Black Series HQ Tips, Tricks, and Learning.....

[sobiloff]

Whoops! Seems like I'm not getting notifications when new posts are made to this thread. Sorry for not checking in for a while.

I doubt it was the inverter draw. But I find it easy myself to leave the fridge on, and that thing will need to work hard when the sun is shining on a closed trailer for months at a time. Anyways, sucks the batteries died What LifePo4 battery are you considering? I'm looking around myself too. They are expensive still!

It could have been the fridge. I don't think I left it on, but at this point who knows? I think the lesson here is to turn off the main power switch if you're not going to be able to monitor the camper for a while—or get a better charge controller!

There's an outfit local to me, Battle Born Batteries, that I'm going to try and work with. I haven't contacted them yet, but I've seen them positively mentioned in a few places, and having them local to me will make it very convenient to work with them to upgrade the battery system. In general I replace all lead acid batteries with LiFePo4 batteries once lead acid ones die. It really hurts the wallet up front, but rewards ya' in the long term.

 

[HQ15fan]

Hi Kevin, yup no more firebox and jerry can holder. Apparently the firebox had a tendency to come loose after too much offroading, or so I was told. Indeed, we also use the Scepter cans with that spout. Works like a charm!!

 

[HQ15fan]

Ok, here's the mod if you want more fridge space. The Dometic CFF35 fits perfectly in the front compartment. You still have room left to store other stuff too. The power distribution box at the front of the trailer has an extra hole (bottom one in the picture) you can use to tie the power of the fridge into the power line for the 50A Anderson connector. If you additionally attach the negative wire for the fridge to the frame, the power meter inside the trailer will show you the fridge power draw. Pretty neat. Make sure to put a fuse in the positive line.

 

[HQ15fan]

Just be very careful with how far you let the battery bank drop at night. If the furnace doesn't get at least 12.4-6 volts the Dometic ignitor won't fire.

Thanks for that tip! I fixed that with a battery booster. That booster will take a voltage as low as 9V and convert it into anywhere between 12V and 13.8V (user settable). I set it for 12.8V. The booster I used is this one from MFJ, bit of an overkill as it can handle 25A, but I know it works. If you decide to use the same booster, make sure to read the manual and configure it correctly. There are several options you can set with jumpers. I'd be happy to help.

 

[sobiloff]

On our HQ15 the thermostat for the heater is right above the compartment where the heater is installed. We've discovered that the heater will warm the wall enough at night that the heater won't run even when the interior is pretty cold. We're looking at relocating the thermostat further down the wall towards the shower, but our local RV folks (not our Black Series dealer) says there's no way to route the wires behind the wall. Anyone have experience in this area, or a clever idea (wireless thermostat?), to make it look nice?

 

[PSea]

On our HQ15 the thermostat for the heater is right above the compartment where the heater is installed. We've discovered that the heater will warm the wall enough at night that the heater won't run even when the interior is pretty cold. We're looking at relocating the thermostat further down the wall towards the shower, but our local RV folks (not our Black Series dealer) says there's no way to route the wires behind the wall. Anyone have experience in this area, or a clever idea (wireless thermostat?), to make it look nice?

A few ideas possibly...
Wire should be pretty small diameter. Maybe buy some corner trim and route the inside corner on the backside creating a space to run the wiring behind the trim? Or maybe some sort of Bluetooth/wireless thermostat?? Or buy the white plastic conduit at home depot. Has sticky tape on the backside and can be painted any color.

 

[HQ15fan]

I just spent an hour trying to fish wire from the thermostat through the wall. Tried to get to the 12V outlets, and also to the outside light switches (to the left of the thermostat). No luck. There are too many obstacles in the wall. I even used a small inspection camera that fits inside the wall. It might be possible if you're willing to drill holes in the wall at regular intervals to help fish wire, but I don't want to do that.

 

[PSea]

Bummer. All these manufacturers would be well served closely inspecting sailboat designs. So much for them to learn.

 

[HQ15fan]

BTW, Since there seemed to be some discussion around this, the outside of the trailer is definitely aluminum, and the studs in the wall are also. See attached two pictures. The shiny surface is the back side of the outside wall, and below my fingers you can see an aluminum stud. In the picture I am holding a screwdriver to push a romax 110V wire to the side, so you can see the stud better.

 

[sobiloff]

Wow, @HQ15fan , glad you gave it a try and shared your results! @PSea and I are thinking along the same lines. I want to install some amateur radio equipment, too, so I might end up installing some conduit inside so that I can route some of that wiring around to where I want it as well.

 

[HQ15fan]

Hah, @sobiloff ! I'm a HAM as well, but have resisted the temptation to install any gear inside so far I'll just operate outside, and will pull power for the radio from that Anderson connector up front.

 

[HQ15fan]

In case you don't ever need to fold down the table into a bed (as in our case) you can create a bunch more leg and knee room. Take the existing frame of the table off, and build two simple legs out some 3/8 steel. I re-used the bottom legs as well as the brackets that screw into the table surface. See pictures.

 

[kevin_j]

Quick question, are any of you using "Bearing Buddies"? If so which size did you get?

 

[kevin_j]

I ended up buying and installing the 2.441" version. Works great but be prepared to inject a TON of grease when you first fit them

 

[geodasher]

I visited a dealer to look at a BS and was unimpressed. China produced (which BS never mentions) with assembly in Los Angeles is one strike. Next, the design has some cool features and the basic construction looks sturdy but overall it is not what the price would suggest IMHO. Third, several features important to boondockers such as winter insulation, a high-capacity lithium battery system, cassette toilet and compressor fridge are unavailable according to the salesman I saw. Nor can items be deleted such as the outdoor cooking station we would not use, one spare instead of two, or storage instead of bunk beds (HQ17). Finally and perhaps most important there are the customer relations problems mentioned in other posts. The salesman admitted that BS is difficult to work with and appears overwhelmed. A buyer will need to either lean heavily on the dealer or be prepared to modify things themselves. The trailer has much promise so I will look again when the business is squared away and they start offering more options.