Time for Some 2015 185RB Baja Repairs & Upgrades

[Charles in WV]

Woops, forgot pictures.
Charles

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by Charles in WV

Bob,
More update on gas fridge. We took 9 day trip to bluegrass festival end of July and returned Aug. 9. Fridge worked good for 4 days then crashed again. I am convinced it has been overheated by previous owner which crystallizes the chromium rust inhibitor inside system. Couldn't get it to work till after the ride home. (200+ miles) Hooked it up and it took a entire day to cool. And still not as good as before.
I contacted Truckfridge in Georgetown KY and they had a T130 4.4cu ft 12v/120v that will fit into cabinet in trailer. All active electrical is in top rear right if facing front. Got it for $983 including tax. We drove to get it 2 days ago and it is sitting in basement waiting to get installed. Attached are pictures. It is an Indel B design from Italy. Gonna go with solar and Lithium now to beef up the power after installing.
Charles in WV

Would love to hear how it works for the long run, especially the 12v side while boondocking.

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by Bob K

When I first installed the LiFePO4 batteries, Battle Born told me that my existing WFCO 8735 charge controller, which is designed for lead acid batteries, would get the lithium batteries to somewhere around 80-90% SOC. That doesn't seem to be coming true so far. The operating voltages on the lithium batteries just seem to be too high to send the appropriate demand signal to the WFCO charge controller

I figured I'd get a bit more predictable performance out of the WFCO 8735 charger as it charges LiFePO4 batteries. Yes, yes...I know it's not designed to charge lithium batts to full capacity, but it's all supposed to be about voltages so whatever it does, it should consistently do the same thing each time, right?. At this point, I've given up understanding how it actually performs. In contrast to that first test I ran where I barely got 34% SOC on the batteries, this time the charger kicked on as soon as I plugged it in after I returned home from a week of boondocking even though the batts were at 89% SOC and 13.42v. It continued to charge for nearly 6 hours until the batts were nearly full.






That upgraded WFCO or Progressive Dynamics lithium-capable power distribution center is looking more and more tempting each day.

[Charles in WV]

Bob,
Got the new fridge installed and running now. It is only hooked to 120 at the moment but is cooling good. Talked with the distributor in Georgetown, KY today and got some ideas about how to keep efficiency at top. They said to put foam insulation under the vents as it doesn't need the extra air when staying in it if I want. It draws air from undersides to top with the fan and pushes out at top into the living space thru small grill. The built in inverter makes its own 12v DC current from 120 when hooked up to 120 while camping. Can also run on 12v from battery. Both at rate of 45W. I took some after install pictures and will attach them. Will let you know how it does. We had storm Fred go thru last night and didn't get to work on it last night or this morning. Did all the cutting on left side of cabinet. 1/2" removed and made clearance for each screw head on both sides. Really looks nice in there. And BIG.
Charles in WV

[vwnut]

Not meaning to hijack your post but wanted to ask about the fresh water tank in your 185RB Baja.

In your "Locking Fresh Water Cap Fail" post you show the fresh water fill vs the tank inlet. I have a 2013 185RB with the same tank inlet location. The spec on my fresh water capacity is 25 gallons which includes 6 gallons of hot water. My fresh water fill is almost level with the tank inlet so at best I would only be able to fiil the tank to the bottom of the inlet. The tank capacity if full to the top would give me 20 gallons but to the bottom of the inlet would be just under 17 1/2 gallons.

All the years they produced the standard 185 the capacity spec stayed the same. Did the "Baja" increase the usable capacity with a bigger tank, or was the fresh water fill just too low in the wall on all the 185's

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by vwnut

All the years they produced the standard 185 the capacity spec stayed the same. Did the "Baja" increase the usable capacity with a bigger tank, or was the fresh water fill just too low in the wall on all the 185's

The specs for the 2015 185RB Baja say it's a larger 35-gallon freshwater tank. Because of the position of the fill tube on the side of the tank, I don't think I could completely fill the tank either, even with the fill port sitting a little bit higher on the outside of the trailer.


I'm investigating 2 potential solutions for the long run. First is a SpinWeld tool that melts new fittings into the tank.
https://www.toyhaulertanks.com/produ...-spinweld-tool

Second method uses a standard bulkhead fitting but melts the plastic a bit in order to provide a tight seal once the plastic cools.
https://youtu.be/zKUPUFq9oq0?t=133

If I can move the connection to someplace else on the tank, I might be able to devise a solution.

[Charles in WV]

Bob,
I have the same "too low" gravity fill inlet. The way the vent is on mine, I'm probably 4 gallons short in the fresh tank. Mine is a 2014 184bh. You loose 3 or 4 gallons out the vent in the curves if filling it full.

Update on the fridge. Haven't been out camping but it is great. At inside temps 95° and outside temps 88° it has been dead on 34° in fridge and -2 to -8 in the small freezer. 4 cu ft of fridge and .2 cu ft of freezer. No freezing of anything inside bottom to top. And barely hear it running. As I said before it runs on 45 watts 12v or 120v so should be easy on batts or solar. And no difference when traveling. So no worry about spoiled food.

