DesertDave
Senior Member
I have had my new Grandby just shy of two weeks now. There are a few new things that FWC installs now, that haven't made it to their website as of yet. Maybe this stuff is of interest to potential buyers.
Thermostat - they are installing a digital heat-only White Rogers thermostat now if you order the furnace. Battery-operated so you can see the inside temp, The only two things I could wish for is that it were black to match the rest of the controls, and that it had a temp setting lower than 45 degrees.
New solar controller - if you order their solar panel. They now install a Zamp Solar ZS-15AW controller. You can read the specs at this link.
http://www.zampsolar.com/images/1391014851.pdf
I like how it always shows the battery voltage, and when it is actively charging, it will show the charging amps, and the amp hours it has charged since it was last activated (ie. that morning).
I used the amp feature to prove that simply shading the panel with a Yakima crossbar knocks about 25% off of the charging amps. The amp hour feature will come in handy to see how my pre-purchase estimates of charging capability match up to the real world charging.
Solar wiring - I also ordered the rear wall plug, and learned that FWC wired it to the controller. I had never asked about this prior, and had assumed they'd just leave the wiring into the battery compartment. I haven't decided if I will leave it this way or not, but it does allow me to plug in a plain solar panel (of 150W or less) into the exterior plug and stay within the amp rating of the factory controller.
Door hold-open latch. FWC now installs a nicely finished cast aluminum door latch device to positively hold open the entry door.
I posted photos of the new latch into a gallery, thinking I could then post them into a thread - but heres a link if you are interested http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/gallery/album/768-daves-camper-photos/
I learned a great deal from this site in the last few months, maybe this info will be useful to someone.
Dave
Thermostat - they are installing a digital heat-only White Rogers thermostat now if you order the furnace. Battery-operated so you can see the inside temp, The only two things I could wish for is that it were black to match the rest of the controls, and that it had a temp setting lower than 45 degrees.
New solar controller - if you order their solar panel. They now install a Zamp Solar ZS-15AW controller. You can read the specs at this link.
http://www.zampsolar.com/images/1391014851.pdf
I like how it always shows the battery voltage, and when it is actively charging, it will show the charging amps, and the amp hours it has charged since it was last activated (ie. that morning).
I used the amp feature to prove that simply shading the panel with a Yakima crossbar knocks about 25% off of the charging amps. The amp hour feature will come in handy to see how my pre-purchase estimates of charging capability match up to the real world charging.
Solar wiring - I also ordered the rear wall plug, and learned that FWC wired it to the controller. I had never asked about this prior, and had assumed they'd just leave the wiring into the battery compartment. I haven't decided if I will leave it this way or not, but it does allow me to plug in a plain solar panel (of 150W or less) into the exterior plug and stay within the amp rating of the factory controller.
Door hold-open latch. FWC now installs a nicely finished cast aluminum door latch device to positively hold open the entry door.
I posted photos of the new latch into a gallery, thinking I could then post them into a thread - but heres a link if you are interested http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/gallery/album/768-daves-camper-photos/
I learned a great deal from this site in the last few months, maybe this info will be useful to someone.
Dave
