mossemi

mlb3820 sold his Oliver in March of 2019 and hasn’t posted since and the website he linked to is dead. If you are looking for a timely response you might ask someone else your questions. Mossey

I do have 3 BB's in parallel and I knew that they didn’t support individual cell reporting, so I was looking for a solution to a single battery going bad and reporting it. You made me grab a meter a go test my batteries. Guess what I found, all 3 BB's read 13.09v. The Victron site mentions midpoint readings in series connected banks, but I couldn’t find any diagrams of midpoint testing for parallel banks. So I had to ask, because sometimes when I put my thinking cap on, I put it on backwards.☹️ Thanks for pointing out my mistake.👐👐. Now I can move onto figuring out how to get the vaccine out faster.

My 4/0 negative battery cable insulation was rubbed flat where my cable gland had failed. I tried to reuse the original gland, but every time I opened and closed the battery tray the gland nut would pop off. So I ordered and install a new gland and the same thing happened again. I finally came to the conclusion that the nylon threads were not holding up to the flex of the 4/0 cable. So I ordered the one below. And let me caution you, it takes three hands and persistence to replace those glands if needed. If you do replace the gland, just remove the small glands since you have already removed the 6 AWG cables. That will simplify the replacement. Mossey

So JD's screenshot of the individual cell voltages of one Victron battery caused me to put my thinking cap on. And I was wondering about midpoint battery monitoring with the Victron BMV. Right now I am using a temperature sensor instead of monitoring the midpoint of the battery string and I was trying to figure out the best place to monitor a battery string with 3 - 12v batteries and also continue to monitor the battery temperature. When I get my MPPT CC installed, I believe the temp sensor will communicate through the BMV with Smart Networking to the CC and optimize the battery charging. But the questions I am now trying to find the answer to is, since I don’t see how I can monitor both temperature and midpoint voltage from the BMV, could I add an Smart Battery Sense to provide voltage and temperature to the CC and wire the midpoint monitor to the BMV? And the second part of the question is, would this midpoint monitoring have provided an alarm or an alert to notify or prevent Jeff’s battery failure. Mossey

Is that picture you posted of your equipment or is it a stock photo from the internet? I only have the BMV-712 on air at this time, but I have fired up my new MPPT CC for testing which gives me 2 different Victron products to choose from within the VictronConnect app. So from my limited experience I believe the VictronConnect app screen shot you posted would be visible from the Victron Battery and not from the BMV. I do not believe that the Battle Born batteries provide individual cell voltage readings through the VictronConnect app. At least I have never seen BB cell voltages in the VictronConnect app. Maybe someone can correct my thinking. Mossey

JD, Please let Ian know the how much we appreciated his efforts in creating such an excellent Christmas present for you. He did an outstanding job. Mossey

I know JD answered you question, but here is a picture of the right side mounting rail. I reinstalled the tray just like the factory with original nuts and bolts, and new 3/16" x 1/2" SS rivets and a dab of 3M 4000. Mossey

I was counting on the flex of the conduit because the middle battery is shorter than the front and rear batteries. I may end up with a rubber spacer under the conduit or the middle battery to equalize the hieght. I didn’t want to use metal conduit or pipe unless I covered it with shrink wrap to prevent any opportunity for a short. There isn’t much of a lip on the edge of the battery to work with and a round object applies pressure at 6 and 8 o’clock to the batteries. I’ll see how it works on the road and keep my thinking cap on. I could see why Oliver used pop rivets in the front of the tray support angles when I took my tray out. There isn’t any access below the tray supports in that area, so I don’t know where the expanded portion of the rivet ended up when I drilled them out. Probably still sitting on top of the wheel well. It was a 2 person job to get the bolts back in during the re-installation. I did use 2" fender washers under the fiberglass. Mossey

Mike and Carol, Now that you have decided on 2 Battle Born batteries, you shouldn’t have a problem with the hold down strap hooks. You will have plenty of space. I placed my 2 BB's crosswise because I planned for a 3rd battery from the start. So I placed them in the center and used 1"x4" PVC board placed flat on the bottom of the tray in back of and in front of the batteries to keep them centered in the middle of the tray front to back. Then I placed 1"x4" and 1/4"x1.5" PVC board on edge creating a 1" spacer for each side to control side to side movement. I had less than 4000 miles of travel with that arrangement and did not see any damage to the battery cases. To the collective group: I just completed the 3rd battery addition and had to modify my original setup. The first thing I tried was removing the front spring latch rivets and re-installing them with the heads on the inside. That did remove the rivet bodies from inside the tray and gave me 3/16" of additional length in the tray, but that really wasn’t enough clearance for the strap hooks. So I moved the straps to go side to side instead of lengthwise. That position placed the straps in the gap between the batteries and I had to get creative. See the pictures and laugh all you want. And then offer up any suggestions you may have. Mossey

and a very merry Christmas to all! Mossey

This YouTube video, posted by Andersen shows how to straighten the whale tail by pullIng it straight with one chain connected beginning at the 2:12 mark. Which is basically the same thing you did with your tie down strap. So I don’t think you are doing anything wrong The method I use when I have ended up with the whale tail at an angle is to chock the wheels and raise the front of the trailer so I can back the ball under the Bulldog hitch about 2 to 3" to put the ball under the latch. This usually provides enough slack to connect the chains or put the whale tail back on. I then pull forward, lower the trailer on to the ball and finish connecting the trailer. Disclaimer: Do not back into your tow vehicle. Mossey

