Dodge Ram 5500 motorhome

[dlh62c]

A gray tank can be placed just about anywhere. It doesn't have to be at the lowest point on your build to get water into it.

Whale makes pumps that can transfer the waste water to a tank. There's a built in sensor in the drain that turns on the pump when water is sensed.

You'll have to show us how you secured your water tanks. For the life of me, i can't figure out how companies that sell tanks don't seem to carry the hardware required to secure them in place.

 

[nick disjunkt]

I have a 65 litre (17 gallon) tank under the shower, and the same size tank on the other side of the truck under the kitchen sink. It was surprising to me how much water we use washing dishes and cookware and unless we take long showers they fill up at a similar rate. The two tanks usually last us at least 3 days (sometimes a lot more) but we're not fussy about where we dump them. We try to use biodegradable washing products and they break down pretty quickly in the ground. We are a little more careful in sensitive environments (deserts mostly), but we've never really struggled to find an appropriate place.

 

[Jeep]

We fill our 60 gallon grey tank after 4 days but that's with 4 of us also having a couple showers. We do have an overflow that lets us bypass after the grey tank is full. I'd try to keep that 30 gallon tank for two people, you may not always be in a place where you can just let it flow on the ground or get rid of it easy. If your mobile not really an issue but if you set up somewhere for days at a time could become a pain. One real bonus of your system with the composting toilet is you don't need to haul around any grey water to flush black water out with.

 

[alaskaboy]

A small grey water tank is no big deal if you are moving every day. If you are stuck in a campground you have to move to dump. Even worse if you are in a freind's neighborhood. Remember, most people will assume that you are dumping black water (remember cousin Eddy on N.L. Christmas Vacation). I have found that it is much easier to be discreet if the dump pipe is on the passenger side as you can pull over off the road and let her rip relatively unobserved. Even stealthier would be a remote solenoid valve to control from the cab.

I know one fella who ran the pee bucket from his composting toilet to his post-cat exhaust to burn it off while running down the road.

 

[Healeyjet]

Alaskaboy, the electric switch for the dump valve is located in a small console below the centre of the dash. Right beside the air system control panel. The problem we saw to running it to the passenger side is that is where we will be spending most of our time outside and wanted to keep it dry.
I am going to check with the builder to see if it is ok to move 1 of the batteries to the rear compartment and put the air control box in the space left behind. That way all of the electrical work done can stay behind where it is and just one or two cables would have to be run to the back.
Ward

 

[Photomike]

I have always wanted a electric dump switch inside the cab. Then I would do up a sign "Stay back or I will flush", okay that would work better for the black tank :sombrero:

Yes I need help, I know it!

 

[loonwheeler]

I am going to check with the builder to see if it is ok to move 1 of the batteries to the rear compartment and put the air control box in the space left behind. That way all of the electrical work done can stay behind where it is and just one or two cables would have to be run to the back.

Interesting idea. With the (potential) voltage drop in the cable run to the back between the interconnected battery bank, does this become a challenge for charging the batteries in a balanced way (voltage required for proper charging and maintenance)? If you design your cable runs within the recommended 3% voltage drop is it even a concern?

What kind of other technical hurdles would this introduce? I have heard of separate battery banks being located far apart - but not sure I have seen it done within the same battery bank. What are your thoughts?

 

[Healeyjet]

Loonwheeler you are now way over my head. I am not that familiar with electrical systems and would have to defer to the experts on this one. I have asked the installer what their thoughts are but believe they took today as a holiday as no one got back to me.
Ward

 

[loonwheeler]

I am unsure myself to be honest! If you don't hear back from your installer, you might consider floating the idea in the Power Systems sub-forum to get a few opinions. There seems to be a wealth of knowledge and experience there.

 

[Healeyjet]

Great idea. I will do that.
Ward

 

[adam88]

So how are you enjoying it?

