I honestly never worried about just replied to a post.
sent from my Fisher Price - ABC123
Buddy Heater/Fantastic Fan
- Thread starter vanman10x2
- Start date
I honestly never worried about just replied to a post.
sent from my Fisher Price - ABC123
Maverick
Seasoned Expediter
Would love to have the Espar and this thread has some very interesting exchanges toward the thought process. Way behind most of you folks, and just purchased my first expedite van. It will need:
Second battery....that's number one.
Etrac
Plywood
Bed
Front seat removal for the usual suspects
Curtains
Generator
Air...not right away, of course.
Insulation
And many of those little things we all know about.....
Let's say I have 1500.00 to spend? The battery will probably be toward 300.00. Etrac and plywood has to be done now @ 200.00?
You see where it's going. Already the Espar has bit the dust until next fall. Already have the propane 20, 18000BTU Buddy, and extended hose with regulator. One simply ends up prioritizing and doing what they can do at the time. Just betting, but would guess 95% of vanners would take Turtle's figures, the comfort/safety, and overall advantages of the Espar.....hands down, and me included.
The Buddy is pretty safe so I'll stick with it for now. The silly thing to do is buy something you cannot squeeze in at the moment. Sure, it will cost me more money now.....but better to spend within means, than to get in too deep. Van has low miles and will run it for a year or so. Part of that running this Spring/Summer will entail a fun goal in mind....Amarillo by Mornin? No....
Espar by Fall. Sing it George.
Second battery....that's number one.
Etrac
Plywood
Bed
Front seat removal for the usual suspects
Curtains
Generator
Air...not right away, of course.
Insulation
And many of those little things we all know about.....
Let's say I have 1500.00 to spend? The battery will probably be toward 300.00. Etrac and plywood has to be done now @ 200.00?
You see where it's going. Already the Espar has bit the dust until next fall. Already have the propane 20, 18000BTU Buddy, and extended hose with regulator. One simply ends up prioritizing and doing what they can do at the time. Just betting, but would guess 95% of vanners would take Turtle's figures, the comfort/safety, and overall advantages of the Espar.....hands down, and me included.
The Buddy is pretty safe so I'll stick with it for now. The silly thing to do is buy something you cannot squeeze in at the moment. Sure, it will cost me more money now.....but better to spend within means, than to get in too deep. Van has low miles and will run it for a year or so. Part of that running this Spring/Summer will entail a fun goal in mind....Amarillo by Mornin? No....
Espar by Fall. Sing it George.
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You might be a little low on your battery and plywood etrack eat. One single battery of the right type by itself is around 400.00. Seems you said you won't use much power so you can probably get by with a cheap deep cycle for now. Use the right gauge wire and a good seperator.
sent from my Fisher Price - ABC123
sent from my Fisher Price - ABC123
Maverick
Seasoned Expediter
Figure I'll get the battery set up for less expense (like you say) but will at least have that part done. Not risking being out there for the next 2-3 months.....with one cold cranker under the hood. But I guess in keeping with the theme here?....jumper cables are only 30.00.
How much you reckon for the Etrac bit? I know that 10ft galvanized rails can be had for around 30 bucks? I can slide them in and get by for now. Just got the unit home, so will be doing some measuring tomorrow.
Thanks Xiggi
The cranking battery is for the engine. Use it for that and nothing else. The aux battery is for everything else. That's the reason for the battery isolator, to keep them separated, except when you're charging them.
If your cranking battery is a wet cell (or "maintenance free"), then you want the same battery type as your aux battery. You don't want an AGM for an aux battery, because wet cells and AGMs require different charging voltages. AGM batteries require a higher voltage, and if the alternator is producing the correct voltage for the cranking battery, then the AGM will always be chronically undercharged. The last thing you want to do is spend $400 on an AGM battery and then promptly set out to kill it. If you get an AGM aux battery, then you need to get an AGM cranking battery, as well. That way the charging voltage will be correct for both batteries.
Unless your amp hour requirements are high enough, then you don't need a $300 or $400 high dollar battery. All you'll need is a cheap marine or truck battery, about 100 Ah, about $125 give or take. Ideally you should get something like a Xantrex LinkLITE Battery Monitor to monitor the house battery to ensure it's charging properly and that you don't discharge it more than 50%. The battery monitor is a couple hundred dollars, but it's definitely worth it for high dollar batteries, and it'll pay for itself with cheap batteries when your cheap battery lasts 3 or 4 years instead of 18 months.
