It's been a busy week, but I finally have a minute to post up some updates. First order of business was to just go camping. We went to Maumee Bay SP in Ohio for three nights as it's only about 80 minutes from home. The tow was, again, very nice and easy.
Kind of a cold and cloudy weekend, followed up by heavy rains for most of Sunday and into Monday morning. No problem, the Escape was very snug and comfortable.
I improved my accumulator by giving it a leg to stand on. Here it is in process, I have not screwed it down or assembled the tank into the fitting.
I also started taping up my solar panels. My plan is a large amount of VHB tape, and then a rim of Dicor around the panel to keep the tape dry and snug under there.
I also started the other end of the solar install. My plan is to make a couple major changes to the electrical system:
1) Move the batteries from the tongue box to under the DS dinette seat
2) Add an MPPT solar charger
3) Add a shunt and battery monitor
As you can see in the first two pictures, the trailer has a dual 15 amp / 120VAC breaker box as well as the Victron DC-DC charger for the two vehicle in the way. First step is to move both of those.
I added some vertical wood posts near the front of the box to the seat support. This will allow me to mount the Victron DC-DC plus the MPPT solar in that region, vertically and with a good 4" of air behind them for cooling. You can see both charges now vertical, and the batteries in place in the second two pictures. I still need to wire the batteries in, I have all that planned by no wires ready (I had to measure the runs first.)
I also started the other end of the solar install. My plan is to make a couple major changes to the electrical system:
1) Move the batteries from the tongue box to under the DS dinette seat
2) Add an MPPT solar charger
3) Add a shunt and battery monitor
As you can see in the first two pictures, the trailer has a dual 15 amp / 120VAC breaker box as well as the Victron DC-DC charger for the two vehicle in the way. First step is to move both of those.
I added some vertical wood posts near the front of the box to the seat support. This will allow me to mount the Victron DC-DC plus the MPPT solar in that region, vertically and with a good 4" of air behind them for cooling. You can see both charges now vertical, and the batteries in place in the second two pictures. I still need to wire the batteries in, I have all that planned by no wires ready (I had to measure the runs first.)
You’ve been busy. Nice work and good idea bringing those lithium’s inside. Looks pretty tight but still functional. The newer 19’s have a larger black tank that takes up more space in the driver’s side dinette area versus older trailers like ours.
It's been a busy week, but I finally have a minute to post up some updates. First order of business was to just go camping. We went to Maumee Bay SP in Ohio for three nights as it's only about 80 minutes from home. The tow was, again, very nice and easy.
Kind of a cold and cloudy weekend, followed up by heavy rains for most of Sunday and into Monday morning. No problem, the Escape was very snug and comfortable.
Glad you found some time to get out with the new trailer. Great family time together.
Today was delivery day. I spent 9 hours of it driving, plus another three waiting around for the freight driver, and then the tow company drivers. So it was all I could do to pick up the trailer and come home before dark.
Still, really exciting to finally get our trailer. I'm hot to start installing things, but telling myself to take my time. We're going to go camping and get used to all the systems and the trailer as-built first. All I've managed to complete so far it install my hitch, and that wore me out so much that I've deferred pictures of it until tomorrow.
I did manage to get these shots of the trailer at home finally, in the drive, just before the sun went down.
Thank you for talking about an accumulator... I never even knew the pump hammering was a problem I needed to fix! Now I have another project queued up.
Six of you cooped up in an E19! Wow. (I assume one of the dogs took the picture of the four humans. )
It's been a busy week, but I finally have a minute to post up some updates. First order of business was to just go camping. We went to Maumee Bay SP in Ohio for three nights as it's only about 80 minutes from home. The tow was, again, very nice and easy.
Kind of a cold and cloudy weekend, followed up by heavy rains for most of Sunday and into Monday morning. No problem, the Escape was very snug and comfortable.
Maumee is very nice, lots of nice parks in Ohio as well as MI
So today I managed to get everything wired up. I know I haven't taken any pictures of the solar (which is installed) but the weather got rainy. I'll get there.
In the meantime, I wired it all and we are up and running. I'm still tidying up the wires and I think I might need to change over to some bus bars, but it's functional. Once you put everything in the DS dinette, it's tight as heck in there.
The shunt is super cool. I flipped on the inverter and ran my coffee maker and my griddle just to see it work. The shunt says the coffee maker pulls 800W, and the griddle pulls 1300W.
Just a few more pictures here, I'm running out of decent weather to do anything.
First up is a picture of the roof (I was blowing leaves off the house roof, so snapped a picture). The panels are attached with VHB tape and then I ran a bead of dicor around the edges to keep water from getting under them.
