My wife and I just bought our first RV this weekend. After watching this video, I'm going to see about getting a BMK installed before we pick it up. Thanks for putting out this video! Love your channel.
I created a spreadsheet some years ago when we were installing solar for our sailboat. It calculates everything you've talked about and lets you experiment with adding panels, turning things off and on, and also calculates AH. Works a treat.
Do you still have it? The turning on and off thing would be fun to see how the Excel code works. I'm not an Excel power user by any means, but I can usually understand formulas and scripts other people have written.
I have just watched your videos starting with your boat purchase to this video, I must commend you on the expertise of your presentation and the clarity of information, you and your wife have a great screen presence and work very well together. Keep up the great work, I'm looking forward to your first solo sail. Chris
Great job keeping it simple! You two are simply fun! A battery monitor is truly the first step to making solar work and keeping your batteries healthy. It will pay for itself with the first set of batteries you don't have to replace because you over discharged them a few to many times. Mine are now just over 5 years old and still going strong with my Xantrex Link Pro battery monitor and 800 watts of solar and Morningstar Solar controller and our SureSine (super efficient inverter we leave on all the time- for all the electronics, tvs and satellite stuff and Prosine1800 watt inverter we turn on for heavy loads.
I love y'all and your videos. I'll miss your motorhome info due to the fact that I know I can talk my wife into traveling that way. But sailing is a different animal! However I'll keep watching. Stay safe.
my girlfriend doesn't like it when I watch travel/van videos on youtube. but I can get her to watch this channel because "her outfits are super cute" Thanks guys!
good informative video. when you do options on a camper or rv...you usually need a bigger inverter more batteries($1000 extra) and the microwave($185). That makes the microwave a very expensive "nice to have" kitchen gadget
Thank guys, that was good. I have wondered about running AC, laundry washer/dryer and dish washer... One would need to know the draw and have enough solar/wind... To compensate...
I'm impressed that those solar cells provide so much power. I'd be interested in cataloguing all the solar system parts you used and pricing them for our own purchase.
radios do not "burn" much power ... and they can be life savers for news and alerts ... even a HAM radio is typically under 100W - or ~ 9A @ 12V -- a Citizen's Band (CB) radio is probably under 25W and well a nice music setup can be 100W or less as well ... all base, no trebil! --- looks like an electric microwave/convection oven can burn 1500W + convection heat... mean. no bueno
Hello Wynn's i was wondering when you were taking things out of the rv under the steps were 4 yellow batteries what where they type size and so forth did they help store power for you to use? where they hooked to solar and engine for charging just getting ready designing what i need and want for my sailboat and wondered what they were.Thanks so much if you have time to tell me keep up the vids thanks
I'm very new to solar power. I'm trying to figure out what would be a good option for my School Bus RV project. My question is if you don't want your batteries to go below the recommended percentage to help with the lifecycle, does the monitor have an option to shut off the system once it reaches that percentage. I love your videos and web page, it's so helpful.
Yep! The easiest way to find things is probably the blog. There's a search bar at the bottom of every page or, in this case, the vid is in the "off the grid" section. You can check it out here: www.gonewiththewynns.com/off-grid-solar-rv-air-conditioning There's another video on installing a soft start for the AC - why you need it & how it works. Hope that helps! Curious Minion
Do you have this on your sailboat? I have had great luck with lithium batteries and the old wet cell. When I heard about the AGM battery I thought that would be good but I have had nothing but trouble with them. I went back to wet cell and have had no problems. The only problem with lithium is the price, or if you do draw them completely dead they will sometimes reverse polarity.
Love all your videos, they are always excellent quality! Im just dipping my toes into making videos and I'm wondering what frame rate and settings you use with your Sony. I have the same camera with the 16-50mm lens and the Sony 55-210mm. I messed around shooting at different frame rates and just can't decide which i like best. A little schooling (i realize there is probably a lot more than i know) would be greatly appreciated to get me pointed in the right direction! Thanks, Happy Sailing!
