| |
Subject |
Author |
Date Posted |
Forum
|
 |
RE: CRT TV versus LCD TV power use
Many of the large lcd and plasma sets being sold now consume as much electricity as a refrigerator. Maybe twice the watts of the smaller crt it may have replaced. A bad trend.
There was widely acknowledged success with raising efficiency standards for air conditioners and refrigerators. A lot of mfrs yelled and screamed that people would not pay an extra $40 for improvements that used $20/yr less power---even though anyone doing the math could see the payoff was pretty good.
You can raise lcd set efficiency by using led backlights instead of the more wasteful fluorescent tubes. The leds gives better blacks as well as use less power---but they cost a bit more presently.
I think the first phase of CA's standards are pretty feasible now. The tougher second phase look harder to accomplish.
Judging from the price of a kw-hr in CA, I'd say the consumer there will get a pretty fast payback on the first phase without requiring any breakthrough technology.
|
bananadanna
|
11/20/09 08:12pm |
Technology Corner
|
|
RE: build my own
Thanks for the input folks...man, that Mitsubishi is sweet...
Gary Haupt
Gary,
I first came across the Mitsu on the Alaskan Camper site. Must be practically next door in a small state like Alaska...
I have driven my rwd Sprinter several hundred miles on unpaved surfaces. No particular problems on a decent dirt road. A favorite wilderness paddle has an access "road" that is easily managed by the Jeeps and Subarus but my 158"wb tall van is another story. I always unload all the shelves and sidewall gear and strap it to the floor but the side-to-side rocking is still violent with the ruts. And I drive really slowly so the 6700 lb weight doesn't trash the suspension. And even if I had the ground clearance and heavy suspension I could not follow the smaller 4wd vehicles under the trees and over the steeps.
It is a fine idea to add 4wd for snow and ice and a little mud but the longer and heavier the vehicle the more you're headed into tank territory.
I really liked the Alaskan Campers ability to lower the roof. What a great idea for both hwy and offroad.
My poor man's version of coping with inadequate room is to carry a couple of 10x10 quickshelters. Ten minutes to erect. I used one with a solid wall set in March with a catalytic heater. We set up both shelters a couple of times a year. The one in my sig pic seals to the 4x10 awning and triples my sq footage. Just an out-of-box thought if you need the room and want to handle rougher terrain.
Dan
|
bananadanna
|
11/20/09 12:13pm |
Tech Issues
|
|
RE: build my own
There is a Mitsubishi FG 140 subculture of expedition campers.
Example
|
bananadanna
|
11/18/09 06:49pm |
Tech Issues
|
|
RE: Coleman ProCat Catalytic Propane Portable Space Heater
I'm pretty sure it will produce carbon monoxide it says to leave a vent open.
Catalytic heaters typically produce essentially no carbon monoxide. Mfr's blurb. The vent is necessary since they do consume oxygen.
Seems like a questionable idea to use a cat heater in a low oxygen environment like high altitude. There is a reason the low oxygen sensor goes off...
|
bananadanna
|
11/14/09 09:43pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
|
|
RE: Van Bed
Here are a few guidelines if you choose to create a replacement bed:
My DIY camper has flat, level sofa cushions that use 2" of high quality seat foam. Seat foam is relatively firm--too firm for most people to sleep on.
We roll out a 2" medium density (4lb) memory foam mattress over it for bed use. Wonderfully comfortable.
My first version used an inexpensive 1.5" lower density memory foam topper (3 lb?) from WM. That was pretty good but the more expensive, better quality 2" topper that replaced it is more luxurious.
They do make firmer 5 lb foam toppers if you prefer that. I think the best freestanding mattresses are a composite of firm support topped with a memory layer. I do not think it is necessary to go for more than 5" total. I like our system since the sofa cushions are useful for sitting on and the 2" topper stores easily. We turn ours into a backrest and avoid separate storage.
Good luck in your search for sweet dreams.
|
bananadanna
|
11/10/09 01:45pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
|
|
RE: The true costs of running a generator?
There are some unmentioned costs here.
Solar:
An empty roof rack typically exacts about a 5% mpg cost on a car. Let's guesstimate that a couple of solar panels are equal to a roof rack in wind resistance. Let's wave some more hands and call an rv half as slippery and reduce that to 2.5% added resistance.
