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Sure fire away!

Glad to be of assistance! Which blanket did you end up settling on?

Yep no real surprises there; but it's interesting to see how alternative solutions work (or don't)

@@TheMusingGreg Good BTW

@@doraexplora9046 Cheers!

I've not done the resistor mod if that's what you mean, but my understanding is that it works well and doesn't interfere with the functioning of the rest of the engine management system.

@ cheers mate

Thanks. I ended up pulling it off because I still got EGR build-up but it was harder to remove than the wet oily stuff.

Most of that would probably work provided you're happy to do an EGR delete and you can get the manifold clean, which will probably require removal. However the Provent doesn't have a vacuum line. If you're talking about the air return line, it needs to go back after the air filter and after the air flow meter. If you send it back into the system before the air filter any oil residue will block the filter. Also the air flow meter is after the air filter and the air in the blowby system has already been metered, so you'd end up with a slight mixture imbalance as you'd be measuring that air a second time.

@@TheMusingGreg My bad, yes drop the return line a lil down stream from the MAF. The issue with it being so close to the turbo, it has too much vacuum and sucks all the oil from most cans. You must move the return line away from the turbski!

Fair enough. I guess it depends on the vehicle; on my Pajero it's a pretty short run from the air flow meter to the turbo but others may be longer. Also, it's simplest to just reuse the port that the PCV line originally went into so that would leave you with no choice of positioning. But even with a long run, I can't imagine the vacuum is going to drop by much, it's the same volume of air after all whether it's close or a long way from the turbo. I think a bigger factor would be catch can design, and possibly for cheapies with less baffling to protect the oil reservoir, what you're saying could be important to consider.

Glad you liked it! You're right I forgot to say that in the video, I realised that after so I put it in the description; check it annually. Thanks Dave!

Glad it was helpful Aaron! Thanks for the feedback!

We are running 8 of these in a offgrid system (pre Bluetooth model). Just moving over from 12v to 48 volts will be interesting to see how the go

You should get much lower cable losses, I'd be interested to know how it goes! What's it in?

@ in a shed out in the country

Cool please let us know the results!

Yeah it's amazing hey! How long had it been in do you know?

@TheMusingGreg 2 years and 20,000klms, not as bad as yours. U can use the pressure relief valve to drop the pressure in the system as well.

Good point! 👍

My pleasure Craig. The smart shunt is definitely a better monitoring tool so use the link in the description to grab one. The current 120X is non-Bluetooth as you say (although I expect it'll be replaced by a Bluetooth one once the old non-BT stock is exhausted), but it's also physically smaller and only 105Ah in capacity. So if you were hoping for a 120Ah battery I would still get the 120x Pro (especially at these prices with the coupon) and supplement it with the Smart Shunt. While the iTechWorld app isn't brilliant, as I said it still provides some useful info and I'd much rather have it as it is than no app at all, now I (and you) know what data you can trust. Good luck whichever way you go!

I would like to have done that, but I didn't want to void my warranty

Hi Jon thanks for the comment... Do you mean the comment about assuming it'll get to 100% with a second round of charge on the AGM charger? I avoid assumptions as much as I can so my reviews are all data based, but this exception wasn't because any fiddling is going on. The whole reason I purchase these batteries at great personal expense is to make it clear there is no external influence. The reason I had to make an assumption this time was because I only worked that out after the testing was finished. But also I wasn't willing to have to power cycle my charger every time I wanted a full charge, so in my case with my charger it was a bit hypothetical anyway - there's no way that my charger would deliver a full charge which was the point. That said, I demonstrated that with a 24 hour charge at 13.65v my AGM charger took the battery from empty to 95%; so I feel it is a very safe assumption to make that a further 24 hours at 13.65v would easily get it from 95% to 100%. Do you feel that's an unreasonable assumption to present?

That's a great idea!

