Snackchaser

Mossey, Your thoughts are correct, up to the point about a junction in the load side of the switch. The load side wire from the porch switch disappears into the wall behind the switch panel in a tightly tangled mass of wires and junctions that are stuffed into a space too small. Without disturbing the wires too much, I’ve probed with an inspection mirror and I’m certain there is no junction or splice on that wire. It probably runs through the gap between the outer and inner walls to the nearest porch light by the door, then daisy chains to the other lights from there. At some point the wires need to cross over to the street side. I hoped to find it within a wire bundle in the attic or basement. But they also could have run it through the gap between the ceiling and roof where they ran the wiring for the ceiling lights, they even stuffed the crimped splices into that gap. The ground wire must take the same path in the opposite direction, originating from the ground bus. There are also wire bundles that run along the bottom back of the shelves, it could be there. But I’m not crazy about breaking into them without better intelligence. Anyway, I guess we're still no further ahead on the wiring side of the problem. Geoff

That's a great idea! I'm going to look into the lamin-x, but not the z-bar just yet. I can't cut the wires as suggested either. There's no way to reach them without removing the fixture, and I'm not confident the fixture can be removed without damage. My experience with one of the puc lights is that it was short wired with no slack for a splice. Had to solder extension wires to very short stubs, very sketchy. I'm afraid these lights are the same way. It turned out to be easy to check the ground wires with a clamp-on amp meter, and I quickly found the ground for the porch lights. Unfortunately all four lights were on the same loop so no luck with that idea. They are nice lights, just wish they could be switched off at times. So I'm still hoping someone will find the correct wire.

Thanks, that's a handy chart! You really have to be careful using on-line calculators because some specify "one-way," and others leave you guessing. You can see by their wiring diagram that a one-way measurement may not be accurate, and just 5 feet can make a difference.

No, most electrical is under the dinette except the master switch panel by the door. There is a lot of wire passing through the attic though, and Iv'e checked a lot of them with a clamp-on amp meter looking for those lights. At this point I'm convinced the wire is routed around the front through the bathroom area where it would be much harder to isolate. That electrical drawing shows it in the front too. Geoff

I agree with everyone that this is most likely a battery problem. The flucuating voltage confirms it, and when you are plugged into shore power everything was working fine from the charger/converter. Corroded terminals could defiantly cause the problems you described. With any sign of corrosion, all the connections should be cleaned and wire brushed because some of the oxidation can't be seen and it will cause high resistance connections. Hopefully that solves the problem, but keep in mind that the batteries could be so deeply discharged that it may take a while to bring them back. If that does't work, then you could have a battery with an internal short when under load. This is common and a voltage test may not see it. You might have to disconnect each battery and load test them individually. Harbor Freight carries cheap load testers, but battery shops usually have better ones. Only after that would I be looking in other places for the problem. Cheers and good luck! Geoff

Patrick, Nicely done! I've already printed it up for the Oliver file. After a recent close call, I'm trying to better document all the crazy mods I've done for the next guy. This drawing will help in that regard, to sketch-in the changes. Thanks, Geoff

I don’t like to open old sores, but I was wondering if anyone ever figured out how to fix this continuing annoyance? I’ve done some poking around at different times trying to find the wires that feed those street side porch lights. The curb side switch-leg wire is behind the main switch panel, but Iv’e never been able determine where it splits off to feed the street side. I even tried a signal tracer with no luck. I once had an idea to install magnetic reed switches inside the light fixtures to turn them off with a magnet from the outside. I painfully took one of the siliconed lenses off, but I couldn’t remove the main fixture because of the super adhesive they used. Besides that, the wires were too short to splice. That plan was nixed, and I hope that the LEDs never burn out. Another idea was to 3D scan the fixture and print blackout covers for them, but I don’t have those skills either. There is good wiring diagram for the two-switch lights in this thread, and I just realized they have separate ground loops. I bet the one-switch versions also have separate ground loops for wire economy, and that's where a second switch could be wired in. I'll eventually current check each of the many yellow ground bus wires to find out. Meanwhile, has anyone else have any luck with this problem? Cheers! Geoff

Hi Christophe, I'll give it a try. Have fun! https://a.co/d/bZozQwR Mini Time delay relay https://a.co/d/gNjuq6R Universal programer https://a.co/d/ecvI5cW Victron DC to DC converter Cheers! Geoff

