New to RVs and Here

[breal14]

Hi,
I'm a first time RV owner having just purchased a used 2004 Four Winds Chateau 24T for my family. It's 20 years old, but only has 22,000 miles on it and is in very good condition. 1 super slide that gives 18 inches of room inside. It really opens it up. I know slides are 50/50 on people liking them or not but so far, i'm happy that it has it.


I have a LOT of questions, so i hope to learn a lot from this group.

I am in the north, so i bought it already winterized. Which is good and bad. Good because it's not going to freeze, but bad because I have no idea how to do it myself next year, nor how to unwinterize it in a few months to get ready for the season. So, lots of questions to come from me on that topic!

I'm starting to make a list of things i want to upgrade.

We will mostly use this for boondocking on 4 day weekends and such. We are a part of a club that has no hookups and lots of rules around generator uage (basically, you can't). So, first item on the list is house battery improvements.
The previous owner updated all the lighting to LED and has pretty efficient things like usb ports and small led tv's that won't suck much juice. There's a 2500 pure sine inverter to use while the truck is running? at least that's how he explained it to me and it powers a dedicated 120 circuit. I'm not entirely sure. Need more exploration here.
I can't see well in there, but it's a single group 27M battery. It's 2 years old. I imagine its a standard deep cycle lead-acid type and around 160ah from what i can tell of the pic. I'll get in there in more detail when it's warmer.


I'd like to bump this to a 200ah array, or even replace with Lifepo4 at some point.
I'd also like to integrate solar or a small wind turbine that I can prop up. We park right on the waters edge at this club so there's a constant breeze. I don't want to mount anything to the roof (very scared of that) so i'm considering a portable briefcase array that i can set up when we park in a few minuets.

The other issue it has right now is the door to the power cord won't stay latched. The plastic on the door that sticks out to hold the latch is just worn away so the key doesn't stay behind it enough when closed. I'll consider replacing the whole plastic insert, but for now i just put a piece of tape on it to hold it closed. A replacement seems cheap enough at like $12 Amazon.com but i'm concerned about the install/making sure it doesn't leak/etc.

Storage is limited. Other units we looked at had huge 'trunks' under the rear bed outside. This one has a small cubby because the water tank is there.

My cooler won't fit in any of them (we have a big fishing cooler, 150 qt or something) so i need to figure out where that goes. Perhaps i'll rig something to hold it in place inside the rv.

Anyway, look forward to discussing with you all!

 

[Wemustrv]

Hi There! Welcome to RVforums from Ely, Iowa So for our rig my inverter runs all the time unless totally powered down. See if you can find a manual on your rig. Your batteries you can upgrade and I would recommend AGM batteries to start with. Lithium are great but you indicated you are up North and Lithium can struggle in the very cold may want to study up on that as well. As for the power cord door maybe you could put Velcro on the inside of the door and frame and keep it shut that way until you find a better fix. Nice Rig enjoy your journeys. Be ready for a few hiccups along the way.

 

[breal14]

Thanks for the reply!

I looked into AGM and for the cost, it's not worth it IMO. They aren't that much cheaper, and since they only go to 50% in range, it'd need more capacity, which actually makes it more expensive.

I won't be using the rig when it's cold. IF we ever do, it would already be winterized and we'd be 'dry' camping with a portable toilet inside or something. We already have one from the pickup truck days. We've just grown out of sleeping in the bed of the truck with 2 kids. So, to that end, Lifepo4 doesn't scare me. I've looked into some batteries that have the low-shut off so they don't charge in the cold. That would probably suffice.
Very rarely is it less than 15 degrees here -- so even discharge to 0 or -4 on some of them would be ok. Charging could wait until daytime above 32.

I also am understanding that i need to upgrade the Parrallax 7300 i have to something that will support lithium charging at the 14.6 v range. Perhaps this is where the agm evens out, but still this kit is only 200 bucks.
I stumbeled across this, and it seems to be the easiest way to upgrade in the stock location without re-wriring the whole thing.

PD 4655VL 55 Amp Converter Upgrade, Optional Remote Pendant

www.bestconverter.com

I also have read that I need a dc to dc convertor from the alternator/chassis so it doesn't burn it out.

The manuals won't help much as I'm fairly sure the inverter was added by the previous owner, not from the factory. Lots of things mounted to plywood screwed in above the floor and stuff. I hope that's not factory!

I've got my eye on this battery right now. with the discount code, it's reasonable priced, steel case, and has the connections in a spot that will make it super easy to hook/unhook as my battery case is under the chassis next to the generator. The app makes it easy to monitor without adding more units or running wires.

Temgot 12 Volt 230Ah RV Battery

Discover the ultimate power solution with our 12V 230Ah LiFePO4 RV Battery, boasting a max energy of 2944Wh. Ideal for yachts, marine use, boats, RVs, and home energy systems. Durable, efficient, and reliable. Perfect for enhancing your off-grid experience!

www.temgot.com

My inverter is a 2500 watt pure sine so it looks to be a good fit to that battery as well.

Finally, a panel setup is on the radar to keep it afloat.
200 Watt 12 Volt Monocrystalline Foldable Solar Suitcase is the item i keep coming back to. Seems simple as pie to unflold and clamp on the aligators to the battery and call it a day. No perm mounting required, no bolts/tools needed, no perma wires. Self-contained and pretty small and 200 watts. I really wanted 400, but i'm not sure i'll need it in direct sun like we will be in and being on the ground, i can re-position it a couple times a day for best light capture (as opposed to roof/flat mounted).

So, i'm all in around $1000 bucks give or take a sale to go from 88h (which i found out is not 160AH, that's the other RC rating, it's actuallly 88ah, and since you can only use half of it, and it's a few years old, it's probably 40ah of usable power to 230ah, call it 200+ usable power. That's about 5x the capacity before considering solar add. My biggest fear is running out of power to run the water pump. I could care less about anything else (we have flashlights and touch lights to get by) but i need to be able to flush the toilet and keep my phone charged.

I would also consider switching the fridge to run on electric instread of gas if it proves that we have more than enough to do that. Gas is a pain to fill (nothing close to me) so i'd rather use the solar if it's enough. Maybe gas at night, battery and solar in the day time while it's being replenished.