Once we're settled on the boat, Jason is planning to do some basic camera tutorial videos. Until then, you may find this post/video useful: www.gonewiththewynns.com/best-travel-camera-video-photography
So after thinking about it last night, a capacity meter is not really good for protection of your battery bank. This is because the capacity of your bank decreases as the batteries age. Thus using a fixed value for monitoring how much power you have left doesn't mean you will protect your batteries. What we need is a voltage cut off switch so that when the voltage drops too low, it simply cuts the power via a relay or starts your generator to charge it back up. This ampacity meter is really only good to help you be aware of how much current you are using and minimize it to get the most out of a daily cycle. I'm not saying that this isn't necessary especially when you are doing off grid stuff, but it won't help protect your batteries well.
So I found a way to make all this stuff so easy and cheap. I am using a Raspberry Pi microcontroller ($5) with a wifi dongle ($7) and an ESP8266 to monitor the current and voltage coming out of my rv batteries. The Raspberry Pi is configured to be a wifi access point and is running a Blynk server. I can connect to it via my phone and conrol and monitor anything my heard desires to hook up as a sensor to the network. So for about $40 I can do all the monitoring that your $300 panel does and not have to cut up my rv to install anything. It's all wireless.
Hi guys. Slowly I'm moving towards a solar set up in my "land yacht" rig. six months ago I installed three 6 volt deep cycle batteries, I thought I'd add the BMK next. Can't to the inverter yet. Question is, is it important to go with the same BMK as the inverter I eventually purchase? Does the BMK come with good directions for installation or should I pay a professional? Thanks vin
You two are speaking in Amps and I am new to this. Over the few weeks I have been dabbling in solar and putting things into my Amazon cart for purchase soon. I am thinking of paralleling my panels which ups the Amps. So is it best to measure in Amps, Watts or does it matter?
Yes, I already did! Haha, that is what got me into this project in the first place...your site. I love you guys! The thing I could not remember is which was best to measure in or if it really matter. Not to worry, I plan to go back over everything to cross my T's and dot my I's before I get started putting together. Maybe I will run across the answer then.
If I may butt in here, I find using amps to work best for me when monitoring my solar. Mainly because the battery capacity is rated in amps. Keep in mind that if a device is rated at 6 amps 120 volts it's going to be drawing 60 amps from your 12 volt battery bank. To determine how many amps a device only rated in Watts use, Amps = watts divided by volts
Thanks Jim. I know how to convert the two, learned about that while studying for my HAM Tech license. I will do the math from both an Amps and Watts perspective and see which I like best. My batteries are clearly expressed in Ah and Wh. I have one 14Ah/150Wh (really like 168Wh) and three 33Ah/400Wh (which is more like 396). My solar panels are expressed in Watts though (50W & 100W). Some of my products have the Wh marked on them and some don't, which leads me to do the conversion. I believe sticking with adding up everything in Watts and making sure that the Watts come in close to what I am using will be easier.
I am wanting to get Magnum Energy system and you guys are running a system very simular to what I am wanting but having a hard time getting the information I'm looking for. you guys are running solar, have a generator (I assume), and lithium batteries? the inverter converter units I've seen seem to list AGM, gell, and lead acid as charging options (or I am just looking at the wrong ME inverter/converter). also with the generator, are you going into the batteries via DC or the converter? do you use anything like DC to DC setups to charge from the engine when driving at all. also when looking at lithium batteries I see things like 100AH 12v and 60AH 48v and stuff, what is the setup you use and how long does it run? also what pannels are you running to keep the fridge/cooler running with extra overhead? any help would be greatful as I don't want to find myself in a messy situation if I configure wrong
As an electrical engineer I appreciate the fact that you are trying to teach basic electrical literacy. I would point out that in general it is uneconomical to convert electricity directly into heat energy. Gas is usually a less expensive source of heat energy. If you need to use electricity to heat a space, use a heat pump. You can find these ideas documented in this excellent book: www.withouthotair.com/c7/page_50.shtml
Great tips and insights, ordering a BMK for Tranquilo! (Was always going to get a simple one, can see some real advantages to getting a more sophisticated one). And no microwave or hair dryer - letting the crew know now! Expect a mutiny from the girls and the guys who 'look after themselves'.
We'll have at least 4 x 125W panels on the bimini and a hydro generator like the type used by the Volvo boats; we should be fine in terms of power! We're also keeping our energy consumption to a minimum, key draws will be the fridge, radar, chartplotter and autopilot. No TV or microwave. And ok, we can have one hair dryer just to keep everyone happy!