So for a 15 mpg rv traveling 15k miles in a year the wind resistance cost is:
$3/gal x 1000 gal x 2.5% = $75/yr.
A rule-of-thumb with a car is that 250 lbs cost 1 mpg. If we say a solar panel or small gen plus batteries weighs that much we get added fuel cost of about 70 gals/yr. Let's go with half that to be conservative. That still adds around $100/yr.
So a typical solar set up has $175 per year in extra costs over a shore-power set up. That adds $1750 over 10 years. Pretty shocking what weight and wind resistance do.
Note that carrying a gen inside (with an extra fuel tank?) plus some batteries incurs the weight cost but largely avoids the wind cost. Perhaps $750 saved over 10 years.
Lots of fun watching the costs move around for shady northerners like me with 60% of the AZ insolation. Lots of camping days drives down the solar cost since you're not "wasting" those watt-hrs. All sorts of differences caused by your miles/year (and how much you speed.)
We average around 150 miles/day over our total vacation time. That's enough for me to live almost entirely off of alternator watt-hrs. No solar needed if you drive frequently enough. (Four house batteries--about 250 lbs) I own one of those Honda eu2000i gens but rarely need it for our style of mobile camping. I shudder to think what the hourly cost of operating it is since it has so few hours to amortize. I'd like to think the gen set displaces a night of motel if we need the extra watt-hrs for some special reason.
I have considered solar but I have an enormous canoe roof rack. Solar costs are dropping about 1% per month. Sorta wasteful for my needs---it'd just let me burn extra watt-hrs. Not in a hurry here as systems improve.
|
bananadanna
|
11/05/09 06:49pm |
Tech Issues
|
|
RE: Need advice on verizon evdo modem and router choice
I'm cheap and also don't need 24/7/365 Net access on the road.
So I got LG Dare dumbphones for our Verizon cellphones. The Dare is RevA and accepts an external antenna. (One of the very few Verizon offers) We can tether to the laptop via Bluetooth for $2/day as needed.
Serves our needs better than a fulltime smartphone or aircard.
Verizon online was considerably cheaper than the Verizon store in town. Online customer chat from Bangalore was considerably more knowledgeable than the townies, ie "But no one has ever asked me about external antennas before".
|
bananadanna
|
11/05/09 03:27pm |
Technology Corner
|
|
RE: Adding a house battery
I'm now curious about the kind of battery trouble a hard wired inverter would cause as that is one of the options I was considering.
Nick
2010 Explorer X-ST
I didn't mean to imply that a hard wired inverter causes sure battery trouble. Simply that a larger draw from a single battery could flatten it pretty quickly. (I've forgotten to turn off the fridge for a few hours several times when I've gotten home. Not a problem with four house batteries.)
If you do draw more than 5a from a 100ah-rated battery you will get less than 100ah from it. If your inverter draws a lot more than 5a you may suffer a voltage drop that the inverter might not like. Cure would be more batteries. A battery should only be drawn down to half capacity for extended battery life. A larger bank will also recharge to 80%-90% much faster than a smaller bank to 100%. The required time to recharge is more important to people running gen sets than someone plugged in to shore power for the entire night.
My advice is to keep it simple and not depend on a single house battery for more than lights, powering a little inverter and small electronics. Otherwise more use implies hardwiring, a larger bank, a better quality inverter and fancier monitor. Shore power life is so much easier to plan for than boondocking!
|
bananadanna
|
11/05/09 02:56pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
|
|
RE: Adding a house battery
Right now I'm only concerned about having 12 volt rechargable power for occasional needs while traveling. Possibly to keep a small fridge/cooler cold while we're on the road, extra lighting when needed, using a small inverter for small electrical devices, etc. When we do stay at a campground, it's simple enought to bring electricity and heat into the unit so I wouldn't be concerned about the battery at that point. We will mostly use it for travel but want the extra comfort and conveniences that a 12 volt system would allow. Plumbing, which I would get into later would be minimal, limited to a porta-pot, and a small self contained sink. Space is also a concern as this is a low top 1500 Class van, not extended or raised. The interior is complete top to bottom, I'm only adding a few things that are camping related.