Dave, I didn't do a great job at answering your question, so here is some better detail . #6 is the correct minimum wire size for a 30 amp charger, which would be a small charger for your battery. Verify which PD model you ordered because the higher amperage models charge faster, but they require larger wire. There are on-line “dc” calculators to determine minimum wire size based on amps, volts, and length of cable. I ran the numbers for the PD 30, 45, 60, and 80 amp lithium chargers. This was based on an guess-estimated one-way cable run of 8’, and a targeted voltage drop of less than 2%, these are the results: 30 amps = #6 awg 45 amps = #4 awg 60 amps = #3 awg 80 amps = #2 awg These numbers might vary slightly depending on the actual wire length and other factors, but if in doubt, go large! I hope this helps. Cheers! Geoff

I was recently asked about Oliver’s Email offering of a DC to DC charger, how long it takes to charge, and whether it’s worth it. I can provide thoughts about the one I installed, but I don’t know anything about what Oliver is doing. This seemed to be a good topic for the forum because it would nice to find out more details of what Oliver is installing, and what other folks think about it. I think the DC to DC chargers are great if there is limited solar, no hook-ups, and you are frequently driving. I don’t think they are good for regular battery charging while parked, but they are a great emergency back-up if needed. If you use a lot of power like TV, internet, toasters, hair dryers, microwaves, cappuccino machines, etc., it’s nice to know that you will be charging on the way to the next camp. Charging times depend on a lot of factors. But for a rough idea, a typical factory setup with 340 watt solar panels puts out roughly 26 amps, which theoretically can charge the 390 amp hour battery from 0% to 100% in about 15 hours, or 7.5 hours from 50% to 100%. A 30 amp DC/DC charger would take about 13 or 6.5 hours respectively, if my math is right. Of course I don’t know how many amps Oliver's DC to DC charger is. I installed a Victron 30 amp DC/DC charger because the solar was not keeping up with my old power hungry Starlink, and the battery would run down after a few days. I originally assumed it was a lack of sun for the solar, but it later turned out that the solar charger had become disconnected somewhere in my travels. After re-connecting it, I realized that the solar probably would have easily kept up with the Starlink, particularly with the new ones that don’t use that much power. Please don’t ask me why I didn’t recognize this problem sooner. . . I don’t have a good answer. My other justification for a DC/DC charger was air-conditioning. Although the ac can run from the battery, it’s only for short periods. We plan on doing some desert boondocking and my idea is to run the ac from the DC/DC charger while driving - so that the trailer will be cool when we get to camp. It works, but it still uses a little battery juice also. It’s nice to have a cool trailer for camp set-up, but a generator is still needed for long periods in hot weather. IDK, it might be a bad idea. FYI, I added cooling fans on my Victron DC/DC charger because it derates 3% for every degree over 104 to the point where it shuts down. That would likely happen in the desert and I could end up draining the battery with the ac running while driving down the road. See my “More DC to DC charger installation Tidbits” post for details on the fans. Anyway, I’m interested to hear others thoughts on this because it's becoming a growing trend. Cheers, Geoff

I'm no expert, but If you're not installing an inverter, then minimum wire size would be dictated by your Progressive Dynamics charger output which is probably around 60 to 90 amps depending on the model. I’d personally go with 4/0 wire. This will cover large amperage chargers and/or an inverter if you ever wanted to upgrade. I think Oliver uses 4/0 in their lithium systems. Is the BlueSky charge controller for solar? If so, then it's probably around 30 amps for a 340 watt panel. You can re-use your #6 wire for that. Battery shops or Battery Cables USA will custom make different size/length cables with straight or 90 degree lugs. Plan your run, measure lengths and verify the stud sizes you need, probably all 3/8”. For cost perspective, I ordered a 24” x 4/0 cable with lugs in January for $30 including shipping. 2/0 was a couple of dollars cheaper per foot. I also highly recommend that you install a Victron smart shunt on the negative lead so you will know your battery charge percentage level. Something to think about if your ordering pre-made cables. They use 3/8 studs too. Hope this helps, Geoff