Still looking at the solar and Lithiums but not there yet. Are you still able to get 98% out of the controller in your trailer?
Charles in WV

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by Charles in WV

Are you still able to get 98% out of the controller in your trailer?

No. It's totally random and inconsistent. I returned from a trip with the bank at 56% SOC. I plugged the trailer into shore power and the charger did...nothing. It's putting a whopping .21a into the bank. I'd guess it has dropped into float charge mode due to the bank's 13.21v.


The Victron BlueSmart and Orion chargers still do my primary charging until I decide if/when I want to upgrade the trailer's power center.

[Bob K]

Ever since I purchased the trailer, I noticed that the black tank didn't seem to want to drain completely. There always seemed to be 1 or 2 gallons left over after dumping. I thought I might have a clog, which is why I bought the sewer jetter kit and cleaned out the tank. However, after a recent dump there still seemed to be a gallon or more left in the tank (by observing down through the toilet). That's a significant disadvantage in a tank that's only 9 gallons to start with. I thought I might still have a clog or maybe the discharge pipe was hooked up incorrectly. I had already gotten a few pieces of rubbery caulking out of the tank:


Time for an endoscope and a colonoscopy.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MV6X4M4


The endoscope worked o.k. Picture quality was good, but the stiffness of the wire made it difficult to get it down through the toilet, bend 90° and then run in a straight line to get over to the discharge pipe. Since I couldn't get close to the pipe, the built-in LEDs didn't work so well, so I had to put an auxiliary light down through the hole, too. The wire was also too stiff to go through the drain end and turn the two 90° corners to get into the tank.

I was happy to discover that the discharge pipe was indeed attached at the very bottom of the tank, so there was no real dam for the water to overcome. Plus there are no clogs of any sort. (Top is bottom in this picture because the camera is upside down.)


I'll spare you the other pictures, but this one indicates that I still have some struvite buildup on the tank walls, so future use of the sewer jetter kit will be a good thing.


The camera confirms that the bottom of the tank just sags a little bit so water collects in that saggy bottom. In the future I'll have to put the passenger side up on the RapidJack or find a sloped dumpsite if I want to get a complete empty of the black tank.

All in all, I'm glad I did the inspection. As the second owner, I just didn't know what the condition of the blank tank was. Now I have a good visual baseline.

If anyone is near southeast Wyoming and needs to perform a trailer colonoscopy, give a holler! You're welcome to use the endoscope.

[Bob K]

I finished up the marker light job. The new LEDs are certainly brighter than the old incandescent lights with faded lenses.

The Partsam marker lights are nice because they're double bullseye, so more LEDs. The one downside is that the wires exit out of the bottom right rather than the center of the light. That puts them at odds with the existing center holes in my trailer.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01ET1O3TO


Fortunately, that wasn't too difficult to fix. Drill a hole in the back just below the center mounting posts. Then push the wires up and out of their existing hole. The wires are stiff enough to thread them underneath the circuit board and into the new center hole. (Leave the insulation on while you do that.) I found it easiest to thread the black wire first followed by the red wire.


Voilà! The light is ready for mounting. The Partsam screw pattern is a direct match to the OEM Commander lights, so replacement was straightforward and I reused the mounting screws. I used Wago lever connectors rather than wire nuts to attach the new lights, and I'm never going back!
https://www.amazon.com/221-412-2-Con.../dp/B00JB3U7Y6


They're definitely cleaner and brighter than the old incandescent lights.

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by Bob K

6 AWG covered the DC to DC charger circuit (as specified by the install instructions). The 6 AWG wire from the TV will go through Anderson style plugs and through one of the conduit holes in the front frame.

A lesson learned here after the Victron DC to DC charger install.

The installation manual calls for 16mm2 (about 6AWG) wire for distances up to 10 meters. I have 30 feet distance (9.1 meters) from my tow vehicle battery to the Orion charger.


Unfortunately, that "10 meters" is only the length of the positive wire, not the entire circuit length. I missed that in the photo. Because I'm using the Orion Isolated DC to DC charger, positive and negative wires run from the TV battery all the way back to the Orion charger in the trailer. That means my total circuit length is 60 feet, not 30 feet.

As a result of the smaller gauge wire, I'm getting about a .8 volt drop along that 60-foot circuit. With the battery (and alternator) at, say, 13.6 volts, the Vin input voltage to the Orion charger is only 12.8, which limits its ability to output its full 30 amps to the battery bank. I confirmed this by probing the circuit with the multimeter at various connections along its length. It still works, but it automatically (and correctly) de-rates its output.


Next time, I need to keep in mind the total circuit length when choosing wire size. Had I done that--and depending on which calculator I used--I would have installed 1,2 or 3 AWG wire. I'll probably upgrade the wire at some point so that I can get closer to the rated 30-amp output from the Victron Orion.

[ttavasc]

Originally Posted by Bob K

A lesson learned here after the Victron DC to DC charger install.