So, the good thing about lithium batteries is that they MUST have a Battery Management System (BMS) to be safe. The job of the BMS is to do 3 primary things: 1) limit the current input during charging, 2) limit the current output during discharge, 3) detect abnormal conditions on series connected parallel banks. The BMS should protect the battery no matter what you throw at it and preferably fail safely when it gets into an unsafe condition (ie over current protection and automatic cut off). Nothing like that exists for Lead Acid technology because they are generally robost and won't start on fire with even short over current conditions. That said, a voltage cut off can be useful for both. It's likely that the BMS will make it impossible to drain your Lithium batteries too far if it is a good one, but you have to add something to protect your lead batteries.
That BMK kit costs over $300 before install. If you have any electronics experience, these monitors can be built for under $30 using a hall effect sensor, an arduino, and a simple voltage divider. The cool thing now is that you can build a web server into an arduino with wifi and you can directly link to it with any wifi enabled device. That way you domt even need to mount a display for your unit. you just go to the servers webpage for your own RV. I may do that and release the code so people can do this at reasonable costs. I'll make an indestructible for it.
community.smartthings.com/t/monitoring-power-outlet-notifications/25510 already been done you can install a smart switch that you can turn off from your cell phone.
+jeremy stout kinda... Not really what you want here though.... To start with that system is an AC based system and won't work with DC. Second, the smart things network needs an Internet connection and so does your phone so if either don't then it won't work. Third, the cost of the gateway and sensors is on par with the monitor that the wynns are showing. What I want is for the arduino to act both as the TCP/IP wireless access point and the monitor. Thus you have absolutely minimal cost involved and no need for any internet connection. Just connect to the devise like a home wireless router.
Gone with the Wynns Good to know. The marine environment is of course more demanding. I'm looking to upgrade the solar on our sailboat, so good information.
I think lithium batteries should be recharged once/month when not in use. How do you deal with this when the unit is in storage? Also, it is best to run lithium down to some extent before recharging them, rather than keeping them at a high state of charge.
Great video but your terminology might be slightly off. AGM is a type of SLA (sealed lead acid) battery. The term SLA is used when referring to gel and AGM (absorbed glass mat) batteries. So think you meant to say gel and AGM batteries should be kept above 50%.
I notice you are looking at the power, I think you have solar pannels on your boat, Have you look at a wind turbine. Look for one what will stand salt water. You can find then at www.mwands.com
Falling behind on videos. But better late then never done. Still waiting on that rap up video on goodbye to the RV and Car.. and that your now stuck on the boat... dont forget ....Boat parts are needed, so stock up....
We know, will hang in there and once the RV and other stuff is done I see lots of water coming our way.. . Also I know we are going to have to live with bi weekly videos once your on the water.
Old fashion "flooded" cell (liquid) true, deep cycle, lead acid batteries are much more robust. They can be drained much further than SLA and AGM batteries with no harm. This is a big positive for the "old school" batteries. Just make sure they are true, deep cycle batteries, not marine "dual purpose" batteries.
on proper 'deep cycle' batteries 50% DOD is best but the difference between 20% and 80% DOD is no difference.. yes the 'life cycle' is lower when draining to 80% DOD but in reality total amount of power drawn to end of 'lifecycle' is the same as 20% DOD... also when you drain to 80% DOD in a day and then charge it after, the 'lifecycle' it not as effected as drawing to 50% DOD in a week and then charging it.. the MORE TIME the battery is not at full charge level is what really effects 'life cycle'
the BMK you have isnt great. i would use a Balmar Smartguage instead. Panbo did a writeup : www.panbo.com/archives/2014/04/smartgauge_battery_monitor_rc_proclaims_paradigm_shift.html and it works great especially for boats.
Just look at your laptop converter box (the one halfway between the laptop and the wall). It will say a max INPUT draw in amps (A). That is how much it will draw from the 120V power socket, which you can then convert to 12V amperage using this site www.batterystuff.com/kb/tools/ac-to-dc-amperage-conversion-run-through-an-inverter.html and estimate (since not all inverters are created equally) what it would really pull off your batteries.
And for anyone looking, we did find a smaller 1000w hair dryer for our camper setup. It still gets the job done, according to my wife. Curling iron draws surprisingly little amperage, compared to a hair dryer or microwave.
All, can you get a hairdryer to run directly off DC? What about other appliances? See little point using an inverter to go from DC to AC just to go back to DC, and lose all that precious power in the conversion.
