Nope, none that I can hear at least. Tighten it enough with the turn buckles and there shouldn't be any rattle. Super easy to remove when you don't need it and put back on when you do.
Great Idea… I did the same step up you shown here. Here is my material list & cost: 1/4” Chain : (2) - 5ft length [10ft all together] 5/16” Quick Link Chain : (4) 5/16” Hook / Eye Turnbuckle : (2) Approx. ~ $52 dollars all together Thank you for sharing this with us.
no good deed goes unpunished. glad you guys got out. that other poor guy though. lost his wife, plus a thousand-dollar tow and several thousand in damage to his truck. hope it's smooth sailing for all parties for the remainder.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. There's more drone footage coming up in today's (7/16/24) video releasing at 12PM CST, and even more on days 19, 20, 21, 24, and 25 when those release.
Thanks for the feedback! We're brand new to making videos like this... when it came time to edit footage, I didn't think people would be interested in watching lengthy drive sequences, so I sped them up trying to balance the overall runtime. You're the 2nd person to say they wish the drive sequences weren't sped up so much, so I guess I got that one wrong! Unedited, there was more than 20 minutes of just driving (originally recorded as a 30x hyperlapse that covers the entire ~12 hours we drove this day) on this one, which would have nearly doubled the runtime of the video without speeding it up. I will experiment with not speeding the drive sequences up as much on the videos I haven't already edited and uploaded, with some segments left at originally recorded speed. I may go back and release an "extended cut" of videos that have already been uploaded with everything left at original speed.
Just dropping by to say Hello and tell you guys that I'm completely jealous of your trip AND the Blackstone Griddle. lol We have Rialta RV, it's small and slow but road-worthy. I hope to make it to AK soon. Keep safe and thank you for sharing your adventures.
Small and slow is a good thing on some parts of the Alaska Highway! If you watch day 15 when it releases, you'll see why. We love our 22" griddle. So portable and versatile! Bought it to take with us camping, but wound up using it at home all the time too. Hope you can make the trip yourself soon, it's an experience you'll never forget!
@@BigRamatha Just finished your Day 6... You saw a bear. BTW, your kids are so well-behaved. Me and my husband are doing trips around Pacific Northwest right now. I saw that griddle at Lowe's and I want want want... hahaha Ok, take good care.
Awe thanks! They were so good the entire trip. When we stopped at a gift shop in Hyder AK, the owner gave them each a little gift for free for being so well behaved in her store. We probably saw more bears than any other kind of wildlife on this trip. Mostly black bears, but eventually saw several grizzlies as well. Got some great pictures of a few of them too!
I’ve travelled that Dawson to Ft Nelson road a number of times for work, everyone drive safe your a long way from emergency services. I’ve also been up there about the same time of year where the sunsets but it never really gets dark great experience for the kids.
We talked to quite a few people that were traveling that section of the ALCAN for work while we waited. Mostly truckers, but also some firefighters on their way to fight wildfires. With no alternate route available, a road closure like that can have a big impact on things for a lot of people.
Sure can, thanks for the feedback! Trying to balance overall video length. The hyperlapse drive sequences here condense 10 hours of driving into 20 minutes of video. Didn't think people would want to watch 20 minutes of just driving, so I sped those parts up (this one would have been over 30 minutes long if I hadn't!). In later videos there are hyperlapse sequences of hiking that are NOT sped up (the driving parts still are). Day 4 is a good example of that. Check it out and let me know if you'd prefer the driving to be the same speed as the hiking... I've already edited and uploaded the 1st 14 days, still have 16 more left to edit, so I can try and slow it down on the remaining days a little.
@@BigRamatha sometimes it would be cool to see as you approach wildlife, chatter in the car is cool. Longer length videos isn't so bad...you go to a lot of cool places and you see lots of different scenery. Love the information you share about places and landmarks!! ❤ it would be cool to see the driving slowed down just to see what areas are like. I don't mind the hiking to be slowed down hearing reactions to areas live...is cool. You have an awesome family! Love more comments from those back seat drivers!! 😉😁 ❤ Love to see your daughters photos!