The wiring is OK, just held down with some eternabond. I'll probably pull some of that and tidy it up in the spring, but everything is very solid for the moment.
I also have a couple pictures of the under-bed drawer including some hooks I just clip to it so it doesn't auto deploy when towing.
Really impressed with everything you've done so fast and late in the year. It's been raining here almost non-stop so my current escape project (fence gate) has been on hold. I've almost lost motivation to move forward with build sheet etc because it's so gloomy out now. Really helps to see other people being so productive to keep the excitement up for the trailer coming in the spring.
Thank you again for posting all this info with pictures. Even though I've become more intimidated by the thought of doing any electrical changes to our escape, it's great to know the info is there if I decide to.
Lastly that under bed storage box looks great. Blends in great with the escape and no one would know it's not included with the trailer. Its too bad escape doesnt have it as an Easter egg option it really does seem very useful. Like the front storage box.
Really impressed with everything you've done so fast and late in the year.
Thanks, I did wind up getting a lot done. About the only big item on my punch list that is deferred to spring is installing the Houghton AC unit on the roof. As much as I wanted to do it, it wasn't really feasible give the rainy days and my wife's work schedule (this is a two person install).
It looks to me like removing the vent itself might be an all day sucker, and then I want to install the Houghton mount piece (sealed with Dicor) and give that all a day to sit and cure.
So I need 2-3 dry days and the help of my wife on the last day to hoist and install the AC unit itself. So that's going to be in the spring.
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Thank you again for posting all this info with pictures. Even though I've become more intimidated by the thought of doing any electrical changes to our escape, it's great to know the info is there if I decide to.
I've gained a ton of information from people on this site, so I'm happy to give back on my own updates and findings.
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Lastly that under bed storage box looks great. Blends in great with the escape and no one would know it's not included with the trailer. Its too bad escape doesnt have it as an Easter egg option it really does seem very useful. Like the front storage box.
Thanks, and I agree. A storage box would be a great option for ETI, I think they'd get a high take rate on one and could make some profit on it. Of the work I've done, the things I think ETI should consider are:
1) Add a drawer option under the bed.
2) Offer the Houghton AC units.
3) Consider changing to semi-flexible solar panels. On the surface the dual 190W rigid panels look good against my triple 80W panels, but with the failures ETI has experienced and the difficulty in covering a trailer with sharp-edged roof panels, it seems to me like the stick on panels are better.
I'd say ETI could offer an accumulator, but I know they'd go with the 0.75 gal. units and not something like my 2 gallon monster. I also know they can't do the batteries in the dinette (at least not for now) but it sure would be nice if they could at some point. That was wasted space anyway since there was so much other electrical equipment already in there. Relocating the batteries was kind of tough for me, as it's hard to work in that dinette in an already built trailer. I had to start and drive a lot of screws by hand because I could not get a drill into the space and onto the heads of the screws.
I think the wire clamps in the Victron DC-DC convertor might not have been super tight. But I'm not sure. I did move the unit earlier without issue.
So I decided that I wanted to increase the ditch area retainers around my batteries (I have small wood strips mounted to the floor to hold keep the batteries in place, and then a hold-down clamp. It's all re-purposed stuff from where ETI had placed the batteries in the storage box.
As I added that (it's really tight to get down to the floor in there) I noticed that a red wire had pulled loose from the DC-DC convertor. To replace it, I had to pull the batteries out, dismount the convertor, and then put the wire back in. I gave them all a check for tightness.
The wire in question is the positive lead to the power tongue jack. ETI wired it to the convertor output, meaning it shares contact with the line to the battery positive terminal and is thus powered. It's not deliberately powered from the convertor, just a shared terminal for convenience. I don't normally wire stuff that way, but I left it alone and just fixed the loose wire.
Hi Jeffrey, how did you order your escape? With all wiring installed but no solar package? What about batteries? I was told by ETI that they could not let a unit leave their showroom without a battery as it’s needed for the brakes. Would you mind sharing a cost breakdown of the components?
Sorry for the barrage of questions. I have to pull the trigger on my build sheet tomorrow and whilst I was mulling over the $5,000 cost of ETI’s solar package (which puts expensive batteries outside the 19) I thought I should ask in this forum and someone recommended your thread here. Appreciate the help!
I ordered the trailer with the Li batteries (two), and with the solar pre-wire. I also got the 1500 watt inverter wired to all outlets (so it comes with the transfer switch) and the EMS.
What this got me:
1) Two Li batteries located in the front storage box.
2) A wiring terminal on the roof, and a pair of 6 gage wires run down from the roof to the front DS dinette.