Nick
Most small electronics convert to dc internally and can function fine off cheapo small inverters. Just be careful you don't get one that makes audible or electronic noise. You might have to hardwire one or install a power point if you need to draw more than 5 dc amps.
A high efficiency compressor chest fridge like an ac/dc Engel consumes on the order of half a battery a day. Wonderful performance, big enough for your only fridge but expensive. Our 65 qt model does extra duty in the stick house as a second freezer or a party fridge. Portability adds plenty of value. I've been pleasantly surprised how cold a beverage in it has been a day after I turned it off. Expensive, but it really, really works.
The cheap thermo-electric fridges work poorly in hot weather. I'd go with an ice chest instead.
A small ac "dorm" fridge would probably withstand highway miles and might be useable on the road with a better hard wired inverter but that's asking for battery trouble. If room is tight, it'd probably be better to find one that you could fit an Igloo Cube inside or perhaps enough frozen ice containers between plug-ins.
It may be my 6'4" height (in a 6'1" inside height van) but I don't understand why so many people want to build a sink in. Dishpans are cheap, portable, and stack. Great for conserving water. Really easy to dispose of the dishwater. And I'd so much rather make a mess outside the van than inside.
|
bananadanna
|
11/05/09 11:04am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
|
|
RE: 110 vt. Freezer While Boondocking?
I have one of those expensive Engel fridge/freezers. It holds 65 qt (about 2/3 of yours) and consumes 18w/hr average as a fridge. That's almost half a battery per day. Freezer mode is almost triple the use. So a good guess is that your proposed use would require 2 kw-hrs a day in 70 degree weather.
If you're running a gen set once a day you'd need to allocate two batteries to freezer use alone if you depleted them to the half-power point. Maybe need a second charge cycle during the hottest weather.
Buy yourself a Kill-a-watt meter and plug it into your freezer under typical or worst case conditions and you'll see better what battery bank you'll need.
Extra insulation is probably the most cost effective thing you could do.
Solar is actually well-matched to the freezer since the day is hotter and you'll rarely open the freezer at night. Worthwhile for full-timers in the southern desert. But I don't think it'd pay off since you already have lots of sunk costs in the gennies.
|
bananadanna
|
11/02/09 09:49am |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
|
|
RE: Iphone/car stereo and FM transmitter questions
As mentioned some car radios now come with an audio jack on the front.
Many more have an aux input in the rear and you could run a line out to somewhere convenient.
I have a Pioneer radio that uses a cd-changer adaptor to connect. My iPod lives in the glove box and the radio buttons control the iPod. (The changer connection is a common approach to control)
But the slick way to do it would be to get a Bluetooth radio and let it pair up automatically. Works for the newer iPhones. Here's an (expensive) example.
Crutchfield should be able to tell you your choices. I got my Pioneer Premier receiver and Polk speakers from them.
|
bananadanna
|
10/29/09 06:57pm |
Technology Corner
|
|
RE: Adding a house battery
What kind of camping did you have in mind?
The DIY crowd here can make better suggestions if we know what capabilities you want.
If you plug in to shore power all the time then you can get by with minimal requirements.
Advice on battery bank sizing, iso/combiner switch, inverter/charger, proper fusing, wire sizes, auto transfer switch, breaker panel, gen or solar tradeoffs all available.
I chose a design heavy on efficient electrical devices with a big bank and inverter. This allowed me to skip the plumbing and gas fittings for our year round boondocking style. I was surprised by the lack of need to carry my gen set for most of our camping.
|
bananadanna
|
10/24/09 08:14am |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
|
|
RE: Verizon 5 GB plan which is best
voice plan $49 + tether dumbphone $49 = $98 + taxes
Not much point in a dumb phone and a full time tether but I have a RevA Dare as a $10 second line (my wife talks on her cell for a living) and expect to average something like $10/mo for about 25% vacation time tethering.
So for me its much cheaper than smart phones or air cards.
Dan
|
bananadanna
|
10/21/09 04:57pm |
Technology Corner
|
|
RE: DIY Electrical System - Resources? Suggestions?
Dave,
I had a very good outcome for my DIY van electrical system. More of my newbie questions were answered here than anywhere else.
Many van conversions use a "whole house" approach to the inverter circuit. (An exception to this might be for a separate air conditioner circuit since its too large a load for most inverters.) This means you won't need a separate inverter subpanel.
If you can afford it, life is simple with a Prosine 2.0. It's an integrated 2000w psw inverter/charger with display panel and plenty of smarts for fast charging and automatic switchover to shore power. A great help for a mostly boonie like me.
No need for a converter if you have an inverter/charger.
My efficient Engel 65 accounts for about 2/3 of my watt-hrs. I need about half a kw-hr a day running lights, stereo, limited microwave and induction cooktop, and sundry small electronics. Four agms (420 ah) give me about four days to the half-discharge point. I have a eu2000i gen for backup power but am delighted that I don't need it for the large majority of our pretty mobile camping.
If you have a large bank to support a dc fridge then you also have enough to run a large inverter for useful things like a microwave. My design goal was 2000w to give me the ability to plug in anything designed for a stick-house wall outlet. Tools, hair dryers, etc, as needed. Thirsty consumer devices often assume a 15a source.
We rarely have shore power. The large majority of our kw-hrs come from the alternator. An oversize bank is always nice since it'll accept a kw-hr much faster than a smaller bank that has to taper off. Always quicker to fill a bank to 80% than 100%. I'd also assume some degradation over time---it seemed best to have some extra margin.
I upgraded my alternator from 90a to 150a. Some inferior alternators may die early if the duty cycle is too heavy. The 150a size is common to a lot of commercial conversions.
A SurePower iso/combiner switch with an emergency combiner switch has been useful. Smart switches like that are great since they refill the starting battery first and don't have a diode voltage drop.
I got a lot of marine electrical stuff at West Marine since I thought the boat parts were generally better quality than rv parts. I did not like the yacht crowd prices---but one day I came in with a page full of parts priced on the Web and the manager agreed to match the prices on all of them! Catastrophic fuses and holders, lots of Blue Sea ac circuit breakers and dc fused switches, battery cutoff switch, dc power outlets, marine shore power connector et al. I did use expensive stranded wire instead of Romex and always heavy enough to anticipate slightly heavier loads than the minimum. Didn't want to do it again,
Home Depot had inexpensive 10' plastic wire chases and I liked them a lot. I ran separate chases for ac, dc, stereo wires. My walls got foamed around the chases.
You can't have too many power points. I put in duplex ac and dc outlets at four places in the cargo area and a separate ac power strip to the cab since lots of rechargeables seem to live up front. The ac duplex outlets were from an rv store and they actually clamped down to the ply panels quite well.
Good luck with your project. We have had a wonderful time with a good design forged from these helpful people.
Dan
|
bananadanna
|
10/20/09 07:25pm |
Tech Issues
|
|
RE: new ultra efficient air conditioner?
Looks like it needs a water supply. Works on a swamp cooler principle.
|
bananadanna
|
10/19/09 11:15pm |
Tech Issues
|
|
RE: Verizon plans
I got Verizon LG Dares for my DW and me about three months ago.
Our main criteria was to be able to tether a laptop as needed while on vacation. (A secondary criteria was that it would take an external antenna.)
We did not get Vcast for $15/mo. I'm a big-picture guy and not too interested in a tiny Web experience.
We do have the option to tether at ~$2/day.
My calculation:$15/mo x 24 mo for Vcast = $360 for a 2 year contract.
That is the equivalent of around 180 days of vacation tether over a two year period. Some campgrounds, coffee shops, rural libraries offer wifi. That has worked ok for us many times in the past. I expect to save money with the tether since we probably won't need 180 connection days.
My brother and his wife love their iPhones but email and flying is their thing. I like weather radars and large maps and big screens to design things on. For us the tether works better.
|
bananadanna
|
10/19/09 01:31pm |
Technology Corner
|
|
RE: Need suggestions for a kitchen cabinet build
I'm afraid this falls into the "more ideas" category.
My used 02 came with a small sink, 2 burner propane cooktop, and a 3-way fridge. All were in two HD melamine kitchen base cabinets. A cheapo conversion. Functional, and the 24" deep sink cabinet provided some useful room around the 5 gallon water bottle and small electric cold-water pump. Some counter space between the sink and the cooktop but not much. Overall dimensions were 60"w x 30"h x 25" deep.
I ripped out this bulky kitchen when I was dissatisfied with the propane fridge.
Frankly I find a cold water pump not a bit more useful than a gallon water bottle. The bottle pours faster. We keep a pair handy for meal prep and smaller ones for drinking water.
A hot water portable shower wand is useful for both dishes and inside/outside showers. Ours has a 12v pump that sits in a 5 gal bucket. Heat the water however you like. Again, it compactly stores away when not needed. Keep it under the sink if you like.
We have a pair of plastic dishpans for washing up. About twice the "sink" volume as before. They get stacked in an overhead shelf when not needed. Nice to not dedicate counter space to them.
The two burner gas cooktop was replaced with a magnetic induction burner and a 700w micro. We find this combo much more useful. The micro use typically means no pot to clean. The mag burner is compact, has a smooth surface that does not get as hot as the pot and throws off less than half the waste heat of a 35% efficient gas burner. It doesn't use the oxygen in the room, won't set anything on fire and is smart enough to shut off if a kettle boils dry. Fancy restaurants adore them for their instant on-off and controllable simmer. An uncommon item in the USA but popular in small Asian kitchens. I have a dedicated area for mine but you can easily move it off a counter if you want more prep space.
So the drawback to an electric kitchen is the battery bank and inverter required. My use of an Engel dc compressor fridge meant that its low-but-continuous draw works well with the high-but-short draws from the ac appliances. (About half a battery a day required)
We typically cook and clean up outdoors in the warm weather. The two 15k btu propane camp stove burners are twice as powerful as the old 7.5k btu inside gas burners. We keep a 20 lb bbq tank in a propane locker in the van. And the Weber BabyQ bbq is a nice addition to outdoor living.
We also camp year round. So lots of inside kitchen use in cold weather. (Did I mention no winterization if you don't have underside tanks?)
Our portable dishpan/shower system may not be as glamorous as those marble counter jobs but it sure is practical. Less is definitely more in "B" life.
The electrical versions of the cooktop and fridge work much better than what they replaced. You also gain considerable layout flexibility. The bank and inverter is the price you pay.
http://i38.tinypic.com/ztd547.jpg
http://i35.tinypic.com/1p9l41.jpg
|
bananadanna
|
10/19/09 12:44pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
|
|
RE: Aux start battery?
My SurePower iso/combiner came with an override switch option and that has proven valuable. I also leave the batteries combined for several minutes as mentioned before to transfer some charge to the starting battery first.
|
bananadanna
|
10/17/09 01:29pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
|
|
RE: OPTIMA Batterys
I bought my Concorde Lifeline agms in the gpl-4c size (6v 220 ah).
It is the heaviest battery that can be shipped via normal UPS. It seemed silly to me to not buy these locally but the Web price including shipping from one of the big solar suppliers was cheaper than any Concorde dealer in the four surrounding states.
Certainly an advantage to be able to get replacements shipped anywhere you happen to be. Not a biggie if its once every seven years!
I agree that agms are more expensive and are not needed unless you want no maintenance or need to orient them on their sides.
The agms do generally have a slower self-discharge rate. This is a smallish advantage for people who let their rvs sit unused longer without a charge source. And agms potentially accept charge a little quicker. That might not matter unless you have a fancy charger with a battery temp sensor--my Prosine starts the charging my bank at 100 amps because of that and can keep the charge rate higher due to less internal resistance.
|
bananadanna
|
10/14/09 02:39pm |
Tech Issues
|
|
RE: Patty O Room, Add-a -Room, Screen Room Supports
If you really use your screen house space you could get two 10x10 First-Up quickshelters from WM. I have one mated to my DIY awning and the four corner awning support is very strong.
We liked the First-Up construction quality so much that we bought a second and throw up a 10x20 dining hall on many of our group events. Screen or solid walls are inexpensive options.
See my sig pic for our use of one.
Dan
|
bananadanna
|
10/13/09 08:37am |
Tech Issues
|