Lithium batteries can be drained, they don't suffer from memory etc. feel free to google it first before taking my advice though. That's one of the benefits of lithium's.
Lithium can not be drained to 0. They can be drained to 10% and they should have a BMS built in to shut them down at that 10% to protect themselves. We just don't feel like testing it. :) The idea of killing a $4000 battery set stings too much.
Well if we're getting down to the nitty gritty then no, they can't be completely discharged without destroying them, A dead lithium is really only "mostly dead". Unless you leave it sit for an extended period of time, then it will be dead.
Check into carbon batteries for your boat/rv. They can drain more deeply and do not have the negative problems that lead acid, agn, and others. The down side it that they are expensive.
My wife and I just bought our first RV this weekend. After watching this video, I'm going to see about getting a BMK installed before we pick it up. Thanks for putting out this video! Love your channel.
If the RV has a magnum it'll be easy.
I created a spreadsheet some years ago when we were installing solar for our sailboat. It calculates everything you've talked about and lets you experiment with adding panels, turning things off and on, and also calculates AH. Works a treat.
Do you still have it? The turning on and off thing would be fun to see how the Excel code works. I'm not an Excel power user by any means, but I can usually understand formulas and scripts other people have written.
I have just watched your videos starting with your boat purchase to this video, I must commend you on the expertise of your presentation and the clarity of information, you and your wife have a great screen presence and work very well together. Keep up the great work, I'm looking forward to your first solo sail.
Chris
Great job keeping it simple! You two are simply fun! A battery monitor is truly the first step to making solar work and keeping your batteries healthy. It will pay for itself with the first set of batteries you don't have to replace because you over discharged them a few to many times. Mine are now just over 5 years old and still going strong with my Xantrex Link Pro battery monitor and 800 watts of solar and Morningstar Solar controller and our SureSine (super efficient inverter we leave on all the time- for all the electronics, tvs and satellite stuff and Prosine1800 watt inverter we turn on for heavy loads.
+Bad Santa - I have a 21 foot pull camper with 4 batteries- 440ah
Great video. Monitoring your battery on a boat is so important. We depend on ours each day.
Hey, guys. I'm responding from my R/V channel. This is SailBeforeSunset.com. Cool to see you two over here learning about solar!
Oh hey! We are always trying to learn!
I love y'all and your videos. I'll miss your motorhome info due to the fact that I know I can talk my wife into traveling that way. But sailing is a different animal! However I'll keep watching. Stay safe.
BTW you are the only bloggers I follow ~ says a lot
Nikki and Jason, Praying you are staying safe during Tropical Storm Colin!!!
my girlfriend doesn't like it when I watch travel/van videos on youtube. but I can get her to watch this channel because "her outfits are super cute" Thanks guys!
Ha, now that's a compromise.
Thanks for video 😊 should we keep notes of usage on appliances 🤔
You guys are awesome. Thanks for letting us live the dream through you :)
For something you initially wanted to put off for later this was HUGE thanks
Great explanation. Thinking about adding some solar to our boat. Keep us updated on the upgrades to the Leopard.
I appreciate your video because I learned a lot how to use my inverter charger with my remote in my bmk
good informative video. when you do options on a camper or rv...you usually need a bigger inverter more batteries($1000 extra) and the microwave($185). That makes the microwave a very expensive "nice to have" kitchen gadget
Thank guys, that was good. I have wondered about running AC, laundry washer/dryer and dish washer... One would need to know the draw and have enough solar/wind... To compensate...
Thank You for sharing your lives and knowledge with all of us. Cheers
That Outback FX80 charge controller that you are using is sweet. (least that is what it looks like)
Nice system!
I'm impressed that those solar cells provide so much power. I'd be interested in cataloguing all the solar system parts you used and pricing them for our own purchase.
Awesome! Thanks for taking the time to make this!
thank you guys to spend that time to do that because I was looking for a video the actually can help me
You guys are awesome. Thank you for the video.
I don't use a microwave either. It was one of the first things I took out. I love the extra storage with it gone.
I took out the radio in our trailer. no radio or tv while camping.
radios do not "burn" much power ... and they can be life savers for news and alerts ... even a HAM radio is typically under 100W - or ~ 9A @ 12V -- a Citizen's Band (CB) radio is probably under 25W and well a nice music setup can be 100W or less as well ... all base, no trebil!