3) Li ready convertor in the power center
4) Victron DC-DC convertor on the wire from the tow vehicle
What I bought on my own:
1) Three Lensun 80W semi-flexible panels that I stuck to the roof and wired together.
2) EPEVER MPPT solar charger
3) Victron charge monitor (shunt).
4) Some breakers and such
Modifications:
1) Installed the solar panels on the roof
2) Moved the Victron DC-DC, and the transfer switch to make room in the dinnette
3) Added the Solar charger in the dinette
4) Moved the two batteries from the front box to the DS dinette. There is room if you move some of the other stuff around.
Back in this thread (post #43) you can see pictures of how I rearranged the dinette. The DS dinette gets pretty tight with everything in there (space efficient!) but it does all fit. The front box is awesome with no batteries in it.
1) I don't like the rigid solar panels and the way ETI mounts them, which is why I only got the solar pre-wire. I also wanted to pick my own solar charger. But the pre-wire is good to get because otherwise you will have to cut a hole in the roof and run the wires yourself.
2) If you know you want Li batteries, then spec the trailer with them or at least work with ETI to build the trailer set up for Li. I think they might be willing to ship it with a 12V flooded battery, but you want the right convertor and you'll need the DC-DC charger.
3) I guess you could add the DC-DC charger yourself, but it's funny how stuff starts getting wired differently depending on what is around. ETI wired my tongue jack power from the DC-DC charger outlet, as this is just a shared line to the battery positive terminal.
I'm very happy with how my system is set up now, and I think the way I ordered it gave me just what I needed to modify it to my plan.
I ordered the trailer with the Li batteries (two), and with the solar pre-wire. I also got the 1500 watt inverter wired to all outlets (so it comes with the transfer switch) and the EMS.
What this got me:
1) Two Li batteries located in the front storage box.
2) A wiring terminal on the roof, and a pair of 6 gage wires run down from the roof to the front DS dinette.
3) Li ready convertor in the power center
4) Victron DC-DC convertor on the wire from the tow vehicle
What I bought on my own:
1) Three Lensun 80W semi-flexible panels that I stuck to the roof and wired together.
2) EPEVER MPPT solar charger
3) Victron charge monitor (shunt).
4) Some breakers and such
Modifications:
1) Installed the solar panels on the roof
2) Moved the Victron DC-DC, and the transfer switch to make room in the dinnette
3) Added the Solar charger in the dinette
4) Moved the two batteries from the front box to the DS dinette. There is room if you move some of the other stuff around.
Back in this thread (post #43) you can see pictures of how I rearranged the dinette. The DS dinette gets pretty tight with everything in there (space efficient!) but it does all fit. The front box is awesome with no batteries in it.
Thanks for the detail Jeffrey, I appreciate it. I feel the same way about the method that ETI uses to mount the panels. I’m sure it’s industry-standard, but I’m a bit leery of the amount of wind that panel is going to catch in the front.
I think I’d go for the ETI 2-battery lithium and have it all pre-wired for solar on the roof, then just use the VHB method of installation. Just so much more streamlined. Have you considered how to remove the panels? I mean eventually, they’ll need replacing right? I also see you have 3 panels vs the two. I thought two would be a good start and if (through use) I find I need one more, I’d add it.
I’ll have to say that I didn’t think bringing the batteries inside was so involved though! I though it was as simple as relocating the batteries inside and simply shortening the wires!
I think I’d go for the ETI 2-battery lithium and have it all pre-wired for solar on the roof, then just use the VHB method of installation. Just so much more streamlined. Have you considered how to remove the panels?
Dicor and VHB can both be removed if necessary, but it isn't a ton of fun. Hopefully the panels have a long life.
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I also see you have 3 panels vs the two. I thought two would be a good start and if (through use) I find I need one more, I’d add it.
It all comes to how much power you want to be able to draw while boondocking. I actually have four panels, with the 4th being a portable panel that I can aim directly at the sun.
The problem with panels mounted flat to the roof is that they won't be angled well to the sun. You are not going to get the rated watts on a good day. I like to camp in the spring and fall, and so the low angle of the sun, plus possible furnace use, I want to have a lot more power.
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I’ll have to say that I didn’t think bringing the batteries inside was so involved though! I though it was as simple as relocating the batteries inside and simply shortening the wires!
I wouldn't describe moving the batteries as challenging, other than working down inside that dinette once it starts getting filled up. I ran new large gage wires to the inverter (which is located over in the PS dinette), and then new positive and ground wires to the converter. And of course I had to finish the wiring of the solar. But none of that was particularly complicated.
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