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BBL

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Everything posted by BBL

  1. Thank you John - during our trip I made the suggestion we put 2023 behind us and start 2024 early so we are thinking along the same lines. I appreciate it brother. Brian
  2. Thank you SO much, would wish this on anyone. Brian
  3. @Ollie-Haus Chris - great idea, I also like the idea that the porch lights stay bright for looking outside when boon docking. BTW - we were just on a trip to VA to go to my mom's funeral and "Whitezilla" died hard! Engine failure on the 7.3L. We were fortunate that we were 2 miles from a Ford dealer and they took us right in but unfortunately, the engine will have to be replaced and the truck is 6 hours from home. I had to rent a ridiculous F-350 dually with the turbo diesel and a long bed @ $900/week to get to VA and back. Then we had to tow the trailer all the way to TN and then drive the truck all the way back to London, KY to drop it off (had to drop it where we rented it) and then rent a car to go back to TN while we wait for the new engine. It seems the lifter on #3 CYL kept sticking and it would cause the exhaust valve to stay open resulting in a #3 CYL misfire. I chased that for several months by changing plugs, wires, and even a coil pack for #3 then it finally showed why it was doing that when the lifter froze and caused the push rod to bend resulting in a horrible noise. I was hoping it was a rocker arm or something similar and easy to fix but NO. The dealership, and two others I have talked to, said this is the first engine failure they have seen on a 7.3L gas. Not sure if that makes me feel special or just unlucky. I will post a report on the Tremor forums as see if anyone has had a similar experience but haven't seen anything there so far like this. Cheers, Brian
  4. We camped at Redstone Arsenal this past week to attend the Huntsville Hamfest. Redstone is an Army facility with over 140 spaces. They are all 24 feet wide by 45' deep with W/S/E(50/30/20). Spent several days in the area and one day "geeking out" at the Hamfest. It's only $25 per night flat rate but you have to be active duty, retired, 100% disabled, etc. to use it.
  5. I recently opened a ticket for two (2) lights I was having issues with. OTT replaced both. BL
  6. Toy Hauler would be nice! My "RT" with my wife on Tail of the Dragon (TN side) and my primary ride now, a Trek Fuel 8, in Dead Horse Canyon SP, UT.
  7. I could tell that one was a K-1600 by the six tubes in the rear. We went to the BMW International rallies in Hamburg, NY; Salt Lake City, UT and Lebanon, TN -- all good times. One year on our anniversary my wife surprised me with the two-day riders program down at the BMW facility in Greensboro, SC! That course was amazing and we did things on motorcycles I previously did not think possible. No matter what your experience level, that course will make you better! BL
  8. Agreed Steve - my first accident was a hit and run. The driver was cutting a corner really close and I guess he didn't see me until he hit my rear wheel sending me and the bike flying. The second one was on my wife's very first ride ever on a motorcycle and we had been out all day touring the Skyline Drive in VA when we a kamikaze deer hit us at 65 mph! That one was not fun but I didn't drop the bike, I credit physics (HD Ultra Classic v. deer) and the good Lord above for that one. BL
  9. Max - which is yours? The Beemer, the HD or the GW? I am not riding anymore (for now) but I have over 250k miles between HD and BMW, a GW might be in my future but with all the insane drivers out there I am not sure I want to deal with them. BL
  10. We are headed to FL in Nov and will stay down there until around mid-Jan, depending on how we feel. For the bulk of our stay, we have reservations at Key West Naval Air Station - Sigsbee Annex but we will be staying at various sites around FL. I was stationed there (Cocoa Beach) while in the AF. Let us know what your plans are. We picked ours up in March and really love it. We are recovering Airstream owners.... Cheers, Brian PS - I rode HD motorcycles for 16 years and BMW for 5 years. Have over 250,000 miles on those two brands, have survived TWO motorcycle accidents (neither my fault) and decided to hang up the helmets before I get too injured to enjoy camping and travel.
