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Forum
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RE: 16 Navigator L towing Jayco 24BH
That was some serious skill or luck to miss the basketball hoop. Oh, and the grass is nice and green.
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tommyznr
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04/14/23 07:25am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Effect of no absorption on LiFePo4?
Good lord… add this to Dedmiston’s list of things men will over analyze and pick to death!
You have LFP batteries. Make sure they are relatively or fully charged, make sure they’re disconnected or no draw and then don’t think about them until you need them again
This needs to be a sticky on every LFP forum everywhere and also needs to be the first result for the Google.
I went down the rabbit hole two years ago and read so much conflicting information I had my undies in such a bundle that......... well you get the picture.
I now rest easy at night that my batteries will still be there in spring where I left them in fall.
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tommyznr
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01/25/23 07:15am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Lithium crossing the acceptance threshold…
Haha, where will it go next? Maybe consider moving all the EV baiting troll threads from Tow Vehicles to Campfire as well.;)
Those EV threads should go straight INTO the campfire.
That would cause a catastrophic fire which nobody would be able to put out and your servers would crash forever.
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tommyznr
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09/15/22 02:47pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: goosebox
Don't know why some folks think that I am to buy his hitch.
The initial question and additional info you have provided suggests you have skin in the game. Otherwise, I guess its a "why do you care?" kind of question or you are just curious maybe?
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tommyznr
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08/12/22 12:45pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Newbie Tow Capacity Question
Had a 20ft TT which was 4,400 empty, loaded was 5,400 lbs with GVWR of 7,200 lbs.. Towed that with a "heavy half".. Was all the weight that truck could handle..
Can you elaborate on this? What is it that happened that it was all that truck could handle?
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tommyznr
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08/10/22 06:37am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: '14 Heartland Tourque Awning LED lights
Not trying to be snide, but did you check at the switch for voltage?
At least that will send you either to the lights, or back toward the fuse panel. And if none to the switch, can you run a new hot wire to it?
This.
My awning lights worked for a year or so then stopped working. I finally got time to look into it last week and found I had 12 volts at the switch and about 2 volts at the light.
It turns out the wire from the switch to the LED lights was pinched in the ceiling, so much so I could not pull it through. I spent the better part of the weekend snaking a new wire through my ceiling to replace the old. Lights work like a champ now.
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tommyznr
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07/25/22 08:11am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Electric TT
Funny, nobody addressed what I thought was really odd about the article on this prototype. Supposedly this thing will "help" the tow vehicle to gain range.
Either the trailer would have to have a large battery and a means of providing power TO the tow vehicle, which currently the EV's are not set up to accept.
Or, it would have it's own drive motors to assist in propulsion.
If it provides propulsion via its own wheels, that will get interesting for how quickly it senses what is needed, and actually how the tow vehicle could end up reacting to the "push" from the trailer. And a flat tire on the trailer would do??????
Also, how heavy will this battery pack have to be? What starts out as a small light trailer will get heavy in a hurry.
This is exactly what I have been pondering since the OP was posted. The trailer can't just push, it has to have smarts to push the right amount.
There are many ways it could be done but none I come up with would be easily implemented for various reasons.
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tommyznr
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07/22/22 02:31pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Dino juice v Electrons....
For such a stupid notion, it seems V2G is better developed than I thought. Here's what Porsche is up to https://electrek.co/2022/04/08/porsche-proves-the-benefits-of-v2g-technology-by-pooling-its-evs-together-to-help-stabilize-electrical-grids/ Of course, they are probably math challenged morons who reached their peak in HS algebra!
Look, smart people work on stupid ideas all the time. Companies invest in stupid research ideas expecting to salvage something useful out of the research. In the case of your article on Porsche, it is briefly mentioned that this research could result in a product that competes with the Tesla Powerwall.
Previously Gritdog said "Or were you only referring to the EV owners that have their own wind farms and solar arrays?" It looks like this is Porsche's target with V2G.
Porsche already markets around the fringes so adding another fringe device is no big deal. Just don't expect it to be widespread by 2030 like at least one commenter on the article says.
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tommyznr
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07/12/22 08:01am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Dino juice v Electrons....