--- looks like an electric microwave/convection oven can burn 1500W + convection heat... mean. no bueno
Hello Wynn's i was wondering when you were taking things out of the rv under the steps were 4 yellow batteries what where they type size and so forth did they help store power for you to use? where they hooked to solar and engine for charging just getting ready designing what i need and want for my sailboat and wondered what they were.Thanks so much if you have time to tell me keep up the vids thanks
I'm very new to solar power. I'm trying to figure out what would be a good option for my School Bus RV project. My question is if you don't want your batteries to go below the recommended percentage to help with the lifecycle, does the monitor have an option to shut off the system once it reaches that percentage. I love your videos and web page, it's so helpful.
Nice Video
What make of fan/heater is that?
Great information, very concise. Thanks for posting such great production quality entertainment and information.
I just wanted to respond because our usernames are similar.
I have the remote but no cable.... what type of cable you use to connect th remote to inverter?
Cat 4
more sailing videos. can you get a part time job patrolling for refugee boats. jk. love the videos ya'll keep up the stellar work!!
Will you be using the same tech on the cat? I don't remember what the boat came with.
Ron W.
Videos will be coming soon as we upgrade and update the cat.
"upgrade and update de cat"... love to read that, sounds promising! :)
Great looking forward to it!
Do you guys have a video on running the air conditioning and the proper way to run it whether shore power, generator 🤔
Yep! The easiest way to find things is probably the blog. There's a search bar at the bottom of every page or, in this case, the vid is in the "off the grid" section. You can check it out here: www.gonewiththewynns.com/off-grid-solar-rv-air-conditioning There's another video on installing a soft start for the AC - why you need it & how it works. Hope that helps!
Curious Minion
Thanks for the new video
Do you guys still have a gas generator in the vehicle?
Oh this is so useful! we are just about to get solar panels and install a battery monitoring kit
You guys must be insanely busy right now with all the moving and switching from the RV to the boat and back and forth...whew!!!
I cannot wait until you guys hit 100,000 subscribers! You guys totally deserve it!
:) Thanks Darren.
Definitely!
Do you have a review on the Nexus Bentley 34B Diesel Pusher?
Awesome, thanks guys!
Do you have this on your sailboat? I have had great luck with lithium batteries and the old wet cell. When I heard about the AGM battery I thought that would be good but I have had nothing but trouble with them. I went back to wet cell and have had no problems. The only problem with lithium is the price, or if you do draw them completely dead they will sometimes reverse polarity.
Just found your channnel, im loving this!
Love all your videos, they are always excellent quality! Im just dipping my toes into making videos and I'm wondering what frame rate and settings you use with your Sony. I have the same camera with the 16-50mm lens and the Sony 55-210mm. I messed around shooting at different frame rates and just can't decide which i like best. A little schooling (i realize there is probably a lot more than i know) would be greatly appreciated to get me pointed in the right direction!
Thanks, Happy Sailing!
Once we're settled on the boat, Jason is planning to do some basic camera tutorial videos. Until then, you may find this post/video useful: www.gonewiththewynns.com/best-travel-camera-video-photography
+Gone with the Wynns Thank you, I'll check that out!
So after thinking about it last night, a capacity meter is not really good for protection of your battery bank. This is because the capacity of your bank decreases as the batteries age. Thus using a fixed value for monitoring how much power you have left doesn't mean you will protect your batteries. What we need is a voltage cut off switch so that when the voltage drops too low, it simply cuts the power via a relay or starts your generator to charge it back up. This ampacity meter is really only good to help you be aware of how much current you are using and minimize it to get the most out of a daily cycle. I'm not saying that this isn't necessary especially when you are doing off grid stuff, but it won't help protect your batteries well.
I will forever miss you guys on LAND😧
What are you using on the boat as far as Solar?Thanks..
full video coming soon on the setup!
are you going to transfer that solar to the new cat or does it have a better system ?
So I found a way to make all this stuff so easy and cheap. I am using a Raspberry Pi microcontroller ($5) with a wifi dongle ($7) and an ESP8266 to monitor the current and voltage coming out of my rv batteries. The Raspberry Pi is configured to be a wifi access point and is running a Blynk server. I can connect to it via my phone and conrol and monitor anything my heard desires to hook up as a sensor to the network. So for about $40 I can do all the monitoring that your $300 panel does and not have to cut up my rv to install anything. It's all wireless.
to avoid confusion when people purchase devices it is worth noting the reading is in DC amps. hair dryer is probably around 15 amps AC.