  11. It is of interest, we are just trying to decide if we want the under-mount, like yours or the top mount just under the cabinet door. Thank you! Brian
  12. Nice work, is your light switch up under the cabinet? If so, did the shower rod get in the way or is it low enough to get your fingers through? Thanks - Brian
  13. Hey man, catching up on some old posts. We are looking at installing a shower curtain rod and yours looks perfect. Where did you get this one? Thanks for the detail in your post. Appreciate anything you can share. Brian
  14. Rich - on my charger that setting is "Disabled" but if I go to turn it on, the 41 degrees shows up. This is how Oliver set it up and they got the settings from Lithionics. I am assuming it is that way because the batteries have a built in battery heater. The battery spec says the heater will shut off when temperature reaches 40 degrees. I am ok with these settings, they make sense to me. Regards, BL
  15. Lithionics batteries have ON/OFF switches so you can turn the battery itself OFF for storage. I think that is a nice feature and it's good when you want to do work around the battery. BL
  16. Keep in mind, unlike Battleborn batteries, the Lithionics batteries have built in BT so I can always check the SOC for each battery individually if I think something is not working properly. BL
  17. And @SeaDawg Yes, I have a BMV-712 and could have added the temp sensor, as mentioned before, I assessed this and determined this to be a better path. If you watch the Victron video I linked in my original post, the objective is to give the MPPT Solar Charger the most accurate temperature of the battery and the voltage "at the battery terminals" to provide the most accurate picture for charging. To answer another question, the current trailers are being delivered with a Victron BMV-712 with BT and a Victron Solar MPPT Charge controller with BT so now there are THREE Victron components that show up in my app (including the Smart Sense). BL
  18. For banks of batteries Smart Battery Sense may be connected to any one of the individual batteries. From the Victron users manual. Only need to wire to one battery to achieve desired results. BL
  19. Yes, I agree and I keep mine topped off when camping. I installed an RV electrical panel on my shop so it does stay plugged in most of the time. The Xantrex Charger/Inverter will keep them topped whether I like it or not while at home so I occasionally un-plug and run the a/c to "exercise" the batteries. The Smart Battery Sense only applies to the solar charging. The Xantrex uses its own charging profiles. BL
  20. Thanks for the details, I saw the one about the BMV-712 and was looking into ADDING the temperature sensor (not included in the OTT install) and decided this was the easiest path for me. BL
  21. Chris - I completely agree. Use-case example; we were traveling over the 4th of July weekend and found ourselves in Bowling Green, KY without a reservation for the night. It was one of the hottest days of the year (July 2) and I saw a Cabellas and made the comment, we can stay there for free and there are restaurants all around it so we can go out to dinner. A little hesitation on her part but she said, ok. There were 2 other campers there and we found a nice spot, went in to talk to the manager and they were like heck yeah. We went out to dinner and came back to the trailer around 9:30pm, it was still 89 outside. We ran the a/c all night long and when I got up around 0630 we still had 68% remaining battery!! Now THAT is impressive! BL
  22. Totally agree Chris, buyers remorse is for soft people LOL -- first observation. For weeks now, my batteries have been at 99% and within 24 hours of installing this little guy, they now show 100%. You should have seen the spousal eye-roll when I shared that little nugget... BL
  23. That is correct in order for you to read how much current you are drawing on your entire system. As you mentioned, minimal current draw so no factor there. The important thing is to provide an accurate temp and voltage reading to the MPPT so that it can provide the correct charging profile at all times. Good observation though. BL
  24. I found this item on the Victron website under "Accessories" and thought I would give it a try. It is called the Victron Smart Sense and is only $40 on amazon. Watch the Victron video HERE. This was a very easy installation and completely makes sense to provide Voltage and Temperature feedback to the MPPT charge controller to optimze charging. It uses a private virtual network to communicate. Not sure if it has improved my situation but man, do I feet good about myself...lol LINK to view product on Amazon BL
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