More stuff installed today

[janbcarter]

My thinking exactly Lucky 13. The Trick-L-Charger is a sealed unit which appears impervious to the ennvironment in which it is installed. I just received mine and will install it this weekend. I love living vicariously through John (Canfield) and his continuous projects, but glad to stop and smell the roses too. Thanks for the input.

 

[John_Canfield]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by dleslie125:
John, please, stop it. I have to be honest, when I get finished reading about all the great work you are doing, I'm absolutely exhausted. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Don - now that you bought a new coach - you will need to buy and install things - just like me

Lucky/Ken/JB: I believe the Echo~Charge does need to be pretty much out of the weather. I considered and dropped the thought of installing it in the battery rack area. Please "think outside of the box" (pun intended) when you are looking for suitable places to stick the thing. I believe you could easily put the thing ten feet away if you use 12 or maybe 10 gauge wire for lead extensions. It will draw 15 amps under full load, so size the wires appropriately.

So far so good with the unit - it got fairly warm when first connected due to the discharged state of the starting batteries. It is pretty cool to the touch now that it isn't working too hard.

--John (who is resting today)

 

[vicsryd]

John,

I am curious why you are going with the Xantrex RS200 instead of the Onan Engergy Command EC-20. The EC-20 will auto start for theromostat requests for AC/heat pump. As near as I can tell the RS2000 will not.

 

[tomsm]

For those looking for a clean place to install an echo-charger, consider the enclosed relay/fuse box inside the front "hood" area. I know it's a looong way from the batteries, but the "Aux Start" relay is located there. Surely cabling sufficient to start a diesel engine can handle a 15A charger without voltage loss. I haven't done this (I use a BatteryMinder), but it seems like a reasonable alternative.

 

[Cruzer-WO]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by vicsryd:
John,

I am curious why you are going with the Xantrex RS200 instead of the Onan Engergy Command EC-20. The EC-20 will auto start for theromostat requests for AC/heat pump. As near as I can tell the RS2000 will not. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Jon, The RS2000 is the new true sine wave inverter/charger from Xantrex. The Xantrex AGS is an automatic generator start model that communicates with the RS2000 and the System Control Panel via the Xanbus network topology, which is similar to a cat5 Ethernet network.

The Xantrex AGS module does have a number of low voltage connections and some of those can be used for auto-start in response to air conditioning thermostat demands. I have mine set up for A/C as well as low battery voltage.

However, if you do have a digital thermostat you need to buy an interface module from Dometic to convert the digital A/C system control logic to analog outputs but this is the same for any automatic generator start when used with a digital interface thermostat.

 

[John_Canfield]

Couldn't have said it better than Mark

.

Xantrex install update:

Unfortunately I found out the control panel cable from the Dimensions inverter/charger to the panel is not Cat5 but some kind of eight conductor phone-type cable. I spent a wonderful

afternoon running Cat5 cable from the OnePlace to the power inlet compartment. Hopefully that will be the worst part of the job!

What went well was the installation of the SurgeGuard. I'll post a few pictures of that soon.

--John

 

[hogbreth]

John,
tha Cat5 cable was the first problem I was worried about. How did you manage to run a whole new cable frrom the one-place through the Coach to the Power compartment?
Thanks
John

 

[grandriver125]

hogbreth, I'm worn out again. This guy never stops. I'd never let my wife read these threads or I'd be in real trouble.

 

[BucknJeff]

I just want to know how he gets that Kubota in the coach...

 

[DonavonP]

I could be wrong on this but I think the Kubota is in the lower storage locker hooked up to a PTO water/aerator pump that circulates the 2000 gallon KOI pond in the front slide out. Oh ya, it's got the digitally syncronized
fish feeder, underwater web cam, and hydrafoil lilly pads (Pat.Pending).

OK, I'm outta here before the "KEEP ON SUBJECT" police bust me.

 

[John_Canfield]

Okay - I need to post a pix of the indespendable Kubota - watch for that soon

I'm making a separate post of the Xantrex install - wow was that a job

--John