Looks Better'n Better!!

Can't wait til I get the last of these "Dang Grown Kids!!" out of the house and get back "On The Road Again!"

Sure do miss the days when I could just load the boat and van up, take off on a moments notice, and spend weeks and even months out seeing this wonderful U.S. of A. and more. Been ten years getting my wife's three kids grown and out. Got just one left, he's thirty, but recovering from a knee injury. Couple of more months and here we go!!

Plan to go slow and easy. Starting down at Key West, come up the Gold Coast (west coast of Florida) to Mobile hitting all the natural sights-state/national parks and forests. No Theme Parks!!!

From then on the list is just endless. I'm fifty-five, she's forty so we should have plenty of time to see it all. Made a similar trip when I was thirty-five. Left 1st of April, 1988 and spent twelve weeks on the road with a another young gal (a then twenty year old) "Showing Her the World." Twelve weeks just scratched the surface. This trip will, "knock on wood" last for years.

 

Thanks. Will get the paint on Monday. That's kind of what we're doing, but we come home for a few month every now and then... Didn't come back that way on the last trip - we stayed north. This will be our first trip across TX with the boat. You won't be sorry you decided on the generator. Cheaper and easier in the long run... The curtain is no longer necessary with the silver top. We don't fish or have any water toys...we enjoy exploring and birdwatching -- although I couldn't tell you any of the names of the birds.

 

well isn't that true for all people???

nice work on the rear a/c but food for thounght why didn't you just pull a rear a/c unit out of a 1987 to 1999 chevy surburban? they install to the roof on the back of them. would think it would cost about the same to install but you don't have to worry about the gas generator catching on fire if some would rear end you or some thing!

 

I tried to power a... I think it was a 6500 BTU A/C off of the Motorcraft 3G upgraded alt (130 amps) with a secondary battery.

Seems like what happened was after awhile the alt wasn't putting out enough to keep the secondary battery charged, it ran it down and the inverter shut off. I couldn't tell for sure though. I have seen that alt put out >100A into a dead secondary batt so I know it can do it, maybe overheating was a problem? I only tried it a couple of times and I couldn't tell WTF was going on because I was driving. Might be that the low speed in-town driving was simply turning the alt too slow to make full power and that causes a deficiency at the battery.

It MIGHT be possible that the A/C's design simply did not like being jostled around and caused problems with the lubricant mixed into the R134 coolant inside, resulting it high power consumption or stalling. But I don't know. Works fine when parked.

You've gotta be top-notch on the battery cable connections from the alt to the power inverter. Must be a thick cable and properly crimped and clean and tightly bolted. The battery isolator needs to be able to handle high currents. It's easy to overheat things at 70A with just a little resistance and then things go bad quick.

My EU1000i could NOT start the A/C unit consistently without overloading the genny and putting it into a shutdown mode that persists until you shut it off and physically restart the genny (sucks if you were also powering a fridge)- esp a prob if I had the "Eco Throttle" engaged, and that Eco-Throttle is necessary because otherwise the genny runs at full speed all the time and is noisier and less efficient than it needs to be. The problem gets worse at higher altitudes when the generator loses some engine power. The thing is, there IS a fix for it, the "Super Boost Hard Starting Capacitor".
Compressor Hard Start Boosters

Speaking as a electrical engineer, I was skeptical, but in fact it DID work. Totally worked. No prob at all starting off the genny. You DO have to open up the A/C, wire it onto the existing starting cap, and find enough room inside the A/C case to place the booster cap and it's not small. That is, unless you want to place it on a bracket outside the A/C case on the indoor half of the A/C with wires running inside the A/C.

 

Also should probably mention...

Given the lack of insulation in stock vans and the amount of glass, 6500 BTU is fairly limited. In fact automobiles typically have crazy high A/C capacities- 20,000 or 30,000 BTUs, and obviously a van will be on the high side.

So if your A/C system is dead this will have a fairly limited effect for keeping people in front comfortable. And if it's parked at 100F outside in the sun this will keep the interior from being a lethal 130F, but it may only keep it at like the high 80's or 90's. In the shade you can get it down further. When parked, the reflective sunscreen makes a radical difference.

See now I've got a Sportsmobile camper van with an insulated fiberglass roof and fiberglass-stuffed insulated walls. When camping in Texas summers and it's 85F at night, that's awesome, I could get the interior into the 60's. Low 60's. But in the afternoon heat, even when under a tree and with the sunscreen up, it's "tolerable" inside but not cycling and... eh, probably mid to high 70's.

 

I have a 5200 ac unit in the back window on my van. I have not tried it to see how long the honda 2000 will run for yet but I will someday. The 5200 keeps up really good even on hot days in my area but I have not seen a 100 degree day here yet to try it. But now my van is a cargo van and I insulated it well in the walls and on the roof. On the floor I put rubber matting down and then a plush carpet on top. (carpet was free) I use those sunscreens on the front windows and that helps keep things cool when parked.

With the insulating job I did my diesel motor really doesn't seem that loud to me and I can have a conversation with some that is riding in the back. I also have the short model so I have the same problem as trying to save space. My friend uses a power chair so that sits by the side doors and I use extending ramps to get it and her in at the same time. Otherwise I pick her up into the front seat and use a transport chair that folds up small. Also I have parked at rest areas right next to the highway and I really don't hear the noise from the road that much.

I do a no no with the generator right now and transport it in the van behind the driver seat. I have slept in there with it in there and even while going down the road I don't smell the gas as those gas caps seem pretty air tight when closed.

 

I've got 2 1000i's. We ran them in parallel to start the 12,000 BTU air conditioner in the camper. After the a/c was running we could shut one of the generators down (until the compressor cycled off and back on). I do run a 6,500 on my boat with a 1000i in eco mode. Never a problem there; I guess it depends on the air conditioner?
Info here about the originally installed 5000BTU boat air conditioner

I have slept in the cuddy with the generator only a foot or so from my face...no problems with smell at all -- turn the gas off and close the cap vent.


I see no reason not to keep them in the back of the van on the road (as long as you don't fire it up inside).

 

Yeah if you're feeling "handy", try installing a Super Boost cap and see if you can start a 12,000 BTU off a single EU1000i. I'm curious. It might work.

I had another scheme where my huge inverter would start the A/C and the EU1000i would run it. This works as long as the battery is fully charged, and the EU1000i's DC charging output can do that. I found it was technically possible, but it needed a transfer switch and the connections were annoyingly complicated to try to put together.

 

Just seeing if anyone was paying attention.

 

Slipped right by me. Just not as sharp as I used to be I guess.

 

Jeffnick, can you post some pix of the boat with the air conditioning unit installed...I think that's one of the neatest ideas I've come across in a long time as far as outfitting a boat goes...

 

some boat mods here Oops, I just realized I posted this above. Here's some pics of the upgrade, the first pic is the old unit coming out, the second pic is the new unit installed. The 3rd pic is the new 'velocity enhancer'. The last pic shows that it's only a 6,000, not 6,500 as I previously thought. This is the new 'velocity enhancer'

 

I'm finally ready. We'll be heading out tomorrow for Lake Michigan, then Lake Powell, then points west.

 

Are you coming back through Texas this time? Sounds like a trip full of fun...be careful

 

If my wife is doing well, from San Diego we'll go to Brownsville, then straight back to SC.