Expo Vehicle and an Airstream

[AMBOT]

I have an Airstream (Airbot) that I'm fairly determined to tow with my expo machine, Ambot. I want Ambot to help Airbot and Airbot to help Ambot.

Ambot:

480W GoPower Extreme kit
Solar Controller (510W max)
3000W Inverter
Bogart Monitor
Blue Sea Battery Isolator
(2) Reliant L16-AGM 6V batteries

Airbot:
(2) deep cycle batteries
1000W Inverter
Parallax 5300 Power Converter

There are no solar panels on Airbot, but it is prewired. Not sure how many watts I can get on Airbot. I'm trying to envision how Ambot can help Airbot by contributing its solar and batteries as needed, and how Airbot can help Ambot do the same.

I'm thinking out loud in these early stages in hopes others have seen this type of configuration.

Ambot will contribute to Airbot while driving thru the 7 pin connector, which offers 12V constant. This 12V is used to charge the batteries in Airbot too, I believe.

However its a smallish wire, 10ga best. No so great for high charging or supply current.

Ambot and Airbot must be fully independent, I will need to upgrade Airbot batteries to match Ambot's.

I feel that running 4/0 between the batteries with a big quick disconnect and bypass the 12V in the trailer plug is a part of it.

This setup feels like a two battery bank setup with 2 separate charging systems. What other considerations are there? I don't want Airbot to suck Ambot dry, or vice versa.

I'd appreciate any insight and guidance to make this project successful. I'll update as it progresses.

 

[zracer]

I have an Airstream (Airbot) that I'm fairly determined to tow with my expo machine, Ambot. I want Ambot to help Airbot and Airbot to help Ambot.

Ambot:

480W GoPower Extreme kit
Solar Controller (510W max)
3000W Inverter
Bogart Monitor
Blue Sea Battery Isolator
(2) Reliant L16-AGM 6V batteries

Airbot:
(2) deep cycle batteries
1000W Inverter
Parallax 5300 Power Converter

There are no solar panels on Airbot, but it is prewired. Not sure how many watts I can get on Airbot. I'm trying to envision how Ambot can help Airbot by contributing its solar and batteries as needed, and how Airbot can help Ambot do the same.

I'm thinking out loud in these early stages in hopes others have seen this type of configuration.

Ambot will contribute to Airbot while driving thru the 7 pin connector, which offers 12V constant. This 12V is used to charge the batteries in Airbot too, I believe.

However its a smallish wire, 10ga best. No so great for high charging or supply current.

Ambot and Airbot must be fully independent, I will need to upgrade Airbot batteries to match Ambot's.

I feel that running 4/0 between the batteries with a big quick disconnect and bypass the 12V in the trailer plug is a part of it.

This setup feels like a two battery bank setup with 2 separate charging systems. What other considerations are there? I don't want Airbot to suck Ambot dry, or vice versa.

I'd appreciate any insight and guidance to make this project successful. I'll update as it progresses.

Clearly I don't know about Airbot. Never heard of Airbot nor Ambot. If I knew of Ambot then Airbot would probably follow. Then again, if Airbot was something familiar then Ambot would probably be known too. Because I don't know about Ambot and Airbot, I wish you luck finding someone that knows Ambot and Airbot to help you with your Airbot and Ambot needs

 

[AMBOT]

Airbot




Ambot

 

[dakota123]

Side note. Do you have a build thread on Ambot? lol

 

[zracer]

Is Ambot and Airbot gunna be hitched?

 

[zracer]

The owners manual of the inverter should have cable specs for gauge and length.

 

[mikekey]

I tow my Airstream with our Adventure Rig a 2015 Ram Power Wagon.

Not as beastly a setup as yours. And we are full-timers. IE We travel and live in our Airstream full-time. Our truck only sends back 7 amps of power when towing. So don't expect a lot there.

I built out my Airstream to support us and our lifestyle. We have been off grid for a year now. 99% of our camping is without hookups. We have 505 watts of roof solar and 300 watts of ground deploy solar. Along with a 400 amp hour lithium battery bank. We switched to a Natures Head composting toliet which eliminates our need for the black tank, increases gray water capicaity to 69 gallons and doubled how long our fresh water lasts since we're not flushing it.


It looks to me like you have a 27 foot Front bedroom Eddie Buer. There is a lot of room on the roof if you plan properly.

I have three 135 watt panels and one 100 watt panel. But a friend of mine just recently installed 600 watts on his roof by removing the crank up antenna and replacing it with a fixed mast style.

So a few thoguhts, the Airstream solar pre-wire is pretty weak. You'll want to run your own solar wire for best performance. It's 10 ga wire. Also you might want to consider replacing that Parallex battery killer with a multi-stage unit and upgrading batteries to 6V's or something depending on how big of a battery bank you want.

 

[calicamper]

I put solar on the house in feb. You can get single panels pushing 310watts now for reasonable cost. I ended up with 285s given they were sold out when I pulled the trigger. The 285 LGs we have are nice. But LG panels are slightly wider and shorter in length than most other brands so in skinny locations check the sizing vs brands. Most are standard height. In my case shorter wider worked best with our roof space. 8.3kwh system for a big house, pool and plugin car. So far 100% covered but not over producing.

 

[AMBOT]

I tow my Airstream with our Adventure Rig a 2015 Ram Power Wagon.

Ahh excellent to see this mikekey! I have the new Pendleton which is still going thru QC at the dealer. It has 2 AC units and possibly some additional items up there which means for less roof space. I don't have an exact roof view or measurements to see how much solar I can fit, but I will maximize it where possible. I can carry 40 gallons of water in Ambot and will see how it goes.

I appreciate the time sharing your information and will take it under advisement!

 

[AMBOT]

Is Ambot and Airbot gunna be hitched?

Just ordered a pro-pride, so yes!

 

[AMBOT]

So a few thoguhts, the Airstream solar pre-wire is pretty weak. You'll want to run your own solar wire for best performance. It's 10 ga wire. Also you might want to consider replacing that Parallex battery killer with a multi-stage unit and upgrading batteries to 6V's or something depending on how big of a battery bank you want.

How have you found it working with the Airstream regarding running wires / accessing, replacing factory systems? Working on Ambot has been such a pleasure I'm hoping for decent passthru's and component access. Were you able to do some,most,all work yourself?

 

[mikekey]

A Pendleton, very nice. Money well spent on the Pro-Pride, btw.

It sounds like you are setup for 50-amp service. Ours is setup for 30-amp with single AC. But we don't have ducted air. So our roofs are probably a little different.

I do most of my own work except for my axles and brakes. I have those done professionally. You'll find most things easy to work on and replace.

Cable runs can be tricky. You'll be going behind cabinets and such. And there is a channel in the middle of the floor that connects two sides of the Airstream. But you would have to pull out your converter to see it. The other end pops out behind the LP detector.

What is a little disappointing is, you'll learn that Airstream's while being nice, and what you paid for, are still put together like other RV's. Albeit a little better. I like to use this wonderful photo of Airstream's wiring to make this point:

That is 100% factory. We have a friend with a 78 restored Airstream, and we've noted that they're still using a lot of the same techniques in the build.

I purchased our solar from AMSolar, great company to work with. My only regret was not going with more solar at first. I started out with 405 watts and cheap batteries.

This past winter, I upgraded to the lithium setup, which I purchased from Elite Power Solutions. Then I tailored things to match our lifestyle and needs.

We love the national parks and public lands so much, we have only been in a paid full hookup campground twice in the past year. So everything has evolved to focus on having no hookups for us.

 

[Kerensky97]

I built out my Airstream to support us and our lifestyle. We have been off grid for a year now. 99% of our camping is without hookups. We have 505 watts of roof solar and 300 watts of ground deploy solar. Along with a 400 amp hour lithium battery bank. We switched to a Natures Head composting toliet which eliminates our need for the black tank, increases gray water capicaity to 69 gallons and doubled how long our fresh water lasts since we're not flushing it.

Nice setup. I'd love to do the same someday.

I like the OPs idea combining solar from the tow vehicle and Airstream. If you got panels there you might as well add them to the mix to increase input while at home base, just like the deploy-able ground solar. Afterall you're likely to use more power when you're at home, best not to let those expo vehicle's panels go un-utilized.

 

[AMBOT]

Current thought is to install a battery bank selector on Airbot and Ambot along with a 12V Quick Disconnect plug between the two. I'll upgrade Airbots batteries to the same as Ambots and see how that goes initially. The end result will be two banks of (2)6V batteries that either Ambot or Airbot can use.

 

[AMBOT]

Project cancelled as the combination of the width of ambot, the extension of the rear rack combined with the loaded A frame (propane/batteries) of the trailer did not allow enough clearance for tight turns without contacting the trailer.