Correct, the meter shows "ADC"
So when are you selling the RV?
Details in the next video which I'm working on now...we're behind with all this new sailing stuff to sort out.
Hi, do you have all the socket run in the rv with the inverter or only the one in the kitchen?
Most RVs have most of the outlets running off the inverter.
Tanks 👍🏻
Hi guys. Slowly I'm moving towards a solar set up in my "land yacht" rig. six months ago I installed three 6 volt deep cycle batteries, I thought I'd add the BMK next. Can't to the inverter yet. Question is, is it important to go with the same BMK as the inverter I eventually purchase? Does the BMK come with good directions for installation or should I pay a professional?
Thanks vin
The BMK doesn't have to be the same brand. If you're fairly handy with tools you should be able to install it yourself - just be careful!
How did you guys save up enough money for the boat. Im planning to buy a leopard 44, just dont have enough money to buy
We touched on that in this video: www.gonewiththewynns.com/exhausting-journey-buying-cruising-sailboat
Ok guys, time to start showing us some of the boat adventures! Hehe😁
Yeah do they get to keep the lithium bank? haha
You two are speaking in Amps and I am new to this. Over the few weeks I have been dabbling in solar and putting things into my Amazon cart for purchase soon. I am thinking of paralleling my panels which ups the Amps. So is it best to measure in Amps, Watts or does it matter?
Check out our website for way more info: gonewiththewynns.com/solar
Good luck!
Yes, I already did! Haha, that is what got me into this project in the first place...your site. I love you guys! The thing I could not remember is which was best to measure in or if it really matter. Not to worry, I plan to go back over everything to cross my T's and dot my I's before I get started putting together. Maybe I will run across the answer then.
If I may butt in here, I find using amps to work best for me when monitoring my solar. Mainly because the battery capacity is rated in amps. Keep in mind that if a device is rated at 6 amps 120 volts it's going to be drawing 60 amps from your 12 volt battery bank. To determine how many amps a device only rated in Watts use, Amps = watts divided by volts
Thanks Jim. I know how to convert the two, learned about that while studying for my HAM Tech license. I will do the math from both an Amps and Watts perspective and see which I like best. My batteries are clearly expressed in Ah and Wh. I have one 14Ah/150Wh (really like 168Wh) and three 33Ah/400Wh (which is more like 396). My solar panels are expressed in Watts though (50W & 100W). Some of my products have the Wh marked on them and some don't, which leads me to do the conversion. I believe sticking with adding up everything in Watts and making sure that the Watts come in close to what I am using will be easier.
you two really get along good dont you?
How many square feet of solar panels do you have and how much do use on an average day?
Confused , 2 Coleman 15000 btu a/c units only pull 36 amps total how did you get a reading of 80 amps for a little hair dryer?
Seen you guys on TV tonight on "Going RV" on The GAC (Great American Country) channel.
You guys bought a Monaco Diesel Pusher? :)
Love the channel!
I am wanting to get Magnum Energy system and you guys are running a system very simular to what I am wanting but having a hard time getting the information I'm looking for. you guys are running solar, have a generator (I assume), and lithium batteries? the inverter converter units I've seen seem to list AGM, gell, and lead acid as charging options (or I am just looking at the wrong ME inverter/converter). also with the generator, are you going into the batteries via DC or the converter? do you use anything like DC to DC setups to charge from the engine when driving at all. also when looking at lithium batteries I see things like 100AH 12v and 60AH 48v and stuff, what is the setup you use and how long does it run? also what pannels are you running to keep the fridge/cooler running with extra overhead? any help would be greatful as I don't want to find myself in a messy situation if I configure wrong
+Skye Renard More detail is coming in the next tech video.
Gone with the Wynns thank you!
Great Video, very informative. Will you be repeating this on the cat?
+Russ Laye yes, we did transfer some of the tech to the boat.
+Russ Laye yes, we did transfer some of the tech to the boat.
As an electrical engineer I appreciate the fact that you are trying to teach basic electrical literacy. I would point out that in general it is uneconomical to convert electricity directly into heat energy. Gas is usually a less expensive source of heat energy. If you need to use electricity to heat a space, use a heat pump.