It reads like your typical Popular Science article from my youth. Lots of cool technology on the horizon, not much of that technology was able to live up to the pipe dream that we read about.
Power companies will love you though. Buy your power retail and sell that same power back wholesale if you are not using your car today. With a thousand different utilities there are a thousand different rate structures so your mileage may vary depending on where you live. If you read any solar forums, you will find that more and more utilities are making it harder and harder to resell solar back to the grid.Are you sure the power must be fed back to the utility vs just powering the home? No export inverters are fairly common.
Good point. So the usefulness is limited to areas that suffer from brownouts or have on-peak/off-peak utility rates.I believe the primary use would be to power the home during a short term outage.
Yes I suppose the truck could be used to avoid peak rates. Although a dedicated battery might be better for this daily use case.
And, since this is about V2G (vehicle to grid) technology it validates Gritdog's comment.
V2G might have applications for government fleets via mandate, Universities for grant money and those individuals/companies that want to feel like they are saving the planet.
After all, there are thousands of companies and individuals who are willing to pay higher electric rates to get "solar power" from the utility.
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tommyznr
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07/11/22 12:28pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Dino juice v Electrons....
It reads like your typical Popular Science article from my youth. Lots of cool technology on the horizon, not much of that technology was able to live up to the pipe dream that we read about.
Power companies will love you though. Buy your power retail and sell that same power back wholesale if you are not using your car today. With a thousand different utilities there are a thousand different rate structures so your mileage may vary depending on where you live. If you read any solar forums, you will find that more and more utilities are making it harder and harder to resell solar back to the grid.Are you sure the power must be fed back to the utility vs just powering the home? No export inverters are fairly common.
Good point. So the usefulness is limited to areas that suffer from brownouts or have on-peak/off-peak utility rates.
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tommyznr
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07/11/22 09:19am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Dino juice v Electrons....
ya feeding back the grid with your EV….I can’t even begin to explain how ignorant that notion is….I'm sure you can't!! :h It's known as V2G and it will be ready when you are. Here's a Wiki link, they generally use easy words.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle-to-grid
Yes, plenty of easy words to digest, perhaps you should read some of them. Most of the drawbacks are later in the article where you may have lost interest. But you could earn $400 per year by utilizing V2G in your home.
It reads like your typical Popular Science article from my youth. Lots of cool technology on the horizon, not much of that technology was able to live up to the pipe dream that we read about.
Power companies will love you though. Buy your power retail and sell that same power back wholesale if you are not using your car today. With a thousand different utilities there are a thousand different rate structures so your mileage may vary depending on where you live. If you read any solar forums, you will find that more and more utilities are making it harder and harder to resell solar back to the grid.
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tommyznr
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07/11/22 08:46am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Sequential use of small water jugs with pump
The farthest reaches of my brain are inventing some inflatable vessel. An inflatable/flexible holding tank/bladder if you will, that rolls up the unfilled part...
here ya go. Only takes up the space based on the volume of water, Less water, less space, fill as needed.
***Link Removed***
Now that's a good idea.
Thank you!
Just for giggles, how would you use that to solve your stated problem?
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tommyznr
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07/08/22 11:56am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Dino juice v Electrons....
"I've mentioned several times now and have not seen a response to the fact that the gallon of diesel burns and is gone, but the battery can be recharged over and over."
Sure, and maybe I am missing something here, but what does that matter to the person who has to either fill his tank with diesel or plug in his battery to charge it to go 300 miles?
After all, a depleted battery is conceptually the same as an empty tank.
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tommyznr
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07/08/22 09:22am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Dino juice v Electrons....
:S Apples and bananas too complex,eh? Going circular here with the double down, I'm out.
Call it apples and bananas if you like. Look at it like you need to eat x amount of apples vs y amount of bananas to get enough calories to go on a 10 mile hike with a 40 pound backpack.
Maybe his statements are inconsistent with the math and units but his overall point is valid. The way I read it.........With the current state of the technologies you need x storage of diesel vs y storage of Li to tow a typical setup 300 miles. He does not point this out as an absolute as the apple/banana analogy would be because that is not the point he is trying to make.
This is the problem I have with engineers on a daily basis. Many of us see a problem in the context and cannot ignore the problem and get the larger point.