The installation manual calls for 16mm2 (about 6AWG) wire for distances up to 10 meters. I have 30 feet distance (9.1 meters) from my tow vehicle battery to the Orion charger.
Attachment 75498

Unfortunately, that "10 meters" is only the length of the positive wire, not the entire circuit length. I missed that in the photo. Because I'm using the Orion Isolated DC to DC charger, positive and negative wires run from the TV battery all the way back to the Orion charger in the trailer. That means my total circuit length is 60 feet, not 30 feet.

As a result of the smaller gauge wire, I'm getting about a .8 volt drop along that 60-foot circuit. With the battery (and alternator) at, say, 13.6 volts, the Vin input voltage to the Orion charger is only 12.8, which limits its ability to output its full 30 amps to the battery bank. I confirmed this by probing the circuit with the multimeter at various connections along its length. It still works, but it automatically (and correctly) de-rates its output.
Attachment 75500

Next time, I need to keep in mind the total circuit length when choosing wire size. Had I done that--and depending on which calculator I used--I would have installed 1,2 or 3 AWG wire. I'll probably upgrade the wire at some point so that I can get closer to the rated 30-amp output from the Victron Orion.

I have ~27 feet of 2 gauge for the positive run from the TV battery to the Andersen Powerpole at the rear. This is routed through an ignition-switched solenoid by the battery. However, for ground I used an existing hole next to the Andersen Powerpole to connect a short 2 gauge ground back to the frame. I used 6 gauge for the umbilical from the Orion-TR Smart - I think ~5 feet or so to match the length of the 7-pin.

There is no discernable drop in voltage between the TV battery and the Andersen at the rear. If you are not happy with the long 6 gauge run it would certainly resolve the issue by swapping it for 2 gauge. If you consider using the ground chassis return as opposed to the full length negative run I'd verify that the existing ground connection from the battery to the chassis is sufficient for the added load.

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by ttavasc

If you are not happy with the long 6 gauge run it would certainly resolve the issue by swapping it for 2 gauge. If you consider using the ground chassis return as opposed to the full length negative run I'd verify that the existing ground connection from the battery to the chassis is sufficient for the added load.

Those are two fantastic ideas. I like the idea of running just a positive line back to the Anderson plug and then grounding to the frame back there. I'll also need to upgrade the ground from the battery to the chassis. Thanks. That'll save me from buying a long run of #2 ground wire, too.

[Charles in WV]

Bob,
We are on 3rd day of 5 day trip. In campground with full hookups. New fridge is great. 36 - 38 degrees all the way here (4.5 hrs on 88° day). Little freezer 0°. Fully loaded with food all the way. And truck kept battery topped up and ran the Dometic CF-50 freezer and kept it froze solid too. 90° out on day 1 and 88° today.
Next stop home and get to work on the Renogy 200w kit and battery upgrade before deer season.

Charles in WV

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by Charles in WV

Bob,
And truck kept battery topped up and ran the Dometic CF-50 freezer and kept it froze solid too.

Were you just using the power supply through the 7-prong plug or did you install a supplemental DC to DC charger?

[Charles in WV]

Just powered battery in camper thru the 7 prong. Indel B fridge is wired direct to the camper deep cycle and converter is keeping battery recharged. I ran a 10/3 SOW cable to fridge compartment from the deep cycle. 15 ft cable and no voltage drop when running on battery and not hooked to the truck. Showed 12.8 at batt and fridge when not hooked to 120v at house or truck. 13.6 when converter is plugged to house and fridge is running, trucks voltmeter shows solid 14.2 on dash with all lights on and driving with fridge and freezer running.
Fridge is a watt miser. 45w when running and it's led interior light is on. 3.75 amps and freezer is 5 amps on 12 volt cord.
Charles in WV

[Charles in WV]

Bob,
Did you determine along the way with power conversion to Lithium what the parasitic load on the batteries was from the original WFCO power converter? Need to add that into my figures for power consumption in planning my battery bank.

Charles in WV

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by Charles in WV

Bob,
Did you determine along the way with power conversion to Lithium what the parasitic load on the batteries was from the original WFCO power converter?

I'm not sure I understand your question. Are you asking if the original DC converter draws a parasitic charge off of the new lithium batts?

[Charles in WV]

Yes, on whatever batteries it is hooked to. Do you know what the drain wattage would be to run the converter ?

[Bob K]

Originally Posted by Charles in WV

Yes, on whatever batteries it is hooked to. Do you know what the drain wattage would be to run the converter ?

Just to be sure we're using the same terms:

Converter: Converts AC to DC.
Inverter: Converts DC to AC.

I don't believe a properly functioning converter (like the WFCO 8735) within the typical RV power distribution center draws any DC current from the batts in order to function. If functioning properly, all it does is take AC shore power and convert it to DC to power the DC side of the RV (along with charging the batts.)

In my particular situation, since the WFCO 8735 isn't compatible with lithium batts, I get random charging behavior out of it. I've also noticed that, even when I'm plugged into shore power, the DC side of the RV (lights, etc.) seem to get power by the batts rather than by the converter onboard the WFCO 8735. My battery SOC drops notably each day even when I'm plugged into shore power. I'd guess that's because the lithium batts normally sit at a higher DC voltage than what the WFCO 8735 puts out.

Am I helping at all??