Thanks again for the suggestions! This is our first time attempting to do videos like this, so looking to improve them in the future. I may release "extended cuts" of these. ;) I do try and slow it down as we approach wildlife, when the wildlife is visible on the dash cam at least, sometimes it isn't. I do wish I had captured more wildlife on video, but I was more focused on still photography when we came across wildlife. Check out Day 13 when it releases today at noon! I slow it down and freeze frame on a moose that we thought we missed capturing completely... It ran into the woods before we could snap pictures, but it showed up for just a few frames in the drive video. When we capture photos but not video, I try to splice in a photo or 2. Sometimes we just see the wildlife but aren't lucky enough to get video or photos. I'd love to hear more from those back seat drivers too! They were a little camera shy, and sometimes didn't speak up enough to be heard in the video, but they get a little more vocal later in the trip. They were pretty quiet off camera too, usually had their headphones on. :P
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. There's more of Saskatchewan on Day 3 and will be more on Day 29 once I get that uploaded. On our return trip, the mustard fields were in bloom. Beautiful greens and yellows against the big blue sky. I had only been to Saskatchewan in February for work once years ago before this trip, flew into Regina for that one. First time driving across the Province. Reminds me a lot of eastern/central Montana. So did eastern/central Alberta.
I have a similar system, except with two 48V Batteries. I am now working on getting the solar installed, and will also be going with flexible panels, as I do not like putting holes in the roof if at all possible. Curious how your solar panels are doing with battery charging. How long does it take to charge your battery, and does your cpap use heated tube, as this will make a difference in the power usage. TIA
Sorry for the delayed response, been out of service range on our Alaska road trip! Yes my CPAP has climate control. Heated/cooled tube and humidifier. The system performed very well on our 30 day trip to Alaska and back. Videos from that trip, and a follow up video on how the solar + 48V battery system worked over 8,750 miles and 30 days will be uploading soon. The only thing we didn't need to run over the last 30 days was the AC. Wasn't anywhere near warm enough. We did run the furnace almost every night as it was often down into the upper 20's F at night. The blower motor on it seemed to use around 150w when it runs. We did use the microwave, a toaster, and a coffee maker, all off solar/battery. Regularly recharged 4 phones, cameras, and other devices. Used the MAXXAIR fans, ran the water pump, and of course my CPAP. We typically only used between 20-25% of battery capacity per day. On clear sunny days, with the sun rising as early as 3AM, we were often recharged back to 100% before we even woke up around 7AM. In partial shade of trees with partly cloudy skies, I was still seeing over 700W of charge power. On really cloudy or rainy days (which there were a lot of), we'd only see around 200W of charge power at best. Even when conditions were at their worst for recharging, we'd still be back at 100% before returning to camp for dinner in the evening. Aside from a wire that came loose on the battery due to the rough roads we traveled; the system performed really well. Loose wire was an easy fix. I'm very happy with it!
Why not just eliminate the batteries land all this hardware altogether and just use a big solar generating with extra battery packs. Every thing is already there and hook your panels up to it. You should get plenty of power that way to run everything including your ac on demand. And you can take it with you when you sell or upgrade your trailer
Great question! "Solar Generators" are essentially the same components you see here, minus the solar panels. There is no "eliminating the battery and all this hardware" with them. You're just getting all of it packaged in nicer looking plastic cladding in a portable form factor. They can be a great option depending on your needs. Here's why I didn't go that route: 1. To get the same 5.2kwh capacity and 3500w output, it would cost more than this entire system just for the solar generator, and I'd still have to buy the solar panels. 2. A solar generator with the same capacity and output wouldn't fit in the battery compartment of the trailer, which means it would take up cargo space that I could be using for something else. 3. A solar generator with the same capacity and output weighs more than all this. 4. It's more fun for me to build something like this myself than to buy a pre-built solution. This whole setup is easily reversible. I can remove it if I sell the trailer and use it on my house or barn or another trailer.
