jcussen

No free weekly newspaper where I live, I get a daily subscription paper. which I cancel when I go on vacation. BTW, I am lucky to get the paper thrown close to end of my driveway. The mail used to go into a mailbox next to my front door, and when it was full, thrown on my front porch. A pile of mail on your front porch is also a good indicator that no one is home.

I thought the same, in my case it does not work. It must be held at the local post office. I know this is my case, because my regular carrier will leave my mail at the local post office, but the subs will delivery when he is not working. If I get off vacation early, I just go to the local office and pick it up, so appears the carrier is responsible for it, and I generally use ""hold" for two weeks at most. I also do the "hold" on line, and give one of the yellow forms to the local post office and one to my regular carrier. But to no avail, this has been going on for the last 8 years, and when I talked to my local postmaster, he said too much contract labor was involved, but I live in south Texas, so maybe we are a little behind the times. But I cut a mail slot in the front door, so not so much a problem now.

You are right, appears I am getting two or 3 different carriers every week. Is there not some sort of "hold mail" at the local post office that determines which mail should be held or should be delivered? Seems like a poor system if the sub does not get the same instructions as the regular carrier. Plus the fact that any normal carrier should say to him or her self, there is a weeks worth of mail sitting out here in the open, so maybe I should check into it. I have since put a slot in my front door so at least I will get the mail when I return home.

Agree, was side by side with a new corvette yesterday, he was a little ahead of me when light changed, But his face was something to see when he looked across at about 90 mph and saw a 4 door sedan right next to him😀 My 3.1 sec 0-60 is pretty fast, so the Plaid at 1.9 sec is crazy fast.

True, but even if they do have to have a driver, for say a string of 20 trucks, that driver will still have to follow the FMCSA guidelines, which allows for plenty of charging time. https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/hours-service/summary-hours-service-regulations

But how many hours can he drive a day legally?

Yeup, its the future, Tesla's Megacharger, will be able to refuel a Tesla Semi for 400 mile of driving in 30 minutes, faster than a normal truck fueling stop.. Not today, but very possible in the future. https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-semi-megacharger-charging-port-close-up-look/

Most current Tesla cars are expected to last at least 500000 miles before major battery degradation. Newer models are expected to go about 2000000 miles and can be recycled after that. https://electrek.co/2019/04/16/tesla-battery-recycling-system/ https://auto.hindustantimes.com/auto/news/tesla-battery-with-life-span-of-two-million-miles-a-possibility-41603083234925.html

As DesertMiner posted above, 200 amps for up to 30 seconds, better to run two battleborn's for any prolonged use of a microwave.

I would too, only way my battleborn's could vent is if the battery case was actually broken, but pretty sure the BMS would shut them down before that stage was reached.

Some good info here. https://battlebornbatteries.com/

Agree with John, I went with the Victron dc-dc charger, nice thing about it is , auto disconnect, will seperate your banks at 13.2 alternator output voltage, so pretty much hands free and the ability to set up your output voltage. I used 14.4 constant voltage as per Battleborn specs. My 30 amp charger will actually output [according to my Victron battery monitor] about 32 amps. As John said, that is a real 30 amps until the batteries are full. No more bulk, absorption, float etc, When batteries full, it just disconnects. On my sprinter, use the dc-dc charger and 390 watts of solar, and seldom have to turn the converter on to charge the batteries.

😀😀 I am too. Too much time on my hands.

" 17 hours ago, Wkjordan2 said: Yes , never had an issue and that way I never foget or pay the wrong amount... ESPECIALLY if I’m out in the boonies or forget to check " Wish people would read every post before commenting, my reply was to the post above. I read it as saying if he cannot get internet or forgets to check, but still uses autopay. Not tilting at windmills, just do not have the blind trust in technology that you do. But as Kirk says "do what you are comfortable with" and I will do the same.

Actually, I am in the merchant marine, and am ofen without internet for months at a time. My post was for a theoretical rv'er that did not have internet access, say a person that camps in an area without cell phone or wifi access. Just don't like to see people that say, not possible, meet a guy in Oregon, that lives in a trailer with no wifi or cell service, I guess he could drive to some town and park next to a Starbucks with his laptop though. I am at home now so no problem, just pointing out auto pay is not for everybody. I don't take internet for granted.