 

[Healeyjet]

Adam, so far it is just holding my driveway down from blowing away if it becomes windy here.
As I mentioned a while back our son was playing in the University CIS hockey championships two weeks ago and this weekend was the shower/stag for the wedding coming up in June so we have had to stay close to home. We have some suspension issues to work out as well before we can go anywhere. Our suspension control box mounted under the camper needed to be accessible but in the end after the camper was mounted and the lower boxes and grey tank were built the control box was "boxed in". We now have to move the mount for the box to the other side of the frame and run a short "extension cord" of wiring to the new location. As well all new air lines will need to be run. As well, the lower bushings for the rear King shocks were too small so we have had to get new ones. Mix in with this that East weekend was in the middle of all of this and the camper hasn't moved. We are hoping to have the new front shock mounts and the extension for the wiring harness by this Wednesday, install them Thursday and Friday then I can go back to Coaldale to ITB to have a new air control box mount made. Then back to home to have the air box moved to the new mounting location. THEN, we should be good to go. We have been taking the time to get some things set up inside and become familiar with all of the systems. As well, for some reason our diesel heater is drawing down the battery bank real fast so they have to do some checking there. We had discussed moving one of the batteries to the rear of the camper to make way for the air box but have decided it will be easier and more efficient to relocate the air box to the other side of the frame.
We were hoping to go on a trip in April but it may be in to May before we get going on an actual trip as there is another wedding shower at the end of April.
Ward

 

[adam88]

Adam, so far it is just holding my driveway down from blowing away if it becomes windy here.
As I mentioned a while back our son was playing in the University CIS hockey championships two weeks ago and this weekend was the shower/stag for the wedding coming up in June so we have had to stay close to home. We have some suspension issues to work out as well before we can go anywhere. Our suspension control box mounted under the camper needed to be accessible but in the end after the camper was mounted and the lower boxes and grey tank were built the control box was "boxed in". We now have to move the mount for the box to the other side of the frame and run a short "extension cord" of wiring to the new location. As well all new air lines will need to be run. As well, the lower bushings for the rear King shocks were too small so we have had to get new ones. Mix in with this that East weekend was in the middle of all of this and the camper hasn't moved. We are hoping to have the new front shock mounts and the extension for the wiring harness by this Wednesday, install them Thursday and Friday then I can go back to Coaldale to ITB to have a new air control box mount made. Then back to home to have the air box moved to the new mounting location. THEN, we should be good to go. We have been taking the time to get some things set up inside and become familiar with all of the systems. As well, for some reason our diesel heater is drawing down the battery bank real fast so they have to do some checking there. We had discussed moving one of the batteries to the rear of the camper to make way for the air box but have decided it will be easier and more efficient to relocate the air box to the other side of the frame.
We were hoping to go on a trip in April but it may be in to May before we get going on an actual trip as there is another wedding shower at the end of April.
Ward

Ward - Thanks for the update. Sounds a bit stressful. I am sure once it is all working correctly it will be amazing but it sounds like, if nothing else, it is just a pain and more time and $$. At least the hard part is done though. Plus it's a good reminder to all of us that when building something custom there is no such thing as getting it perfect from the get go. Even with the best drawings and planning and a top notch place like ITB, mistakes are still going to happen. It's infruriating to me, but it's life and I am used to it. When I do my build I will prepare myself for the problems ahead of time and probably budget 5% of the build cost just in fixing things to make it right at the end.

Look forward to hearing about your first trip. I'll keep popping in to check Good luck.

 

[loonwheeler]

We had discussed moving one of the batteries to the rear of the camper to make way for the air box but have decided it will be easier and more efficient to relocate the air box to the other side of the frame.

Ward - I think you made the prudent choice to not move the 3rd battery to a remote location. I think it would be achievable, but there were challenges that would have to be overcome. Moving the air box seems like a more effective and overall more simple solution.

Wishing you the best while you get that final 5% figured out.

 

[loonwheeler]

We had discussed moving one of the batteries to the rear of the camper to make way for the air box but have decided it will be easier and more efficient to relocate the air box to the other side of the frame.

Ward - I think you made the prudent choice to not move the 3rd battery to a remote location. I think it would be achievable, but there were challenges that would have to be overcome. Overall, moving the air box appears to be a more effective and less complex solution.

Wishing you the best while you get that final 5% figured out.