Yes you could wire the relay coil directly from the “7-blade hitch connectors” 12v+ black wire (Same wire I referred to as Pin-4). However this wire becomes energized when the hitch connecter is plugged into the TV, running or not This creates a parasite drain from both the relay and camera that could rundown the TV battery if left connected for long periods. If you were to do this, remember to unplug and use the Solid State Relay because of their low power consumption. For similar reasons, this modification won’t work if pin-4 is connected to the trailers battery charging system, such as with lead acid batteries, because Pin-4 is always energized either from the trailer battery or the TV charging. Good idea for the reverse wiring, if you only use the camera for backing up. We mostly use the Oliver camera for checking the bikes. We have another high resoulution camera that displays on the TV rearview mirror that we use for backing up and lane changing. It's an awesome feature for towing. Cheers, Geoff

It seems like every time we really needed the rear view camera, we had forgotten to switch it on before leaving. This modification turns the camera on automatically whenever the trailer is connected to the Tow Vehicle and the engine is running. The main camera switch will also continue to work as normal if ever needed. This is done by using an “Engine-on Detector Switch” that turns-on when there is an increase of voltage in the Tow Vehicles 12 Vdc charging circuit (Pin-4 of the 7-Pin wiring harness). When the detector turns-on, it supplies 12Vdc to a solid-state relay, which then supplies 12Vdc to the camera. The switch and solid-state relay are inexpensive, and the wiring is fairly simple. However, this will only work on trailers with lithium batteries where the TV charging circuit is not connected. This is typically the case for trailers with lithium batteries because they can draw more charging current than the wire is rated for. In Oliver trailers with factory installed lithium batteries, the (Pin-4) charging wire is capped-off and sticking out of a wire bundle next to the inverter. It’s a black #10 wire. Start by removing the two small lag bolts holding the right side-board of the attic cabinet. This gives access to the camera wiring, it’s a coil of small black jacketed cable with red and black wires. A brown wire from the camera’s on/off switch is connected to the camera’s red wire. From the same attic area, you can get a fish tape down between the walls and into the outside storage garage. There is a clear shot from the right of the drain tube. Pull a single new wire from the attic to the garage, then along the garage ceiling and into the area under the rear seat where the new switch and relay can be mounted. One end of the new wire will be spliced into the brown wire from the camera switch, and the other end goes to the relay’s Normally Open switch. Find the “spared” Pin-4 wire, as described above, and the new relay and engine switch can be mounted near by. I attached my switch and relay next to my Starlink power supply and added a brass strip as a ground bus. However the relay and switch are small and they could mounted any number of ways. See the sketch for wiring details. Note: The Engine-on Detector Switch and the relay is powered from the TV (Pin-4) The relay powers the camera from the same circuit that it currently uses to prevent cross feeding of circuits. In my trailer, this was the fuse labeled “Electronics” in the 12 Vdc fuse panel under the dinette. I used a “Y” spade fitting to connect a new wire to the fuse in tandem with the existing wire, or they could be spliced together. Both the relay and switch are connected to the negative ground bus under the rear dinette seat. Amazon shopping list: IJDMTOY LED Daylight DRL Automatic On/Off Switch Controller ONO DPST 8 Amp Power Relay Module AIRIC 1/4 inch Split Cable Sleeve 36 Piece Electrical Spade Connectors (Auto part stores usually have them too) I hope someone finds this useful Cheers! Geoff

Hi Randy, I’d be happy to help you, and the first thing that comes to mind is polarity. Some of the SAE solar connectors are intentionally wired backwards for specific solar chargers. In fact you can get polarity reversing connectors for them. Check that out first thing. However, I’m a little confused that your using an SAE to RJ45 adapter? We should first confirm that you're hooking up a “Starlink Mini,” which is completely different from other Starlink units. The Starlink Mini has an RJ45 connection, but it's not a power connection. You must use the 5.5mm barrel power cord. Other Starlink units are powered differently and this modification will not work for them. There are 5.5mm to SAE adapters that could be used in your application, if you are in fact powering a Starlink Mini. The picture shows one from Ebay with a polarity reverser included. I hope this helps and please feel free to contact me privately is you have more questions. Cheers, Geoff