@@BigRamatha great build, I’m trying to do the same thing on my cass a motorhome . I’m on the fence what way to go. AZ expert, has a wonderful RU-vid channel. He did a build and actually eliminated all the house batteries completely. Installed a Blueeddie 500 solar generator with a backup battery. Very compact and lightweight. Had I believe five mounted panels on roof and produced enough electricity to run both ac systems 24/7. And he breaks down the cost. I think he was around $8000 all in. Pretty cool. Keep in mind he is in Arizona so sunlight is no issue. Thx for sharing super educational
That isn't eliminating house batteries, it's replacing them. The Bluetti EP500 has a 5120wh battery inside of it, same capacity as what I've built here. Again, it can simplify things IF you have the space for it, but the extra metal and plastic that encases the battery (possibly even multiple batteries), solar charge controller, inverter, and other components adds weight. Also those aren't "backup batteries", they are expansion batteries used to increase total battery capacity. It's the same as running multiple batteries in either series or parallel. The EP500 by itself without any expansion packs will need fairly significant wattage worth of solar panels (number of panels is irrelevant, total output of the panels is what matters) to fully recharge from 0% to 100% on solar alone even in the plentiful AZ sun. How well your unit is insulated plays a big part. The better insulated, the better inside temps can be maintained. The better inside temps are maintained, the less the AC has to cycle. You may leave your AC on 24/7, but it shouldn't actually run (draw power) 24/7. It will cycle on and off as needed to maintain set temps. If it has to run (draw power) for more than a few hours total in a 24 hour period, you'd have a hard time keeping up with battery and solar alone. Unfortunately, my unit isn't insulated all that well, plus it's a dark gray, so it soaks up the sun. I'm currently in Jasper National Park, Alberta Canada, on my way to Alaska. It's been in the upper 20's at night, which means running the furnace at night. On my trailer, inside temps tend to be about 20 degrees warmer than outside temps without running anything. We're currently burning through a 20lb propane tank every 5 nights running the furnace with the thermostat set to 65 to stay comfortable overnight. Hasn't been anywhere near warm enough to need to turn on the AC so far this trip.
@@BigRamatha thx , my point was with eliminating the house batteries, and replacing them with the Solar generator. This will remove the weight of the house batteries and free up this space also. So it kind of offsets itself somewhat. I’m learning a lot. Difficult decision for me on what route to take. My main objective is that I can run both my roof ac units 24/7 as needed. I’ll be parking it in Florida , and I’ll have unobstructed, unlimited sunlight exposure during day light hours, weather allowing.and to not have to rely on any external power source. 100% solar.
The weight reduction from replacing the house batteries comes from changing battery type. House batteries are usually lead acid, or sometimes AGM, while solar generators contain a Lithium battery, which weighs a lot less. That's what I've done here, replaced the heavier lead-acid house battery with a lighter and higher capacity lithium (LifePo4) battery. Again, you aren't "eliminating" house batteries, you're just changing the type of battery used as the house battery, and in most cases, significantly increasing battery capacity. Good luck beating the Florida heat with just solar. It can be done with a properly sized system and a well insulated unit.
Sure, will try to capture that while backing into a site during our road trip to Alaska and back in June. Probably won't get videos from that posted until we return in July though.
Haha, the struggle is real! Glad you liked it, and thanks for subscribing! Keep an eye out in June, you might spot us! We'll be driving across Alberta on our way to and from Alaska. Stopping in Banff and Jasper for several days each on our way to. 😎
Great Vid! We are seriously looking at the Adventure. The 48V system seems the way to go and within my ability to do. I wish you had some vid of the solar panel install and maybe some more vid of the roof.
Thanks! Unfortunately, I put all the panels up long before I decided to start making videos. It's pretty simple though, VHB tape to attach the panels to the roof, and then All Weather Permanent Gorilla Tape to secure the wiring. I can try and do a follow-up video going into more detail on the panel install once the weather is nice enough.
Yes, it does! Much more efficiently than having to run off the inverter too, which means longer battery life and more power available for other devices between recharging.
I organized my 5th wheel basement with shelves and a roll out drawer. I really liked your idea of using a bed liner paint to cover the surface and will probably take mine apart to do that. I know you were using scrap wood to put yours together and that's fine. I used 3/4" plywood for my drawer. It's more stable than dimensional lumber. I used 1/2" plywood for the shelves and dividers.