Hi Col, glad you liked the video thanks for the comment! Yes that is what the Australian Standards say, but unfortunately it's not quite as simple as that. Here's my take as a safety professional, but this is not legal advice: Firstly the most important thing to understand is that Australian Standards are NOT law, unless there's something in law which says you must follow a Standard. Legislation includes Acts, Regulations and Codes of Practice, but Australian Standards are simply ADVICE, I would call them Best Practice. If something in an Act, Reg or Code of Practice says you have to follow a Standard then it's law; otherwise it's not. To the best of my knowledge, AS/NZ3001.2:2022 is not called up in any legislation so it is not law. I'm not saying don't follow it, but as far as I'm aware it's not enforceable by law. I'm happy to be corrected on this. Secondly, the standard DOES allow for repairs: "Clause 1.5.2.1: Repairs to existing electrical installations in connectable electrical installations or parts thereof may be effected using methods, fixtures and fittings that were acceptable when that part of the electrical installation was originally installed or with methods, fixtures and fittings currently available as a direct replacement, provided that the methods satisfy the fundamental safety principles of AS/NZS 3000." There is some conjecture as to what qualifies as a 'direct replacement' - AGM to AGM would be a direct replacement, as would be a lithium upgrade to an old lithium installation. Beyond that it gets murky! The iTechWorld batteries are designed to work with a range of chargers, including lithium, AGM and others. So if you've got an old lithium installation from 2017 and you pop the iTechWorld batteries in, that would be compliant even though the batteries are not enclosed or anything which the standard requires. How is that any different to popping the same lithium battery but in place of an AGM battery, when it's designed to work seamlessly with the AGM system? In my view, a drop-in replacement which requires no other modifications would be a direct replacement, but that's just my opinion. Others differ; if you look at Appendix 1 on amptron.au/as-nzs-3001-22022-standard/ they've got a couple of official responses regarding this which lean towards lithium NOT being a direct replacement; however note the terms such as 'I would suggest, I would assume, in my view". Ultimately we'll only get clarity once the Standard is tried in court by a judge and a judge makes a legally binding ruling on the legal standing. At the end of the day as a private owner I can't see this affecting you very much. You would be welcome to follow the Standard and that would be best practice. But it's much more likely to be relevant for new installations, or if you were taking your van to a registered business to get the modification done; they may refuse to do the work without bringing it up to the Standard. Insurance may be the other aspect; possibly an insurance company may use this as an out if you didn't follow the standard and it caused a fire, whether or not there was a legal basis to do so. Hope this helps in some way!

@TheMusingGreg Thanks for the explanation. I appreciate it.

@@colintranter5162 You're welcome! Ultimately you carry the risk, so as always do your own research and decide what's the best choice for you.

Yeah it's not how I run my business. As a company they are pretty heavy on marketing, so I guess it's part of that, sales give them something to keep promoting, and the in between higher priced sales maybe cover the profits they need to stay in business. But no-one likes being the one to pay more so if you're on the lookout for something it means you can play their game and wait until it's on sale and get it then.

Shocking and how they have not been fined by the ACCC. I don’t know how some influencers still support and promote a business that has those values.

It's not illegal to have things on sale regularly though... 🤔 What exactly is the problem?

@ it’s not on sale it’s the normal price . The higher advertised fake price is the problem

Oh right that. Yeah I'm not a great fan of that, I don't think I've ever seen their 300W solar blanket actually selling for the $1k it lists at. But that's why when I advertise sales, I compare to their regular sale price, not the list price.

Hi Mick glad you found it helpful! At 300w, my top two picks would be the iTechWorld 300w, or the Allspark 400w. I haven't used the Allspark 400w unit personally but i reviewed the 225w unit a while ago on this channel and was very impressed with it. The iTechWorld 300w is now my personal blanket of choice, as the Hard Korr failed just after the test and was refunded over warranty. The Allspark is a great unit, but it's a lot more expensive, $1000. Whereas the iTechWorld is on sale, and with my coupon code MUSING it's almost half the price of the allspark at only $559! The quality and power output won't be the same as the Allspark, but for the money I think it's really hard to beat the iTechWorld. Good luck whichever way you go!

Thanks for the comment mate. Yeah it was a pretty steep price, but thankfully Redarc released a higher power version for half the price! I included it in this 4 part shoot-out if you haven't seen it yet - ruclips.net/video/pPy_5Lm-Mo0/видео.html I like the suggestion of the budget shoot-out on the surface, but the trouble with the budget end of the market is that there are so many different brands or no-name items that crowd that area that 1) it's very hard to review them all, and 2) the brand only has to change to a cheaper supplier and the product changes and the review becomes irrelevant, or even misleading. At least with the mid-range products there's a better chance of it being taken more seriously by the company, which is where that other video I just linked to may be of interest. But I could always try a few and see how they go, especially if they can be tested over a period of time. I blur my face out so I remain anonymous to suppliers with whom I may do business so I can get treated as a regular customer, and so if they don't like what I say about them it's harder for them to identify me and sue me!