The closet ceiling light works well for the top shelfs, but hanging clothes can block the light from reaching the floor where we keep shoes and other things. It’s fairly simple to install more lighting at the base of the closet, and not much more work to install a cabinet door switch that turns them on automatically. To light the bottom of the closet, I used two overlapping 13” long LED bar lights that were mounted out-of-sight below the door. Since the inside front wall of the closet is 3/4” thick melamine hardboard, 1/2” sheet metal screws can be used for mounting the lights, switch bracket and wire clamps. The melamine must be predrilled for the screws. I used a piece of aluminum angle to make a bracket for the cabinet light switch and mounted it at the top right corner of the cabinet door. A wooden block could also be used. The wires were sheathed in 1/4” split braided sheathing, and clamped along the edge of the door frame. To make room for wire splices in the overhead light, I cut out ring of wood to make a raised mounting base with a void in the center. This was overkill because there is a hole and void in the ceiling above the light that splices can be tucked into. The main closet light switch must be on for the cabinet light switch to work. We just leave it on all the time now, and I disconnected the (top) wire on the switch to disable the neon blue switch indicator. No fiberglass was harmed during this modification, and all the parts are available at Amazon: 12V LED Light Bar Waterproof, LMGYES (4 pack) Cabinet Door Switch 1/4 inch Split Cable Sleeve Nylon Plastic R-Type Cable Clamps. Hope you find this useful, Cheers! Geoff

Here are the program settings for the relay:

After lugging around my old heavy Gen-1 Starlink for a few years, I was thrilled to get the new Starlink Mini. It’s small and light, and the router is built into the dishy. It speed tested at 202 Mbps, a very respectable speed, although not as fast as the Gen-3 which typically runs over 300 Mbps. The Mini comes with a 50’ x ~1/8” diameter power cord that has 5.5 mm barrel connectors on each end. It also comes with a 120 volt AC wall transformer that puts out 30 volts dc (vdc.) The Mini is rated to run on 12 to 48 volts vdc, and 25 to 40 watts. It peaks at 60 watts with snow melt on. The 12 Vdc rating is an attractive feature, particularly for Boondockers who don’t have inverters. However, when I first hooked it up to the Oliver’s 12 Vdc battery… it would’t work?? After some investigation, it turns out that it’s not so simple and I’ll try to explain why: Given that the AC transformer puts out 30 volts, and the power is about 40 watts, then it would be drawing 1.3 amps per Ohms law (40w/30v = 1.3 amps.) With the same calculation at 12 volts, the amperage increases to 3.3 amps. The resistance of the long thin power cord can’t handle this higher amperage and the resulting voltage drop puts it below the minimum 12 volts operating range. In fact, I did some bench testing and found it would only work at voltages over 18 volts. There are solutions to this issue including cutting the cable shorter, using a larger gauge cable, or increasing the voltage. Without a better option, I chose to increase the voltage. I looked at cheapie power converters that would probably work, but I wanted something more robust and higher quality. I found a Victron Orion TR 12/24-5, isolated, DC to DC Converter, and it was perfect for the job. It has a 12 Vdc (+/-) input and an adjustable output of 20 to 30 Vdc at 5 amps. Standby power is under 80 mA, and it has remote on/off switching capability. It comes factory set at 24 Vdc, but I adjusted it to 30 Vdc output with the potentiometer on the front. To connect the Mini to the trailer’s 12 Vdc power system, I installed a 5.5 mm female panel mount socket into the Satellite TV inlet. I removed the Coax connector and the 5.5 mm socket and nut fits perfectly in it’s place. Oliver conveniently labeled it “Satellite.” If you need the satellite TV, then install a third “Furrion” inlet as I did for my old starlink RJ45 connector. I mounted the Victron under the rear seat on the street side. The socket wiring was sheathed and routed along the ceiling of the outside storage garage. There are a number of options to pick-up 12 volts in that area, I took power off one of the circuit breakers. I ran the negative wire to the ground bus under the rear dinette seat. The Mini comes with both a snap-in kick-stand and a 2” pole mount, and they’re both necessary for optimum RV use. I prefer having it on a pole, but we often have to move the dishy away from the trailer for a clear sky view. That’s why it’s a bad idea to shorten the cord. It also has an RJ45 port that I suppose is for hardwiring without WIFI, but I probably won’t ever use that feature. I built-up some PVC fittings on my 10’ Electrical Metallic Tubing (EMT) mast to fit the Mini’s pole adapter. (See the post for Tacky Starlink Dishy Mast). A little sanding was involved, and the starlink mount uses a thumb screw to hold it in place. It’s better to turn the Victron off when not in use, so I recommend using the remote switching feature with a switch installed in an easily accessible location. I’m too forgetful to switch the Victron off every time, so I came up with a way to turn it on & off when the Mini’s power cord is plugged in & out. Read on if your interested in that part of the installation: The “three pin” 5.5 mm female socket sold by Amazon has a built-in switch that’s designed for appliances that use either batteries or a 120v transformer supply. When the transformer is plugged in, the pin-3 switch opens to disconnect the batteries. This is opposite of what’s needed for the Victron remote switch, but it can be used to trigger a digital relay and it’s actually easier than it sounds. Amazon carries fun little programable 5 &10 amp timer/relays for under $20. I already had the 10 amp version in the Oliver for a hot water recirculation pump timer, and it works great! The 5 amp is adequate for this application, and you will also need the $20 dollar re-usable Bluetooth programer. They use 50 μA of idle current, which is nothing, and they can be programed for delay-on, delay-off, flashers, dimmers, duck decoys, and more. But for our application, we’re just interested in the trigger functions, specifically the “ground-open” trigger. Before installation, the relay has to be programed from a smart phone or computer. It’ links by WiFi to flash the program into the relays memory. Use wire nuts to connect the timer and programer together, and power them from a USB port. Follow the well written and simple programing instructions using the settings shown in the screenshot below. The relay requires a timing function, so I arbitrarily used function #12, which is “delay-on.” I set it randomly to 1.5 seconds. The trigger is programed to use the “Trig Blue” set at #5, which corresponds to the blue wire used as a “grounded trigger.” The green wire trigger is disabled. My wiring sketch shows that the timer is powered with 12 volts from the Victron’s positive and negative inputs. The relay’s yellow output wire feeds the positive side of the Victron’s remote switch (the negative side is not connected). The Victron’s output feeds the 5.5 mm power socket, and the blue trigger wire goes to the 5.5mm socket’s pin-3. Use a continuity tester to identify pin-3, it’s normally shorted to the negative lead of the socket and it “opens” when the male connecter is plugged in. The socket barrel is negative, or ground, and the center pin is positive 12 vdc. There is one other step to make this work. This Victron model is “Isolated,” meaning that the input and output “negative” terminals are isolated from each other. It needs to be “non-isolated” because the timer is grounded to the Victron input, and the socket is grounded to the output, and the trigger needs continuity between the two. So remove the jumper wire that comes on the Victron’s remote switch, and use it to jump across the two negative terminals. Victron support confirmed that shorting the grounds is not a problem, it just un-isolates it. This works satisfyingly well! I checked out the power draw with the solar turned off, and while streaming a video. It was 2 amps, 27 watts (after subtracting the parasite load). That’s a huge improvement over my previous Starlink, and I don’t have to worry about running the inverter and draining down the batteries anymore. I hope someone finds this useful Cheers! Geoff

