Ski Bum Truck V2.0, F450 Rough Road RV

Swedeski

Adventurer
Thanks! I'm super excited about it.

I got started on the wiring last night. Almost 300' of wire done already. Ouch.

I was planning to run 2/0 to the main batteries unless that seems way overkill.
It seems like you already have settled for 2/0 gauge for your batteries. Beeing a metric guy I'm not so familiar with the AWG system but with batteries and high current applications "bigger is better". And 2/0 seems good. There are of'course ways to calculate the needed gauge considering the load, distance and current. But hey, there is no thing as to big. Well maybe for your wallet.

Just wanted to give a heads up if buying start/jumper cables to save money. Here in Sweden the jumper cables are often CCA which is a copper clad aluminim wire. Not the same as a true copper wire. In general you need to upsize one gauge larger (Somewhere around those numbers I guess...still a metric guy) if using CCA instead of copper.

Maybe this is not applicable to your situation but something to have in mind when you are comparing prices and realise that jumper cables are so cheap.

As with everything else you can go deep into the subject. How wire strands are wrapped and stretched when making the wire and the difference in premium and standard wires. But it's not rocket science either: proper gauge + good connections = good to go.

Really looking forward to se more progress.
 
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java

Expedition Leader
It seems like you already have settled for 2/0 gauge for your batteries. Beeing a metric guy I'm not so familiar with the AWG system but with batteries and high current applications "bigger is better". And 2/0 seems good. There are of'course ways to calculate the needed gauge considering the load, distance and current. But hey, there is no thing as to big. Well maybe for your wallet.

Just wanted to give a heads up if buying start/jumper cables to save money. Here in Sweden the jumper cables are often CCA which is a copper clad aluminim wire. Not the same as a true copper wire. In general you need to upsize one gauge larger (Somewhere around those numbers I guess...still a metric guy) if using CCA instead of copper.

Maybe this is not applicable to your situation but something to have in mind when you are comparing prices and realise that jumper cables are so cheap.

As with everything else you can go deep into the subject. How wire strands are wrapped and stretched when making the wire and the difference in premium and standard wires. But it's not rocket science either: proper gauge + good connections = good to go.

Really looking forward to se more progress.

For ye metric folks, 2/0 = 9.266mm.

At 90C is good for 195 amps. Alternator is 178 at max output (as far as I can tell!) after running through two starting batteries, im guessing will see 150 max in reality. I had trouble finding charts going that high, but 2/0 is supposed to be good for 70 amps at a 60' run. Mine will be 25 ish, so i think I am ok. Trying to stay within 3% voltage drop.

I have tried very had to stay away from CCA wire, its far cheaper but work hardens much faster than copper.

The thing i see about jumper cables is they are often SAE rated, a 4 gauge SAE wire is 6-10% smaller than AWG. They are cheap tough! Works well for short runs.

On that note, wiring rough in is just about done. I used that entire 250' roll of 14/2, and i didn't use it for the lighting circuits (18 gauge for the LED's). I didnt quite expect it to go tat fast! I need another 30' probably. Need to run circuit for the heater and water pump still. I will likely run those ousisde the wall later on.

Door and double pane windows have been ordered too!
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Two main areas for the elec, under the bed, where the batteries, inverter/charger fuse panel and breakers will live, and the end of the cabinets of the opposite side, where all the switches will be. The rest is lighting circuits, and conviniance plugs. I need to figure out a way to keep the end of the wires poking oout of the walls/ceilings where I want them, duct tape may work, but the entire inside of the box is covered with frost at the moment, its cold out...

I got some rigid insulation to start furring the ceiling down with as well!
 
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Swedeski

Adventurer
For ye metric folks, 2/0 = 9.266mm.

At 90C is good for 195 amps. Alternator is 178 at max output (as far as I can tell!) after running through two starting batteries, im guessing will see 150 max in reality. I had trouble finding charts going that high, but 2/0 is supposed to be good for 70 amps at a 60' run. Mine will be 25 ish, so i think I am ok. Trying to stay within 3% voltage drop.

I have tried very had to stay away from CCA wire, its far cheaper but work hardens much faster than copper.

The thing i see about jumper cables is they are often SAE rated, a 4 gauge SAE wire is 6-10% smaller than AWG. They are cheap tough! Works well for short runs.

I suspected you where on top of things! Just checking.
It looks so spacious, it's gonna be awesome.
 

java

Expedition Leader
I suspected you where on top of things! Just checking.
It looks so spacious, it's gonna be awesome.

Too much reading sometimes! :coffee:

It should be nice, its a lot smaller than the current one, like 5' less floor space, but I hope it works well. May be a little short on storage space, but having more space in the cab will be nice, its a pain in the butt to have the kid sitting at the dinette in the current truck.
 

java

Expedition Leader
A little more every day is the idea right?

One table saw, one sheet of 3/4 ply turned into little pieces.
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Got one wall almost done. It was butt berkeleying cold. The missing areas are doors/windows.
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java

Expedition Leader
So I tried insulating the aluminum channels. That was a failure. The foam would only expand ~6" either side of the hole, no matter how much you tired to pump in. Im not going to put a 15/64 hole very foot.... Looks like they will remain uninsulated unless someone has a genius idea. Thoughts? I am trying to avoid cold bridging.

You can see the foam puking out of the holes in a few spots here. That stuff was not cheap.

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Got the ceiling channels filled at least.
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Box of goodies is growing
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Battery interconnect cables. Check, CL score.
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Got an on demand hot water tank on Ebay, killer price, should be a nice unit, 60K btu's.
 

ripperj

Explorer
Two holes, one top and bottom, squirt in from the top and stick a shop vac on the bottom???

Sent from my Passport
 

java

Expedition Leader
Two holes, one top and bottom, squirt in from the top and stick a shop vac on the bottom???

Sent from my Passport

Shop vac is an interesting idea! But I could see the nice flammable vapors pouring out the top of the channels... Not sure running that thru a shop vac is a good idea.

It seems to expand upwards better than downwards which I found odd.
 

waterboy222

Adventurer
The way I do boats is to drill a hole in the top, feed a long length of clear tubing down til you hit the bottom, connect the top end of the tubing to your can or pump... Then start pushing the liquid through the tube as you pull the tubing out slowly.. should fill from the bottom to the top that way.
 

java

Expedition Leader
The way I do boats is to drill a hole in the top, feed a long length of clear tubing down til you hit the bottom, connect the top end of the tubing to your can or pump... Then start pushing the liquid through the tube as you pull the tubing out slowly.. should fill from the bottom to the top that way.

Thats a good idea. The end of the gun is barbed too. I will have to give that a try.

I think those really should be insulated.
 

DzlToy

Explorer
Drill a hole at the top and pour or blow in EPS pellets (like BB's) until it is full.

Aerogel can be used the same way, but it is $$$$.

If the tubes are air tight, you could weld a bung a draw a slight vacuum.
 

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