well on and off road. They are also relatively quiet on the highway (a little louder than a regular AT). Going over Carson Pass...

I use my fog lights a lot. I replaced the stock bulbs with PIAA ion yellow bulbs and they work great, especially in the snow-much less reflective glare. Also,on narrow curvy roads, they really light up the sides. You can add aftermarket lights but most of them are for off-road use only. I...

Mine has intermittently gone off since the camper was new (2015), and last year I replaced it with an identical new one. It still goes off! It seems to happen most often when the batteries are starting to charge up in the morning when the sun is out. I think it’s out gassing from my dual 6v...

I’m located in Antioch, CA (sf Bay Area).

Hi Folks, I just replaced my Norcold 1,7 cubic foot fridge with the 2.7 model, and am putting the smaller one up for sale. It is one year old and is in perfect condition. It's been used for about 30 days of camping. I am selling it for less than 1/2 what it cost new-I paid $719 and will sell...

I have the same tires and leave my Hawk on full time. My tires are a little over half worn at 14,000 miles. My rig is really heavy (front winch, rear swing arm bumper with storage box and tire carrier, roof mounted cargo basket, etc. ). I'm over 10,000 pounds without water and passengers. I...

Maybe I haven't let it run long enough to shut off but it gets scalding hot after about 30-40 minutes. Does yours turn back on automatically when it cools off? My Hawk is a 2015 model but I doubt they changed the water heater.

It is really annoying that there is no thermostat and automatic shutoff on these water heaters. Even though it's loud, it's easy to forget it's on if your doing other things.

When I was looking into adding a portable panel I also heard that Zamp plugs were reversed polarity, but your measurements indicate it's not (for the plug you are using). I just checked mine and it confirmed your reading for polarity. I think it's just the plugs on other brands of panels are...

The Bluesky has wire inputs from the rear and is designed to be flush mounted in the cabinet. You would need to cut a small rectangular opening. On the Hawk Front Dinette (which is what I have) there is plenty of room on the panel below and right of the sink. I have my Victron monitor mounted...

Have you already purchased the controller? If you get the BlueSky MPPT controller it's easy to flush mount it right where the Zamp was. Mine works great.

I have a Victron battery monitor for the same reason I have EGT, boost and fuel pressure gauges in my diesel truck. I want to know if there is a problem before things get damaged or start to go south. Having the monitor was the main reason I knew my Zamp was overcharging my batteries.

I didn't find anything over 75ah in 12v for the size I needed. Another thing that convinced me to convert to 6v (and I could be wrong on this) is that when you connect batteries in parallel, there is a bigger chance of one battery damaging the other if they don't charge equally-in other words...

A battery is an energy storage device-the amount of energy it can store and deliver is limited in part by its size. The battery output (electrical power) in Watts= Amps X Volts, so if the voltage drops, the amps have to go up to keep the power constant. In other words, the product of amps x...

"Is a much higher quality"...I guess they knew about the Zamp issues! That "controller" looks exactly like my Victron battery monitor.

Is your battery compartment well vented? Going from an AGM to a regular lead acid battery could be an issue in an unvented small cabinet!

My Amstron batteries are 216AH and the recommended absorption voltage is 14.4 and float 13.2, which is exactly the preset settings for the Bluesky controller (which unlike the Zamp, can be reprogrammed for different voltages).

The Bluesky has the exact absorption and float charging voltages that my batteries specify (multiplying by 2 of course since they are in series). The absorption charging cycle time can be changed from 2 to 1 hour to prevent overcharging. That was the issue with my Zamp-it would not switch to...

Yes, it was a simple swap. Only 4 wires. Connect the battery wires first, then the PV panel wires. This controller also gives you an output for an auxiliary battery (like the starting battery), but I haven't hooked this up yet.

I have the Zamp 160w panel installed by FWC, and I upgraded to a dual 6v battery set-up when I installed a 2-way fridge a few months ago.

I just installed a Bluesky SB3000 and with a small amount of cabinet trimming (about 1/2 cm on one end) it fit perfectly where my Zamp was. It's a much more sophisticated controller.

When I was last truck shopping back in 2005, I was having a hard time deciding between a new F150 or F250. At the time, I had a Jayco tent trailer. I'm so glad the salesman steered me to the bigger and much stronger truck-the price difference was minimal compared to the extra capability. He...

I just ordered the Blue Sky SB3000i. It's flush mount and fully programmable to set the exact voltages for absorption and float charging.