Yep that would work too. The main thing is that now you're aware it's there, when I poured it in I didn't realize how much of the active ingredient had settled to the bottom

Glad you found the review helpful Neil, thanks for your comment! Since the review was published, Solid GPS has updated the interface with some of the things I asked for like tooltips, hopefully other things will be coming soon! As far as the formula goes, to be honest I just Googled how to calculate the distance between two latitude and longitude points and this was the formula that came up! It worked so I didn't bother learning how the formula functioned other than seeing it's using trigonometry. If you looked up how the TRUNC, ACOS, COS and SIN functions worked you should get your answer. Hope this helps!

Hi Ross, You mean you've got the older iTechWorld with the black label on top, like my original ones ruclips.net/video/QOriCFwU898/видео.htmlsi=apmhRlM-hpifUzu8&t=13 ? If so it'll work just fine and everything other than the app information would be relevant to you. The lack of Bluetooth doesn't affect how the battery itself performs, I did some of my testing on those older ones anyway before the Bluetooth ones were released and I had to start all over again - the old ones performed much the same as the new ones. The only spec difference is that the new ones are rated to 5000 cycles at 100% DoD and 10000 at 50%, rather than 4000 and 8000 respectively for the older model, but by the time any of that shows up your warranty will be well and truly expired so it's a bit irrelevant. The cynic in me might say they may have even just pushed the numbers higher for marketing the new model, knowing they'd never need to be on the hook if they didn't live up to it! Cheers, Gre

Hey mate thanks for the comment! Haha yeah you're right it was a ton of work, I'd half finished the testing on the old batteries when the Bluetooth ones came out so I had to start over! If you decide to upgrade from your old black top to one of these I reckon it's worth doing, especially at the current prices less 5% coupon discount! Cheers!

I feel your frustration as it was different to my expectation too! I use the other readings as a guide when the batteries are at rest, but I don't rely on them. And as I said the other readings are still accurate. But app aside, take comfort that you still got a very good battery in terms of its electrical performance. Hopefully iTechWorld updates the firmware so that we can all use a more accurate system in future!

Thanks for the tip, I'll definitely it that in future! I didn't know it had that feature, I bought it for this test so hadn't played much with it. Cheers!

Great to hear, thanks for sharing! What size did you get, and what sort of battery life have you found you've got from each of them? In your experience is there anything I missed in my review?

Good points. I doubt many older power supplies would have the option for power supply mode, and in any case it would give a constant voltage whereas iTechWorld recommends dropping down to 13.5 volts for float. Lithium charger is certainly the best option and as you say that will probably give you high current as well, but the takeaway for me is the 13.5v minimum is key if you're reusing an existing charger. Thanks for your input!

@@TheMusingGreg Dropping down to 13.5 for float should be done by the BMS, even if there is 14.x at the terminals. I have noticed that my same brand battery/charger in my Patrol sometimes floats at 14.4 and other times 13.8, totally random.... Must be the BMS and the DC-DC charger fighting for control :)

Haha yeah it's best to just have one electronic brain on the job I think! I would initially agree with you re the BMS except iTechWorld recommends a lower float voltage. My guess is that if you did 14.4 volts the whole time, it will rely on safe mode preventing the battery from over charging, but if it floats down to 13.5 then it should be able to still maintain a full charge without needing to activate safe mode. Those safety measures really should be backups, as opposed to the primary measure being relied on to prevent overcharge every single charge.

That's a shame to hear, especially about the service. They've generally been pretty responsive when I've done anonymous inquiries, although I haven't been as impressed with their service in relation to this fault. It's 'two months on and I'm still waiting to hear whether I have to return them or not. I'm getting a refund on the old ones, but until I know if I have to return the new ones I don't want to return the old ones which means I'm waiting a long time for my refund.

Hey Matt great to hear you found it useful, and thanks so much for your support, I really appreciate it! As to the inverter: the main question is how much power you're wanting to draw at any one time. In relation to black-outs: 1) Is the fridge and freezer you're wanting to run a domestic 240V unit, or is it a camping version with a 12V input? In either case, how much current does it draw while running? 2) Would you ONLY be running the fridge and freezer off the inverter, or would anything else be running at the same time? If so what else would you be using and how much current does it draw? In relation to camping: 3) Is it a different fridge you'd be using with the lights? If so what current does it draw? I assume the lights won't draw much unless they're halogen. My gut feel is that the 2000W unit will do the job, but let me know the answers to the above and I'll give you my recommendation. Cheers, Greg

Thanks mate yeah hopefully they can sort the app promptly. The Victron app seems solid to me so hopefully they use that as a model.