I got some good comments whether the second accumulator should be in series or parallel, so before I changed the plumbing, I decided to call the Surflo customer service for their opinion. Their Technician provided a lot of great information, and he confirmed that a 2nd accumulator will provide more reserve water, and it doesn’t matter if it’s in series or parallel. More interestingly though, he was of belief that one 24 Oz accumulator would only provide 2 to 4 Oz of reserve water. That sort of answered another question of how much reserve water to expect, and I was happy to know that I was getting more than twice that much. The technician also recommended that I set the PSI at 2 lbs. less than the pump “turn-on” pressure. Without knowing exactly what that was, I did some experimentation with higher and lower pressures and found that 30 PSI provides the most reserve water, which was about 13 Oz between pump cycles. This is definitely a project where the juice may not be worth the squeeze for everyone. But for us, it was all about the noise. That water pump can wake the dead during a late night bathroom visit, or early morning tooth brushing, and any improvement was worth the small effort. One 24 Oz accumulator wasn’t adequate in this regard, and there’s just not enough room for any of the larger accumulators. In conclusion, I didn’t get the amount of reserve water I originally expected out of two 24 Oz accumulators, but the improvement was good enough to get a flush and brush without waking the dead. I’m a happy camper . . . already looking for the next project! Cheers, Geoff

