Search results

Yes, this is what's making me lean towards alternator charging. Trying to keep things as simple as possible and with as little equipment as possible. Just went out and started my truck and checked the voltage at idle. Seems to stay right around 14.4v.

Sorry, I thought I mentioned that earlier but I guess I wasn't specific enough. Our recent trip to Oregon is probably a good example of the kind of travel we'll be doing. We left Colorado on a Friday, and spent 3 days traveling to Southern/central Oregon (near Crescent lake.) Our overnights...

Well I'm flattered you would say that. I have no doubt that YOU could change out the converter in 30 minutes. ;) Me? I could potentially do it but it'd likely be an all day job with multiple trips to the auto parts store/home depot/emergency room. Source: 62 years of experience being...

I haven't checked out the specs on my factory alternator but if I get a 30A DC-DC charger then I only need 30A plus a little more to run the charger itself, and maybe a little to compensate for what I might lose due to cable length, right? Let's assume for the sake of argument that I have a...

How are most of you connecting your Anderson connectors? Crimp or solder? I'm getting ready to make some cables with large (50A) anderson connectors. Reason I ask is that I thought I was fairly decent at crimping but I've never been able to solder anything that didn't end up looking like...

As far as relocating the batteries goes, that is in the future, but in the meantime we are less than 4 weeks from our big trip to the Southeast and the Lithium batteries have to be in place before that so as of now the plan is to keep them on the trailer tongue. While I expect sub-freezing...

Ah, I didn't say this at the outset but I'll be getting 2 of them, wired in parallel. We don't have a diesel heater in our trailer, there is a propane heater that uses a fan though so it does have some draw. Not exactly sure how much though. The fridge is the biggest draw. There is also a...

Sorry, I thought that was a common term. WRT = "With Regard To" 😉

Fair enough. This is what I'm looking at getting unless someone can think of another one in a similar price range that is better: Self-heating because it will be mounted on the outside of our trailer and we live in Colorado. I like that it has a built in SOC monitor that also works on...

The trailer has a solar panel but we learned the hard way that there are places where solar is worthless. We camped in Oregon in September. Cloudy skies and 200' canopy trees all around us (and we were literally camped at lake side!) The other drawback to solar is the slow charge rate...

Thanks for the info. BTW I watched your video about the Licitti battery box and I'm stoked about that. I've been using a power box based on a trolling motor case and this seems to be a significant upgrade at a very reasonable cost. Silly question WRT charging LiFePo4 batteries: The battery...

Last month camping in Oregon in our new-to-us travel trailer (2021 Rockwood Geo Pro 19BH) we had an issue with electrical power. The trailer was bought used and the (original equipment) batteries were pretty much worn out. They are two x 12v Interstate FLA batteries. We were boondocking...

I know that here on ExPo we like to brag about the expensive "name brand" gear we use but I'll bet I'm not the only licensed Ham here with one of these cheap little Baofeng radios. After spending a few years turning up my nose at these "cheap Chinese radios" my curiousity finally got the best...

Pike's Peak AKA "America's Mountain."

Well, we've moved and I'm happy now! Plenty of space and I'm even thinking I'll rig up a hoist so I can remove the topper by myself. Of course, that's not TODAY. Today the garage is filled with boxes I have to unpack and crap I have to put away or get rid of. But it's a start! EDITED...

Even better, there's a push broom in the garage that works great.

BTW for those who were saying "just park the truck outside" here is a photo from this morning that explains why I'm so insistent on parking the truck in the garage:

I think this is a hangover from the crazy market of 2020 - 2022 where houses were selling literally within hours of being listed and bidding wars were driving prices up to $50k above asking price. People then were just so happy to get a house they didn't look twice at things like an old roof...

This is like saying is if I pay my car insurance and then never get into an accident I wasted my money ;) And who's to say what happens in the next 3 years. Have you ever had a transmission fail in the middle of Utah? Wanna guess what that costs?

I know we all love us a good rage-bait horror story but I thought I'd buck the trend here and post my first experience using my Ford ESP Extended Service Plan. I bought my 2018 F-150 used with about 18,000 miles on it. I violated the "conventional wisdom" of the internet knowitalls by buying...