You can find these ideas documented in this excellent book: www.withouthotair.com/c7/page_50.shtml
It’ll be interesting to see how much battery power you need on the boat and how much solar you get.
Great tips and insights, ordering a BMK for Tranquilo! (Was always going to get a simple one, can see some real advantages to getting a more sophisticated one). And no microwave or hair dryer - letting the crew know now! Expect a mutiny from the girls and the guys who 'look after themselves'.
If it means the girls are coming I'm funding a solar panel for you guys so you can use a hairdryer!
+Greg Jerogin No hairdryer, no girls? I'm not coming! (Sorry, didn't mean it, can I please come?)
Get some more solar panels guys! And forget the microwave, don't need it!
+Sailing Pacific Agree, get more solar panels!
We'll have at least 4 x 125W panels on the bimini and a hydro generator like the type used by the Volvo boats; we should be fine in terms of power! We're also keeping our energy consumption to a minimum, key draws will be the fridge, radar, chartplotter and autopilot. No TV or microwave. And ok, we can have one hair dryer just to keep everyone happy!
So, the good thing about lithium batteries is that they MUST have a Battery Management System (BMS) to be safe. The job of the BMS is to do 3 primary things: 1) limit the current input during charging, 2) limit the current output during discharge, 3) detect abnormal conditions on series connected parallel banks. The BMS should protect the battery no matter what you throw at it and preferably fail safely when it gets into an unsafe condition (ie over current protection and automatic cut off). Nothing like that exists for Lead Acid technology because they are generally robost and won't start on fire with even short over current conditions. That said, a voltage cut off can be useful for both. It's likely that the BMS will make it impossible to drain your Lithium batteries too far if it is a good one, but you have to add something to protect your lead batteries.
I live in Fort Lauderdale Florida.... The KOA manager said that your motorhome belongs to a Fleetwood dealer... How can you sell it ?
Imagine if you did sailboat vlogs that would be slick
That BMK kit costs over $300 before install. If you have any electronics experience, these monitors can be built for under $30 using a hall effect sensor, an arduino, and a simple voltage divider. The cool thing now is that you can build a web server into an arduino with wifi and you can directly link to it with any wifi enabled device. That way you domt even need to mount a display for your unit. you just go to the servers webpage for your own RV. I may do that and release the code so people can do this at reasonable costs. I'll make an indestructible for it.
Now I just need to write an app that beeps my daughter when she leaves the curling iron on all day, right? :D
community.smartthings.com/t/monitoring-power-outlet-notifications/25510
already been done you can install a smart switch that you can turn off from your cell phone.
+jeremy stout kinda... Not really what you want here though.... To start with that system is an AC based system and won't work with DC. Second, the smart things network needs an Internet connection and so does your phone so if either don't then it won't work. Third, the cost of the gateway and sensors is on par with the monitor that the wynns are showing. What I want is for the arduino to act both as the TCP/IP wireless access point and the monitor. Thus you have absolutely minimal cost involved and no need for any internet connection. Just connect to the devise like a home wireless router.
Cool, thanks for the advice Dirk!
Is this marine-rated?
Yes, magnum and others make BMK's for marine. It all works the same.
Gone with the Wynns Good to know. The marine environment is of course more demanding. I'm looking to upgrade the solar on our sailboat, so good information.
I think lithium batteries should be recharged once/month when not in use. How do you deal with this when the unit is in storage? Also, it is best to run lithium down to some extent before recharging them, rather than keeping them at a high state of charge.
Our solar keeps it topped up no problem.
Great video but your terminology might be slightly off. AGM is a type of SLA (sealed lead acid) battery. The term SLA is used when referring to gel and AGM (absorbed glass mat) batteries. So think you meant to say gel and AGM batteries should be kept above 50%.
I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!! Reality TV LOL Glad it's you and not me!!!!
I notice you are looking at the power, I think you have solar pannels on your boat, Have you look at a wind turbine. Look for one what will stand salt water. You can find then at www.mwands.com
we are all only as good as our word.
Falling behind on videos. But better late then never done. Still waiting on that rap up video on goodbye to the RV and Car.. and that your now stuck on the boat... dont forget ....Boat parts are needed, so stock up....