Our Oliver came with the Shurflo 24 Oz accumulator that provides a reserve of water so that the pump won’t cycle on when only a small amount of water is needed. But it never seemed to be quite enough water and the pump would cycle anyway. It stands to reason that adding a 2nd accumulator would provide twice as much water (48 Oz) before the pump cycled on. . . right? Being a sucker for projects, I added a 2nd accumulator and there didn’t seem to be any improvement. In fact, I was surprised to find that there was only 12 Oz of water in reserve between pump cycles. That was strange, so I removed the second accumulator and tested the original accumulator by itself. It was only getting 8 Oz of water between pump cycles. What the heck? Shouldn’t it be closer to 24 Oz as the accumulators rating implies? I verified both accumulators had a 30 PSI pre-charge as recommended, and my system seems to have good pressure. I’ve ordered a water pressure gauge, but I’ve no clue what the accumulator PSI should be in relationship to water pressure. I’m hoping that the greater wisdom of this forum can provide some insight on this. Cheers, Geoff

FYI On my LEII there is an underfloor pass through from street side to curb side just aft of the fresh water tank, and forward of the rear jacks. Plenty of air can pass though there.

Does anyone happen to have a picture of a return air vent in the bathroom? Is there is a corresponding vent under the dinette seat, or does it return the air through the underbelly? I'm unclear if this was something that Oliver was now doing, and/or, if it's only for Truma units? Adding a return vent in the bathroom seems like a worthwhile modification, although it also seems like it could create a draft when the heat is not on.