You can splice into your 30 amp trailer connection and put AC in the AC in on the inverter/charger and the AC out would then be the other end that goes to the panel. This way you don't have to do the weird cable around. The inverter should just be in bypass when plugged into shore power or generator as well as charge the batteries. Plus if you do it this way you can just keep the 12v side all set up as it already is with the 12v battery you already have. Like you said, inefficient but easy.
If only it were that easy (on this particular make/model RV/trailer). That's what I originally intended to do (wire everything internally), but it would require ripping apart the trailer to access/run wiring. The 30A input is on the rear left side (with no internal access), but the PDC is in a cabinet above the kitchen in the middle on the right side. Unfortunately, there was no room to install the inverter next to the PDC. The battery compartment (which had plenty of room) is on the front left side (under the bed), and only had 12V wires from the PDC run to it (along with wiring for the ZAMP ports on the roof). There just wasn't another way to connect the output on the inverter to the PDC. The Renogy Inverter/Charger/MPPT Controller I'm using actually has more options than just bypass. It can be configured to prioritize shore/utility power or prioritize solar power as well. I have it set to prioritize shore/utility power. It will automatically enter bypass mode if the battery is charged to 100%. It will also fail over to solar/battery power if the shore/utility power goes out. It works very well plugging the stock 30A input on the trailer to the output on the inverter, then plugging the input on the inverter into shore power (when available).
Be sure to get a DC (cigarette style) adapter for it if available. I found one for my Resmed Airsense 10. Uses a lot less power running off it compared to the AC adapter it came with.
honestly my plan is 24v battery system and just use a constant voltage adapter for piece of mind (so basically hardwiring it to the house battery)@@BigRamatha
That should be even more efficient! You know... most step-down converters are also voltage regulators... so this could be done on a 48v system with a 48v to 24v step-down converter. Now I'm wondering how much efficiency I'd gain connecting that way vs using the 12v-24v adapter. I may need to run some tests!
Sweet. That's the way to do it. We're old, retired FTers who designed and built our system ourselves, on a tight budget. It took us 5 years to gather the resources to complete it, doing all the work ourselves, but it was well worth it. We started by building a 620-watt liftable solar array on the side of our motorhome. It makes a nice bedroom window awning too, practically lifting itself with a couple gas struts, and it's easy to clean, standing safely on the ground. Next, we built a 12v, 560ah LiFePo-4 battery with 8, 280ah prismatic cells. We use a Heltec 330amp BMS with a 5a active balancer. It cost us less than $1,500 to build this 7.1 kwh battery, including the high amp BMS. We chose these cells rather than a pre-built battery because they fit perfectly under the steps of our MH where our old pair of golf cart batteries used to reside. We insulated the battery compartment, cut a small hole in our step risers and installed a tiny computer CPU fan to keep this space at close to room temperature, so we don't have to worry about the BMS shutting down charging due to low temperature - or their life reduced from getting too hot. Our 12v system uses an 80A Progressive Dynamics LFP converter/charger, a 1,000w Renogy inverter, a 50a Epever MPPT charge controller and a Lnex battery monitor. We built this entire 12v phase of our system for under $3,500. By mounting the solar array on the side of our coach, we left the roof free to rack 8, 550w solar panels (4,400 watts) down the length of our 35ft Class A, 15" off our roof, above our AC, vents, etc. We built the rack out of 2" aluminum angle with the front 2 panels of ours sloping down at a shallower 9.5-degrees to meet the roof, gently easing airflow over the array. It covers our entire roof, providing some nice shade with plenty of cooling air underneath, increasing solar output and reducing the heat load on the air conditioners too, though our overall height is still just under 12 ft. We mounted our Sungold Power all-in-one 48V, 5,000W Inverter/100A charge controller/battery charger, breakers and a Lnex battery monitor on the wall in our bedroom, saving us space as well as money. We chose the Sungold Power unit for several reasons. First, it supports up to 500 volts from our 400 voc solar array, can work without batteries hooked up, and has a power saver mode that only uses 20-25 watts when idling. It's selling for $764 now - not bad for a 5,000-watt PSW inverter (with the same 95% efficiency as a high-end Victron unit) and 100amps of combined 48v battery charger/charge controller capacity. Our 48v battery uses 16, 320ah prismatic cells and a 200amp Heltec BMS to keep it safe. Together with our 560ah 12v bank, we have a total of 23.5 kwh of batteries onboard - kept charged by 5,020 watts of solar. This is the equivalent storage capacity as $16,650 worth of Battleborn batteries for under $3,400. We removed the rooftop A/C we had in the bedroom and replaced it with an EG4 28.5 seer-2, 12k btu mini-split heat pump on the upper rear of our motorhome. It's super quiet and cools as well as our 14.5k btu soft start equipped Furrion we installed up front. This second phase provides 24/7 off-grid air conditioning and heat from the heat pump. We can run both A/Cs, microwave and charge our batteries from solar at the same time, even in winter. We have a total of 6,000 watts of 120v inverted ac power, giving us off-grid electrical self-sufficiency for a total budget of around $11,500, including the $1,500 high-efficiency heat pump. This fit our budget and is only a fraction of what a similarly sized, professionally designed and built system would be. Take care, we hope to see you down the road one day.