If you had read my post, I mentioned "no internet access" How can your review your bills before paying them without going online, or actually receiving a paper bill? I am not full time, but travel a lot so still have a S&B so do have utility bills. The point I am trying to make is, would you use autopay if you had no idea what the bank would withdraw out of your account and just relied on the biller being honest? I know I have made agreements with Directv for a certain monthly charge for a year, only to find the price jacked up after 6 months. If I had no internet access and the ability to see my bill online or be at home and see a paper bill, the bank would just pay that increased amount, no questions asked.

Agree John, just trying to see any benefit of a isolated house system {like you say, if he truly has one}. Seems like using a heavy steel frame equivalent to a 100/0 cable , would be easier than running separate negative cables...When I did my second alternator output test with two 50% SOC battleborn's, amprobe measured 130 amps on the alternator positive lead, this is probably 30 amp chassis load and 100 amp battery charging load. 130 amps out of a 160 amp alternator at idle speed just seems a little excessive to me. Might work for a year or two, but sprinter alternators are expensive.

Good for you, I don't have the confidence in cell phone companies, utility companies credit card companies etc., that you do, to pay a bill without looking it over first. Had a water line break underground one time and my bill doubled, luckily I saw the bill and corrected the problem before I could be billed for the same amount again the next month. Auto pay without seeing a real bill could have turned into a disaster.

Not sure why Kevin seperate's his two 12 volt systems, every van conversion and motorhome I have seen use a common ground for house and start systems. My sprinter van alternator puts out 160 amps, his three battleborn's could conceivably take an 300 amp charge, The BIM will connect for 15 minutes and disconnect for 20 minutes to let alternator cool. The problem I had with a BIM, is that at idle, the alternator gets very little cooling because of the alternator fan running at low speed. I measured my alternator temp with engine idling with direct connection from alternator to lithium batteries, and alternator casing went from ambient to 250F in less than 5 minutes, and of course, the lithiums will never fully charge on the 13.2 to 13.7 volts the alternator puts out. The DC-DC charger will limit the amps going to your lithiums, to protect the alternator, but more importantly, will provide the necessary 14.4 volts to bring your batteries to 100% SOC. Believe AM Solar uses DC-DC chargers exclusively for all its big solar conversions. Good video https://www.victronenergy.com/blog/2019/10/07/careful-alternator-charging-lithium/

Wow a lot of indignation on auto pay. I realize that you can check online your bills and payments and make sure it all balances, but I just use e-payment from my bank instead of auto pay, only takes a second. Here's a scenario: You are camped out in the boonies and have no internet access and no way to check your bills and payments, would you still have confidence in auto pay?

A lot of people are using dc-dc chargers. This what I used on my Sprinter Class C with lithium house batteries. Easy to wire, I used 10 gauge for the ground. Just alternator/start battery positive on one terminal, and house battery positive on the other one. https://www.solar-electric.com/victron-energy-12-12-30a-orion-tr-non-isolated-dc-dc-charger.html?msclkid=a882440e914d150c3a3a240a2da19c56&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Shopping - Brand - Victron Energy&utm_term=4588399462083300&utm_content=Brand - Victron Energy

I have stayed in places where I have not had internet, so can't really monitor my bills, so autopay could pay an erroneous amount without my knowledge. When traveling, I just set up my bank to e-pay a little bit more than my regular bill, that way I will probably have a credit balance when I return. But everybody should do what they are comfortable with. Read a story in Houston a couple of years ago where a billing computer mistake added an extra 0 to everybodies water bill.

Why I do not use autopay. https://www.gobankingrates.com/saving-money/budgeting/bills-should-never-put-autopay/

Agree it would be an excellent option, but problem is, there are only 44 hydrogen filling stations in the US, and 42 of them are in California. Another problem is producing it and shipping to filling stations. Could be produced fairly cheaply with excess wind and solar power in non-peak periods, but believe it would be an uphill battle against EV/hybrids, because electricity is already available almost everywhere.There are almost 80000 charging outlets, at 25000 charging stations in the US and of course, home charging for many. I personally charge my EV with solar panels on my roof, pretty simple setup, not sure what the cost would be to have them power a hydrogen generator to fill a fuel cell. https://azgreenmagazine.com/how-many-hydrogen-fuel-stations-are-there-in-the-us/#/find/nearest?fuel=HY https://muchneeded.com/electric-vehicle-charging-network-statistics/