I do recommend using a battery mat under the house battery bank. It's a felt-looking absorbent material that soaks up and neutralizes any spilled electrolyte. Awesome stuff.
There's the Xantrex LinkPro for monitoring two battery banks (like on a boat), and the LinkLite for monitoring one bank. The LinkLite is all anyone out here needs. I'd recommend the Xantrex temperature sensor which monitors the temperature of the house battery, so that it's readings and calculations are more accurate due to temperature compensation. But it's certainly not needed.
You'll need the wiring to connect the monitor and shunt to the battery bank. Like the monitor itself, it's incredibly overpriced, but also like the monitor, worth every penny. If you're an electrician you don't need the kit, as you can just rig up any 3-pair twisted wire (6 wires) to connect things. But the connection kit comes with all the right connectors, fuses and color coded wire to make installation brain-dead simple.
BTW, I'm not necessarily recommending that any of that stuff be bought at those particular links. They may or may not be the cheapest at those links.
It actually won't cost you that much right now. You've already got the Buddy heater, so concentrate on the more important priorities for the moment.
First thing is to ensure that it's well insulated. It's a lot easier to do that before you do anything else, rather than trying to come back and deal with it later. Next figure out your layout for hauling freight, since that's the most important thing we do out here. Once that's laid out (first on paper, I'd recommend) you'll know what you have room for in a bed, where to put your house battery, wiring (and a busbar if you use one), inverter, battery monitor, where you're going to store clothes and stuff.
Get the plywood and the E-track down (they're cheap), then go from there.
One of the strangest things for me to comprehend with my big buddy is that it's designed to be able to be hung on the wall. For me, Hanging a flaming heat source on the wall just seems wrong haha
If you can find a place where it will be out of the way, hanging it on the wall is actually one of the best ideas. The part that actually touches the wall never gets hot so you don't have to worry about that, and securing the device so it won't move while you're driving makes a lot of good sense.
My math is fuzzy. Guess I'll go out and buy an Espar. Can someone loan me some dimes?
Murraycroexp
Veteran Expediter
I'll kick in a few.
Maverick
Seasoned Expediter
That's my route, currently. Laptop, vape batteries, fan, and a light. Use the rechargeable light for the most part. May install something later for better cargo lighting. It will be the cheapo secondary battery for now.
Plan right now is to use that passenger leg space for the batt. It needs to be encased in something with the cables to inverter running to back partition. Want easy access to the Inverter and figure I'll get the 1500 watt. It's location mount will be what used to be the area directly behind removed passenger seat.
Talking with Lakeshore for quote on Etrac and floor. It's just kicking me that it's not warm weather. I could be doing this myself.
I'll be insulating the bunk area only for now, using the moving blankets as curtain dividers. May run the blankets along the wall as well, in the freight area. Distinct line from high top mount to van body and it won't cost much to make those van walls presentable (I like blue) until we can do it right.
Waiting for call back from Lakeshore. Don't mean to hijack a thread with personal issue, but Turtle's on a roll. Blame him.
....I don't mind.
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Murraycroexp
Veteran Expediter
Hey, I like the idea of insulating with moving pads. Durable. Easy to run a metal screw and washer through to secure. Inexpensive. Transferable. Etc. Like.
Picturing Ovm outside in Walmart parking lot picking up loose change to help you out ...Moot .......lol
Sent from my SGH-M919 using EO Forums mobile app
Maverick
Seasoned Expediter
Thought that was you who gave me the idea? Or maybe that was our friend from Kentucky? Ole what's his name....with the hat. LOL
Murraycroexp
Veteran Expediter
It was. But my walls aren't insulated at all. I never thought about pads on the walls.
Kinda like at the crazy house. LOL!!
Kinda like at the crazy house. LOL!!
Yes, the 20# must be upside down.
Maverick
Seasoned Expediter
Someone told me you could refill them, and there's some special way to do it. It's a shame to throw these things away....and I personally would refill them from a 20, if an easy way was found. Waste of good steel, otherwise.
Don't like getting up at night to change em, but consider them much more apt to pass a cargo inspection and space saving properties. The 20 could ride on front or back?
There was a post in here .... Some guy posted how he did it.,. Iam not a search guru
YouTube has everything.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...TyO5HZ7fpPOgrpVZA&sig2=XtTNItebw_H9AwpvCoav7w
sent from my Fisher Price - ABC123
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...TyO5HZ7fpPOgrpVZA&sig2=XtTNItebw_H9AwpvCoav7w
sent from my Fisher Price - ABC123