I just completed installation of a Victron Smart Orion 30 amp isolated DC to DC charger after reading all the great information provided in this forum by MAX Burner, and others. I really appreciated all their groundwork and details, so I wanted to share some of my experiences in the hope that others will find it useful. I used #4 AWG wire for ease of installation and for better termination options. BatteryCablesUSA recommended their “Jumper Cable” wire and it was the best deal I found at $197 for 55’ x 2. It consists of a black and red cable joined together like zip cord, and it’s flexible enough to lay flat under it’s own weight. Their lugs and heat shrink were also reasonably priced. I sheathed the full length of the cable with 3/4” braided cable sheath for extra protection and good looks (Amazon Keko 100’ roll for $21.) I seized the ends with Amazon XFasten fabric Wire Harness Tape (5 rolls for $14.) BatteryCablesUSA also recommended Anderson SB50 connectors, instead of the larger #4 AWG rated SB120 connectors that I originally planned. They said that #4 AWG wire would fit in the SB50 #6 AWG contact pins, which it did. I used Trailer Vision covers for the Anderson SB50 connectors. A TV-201426-50 surface mount receptacle with hinged cover plate was installed under the truck bumper. It has a red LED power indicator that I discourage from connecting because it’s on all the time and annoyingly bright. They also offer a flush panel style mounting. The sheathed cord on the trailer side got the Trailer Vision TV-328993-50 plug cover. It has a protrusion that catches on the mating receptacle’s hinged cover to stop it from pulling out. It’s similar to how the 7-pin connector ports hold the plug in. It also has a LED power indicator that’s more useful because it’s only on when connected. It uses a compression gland for the cable that I filled with black RTV. Powerwerx company sells Trailer Vision parts, Anderson connectors, and other accessories for reasonable prices. Get at least 4 extra #6 Anderson pins for connecting to the Victron compression terminals as explained later. Powerwerx also sells the “PanelpodSB,” which is a surface panel mount Anderson SB50 housing for $11.99. I mounted one on the Oliver’s cargo box for “parking” the Anderson connector when it’s not plugged into the truck. It keeps with my existing theme of parking places for the 7-pin cable and RAM rear view camera cable. They also sell a tethered cap to keep it clean when traveling. The engine compartment wiring was straight forward. I connected the cable’s red wire to a 60 amp terminal post fuse on the battery positive. The black wire terminated to the battery negative. The trailer half of the sheathed cable went through a penetration behind the LP tanks. A hole was drilled through the trailer wall next to the existing penetrations with a 1-1/8” step bit. The sheathed cable passed though an Amazon PA66 1” nylon cable gland ($7.99 for two.) I used a short piece of heat shrink over the sheathing where it passed through the gland and filled the gaps with black RTV. The shelf under the bathroom sink has to be removed for access to the inside cable penetrations. From there the cable can be simply pushed under the floor to the rear dinette seat where the Victron was mounted. The Victron has some great safety features that will automatically reduce, or shutdown, the output if it gets too hot or the input voltage drops too low. It’s important to take this into consideration because it would likely happen while driving, and you wouldn’t know it without constant monitoring. Voltage drop especially comes into play with the new smart alternators that lower voltage output to save energy. The Victron’s default voltage settings account for this. However, due to the longer run of cable needed with travel trailer installations, the cable resistance can cause enough voltage drop where it can go below the default settings and cause the Victron to derate it’s output. I calculated the voltage drop for different wire gauges at 35 amps (nominal input current) and a cable distance of 53’ x 2. The results don’t include the connector and termination losses: 1.46 volt drop for #6 AWG 0.92 volt drop for #4 AWG 0.58 volt drop for #2 AWG Per Victron’s instructions, a 0.6 voltage drop can cause a “Voltage Lockout” with the default settings. There are many factors that can affect this, and fortunately the Victron defaults can be adjusted. To account for my voltage drop, I decreased the “Start Voltage” from 14 to 13 volts, and the “Shutdown Voltage” from 13.1 to 12.8 volts. These setting were recommended by “Offgrid Power Solutions,” on a You Tube video called “Victron Orion-Tr Smart DC-DC Charger settings.” Cooling is also an important consideration for the Victron because they create a lot of heat, and they derate charging current 3% for every degree above 1040 F. That’s almost 50% performance loss at only 1200. Maximum operating temperature is 1310, where I believe it shuts down completely. This is why I installed cooling fans (but also for the fun of it.) Amazon’s ”Sound Original” low profile blower fans (two for $9.99) were the right size, they had bearings, brushless motors, and a good mounting configuration for this application. The Victron was mounted on 1/4” standoffs to keep its cooling fins off the mounting surface, and it also helps the fans to distribute air more evenly. I used a Normally Open, 1040, 5 amp, thermostat switch to control the fans (Amazon Uxcell KSD9700 (2 for $5.49). The fans get power from the input terminals on the Victron so they can only come on if the truck is connected, and the temperature is over 1040. The thermostat switch resets at 860. The Victron was mounted on a painted plywood board that was attached to the forward battery compartment wall. It’s an easy to reach, out of the way location. I used 4 rubber well nuts that stay in place by themselves, but regular nuts and bolts could be used. The sheathed #4 cable was terminated to the Victron’s input compression terminals, with the fans power leads. I struggled at first with the Victron’s compression terminations, the wire wouldn’t fit, and I couldn’t find #4 square ferrels. So I was pretty pleased to discover that Anderson pins can be filed down to fit perfectly. Just be sure to cover the exposed barrels with heat shrink. The negative output of the Victron went to the main chassis ground post under the rear dinette seat where there is a 2/0 cable going directly to the battery negative. The positive output was connected to the line side of a Blue Seas 60 amp fuse block, from there it went to the line side of the existing inverter’s DC circuit breaker, which is jumpered to the battery positive with a 2/0 cable. With the TV at idle and the lithium batteries around 60%, the Victron output was 35.8 amps as measured by a clamp-on amp meter. The TV input was 42.5 amps. This calculated to 84% efficiency, which is close to Victron’s 87% claim, which I assume is under perfect conditions. I really liked the looks of the sheathed cable and Trailer Vision plug and receptacle,. The hinged receptacle cover will keep the dirt out when not towing. The plug and receptacle are locked together more securely with the Trailer Vision covers, otherwise the Anderson connectors can be fairly easily pulled apart and they might not stay together on a bumpy road. Cheers, Geoff

Nice mod! Looks factory👍

We also use a hitch lock as seen in MAX Burners photo above. Proven Industries sells them without the locking Puc so that you can use the Paclock brand Puc. Paclock gets top reviews by You Tube's LockPickingLawyer who makes his living demonstrating how quickly and easily most locks can be picked. Paclock makes all sorts of locks, and you can get them all keyed alike. We carry only one key that fits the hitch lock, bike locks, and other locks around the property. Cheers, Geoff

Yes, it's directly attached to the Tee for the kitchen register. The 3" duct goes on to the bathroom through some sort of firewall and it's not easily reached. There was enough slack in the 3" duct to pull the Tee (with attached reducer) out through the access port that's under the forward kitchen drawers. The space is tight, and you will need to detach the 4" side from the furnace to get enough slack on that side. You can make most of the new connections while it's out. You'll need to disconnect the kitchen register first. The screw holding the duct to the register can be reached through the access port, but it's easier to replace it from the inside of the register, rather than trying to do it blindly from inside the access port. Cheers, Geoff Here's a photo that I forgot to add in the original post: