RE: 9.6 Bigfoot Dual Batteries
Hi Bcbigfoot! After looking at your profile it does look like your battery compartment on the passenger side is different than mine. My passenger side battery compartment door is below the seam on the clam shell joint. Yours appears to land in the seam and is look bigger. Is it an aftermarket door and cubby?
Wall to Wall inside my compartment is 13 1/4". I will call it 13" and try to fit a couple of AGM's. I wish the 31's would fit!!
I checked the size of my Agm 31's, they are approx. 12 7/8" length so you maybe in luck for fitting them in your battery box.
Here is a link for info on the group 31 agm's I bought they are part #8A31DTM http://www.dekabatteries.com/assets/base/1741.pdf
RE: 9.6 Bigfoot Dual Batteries
I just installed 2 Duracell group 31's AGM's (rebranded Deka's) from a Sam's Club in eastern USA, they were 169$ each (Western USA stocks Eveready batteries). I have a 2005 9.6 2500 series with plastic battery box, must be different than the 2002 Bigfoot's, it's overall width is 13.5" and the group 31's are 31.25" wide.
Before these batteries I had 2x 6 volt golf cart batteries, those were nearly to tall for the battery box.
RE: Water filter, which one?
I use a sediment filter for all water. I use a charcoal type filter for the house water and this DOES NOT include the fresh water tank. Both are available from Lowes, HD, etc.
I want treated city water in the fresh water tank to reduce the possibility of any thing growing in the tank. Since 1983 we have had no water problems with this approach.
I took this approach as well, I don't want to remove the clorine until I'm ready to drink the water.
RE: Honda EU2000 Airflow Tests
This is a exhaust/hot air exhaust for a eu2000 on ebay, it could have some potential in some applications.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Honda-EU2000i-EU20i-generator-exhaust-system-Directs-exhaust-gas-outside-/250991549229LINKY
I'm curious what Robert@Honda thinks about this, but this thing sure looks like it's dumping hot exhaust right back into the same tube thats trying to pull in clean, cool air
Thanks for making the link, the Honda pulls its cooling air from the other end (110 plug end) and blows the exhaust and all the heated cooling air out of the same end into the round dryer vent. I would think that much of the noise that the Honda makes would also be directed out of the ebay funnel/dryer vent.
RE: Honda EU2000 Airflow Tests
This is a exhaust/hot air exhaust for a eu2000 on ebay, it could have some potential in some applications.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Honda-EU2000i-EU20i-generator-exhaust-system-Directs-exhaust-gas-outside-/250991549229
RE: Honda EU2000 Airflow Tests
Unfortunately the ladder is almost ideal for transferring vibrations into the vehicle. Some isolation at the various mounting points will go a long way.
Jim
The aluminum box is mounted directly to the bumper/steps, which is mounted directly to the camper lift legs (same effect as being mounted to the ladder), everything is solidly mounted, unfortunately with no room to rubber mount at this point.
I have took BillH's and mlts22 advise and placed 2 layers of foam 1/8" matt between the boxes floor and 5/8 plywood that the honda sits on. This seems to have helped.
I also injected some urathane foam into the bathroom walls which has cut back on the drum effect ( hope I never have to remove fiberglass bahtroom stall haha). I checked with my tablet decibal meter app and it showing 55 decibals in the camper now with the honda on eco throttle and powering a 800 watt electric heater. It used to be just as loud as the AC which is at 67 decibals.
I checked to see if the aluminum box lined with 1/8" foam would reduce outside noise levels of the Honda. I thought I might see 1 or 2 decibal drop but was surprised to see there is no improvement at all, inside or out of the box I got 65 decibals at 6 feet distance.
RE: Honda EU2000 Airflow Tests
Thanks mlts22 for the link, hopefully I can get some useful ideas and products. I built the box a bit on the small side, some size constaint reasons and I just under estimated the vibration transfer there would be. It maybe tricky to add some type of vibration sytem at point.
RE: Honda EU2000 Airflow Tests
jodeb720 I built a box to run my Honda, I found that the original inlet opening was a little on the small size 6x8", as the Honda ran approx 10f hotter inside its own red engine case than when it was ran out in the open. I opened the inlet up to 8x8" and the hot air/exhaust outlet is 7x7". There no longer seems to be any temp. increaae.
I have found no exchange of hot outlet air into the inlet, the honda outlet is very close to the outlet of the aluminum box, there even seem's to be venturi effect pulling excess air into the box now that I have a large enough inlet.
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h458/bcbigfoot/IMG_6148.jpg width=650
I need to spend some time developing some vibration suppression like msiminov has done (great job). The inside of my Bigfoot camper is very loud because the vibration of the generator causes the fibreglass bathroom to vibrate like a drum.
The aluminum box and approx 1/8 inche of foam has only reduced outside noise by a small amount. I have recently downloaded a android app decibal meter for my tablet, I will see if I can get some numbers.
RE: Stair modification
I had some electric steps from a auction sale, so I went that route.
Do you have any specs on the power steps? Make, Model, weight capacity?
Thanks!
Garry
Hi Garry, they are Kwikee steps, and are rated for 750 pds. They are pn# 9)2509000, 25 series tripple steps. Here is a link to the specs.
http://support.powergearus.com/techdocs/Step%20ID%20Chart-Triple.pdf
On edit: I don't know how to make a live link on this site anymore sorry.
RE: Stair modification
I had some electric steps from a auction sale, so I went that route.
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h458/bcbigfoot/IMG_4813.jpg
http://i1110.photobucket.com/albums/h458/bcbigfoot/IMG_4810.jpg
RE: New (old) Bigfoot, now some questions?
Over the years I have done a lot of testing between Diecore and Polyurathane sealants like the Sekaflex, Lepage, and 3m4000uv products as HMS Beagle states and my finding are that the Polyurathane will outlast Diecore 3 to 5 times. Diecore compared to silicone is a good product, however Diecore isn't a good product compared to Polyurathane products. The only products I use are Polyurathane sealants unless it is in a application that may require removeal/replacement in the next few months or year or two years.
HMS Beagle i wish you could have shared your knowledge of how good Polyurathanes were many years ago it could have saved me a great deal of greif (not just in rv applications).
RE: Cab over clearance
I have a 2002 old style Dodge and a camper built for a Ford's high roof so I had approx 6" gap. I had terrible wind noise in my Dodge (didn't in the previous 93 Chev.) I installed a 4" air deflector between cab and camper, mounted to the camper. I now have 0 wind noise, even in strong cross winds. Before the deflector interior noise was so bad I couldn't communicate to the DW without yelling, even in calm wind conditions at 55mph.
I now have a 2" gap between deflector and cab and havn't had a incidence of contact between the two in 35000 miles of travel however I only go where a 2WD dually can get you home even after a rain.
A side bonus of the air deflector is there used to be some wind buffetting above 65 mph, now there is none even above 75 mph. This isn't a big issue for me as I rarely travel faster than 65mph.
RE: New Dodge Ram 3500 HD Tow Rating
I watched a auto program on TV today they test drove a 2013 Dodge 1500 with air suspension, I believe it was a option and I don't know if there was any option for the 2500 or 3500. Perhaps this will spur futher development in air suspensions for all the makes and size of trucks.
RE: Upgraded heater ducting in 5r
That foil tape that is regularly used for duct 'sealing' doesn't stay on well. In stick homes, in hot attics, it's practically useless. Check it in two years: the stickiness has baked away and the tape has fallen off or is about to if you brush against it.
There is a product called 'duct seal' that can be gotten at hvac supply houses, or it can be googled and bought on the internet. It is a great product; never gets completely hard, sticks like crazy and seals better than foil tape from the first moment. It has a consistency similar to drywall mud when applying, so it's easy to work with a small brush, and it is odorless.
There is a saying in the hvac business: duct tape is a great product for lots of things, but ducts isn't one of them.
Thanks for that info, I had known the duct tape was useless on ducts however the foil tape I had assumed was much better, good to know before I apply it everywhere. I'll check out the "duct seal" product.
RE: The Ultimate (Homebuilt) RV Furnace?
I have a atwood 8531 32000 btu space shuttle model, warms up and sounds, and uses the same amount of fuel as the space shuttle taking off lol.
RE: no weight police needed here
If you have that kind of money, why not just buy a diesel pusher and toad? The whole concept negates any benefit of what a TC offers.....:h
One would think however a truck that age, (hard to identify age but it has two piece flat windshield so it's at least 13 years old) likely has well over a million miles and would be worth around 6000 to 12000$ max depending on condition. You could get 300000 trouble free miles or it could cost 30000$ over 10000 miles, hard to say on old trucks.
RE: The Ultimate (Homebuilt) RV Furnace?
This past fall I welded a pipe nipple on the exhaust of my eu2000 honda generator so that I can screw a 3/4" pipe into the exhaust. I also have cut a 1 1/2 inche dia hole in my kitchen door (plugged when not in use). If needed I can pop the plug out and put the exhaust pipe extension on and run the generator in the kitchen. I estimate that a approx 80% efficency of the fuel doing this. All the cooling air of the 2000 honda is directed past the muffler so a great deal of the heat energy is recovered this way. If needed I can do a similar thing with the camper. Of course this is just for emergency situations, that I hope never occur.
bcbigfoot,
Well, at this point, it is definately nice to see someone else has contemplated running a modified genny in a living space without the irrational fear of certain asphyxiation. As long as the exhaust is reliably directed outside, I do not see a respiratory health problem with it.
I especially trust propane as a least harmful fuel, such as common in indoor fork-lift or floor-buffer use. But in the case of autos and aircraft, gasoline fuel is even considered viable. To me it's all a matter of careful safety engineering.
Since you have paid careful attention to the heat efficiency, I take it that this is at least part of the reason for not setting the genny outdoors and using it to merely run interior electric heaters. What you did is exactly what I wondered if anyone had tried. Thank you.
I thought one might gain a few more percent efficiency with a well built heat exchanger incorporated into the naturally forced engine exhaust. If the overall efficiency could be raised from 80 to 90 percent or better, the rig would officially qualify as a hi-efficiency "furnace". Ordinary hi-efficiency combustion heaters do it all the time, but I doubt any heat-exchanger RV furnaces qualify. I could be wrong here.
Part of the reason for adding an elaborate custom heat exchanger on the exhaust is to recover the latent heat of condensation. There is a significant 10-12 percent gain to be had by subtracting so much heat from the exhaust that the combustion fumes cool to condense. At that point one gains back the same heat value as is lost by typical evaporation. All hi-efficient furnaces are engineered to do this too. The water-based condensate from combustion is a bit corrosive, so all these exchangers should be constructed of aluminum or stainless steel and the residue discarded.
In your use/case the problem I was most concerned with, that of noise, is likely an issue in your home. But since you are doing it as a backup emergency measure, that doesn't matter so much. In the case of general use, it might be a little difficult to prevent genny noise if the run-compartment is opened to the living quarters, although RV furnaces themselves are already unbelievably noisy as a class. How much worse would it be?
I really admire your TC/Dodge setup by the way.
Wes
...
Thanks WES, I really don't have much of a issue with using engine heat, I grew up around portable generators in Saskatchewan they were 350 to 500 kva size, they were housed in enclosed van trailers with popup control tower and a heated shop area (generator heat)in the one end of the van. I always found warming up in a noisy generator van appealing as opposed to working on heavy equipment at -30f temps..
Something to think about is a internal combustion engine is a air/heat pump so a eu1000 will require approx. 10 cubic feet of make up air, a cracked window or intake hose that would run to the exterior of the camper, this would reduce noise levels as I would esitmate 25% of noise comes from the intake of a engine.
A eu1000 running at rated cap. and utilizing approx. 80% heat energy from it's fuel should produce approx. 12000 btus. Rough figures are that 1/3 energy from work the engine can produce 1/3 energy from cooling of the engine and 1/3 is from the exhaust heat.
I have seen rv furnace manufacturer #'s in the 75 to 80% efficiency range, however I suspect that is in ideal conditions and a 60 to 65% is more in order, just a hunch as the volume of very hot air coming out of my furnace's exhaust is staggering.
I would also agree with you that with proper sound deadening, a exhaust heat exchanger (would certainly help noise as well) and intake noise suppression the noise likely wouldn't be any more than a rv furmace. Somthing else that seems to be important or at least surprised me is amout of vibration even just a honda 2000 makes, which makes everything else rattle in tha camper, so some vibration suppresion would also be needed as well.
RE: The Ultimate (Homebuilt) RV Furnace?
This past fall I welded a pipe nipple on the exhaust of my eu2000 honda generator so that I can screw a 3/4" pipe into the exhaust. I also have cut a 1 1/2 inche dia hole in my kitchen door (plugged when not in use). If needed I can pop the plug out and put the exhaust pipe extension on and run the generator in the kitchen. I estimate that a approx 80% efficency of the fuel doing this. All the cooling air of the 2000 honda is directed past the muffler so a great deal of the heat energy is recovered this way. If needed I can do a similar thing with the camper. Of course this is just for emergency situations, that I hope never occur.
