Why I'm not allowed to browse local auction sites anymore (I bought a shuttle bus)

[Pinnacle Campers]

I think even more important than the batteries would be a good charger.
I doubt this thing is going to be a daily driver. It should probably be plugged in whenever not in use and charging/floating the battery's.
Something to consider as part of the battery work and associated wiring.

 

[shenrie]

^^^ prolly best advice yet.

Looks like CarQuest has changed their listings a bit.
And the batteries Ive got are not being provided by East penn any longer.
Instead it is JC (Johnson Controls)
Still very good batteries.

bummer. I am not a fan of the jc batteries at all. had a buddy working for jci and got one at cost. this was after optima sold to them. ive not been impressed with their optima branded products since. an alarm led light shouldn't drain a battery in 2-3 weeks. unless your talking about a different line of batteries of course.

 

[Pinnacle Campers]

Thanks Shea!

Wasn't there discussion about this thing needing an RV door? Couldn't remember where I saw this until browsing the local CL,
http://boise.craigslist.org/rvs/5866217078.html
Steal of a deal if you can make them work.

Also found these chairs on there for a great price.
http://boise.craigslist.org/rvs/5858350018.html
In fact why don't you just drop it off at my house along with your credit card and we can get things moving...

 

[hyperboarder]

Thanks Shea!

Wasn't there discussion about this thing needing an RV door? Couldn't remember where I saw this until browsing the local CL,
http://boise.craigslist.org/rvs/5866217078.html
Steal of a deal if you can make them work.

Also found these chairs on there for a great price.
http://boise.craigslist.org/rvs/5858350018.html
In fact why don't you just drop it off at my house along with your credit card and we can get things moving...

Saw both of those, I need to see what size the door is. Seats are low on the list for now, but those are a solid enough deal.

What do you guys like for a charger? I've got a decent one that I picked up at Sams a few years back, seems to work well enough but it's not as much a maintainer as a charger. Seems like it wouldn't be hard to add a nice weatherproof pigtail to the under hood battery to make hook up a breeze, maybe MC4 connectors or something. Am I correct in assuming hooking up there would keep the frame rail battery topped off as well?

TVT was nice enough to send me 3 years worth of maintenance and inspection records, which is great. The front end is fairly new hub to hub and suspension is pretty fresh as well. They included maintenance costs, which were comical. Their fleet maintenance place did quite well over the years.

 

[hyperboarder]

Noco Genius seems to be a favorite. Looks like I'll pick up their 3 battery 10A version and put a plug in the bumper or something.

Do you guys recommend the block heater use just prior to starting or more frequently?

 

[Pinnacle Campers]

Noco Genius seems to be a favorite. Looks like I'll pick up their 3 battery 10A version and put a plug in the bumper or something.

Do you guys recommend the block heater use just prior to starting or more frequently?

I have heard good things about The genius, I should look into one myself.

I plug my block heater in at night. This morning it was 27 degrees when I started and even the v10 was a little sluggish. First cold morning start of the year!

 

[shenrie]

^^^ it was 24 degrees when I kicked the motorbike over. freaking frigid ride in this morning, lol.

do you leave it plugged in all night? was told its a pretty heavy draw and the heater will only get it 30 degrees warmer than the ambient, so I put mine on a timer to kick on about 2am. that way im only using enough juice to get it to that temp. not my idea btw, it was silly sallee's. they had 2-7.3's to start everyday when he lived up in priest river and apparently it was obvious on the power bill...

 

[Pinnacle Campers]

^^^ it was 24 degrees when I kicked the motorbike over. freaking frigid ride in this morning, lol.

do you leave it plugged in all night? was told its a pretty heavy draw and the heater will only get it 30 degrees warmer than the ambient, so I put mine on a timer to kick on about 2am. that way im only using enough juice to get it to that temp. not my idea btw, it was silly sallee's. they had 2-7.3's to start everyday when he lived up in priest river and apparently it was obvious on the power bill...

That is good to note thanks. I have a timer I can put to use right away.

On topic, once you start adding multiple 110v shore power elements it a good idea to consider a junction box. Plug in at one location and select breakers/switches for the individual items like charger, block heater (timer is on board), microwave, etc.
I think a retractible extension cord mounted underneath would be cool.
You're building an RV now.

 

[hyperboarder]

The Genius charger is nice because it's a solo 110V in for the 3 outputs. I think I'm going to keep that isolated up front. They make a nice pass through that I have on my E250, I'll probably add one towards the rear and put the junction box there. Not sure I'll want to charge batteries at campgrounds so I'm fine keeping those circuits separate. Back will be fridge, microwave, all that jazz.

I'm expecting I'll fire the thing up and drive it maybe once every couple weeks in the off season, what kind of block heater use should I plan in that case? Just the night before?

Need to get more pics in here, this thread is getting too damn wordy...

 

[java]

If your planning on running an inverter an inverter charger may be the way to go. AIMS power (IIRC!) was the one I was going to use, good prices and good product as far as I saw.

On my RV there is a little trickle charger for the starting batteries hard wired into the 120V side of things, when its sitting at home plugged in to keep the house batteries up, it keeps the starting one up as well that way. I will likely do it the same way when I do another one.

 

[IdaSHO]

On my 7.3, whenever the block heater is plugged in, so is a trickle charger.

Flush mounted plug in the front bumper energizes the block heater and a small battery maintainer.


On the other end of things, I have the cord plugged into a 20A timer. No need to keep it plugged in all the time.
Hell, just the block heater pulls 1000 watts. I have the timer set to turn on about 3 hours prior to when I normally leave.

 

[hyperboarder]

Batteries bought, Interstate Mega Tron Plus for both the under hood and frame rail. Still deciding on what to do about the current lift battery, which will likely be replaced with a deep cycle for 12V stuff. Charger should be on the way next week.

 

[hyperboarder]

Slow going. Cold and snowy. Bwa bwa.

Does anyone know how to identify the original engine/trans to the chassis? Trying to determine if it's been changed out over the last many miles.

 

[java]

Should be a reman tag on the block if it was swapped for a factory long block. Otherwise the VIN should match on the engine and chassis.

 

[hyperboarder]

Any idea where the reman and/or VIN tag would be? Before I go digging around willy nilly .