I hope I captured your point Turtle without stepping on your toes.
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tommyznr
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07/08/22 06:44am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Dino juice v Electrons....
I've edited out the troll comment. Let's just call it tiresome. Everyone knows battery capacity is what keeps EVs from being great for long distance driving. It's not news, few would dispute it. Can we just stipulate that and move on? As for "Our government wants us to all switch away from fossil fuels" it's hardly just the government. Every rational person who isn't a hermit understands this is something that has to be done.
Well with the electrical grid in it’s current state, it isn’t going to happen tomorrow.
We might have just gone VHS when we could have gone Beta..........again.:B
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tommyznr
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07/07/22 02:15pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Sequential use of small water jugs with pump
It might help the OP told us what he's trying to accomplish that requires multiple small tanks ganged together.
Exactly this.
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tommyznr
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07/07/22 07:58am |
Tech Issues
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RE: New Member, need your advice!
Wait a minute. This is not as crazy as these folks are making it out to be.
Expanding on what Wanderingaimlessly said.
A quick google search shows a county park near San Jose for $44 a night including electric and water. If you can plan ahead and get reservations for your stays that is doable. Depending on how you handle travel days that is around $600 per month. There is another RV park that I did not look at for times when reservations are a challenge. It is all in the planning ahead.
Another quick google search shows average rent for outside RV storage in the San Jose area for a 25' RV is $300 per month.
That leaves $600 per month for your loan payment to break even.
Certainly there are many considerations beyond these set costs. Granted I did a quick search, a detailed investigation might reveal other challenges but strictly by the quick numbers I could make it work for me.
Assuming 25 work days per month, that's $1100 plus your $300 storage plus fuel to drag the trailer back and forth....If he can find an apartment for $1500/month, probably cheaper and certainly a lot easier and more comfortable. Of course, this assumes, they always have a site for him. If the park is full one week, he may be SOL.
I am not sure how you get 25 work days a month??? OP says work 6 of every 14 days.
It sounds like the OP knows his schedule well in advance and could make reservations that match his schedule. I am not suggesting that it would be easy, you would have to be on top of it well in advance to make it work and have a backup plan if you fail to secure a spot.
Fuel would be an insignificant adder, OP is not driving hundreds of miles to do this.
My quick analysis is how I would do it. But if I did it, it would be because I enjoy camping enough to not care if I just break even or even spend a touch more than the alternative. OP's mileage may vary on this point.
Besides that, the OP disappeared and I am just spit balling a day dream.
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tommyznr
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07/07/22 06:32am |
Beginning RVing
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RE: Sequential use of small water jugs with pump
Not a problem, you just need 2020 era Programmable Logic Controllers, with a level sensor and electric operated ball valves for each jug; and a supply of plastic tubing. "Relays" you really are dating yourself.
The OP didn't want a CPU or programming to do so I suggested how we did it before PLCs were much of a thing.
Yes, I am proud to say that I am that old.
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tommyznr
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07/07/22 06:17am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Dino juice v Electrons....
Energy storage is the only thing holding this technology back and its being worked on daily.
Yes and lots of things get worked on daily that fail. Hopefully that won't be the case for battery tech but there seems to currently be a wall at long distance hauling likely due to the size and weight that is required that the current tech uses too much payload.
Give or take 15 years ago fuel cells were worked on daily by lots of people. While many are still at it, I know of a few companies that dissolved their fuel cell programs for more immediate results oriented technologies.
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tommyznr
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07/06/22 02:47pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Sequential use of small water jugs with pump
Sounds like a simple pre PLC control system from the 80's.
You need double acting solenoids (power to open, power to close, fail last) if you don't want constant power to the valve.
You need a low level switch for each jug, probably installed in the piping at the outlet of the jug.
You need a series of relays to perform the "logic" OR this could be better accomplished with a drum controller which is programmed via DIP switches.
When Mr Google was consulted I got a real definition for a drum controller but the actual product results were for controlling a percussion instrument.
Like Gdetrailer said, a pretty complex automation solution to a simple manual problem. But if you are into control DIY projects, it would be a fun one.
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tommyznr
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07/06/22 02:19pm |
Tech Issues
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