Hello, new user here.

I searched the threads, and couldnt find anything on the topic, so if this has already been discussed elsewhere, I apologize.
My wife and i have a 2005 excursion limited weve affectionately nicknamed "The Baby Bus", as our 3 and 4 year old kids love it.
factory dvd player still works, ac works well, and it's their home away from home.
That being said, this thing is idling A LOT.
being a diesel, I dont want it idling all the time, but continued auxiliary usage does and has killed the batteries.
My question: is there a budget friendly way to either make it like an rv where we can supply power from our house, or make it where a portable power pack can supplement power?
I have decent mechanical knowledge, and am pretty handy with with electrical, not afraid to add or tie some wiring.

 

Whew...how many amps or watts do you suppose the system is drawing when in "use"? My 2000 Excursion has the 7.3L diesel in it and I swapped to a 240 amp Leece-Neville alternator that puts out 125 amps at idle. I also have 4 x 65 batteries installed along with 300 watts of solar panels on the roof. I run a 2000W inverter that powers a mini-fridge, microwave, coffee pot, air fryer and a Starlink terminal along with other devices such as laptop etc. The solar setup will provide 12-15 amps of 13.2V DC and that will keep the batteries and load up during these long summer days. At night I shut it all down. Every year some batteries need to be changed. Letting the diesel idle for long periods ain't gonna harm anything no matter what those guys in Utah say unless you have a newer egr Deff equipped truck. The only thing that lots of idling is gonna cost on these old diesels is the pocketbook burning $5 per gallon diesel fuel...$6 if you live in Illinois!

Some semis have a APU (Auxillary Power Unit) that runs off diesel. I never checked into those as this truck is already weighing in a 9,000 lbs and I don't need to be adding more weight onto it. I do know that RV's have 2 electrical systems. Chassis electrics and the house are separate. I have no idea what switchgear they use.

Hope that maybe helps?

 

for smaller drains, like under 10 amps,
get a good Battery tender and leave it plugged in full time,
mine is 6 amps, "Battery Tender" brand, when the truck is parked, it is plugged in.

if I don't, in 3 weeks time, the batteries are Dead Dead....
why? dunno, been looking on and off for 2 years, just gave up and installed the Battery tender.

 

Thank you both for replying. Without actually pulling out the multimeter, im guessing the dvd player draws 5 amps max.
I like the idea of the battery tender.
I would like to be able to install a roof mounted AC unit, but thats quite the mod to commit to. So not worried about any draw there. (Yet)
For now the idea is to run the truck long enough to get it a comfortable temp, then be able to have it in auxiliary power without killing the battery.

 

Look into an electric apu unit from frieghtliner, or Volvo in the big rigs. You might be able to make it work from a wreaked unit.

The e-apu is normally good up to 16 hours at 90f temps in a semi if you add reflective to the windows.

Another idea is a lithium battery like a blu-yeti or jackery and run a turbo fan or similar device.

 

You won't be running an RV-style AC unit in this thing, it just isn't happening.

 

some of the Mini-Split AC units are getting really small these days.

I bought one on wheels for our apartment, just lift a window up a bit, insert the adapter, shut the window and seal it up.

it was a Toshiba brand from Home Depot.

but for the Excursion, no way.
the roof is not strong enough to support a RV HVAC unit.

and you will need a good source of power for it, with a SOFT START added to it,
or get an Inverter generator.

 

Actually this got me thinking. While I'm most familiat with the 15,000 and 13,500 btu rooftop RV AC units, smaller ones do exist. And I know you can run a 13,500 unit off a 2200 W generator if you have the good soft start kit. So, if you had something 1/3 the size, you probably COULD run it in an excursion somehow. Not saying that's a good idea, just that it would be possible. Not off a battery bank, or if you wanted to do that, it's another whole projects.

That's kind of a tangent however, the OP asked about running a "house battery" system separate from the truck elecrical system, and that's not wildly difficult for low-draw items like lights, charging phones and tablets, etc. But start with your current and wattage needs and go from there.

 

Some of you need to realize that a electric apu is small. The only limitations are battery storage for the system.

If I still lived in my motorhome full time I was going with this system including 3 diesel heaters. My old system was 2 diesel heaters and 1200 watts of solar with 800 awhr battery's

I lived very comfortably year round in Saskatchewan Canada even at -65c it was +22c inside.

 

The easiest way to do what you're asking it to just add battery capacity. LiFePo4 batteries are getting cheaper, and they have some pretty amazing capacity for size. There are few limitations to them and some homework is needed to get the system/ install right, but if you do it yourself its not terribly expensive.

Here's a thread from when I added some LiFePo4 batteries, an inverter, and few other things to the back of my Excursion. You probably don't need/ don't want everything shown in that thread, but the power portion (batteries and possibility inverter portions) might be helpful to you.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...third-row.html

I highly recommend looking up a YouTube channel called "Clark's Adventure" , he's a boat guy, but LiFePo4 batteries don't know if they're being installed in an Excursion or on a boat , so all the tech crosses over. Same guy (dude is an engineer by trade) invented a little gadget call the "Bank Manger" which allows for a hybrid lead acid and LiFePo4 bank and correctly charging the LiFePo4 batteries from chargers meant for lead acid batteries (chargers like the alternator of the truck, solar panels, or really any wall plug in battery charger / battery maintainer for example). This little device is available at the website Marine DCAC (see link below)

https://marinedcac.com/collections/bankmanager

I have his older gen-2 bank manger in both my Excursion (shown in link above in the Excursion section of this forum) and in my RV camp trailer (see post #502 on page 34 of the below thread in the towing section of this forum).

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-today-34.html.

Both systems (the RV camper and the Excursion) have been working flawlessly with the Bank Manger device controlling the LiFePo4 batteries since they're respective installs (about two years for the RV and one year for the Excursion so far). BTW I'm not affiliated with the Clarks Adventure guy or the company that sells his device in anyway other than being a regular paying customer.
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I checked that out,
https://marinedcac.com/collections/bankmanager

and wow, my son is an off-grid guy...
I sent that to him, he will appreciate it a lot

 

The device itself was made for Sailboats (which I guess are technically off-grid when they're out on the water), because sailboats need power available all the time to run their bilge pumps (most boats that stay in the water all the time leak a little, so there is a small electric bilge pump hooked up to a float switch that automatically pumps that water back off).

As such modern sailboats generally have a decent bit of battery capacity, and some solar charging ability onboard to keep the batteries charged. The bank manger was made to allow the integration of LiFePo4 batteries into the existing lead-acid battery systems without completely replacing the existing system.

Most (not all, but most) sailboat technology or gadgets are directly convertible to overland vehicles (or off-grid home stuff),,, I mean sailboats are basically "over-water" vehicles out there camping too. And the rich people on sailboats like to have air-conditioning and refrigerators available to them (just like the overland camping or off-grid crowd do).
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