That sounds like an awesome build! I wanted to build my own battery like that, but let my impatience get the best of me. The individual LifePo4 cells would not have arrived before our first camping trip, so I went with the cheapest pre-built battery I could find that would arrive in time. I intend on building my own when it comes time to replace this. I had a similar idea for a solar array that doubles as an awning when we had our old 16' trailer because the roof was occupied by a rooftop tent. Traded it in for this one before ever starting that project.
Rockwood and Epro has a power package that is 600 watts of solar, 3000-watt inverter, and a 400ah battery. However, i agree it is way too expensive. I have already upgraded my solar to 600 watts plus 400 wats of solar that can be attacked to the side of my trailer and a 400ah lithium iron phosphate battery. I have a 3000-watt inverter that i will install later. And it is definitely a fraction of the price, but they are also charging you for labor and wiring which contributes to the price.
600w of solar feels so undersized for 400Ah battery. You'd need 10 hours of peak sun in ideal conditions to charge from 0% to 100%! Good call on adding the extra 400w of solar, that takes it down to only needing about 6 hours of peak sun, much more reasonable. Sounds like you'll have a nice setup! The wiring for my setup was less than $100, and included in the $3500 I mentioned. Even if you paid someone else to install everything, you should still end up with significant savings compared to buying the manufacture's option. It only took me a few hours to install everything, I'm sure a pro could do it in less. There certainly isn't $4,000+ worth of labor involved!
@BigRamatha that is correct. If I were using a large amount of power, I could add the additional panels and orient them in the optimal direction. Here is the caveat. Typically, I do not use a lot of power while boondocking. My fridge and lights use a very minimum amount of power, so my consumption is low. I have 40 pounds of propane as well for cooking and hot water.
Yeah the 10 Cu Ft NORCOLD fridge in our unit only consumes ~55w at most. Between it, running my CPAP all night, occasional light and MAXXAIR fan usage, and 5 of us recharging phones... We typically only consume ~20% of the 48V 100Ah/5120Wh battery's capacity between charges.
s from Germany! Love your idea. We bought our Caravan (RV), 6 years ago and have been upgrading it over time. Did you rennovate the bare compartment? Our compartment has legs which come down under flap, which provide support for support for seat section. We got very lucky, we have a classic short Fendt. Had only one owner, who never showered in it, so absolutely no water or mold. He tore toilet out, very cool gave us more weight. Those service compartments have always bothered us, lifting seats inside to get to stuff inside, or outside pulling stuff out to get to stuff. Great idea! You've a nice RV.😊
Thank you! Glad you liked it! Sounds like you got a good deal on your caravan. No renovation to the compartment, what you see here is all that was done to it. While this compartment is under the bed, there is no access to it from the inside. There are 2 service compartments right next to this one that are only accessible from inside. They are a bit of a pain to work with as well, as they require removing the mattress and a wood panel. One houses the water heater, and the other houses the battery. I will be showing them in a future video on installing a 48V battery and solar system.
