Brian & Nancy's ParkLiner

[Timber Wolf]

Originally Posted by Brian M. in NY

Just prior to our departure, I installed a Victron Energy BMV-700 battery monitor in the camper. What a revelation! We have been wasting gallons of gasoline running our generator for the maximum allowable generator hours of 9 - 11 AM and 4 -7 PM just to make sure our batteries were topped up, because we really had no idea what the state of our battery bank was.
Attachment 73123

With the battery monitor installed, we have a wealth of information available including battery bank voltage, amp hours used, real time current draw (or replacement) and real time power usage in watts. We found that we use so little power for lighting and pumping water that, running the generator for a maximum of half an hour a couple times a day to heat up meals in the microwave, was adequate to keep the battery bank full. I also installed a battery cut-off switch so I can completely isolate the batteries from the converter. This means no more constant draw from the LP gas leak detector when we have the camper parked and in storage mode.

Lot of good info right there. Thanks for sharing it. Where did you get your meter?

[Brian M. in NY]

Hi Frank,
Sacandaga Campground is a NYS Park DEC Campground on Rt 30 between Northville and Wells. It's one of our favorites. Many sites right on the banks of the river. Most are large and the sound of the water drowns out any noise from adjacent campsites. No electric sites so we bring our Honda 2kW to run the microwave. We would still do so for a full week stay but knowing our battery usage, I would no longer bother for two or three nights.

[frank_a]

Originally Posted by Brian M. in NY

Hi Frank,
Sacandaga Campground is a NYS Park DEC Campground on Rt 30 between Northville and Wells. It's one of our favorites. Many sites right on the banks of the river. Most are large and the sound of the water drowns out any noise from adjacent campsites. No electric sites so we bring our Honda 2kW to run the microwave. We would still do so for a full week stay but knowing our battery usage, I would no longer bother for two or three nights.

Thanks Brian. I'm trying to get a list going I can keep in 006 for campgrounds easy to get to, and that would be one of them. I've never been to the campground, but have been to Northville quite a bit, and have dragged the old boat up to Sacandaga a few times. A generator is on our list to get before we retire. Where did you get this gauge, and how did you hook that and your battery cut-switch in? I've installed battery switches in boats to either use one or both batteries or switch them off altogether. One of those?

Frank

[Brian M. in NY]

Frank,
I Googled BMV700S Battery Monitor to find a dealer. The company where I found the best deal was rvpartssource.com. YMMMV. They accepted PayPal and had free shipping. The kit came with the meter, 500 amp shunt, data cable and positive feed wire with fuse holder. The fuse holder is made out of hard plastic and broke when I opened it to check the value of the fuse - (100 ma). I was able to repair it with a little epoxy and heatshrink tubing saving a trip to RadioShack. Setup was easy. Just program in the capacity of the battery bank, i.e. 2 Optimas at 55 AH each, connected in parallel = 110 AH. After that, it just works as you scroll through the functions with the up and down buttons. The cutoff switch for the battery is a standard marine SPST battery switch. I pulled the positive lead out of the converter and connected it to one side of the switch and made up a jumper to connect the other side of the switch back to the converter. Similar procedure to install the shunt in the negative side.

[accrete]

since i missed the earlier forum post(s) on what the heck these fire logs were all about i did some googling and found the original source page. Sorry if this is a repeat and it is here somewhere...but i missed it as i said

Here is the link to the manufacturer's page:
Repose Fire Logs

I'm gonna try a set, they look handy.
Thom

[kootenaigirl]

Thanks so much for the fire log link, I missed the first post also. Look very useful especially as we have loads of firewood and mainly camp close by but in the States so can't take it with us.

[Brian M. in NY]

Are we camping or farming??? Actually, we had friends visiting for the weekend and moved the ParkLiner to the woods behind the house to serve as our guest suite. The ambiance is so much better than the driveway.



With a receiver hitch installed in place of the backhoe, the Kubota makes an excellent close quarters tow vehicle. No danger of exceeding the speed rating of the trailer tires.

[deryk]

Nice!

[Timber Wolf]

I built a raised hitch on the rear of my JD lawn tractor just to pull the Scamp around the yard. Works well, if somewhat slow.

[mary and bob]

Originally Posted by Timber Wolf

I built a raised hitch on the rear of my JD lawn tractor just to pull the Scamp around the yard. Works well, if somewhat slow.

I did the same with my old JD 140 lawn tractor, but also have two farm tractors I can use, a Farmall H and a Model 2000 Ford