Yeah that's a very valid point mate. I did consider saying that myself in the video, but being an unprovable opinion I just stuck to what I could prove. I hope it's more than purely marketing, but I'll keep an eye on that as I use the batteries myself

Where does it say that on the packaging? And why 15 days?

Thanks for the feedback! 👍

Thanks! It's encouraging to hear your battery's lasted that long, that bodes well for those like me who don't have that experience! Thanks for sharing, and glad you enjoyed the review! Please share it with others who might not yet have decided, if you can spare a moment! Thanks!

Brilliant, that 's exactly why I do these videos! Glad it helped settle the decision for you. The current $799 is the cheapest I've ever seen these batteries, so with my coupon code you're going to get them for about $760 which is stupid cheap for what they are! And I think they're doing free shipping too! Please share the video on your socials!

Thanks, always great to have your feedback! Yeah in general I've been pretty happy with most itechworld stuff, I feel it strikes a good balance between budget and top of the range. I was a little disappointed with how long it's taken to get my questions answered, and even now I've still got my older batteries the same ones as you'd have because I'm waiting to see if I have to send these new ones back or not. It's been over two months I've been trying to get this all settled, which is unusual because generally their support as you said is prompt. Would love to see a snap, themusinggreg@gmail.com. Cheers!

Yeah so was I, I mean why wouldn't you use hardware that's sitting right there? But that's why I'm hoping they can fix it with a firmware update. This is just my opinion, but I'm wondering whether they were just trying to throw something together quickly to meet the new Australian standards on lithium batteries which require some form of battery monitoring available. But even then, they'd already done the work to design the 500A battery monitor so why not just reuse it? More questions than answers unfortunately!

Glad it helped, yep you're exactly right! 👍 Thanks for the feedback!

That's a good point! Thanks for sharing

Thanks for the input. Yeah in high impact situations steel would be a better choice

And then you're carrying 8 solar blankets around on every trip 😞

Nope didn't seem to make any difference either way. Check out the first video where I explain why ruclips.net/video/gcP5Z2Kc7X0/видео.html

Good point!

Yes on both counts. However the earth is not likely to be very effective because the negative terminal of the battery doesn't actually connect to the physical Earth on the ground. The whole electrical system on the caravan is floating because everything's running on rubber tyres

@ thank you. Here’s a thought… could I dangle the chains from the front that usually attach to the car onto the ground during short bursts of inverter use? Hmm

@@JonathonTurton You could, but there's actually nothing inherent in soil itself that makes electricity want to run there. The only reason power runs to earth is because of the neutral-earth link and earth stake at the premises, which makes earth the other side of the circuit. And because earth is everywhere it becomes a large safety mechanism in fixed premises applications. What you're describing may achieve the same thing, but there's not much benefit, it just means if you touched the Active on the caravan while standing on the ground, there's now a current path and you'll get a shock and hopefully trip the inverter's RCD, rather than not getting a shock. In my view it would be better to keep the van floating, much less chance of getting a shock.

@ thank you :)

@TheMusingGreg thank you! One more question (really appreciate it).. I’m about to connect my 1800w inverter direct to the battery to power into the van’s external 240 plug for the first time. I note that there are already a few other cables coming out for the batteries… i suspect one goes to the fridge (as its fan and light works regardless of whether 12v main switch is off), others perhaps to the solar regulator, d/c d/c charger.. As long as i turn the battery management system’s charge function off (and unplug from the wall I think just out of paranoia) am I okay to ‘go for it’ and pull current out of the batteries to give back to the van given these other links? TIA :)

The Pajero has 15k oil change intervals, and this video was a little way before it was due for its third. They were done roughly on time

You could be right, but I've had petrol in that old red plastic can for 25 years and haven't seen any mold.

Haha hopefully not!

Haha no mate, and believe me it would make editing a lot easier if I didn't blur my face all the time! 😄 It's mainly to make the channel as impartial as possible: 1) I can judge in-store service knowing the staff don't recognise me so I'm getting the same treatment as any other customer, and 2) If a company doesn't like what I say about them it would be much harder for them to track me down and sue me (as has happened recently to another RUclipsr) if they don't know who I am. It's also why I place online orders under different names.

If you mean the drain tap at the bottom, yes I believe so although it could be part of the kit that Western Filters supplies

You'd have to make sure you don't get too much water through and hydrolock the engine but it might work

I've not so far found something that works effectively on the vehicle that can safely go through the engine. Someone suggested methanol injection which costs $700 as a possibility. The most effective option by far is removing the manifold

Glad you like them! Thanks mate! 👍