Spacecraft or Continental Coach

[Darryl&Rita]

When approaching a custom builder, have a very good idea of your wants & needs. If you were to approach me, as a businessman, the way you've approached the forums, I'd tend to push your file closer & closer to the side of the desk with the circular file holder. Approach me with a good list that I can build a price off of, & we can do business. The forums are free, & the knowledgebase here is vast. Feel free to get the education here, to make a decision to present to a builder. If your decisions seem too far out in left field, a good builder will consult with you to ensure the final product is correct, but to expect them to educate you for free is expecting way too much.

[Ronbo]

Rick, I think you would be better off with 1 battery system at 1000ah instead of 2 500ah systems. You can hook up 2 inverters to the 1 battery pack. David is planning on doing this. 1 large and 1 small. The small one for everyday loads and the larger to be turned on when he has large loads.

 

Jim, you should have no problems running your from ac on your battery. You BMS will keep from depleting your battery. Is it working correctly now that you have replaced the battery sensors? I am producing from 1000 to 1500 watts every day. My batteries are taking about 650 to 750 watts to recharge. I drop down to 96-92% over night but I haven't disconnected from shore power to totally test system. Daytime temps are up to 120 right now and I need my ac.

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

Black Pearl- Starting a new topic would give you a much wider audience than changing the topic of this thread.

[Black Pearl]

Black Pearl- Starting a new topic would give you a much wider audience than changing the topic of this thread.

Thanks I will keep that in mind. I looked around but could not find any area to post regarding the larger 5th wheel or semi type RV's. I really would like to get information from a specific group of users . Plus I have never used this forum thing before, so I have to figure this out.. I appreciate the input, thanks again I will keep trying to get it right.

[Black Pearl]

When approaching a custom builder, have a very good idea of your wants & needs. If you were to approach me, as a businessman, the way you've approached the forums, I'd tend to push your file closer & closer to the side of the desk with the circular file holder. Approach me with a good list that I can build a price off of, & we can do business. The forums are free, & the knowledgebase here is vast. Feel free to get the education here, to make a decision to present to a builder. If your decisions seem too far out in left field, a good builder will consult with you to ensure the final product is correct, but to expect them to educate you for free is expecting way too much.

I have over a year into this now. I have become rather passionate about the project has most of you are about yours. I have developed presentations, with my own CAD drawings (not pretty) with various options and tentative directions to present the builder, but I'm not ready to pull the trigger just yet. I don't want to waste the builders time until I'm ready to go, "insert cash here". I will look for experienced consultants to help in certain areas like solar power options. I have talked to Marsha at Spacecraft she provided many plans my wife and I have gone through and custom build is the direction for us. We are at the semi style now, that narrows the field considerably. That brings me to this forum to see what I have missed from the actual users. I'm planning to go to the HDT National Rally this year, if only for the potential knowledge that could be gained, then head over to Spacecraft to have a look see with my box of tricks. It would seem I don't know the right way to approach a forum, the first day at a new school was always challenge, but off I went.

[Jack Mayer]

Black Pearl, I have some experience in the direction you are headed. And I have my opinions. Feel free to contact me directly (email).

 

I REALLY like our current heating layout. We have an electric fireplace, 100% in-floor electric heat (two zones), and two furnaces. We rarely use the furnaces. We do spend significant time in weather that hits the teens (minimum temp) we do not have to run the furnaces until the low-mid 20's. The fireplace and floors take care of things and there is little temperature variation within the space - no cold spots to speak of. So for us it is an effective method. It may not be what others want.

 

For hot water we use a Truma continuous hot water heater. I highly recommend it. It works quite well. My review is HERE. We would put that in any future unit.

 

I personally do NOT like the Aqua Hot. I feel it is too maintenance intensive, a single point of failure that takes out your heat and hot water, and expensive. Service is harder to find than other methods of heat, and the propane-based systems typically used in a trailer do not have the btu output for very large trailers....it borders on marginal. However if you intend to carry diesel for a large genset then it may be a viable alternative for you.

 

I like redundancy of systems....the fireplace, electric in-floor, and dual furnaces give me plenty of redundancy and are quite effective. I do not have heat pumps in the AC units. Those suckers are so loud I would never tolerate the (all) winter noise. But some like them and they are effective down to a pretty low temp.

 

My design for a semi trailer implementation has NOTHING on the roof but solar panels (and perhaps a couple low profile tank vents). This give you max interior headroom (approaching 8'), minimizes leak points in the roof, and maximizes solar harvest. Like Davids setup the plan design would be mainly battery driven...charged by solar and an efficient grid/genset charger. It may or may not use a 48 volt system....there are some hurdles to overcome on that front, but nothing insurmountable.

 

For AC my plan is to use basement air with (perhaps) a mini-split to supplement that in the bedroom area. As you likely know, Marsha has experience with basement air. But I would not want to depend on a single system. The basement air that is currently on the market is somewhat limited in output. There are some commercial trucking systems that could be adapted that have more output. But I pretty much need 2 tons, although the design specs show that one ton "would work". I think it wise to supplement with mini-split residential, but the vibration factor is an issue. The truck systems use similar technology but are hardened for vibration. There are some "solar" cooling systems on the market that are also modified mini-splits that would also potentially work. One thing I am sure of - I will NEVER have rooftop air units again. Unless they totally revamp them. The only benefit they have is their pricing. Other than that they have zero good qualities: they add unit height, they are very loud, they are "finicky". Mostly they are loud.....

 

Your approach to the forum is just fine...

[Black Pearl]

Jack,

 

Thank you for taking the time to provide comments. Exactly where I am heading, clean roof for more solar. Getting away from the traditional RV programs looking at new possibilities. That's kinda the whole point to building a custom unit.

 

I did like the electric floors they seemed like the best solution, just wasn't sure if they were reliable or did the job, you cleared that up. My plan has the genset and all the diesel fuel on the truck, so the trailer will have only propane fuel. I was also thinking of converting a natural gas residential heating unit to propane (a jet change), like a high efficiency pulse type. I do plan to have a propane fire place also in the living area, so I'm just now considering the size of propane tank(s) that may be required. I like the redundancies though, that minimizes the risk of not having any heat. Yes, 48 volt system, I heard that one, still in the early stages I understand, but a possibility for my time line. I will check out the Truma water heater.

 

Thanks again for the SPARK! I have more to look into now.. I will be in touch...

 

Regards

[Jack Mayer]

I would not put in a propane fireplace. My experience with them is that they preform TOO well. They will cook you out of the unit. The electric - in MY opinion - is more practical.

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

Jack, Do you have a price per sqft for the in-floor electric heating? Is this the same mat type used in residential building or specifically "RV" based?

[Jack Mayer]

Jack, Do you have a price per sqft for the in-floor electric heating? Is this the same mat type used in residential building or specifically "RV" based?

I don't have a manufactures sq/ft price. It is residential stuff - any of the the residential mats should work, assuming they are rated for the flooring material used. In my case, engineered wood flooring. The stuff has to be compatible to be used together. There are grid floors that you can puncture the wires and they will keep working, and there are mats that cannot be punctured. So you have to plan carefully.

[NoDirectionHome]

$18.50 / sq-ft from Forks

[GlennWest]

How much power requirements is there compared to say heatpumps? I agree with Jack they are awful loud. I did not know about this. Could it be done as an upgrade. Our carpet is rather worn and we planning on replacing it. So I want to consider this.