The James measurements match mine and that is an overall measurement of the portion that adheres to the wall. The pouch is about 1-7/8" deep inside and the large part of the pouch is 3-5/8” wide. The small part is 9/16” wide. My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S7. You can look at BB&B, but I haven’t seen any there in over a year. Last time I looked, they were available at their website. Or there is always Amazon. Mossey

Overland, that bath remodel was well worth the wait for me and I’m sure y'all are happy with the results. It is another example of your out of the box thinking. Congratulations on a job well thought out and executed. Now, about the bit of a spaceship vibe. I looked at all of the pictures first because I couldn’t wait any longer to see what you had come up with and then went back and read the text. The closet insulation and aluminum tape made me think of an old tv show, from 1965. Lost in Space Mossey

Mike, this picture concerns me. I suspect the battery to inverter cables have been rubbing in the holes out of the battery box. They should be inspected. Also check the red 6 AWG wire I circled, it looks like it may be damaged. It is either the Progressive Dynamics battery charger wire or the Blue Sky Charge Controller wire. I know the Blue Sky CC is a MPPT type controller, but I don’t know which model it is and if it supports LiFePO4 batteries. You should verify that before buying LiFePO4 batteries or plan on changing the CC. Mossey

This stuff is very tough and thin. Might do the job you described. Mossey

I use PVC lumber on the side of the battery tray like the factory did on my 4 lead acid 6v Trojan's. It comes in a variety of thicknesses. I also put a rubber pad in the bottom of the tray, but it was something I had in the shop. The product you posted should work fine. Mossey

I will help in any way possible, but I am a little too ADHD to write an “How To" on this subject. But I would suggest that you purchase this book to start with. And while you are waiting for it to arrive, watch some of Will Prowse's YouTube videos. I will suggest that you approach it slowly. And as Sherry suggested, remove the bad battery pair and take your AZ trip with the remaining 200+ Ah's of batteries and your generator. Who knows, you may find a great battery deal in Quartzite. By all means, disconnect the solar panels. You can cover the panels with blankets or disconnect them from the rooftop port. And trip the flag circuit breaker under the street side bed. I believe you should follow Overland's suggestion of eliminating most of the wiring in the battery box by using Buss bars inside. I am down to 3 wires/cables from the battery box to the inside, 1 battery +, 1 battery - and a battery temperature lead. Mossey

We rented a class C RV in Alaska in 1999. We spent 20 days touring state and even though it rained 19 of those days, we still had a great time. My brother had worked on the Trans-Alaska pipeline, so seeing the pipeline was a little special for me. We toured the oil storage facility in Valdez which is where the pipeline ended. While on the bus tour, the guide told a story about the inspection of the pipeline before it went into service. As the story goes, they used a mechanical device called a pig to inspect the welding on the inside of the pipeline. During the inspection, they found an anomaly on the inside wall of the pipe. So they sent a more sophisticated pig, capable of high quality pictures through the pipe. And when they reviewed the pictures, they found that someone had welded the outline of the state of Texas on the inside of the pipe. Now this caused the Texans on the bus to roar their approval. And then the tour guide noted that they could cut Alaska in half and make Texas the third largest state in America. So if everything is bigger in Texas, I guess everything is biggest in Alaska. 😂😂😂😂😂😂 Mossey

Thanks JD! I checked HD online for my local store and they had them in stock. They also had 8", 11" or 14" bags of 500 count for $8.88. I went and picked up a bag of the ones you referenced. They weren’t priced $9.88 on the shelf, but that was the price at checkout. Mossey

The jumper cables were already in my truck so I didn’t have to go to Wally World. Mossey

My backup plan consists of a set of jumper cables. Mossey

My backup plan consists of a set of jumper cables. Mossey

I think I understand your question, but maybe not. The battery box and the pantry base has an air space around it that is about 1" to 2" in various locations. I don’t think a backing plate it the battery box would work because of that space, it would compress too much. The backing plate would need to be between the inner and outer hulls. I have gotten my hand up in the area between the bed and pantry to replace a cable gland. It was a struggle, but persistence paid off. So if you are trying to place the Lagun mount in the aisle, you would need to work from the access cover under the bed and see if you can get you hand and arm up in that area to hold the backing plate, washers and nuts in place while inserting a bolt through the table mount. My inverter would be in the way of accessing that area so I would remove it to increase the work area. It’s doable, just not as easy as the nightstand or under the bed overhang areas. Although I haven’t worked with the 8020 equipment, it seems that you are only limited by your imagination. Mossey

JD, I saw a statement today indicating that MC4 connectors should never be used inside a vehicle. They did not elaborate on their point of view, but it made me think about your desire to eliminate the Zamp roof cap SAE connections. I think you could replace the SAE port with a stainless fender washer and gasket and mount a bulkhead MC4 connector to it. Just thinking out loud! Mossey

I am guessing that you are based Florida. You may be aware of this, but maybe not. Mossey