We're working on the goodbye RV video now. Only a couple weeks behind but doing our best to balance the Boat chores and the video editing. :)
We know, will hang in there and once the RV and other stuff is done I see lots of water coming our way.. . Also I know we are going to have to live with bi weekly videos once your on the water.
Old fashion "flooded" cell (liquid) true, deep cycle, lead acid batteries are much more robust. They can be drained much further than SLA and AGM batteries with no harm.
This is a big positive for the "old school" batteries. Just make sure they are true, deep cycle batteries, not marine "dual purpose" batteries.
on proper 'deep cycle' batteries 50% DOD is best but the difference between 20% and 80% DOD is no difference.. yes the 'life cycle' is lower when draining to 80% DOD but in reality total amount of power drawn to end of 'lifecycle' is the same as 20% DOD... also when you drain to 80% DOD in a day and then charge it after, the 'lifecycle' it not as effected as drawing to 50% DOD in a week and then charging it.. the MORE TIME the battery is not at full charge level is what really effects 'life cycle'
A beer does sound good.
my spidey senses the cat is getting solar?
the BMK you have isnt great. i would use a Balmar Smartguage instead.
Panbo did a writeup : www.panbo.com/archives/2014/04/smartgauge_battery_monitor_rc_proclaims_paradigm_shift.html
and it works great especially for boats.
You two are a Cute Couple, thanks for the info
O MY GOD I JUST IMAGINED JASON BALD AND WITHOUT A BEARD ;-;
;-;
;-;
IT CANNOT BE UNSEEN
Seeing as your going to be spending a life afloat, any chance Jason can grow that beard? Or a nice sailors moustache ? Please.
Don't use microwave..., don't use Apple products... I like these people.
You never run a microwave without something in it!!! Danger!!
A glass of water at least.
Hard to believe they were in an RV 7 months ago.
You're an Catamaran couple now,...stop with the RV vid's start sailing ⛵👍😆.
That is one of the only ways to burn out a microwave run it with nothing in it
A laptop?
Just look at your laptop converter box (the one halfway between the laptop and the wall). It will say a max INPUT draw in amps (A). That is how much it will draw from the 120V power socket, which you can then convert to 12V amperage using this site www.batterystuff.com/kb/tools/ac-to-dc-amperage-conversion-run-through-an-inverter.html and estimate (since not all inverters are created equally) what it would really pull off your batteries.
***** Thanks a lot
Is that 101 amps at 12V? wouldn't that equate to 10 amps at 120v? that is a SERIOUSLY powerful hairdryer. lol
Edit: I'm a guy. Apparently that's normal.
I'm making a battery backup with 18650 lion batteries. Really interested in this stuff!
Ha, yea that hair dryer is even a smaller consumer of power than most, I think the going rate is 1875 watts for a standard one.
Hair dryers typically have ratings between 800 and 1800 watts. Very power intensive.
And for anyone looking, we did find a smaller 1000w hair dryer for our camper setup. It still gets the job done, according to my wife. Curling iron draws surprisingly little amperage, compared to a hair dryer or microwave.
All, can you get a hairdryer to run directly off DC? What about other appliances? See little point using an inverter to go from DC to AC just to go back to DC, and lose all that precious power in the conversion.
Lithium batteries can be drained, they don't suffer from memory etc. feel free to google it first before taking my advice though. That's one of the benefits of lithium's.
Lithium can not be drained to 0. They can be drained to 10% and they should have a BMS built in to shut them down at that 10% to protect themselves. We just don't feel like testing it. :) The idea of killing a $4000 battery set stings too much.
Well if we're getting down to the nitty gritty then no, they can't be completely discharged without destroying them, A dead lithium is really only "mostly dead". Unless you leave it sit for an extended period of time, then it will be dead.
Check into carbon batteries for your boat/rv. They can drain more deeply and do not have the negative problems that lead acid, agn, and others. The down side it that they are expensive.
canada
Just keep uploading try twice a week
We'd love to upload more...just not enough time in the day.
beard!!!!
First?
🇨🇦❤️🇨🇦
Second!
It's a bad idea to run a microwave without anything inside. Put a glass full of water when you need to test your microwave.
That's why we only ran it for a second. There were no glasses left in the RV to put one in the microwave. we had moved them all out. :)
someone's trying to look like a pirate
I am loving the beard jason and nikster short hair is a smart look 😜