Thom and Cari's Parkliner

[deryk]

Nice job! I've contemplated doing the same thing....where I camp a lot the soil is sandy kinda dirt and would benice to contain it at the door.

[rabbit]

Thom, are there no ParkLiner logos on your trailer? Did you remove them?

jack

[accrete]

Greetings Jack,


Well i posted some time ago to that question by another that even if my wife drove a Lamborghini it would be de-badged ASAP. Needless to say within a week all but the rear-most decal were removed! Here is the only remaining decal on our Parkliner:

[accrete]

Re-Post of that comment:

Originally Posted by mrscottyg

...something still needs to be done to manage the heat generated by the converter when charging at full load...

Just as a simple & positive comment FWIW on our PL#35...

I ran a test per the Progressive Dynamic tech & also in conjunction with the Optima tech peeps on the PD4045 (the converter/charger in the PL) to see if i could purposely cause an overheating situation (monitored and controlled)... I could not.

Here is what i was instructed to do by the techies of both firms. Test was done before any of my mods to converter area (i added vents in the converter area after this test, cuz i could and they looked cool (pun) And i had previously vented the battery bay, . All this activity happened quickly in the last couple weeks of May 2013.) > link to mod w/images <.:

1) Take the Optima Blue Top batteries down to about 45 to 50% capacity
2) Plug in PD4045 to shore power and keep it plugged in during entire 2 hr test if no issues arise.
3) Monitor temp in converter box, if overheating is occurring built in automatic fan should turn on. (tech stated it should turn on within ~10-20m if overheating is occurring.)
--------after 2 hour mark:
4) Call tech support back with results, which were:
a) Fan did not turn on
b) temp in PD converter area was ~"Room temperature" when checked after 2 hr test.
c) Optima Blue top batteries were neutral in temp to touch after 2 hr test on a ~65 degree day during charging (~13.6v @ ~2ah average. Checked on Xantrex monitor ( > link to mod < ) ~15 minute intervals).

Note, our Optimas are now plugged in and maintained by an Optima 1200 charger ( > Link to my charging mod in PL#35 < ) i state this only as an FYI and as something i chose to do after further research. Our Optima batteries are never discharged below ~60%, and this is typically after ~5 to 7 days of use camping off grid. I believe it is EXTREMELY important for anyone with a battery bank to properly maintain them...and that includes not allowing them to drop below ~50% capacity and charging them appropriately, weather that is with your rig's built in charger/converter (a PD4045 in the case of PL) or a dedicated charger (as i have chosen).

Happy trails,
Thom

end repost of 1st response.
Then we talked some more on same "Test". Here is that repost:

Greetings,
Here are my comments on "Test" : )

Originally Posted by mrscottyg

You said this was before your mods, so none of the partitions or vents that you added were in the compartment, right?

Correct. Totally stock from PL factory. Which in PL#35 case was two Optima BT 55AH batteries in rear area of a large box containing PD4045 in front area of same box with a ~7/8ths wall with air flow between batteries and converter areas. Box had stock ~1/2" x 2" rectangles in four areas on the bottom to allow egress of wires. From what i recall of the test i had yet to completely seal off the rear/front areas inside the large box.

Originally Posted by mrscottyg

You said the converter cooling fan never turned on during the test? I know ours has run during heavy charging.

Correct. Tech said fan will usually go on during "Heavy charging" which he defined as a typical battery bank at ~12 volts (which was the reading on handheld VOM on battery posts and Xantrex.)

Originally Posted by mrscottyg

Shore power cord door open or closed? Closed with cable pass thru open?

Closed with 30amp cord exiting out small pass thru.

Originally Posted by mrscottyg

Battery/converter compartment lid Open? Closed? Closed with a set of gauge wires hanging out? In other words, was the lid closed and sitting reasonably tight on the compartment?

Closed & Tight with Xantrex monitor installed by way of stock openings on the bottom of box where other wires pass into interior of trailer. Xantex was doing real time monitoring of voltage & amp after initial open-top VOM reading before test. Also, please note that i had set up the xantrex in a temporary fashion and it was not fully installed...so the timeline of posts looks a bit off.

Originally Posted by mrscottyg

Were cushions in place?

Yes. And i was sitting on top reading my kindle paperwhite : ) I was alone during testing. No other humans or animals were subjected to the boredom of checking a battery monitor for ~2 hours ; )

Originally Posted by mrscottyg

What was the ambient temperature in the trailer during your test?

It was close to 65 degrees and clear skies...a typical _summer_ day on the Oregon Coast.
end repost of 2nd response.

I often repost some of my comments made elsewhere as they directly relate to my set up on our PL#35.
Cheers!

[accrete]

Greetings,

I thought i'd share a picture of my wife's Daily Driver that doubles as our Tow Vehicle.
During October we added a lift kit and rhino lined the rockers/wells/bumpers.
We love the _look_.

cheers!
Thom

PS. Thanks for any comments!

[frank_a]

Originally Posted by accrete

Greetings,

I thought i'd share a picture of my wife's Daily Driver that doubles as our Tow Vehicle.
During October we added a lift kit and rhino lined the rockers/wells/bumpers.
We love the _look_.

cheers!
Thom

PS. Thanks for any comments!

Gee, thanks for sharing Thom, but I don't understand any of this battery stuff. I took mine out and am buying a maintainer for them tomorrow. I got a buddy who for many many years drove the NAPA battery truck, and he told me just what to get. Problem is he won't be there when I go tomorrow. Now, while I get ya on the horn, answer me this - can I attach both batteries with 10 ga wire, red to red, black to black and just hook the maintainer up to one battery?

I love my F-150 and ParkLiner #006!

Frank

[David B.]

Looks great Thom..... thanks again for showing Paula & I your rig & trailer this past summer.

[accrete]

Hi Frank,
You might want to talk to the local NAPA auto guys (or similar) as to what gauge they recommend running in your setup. I used AWG 8 between the batteries and short ~18" run to the optima charger.

I don't recall what type of batteries you ended up with but for myself, i would go with the Optima charger if charging/maintaining Optima batteries. Overkill most likely, but mine is doing a great job.

Thom

[accrete]

Dave! You are certainly welcome.
Cari & I still talk about that fun visit by you two at the river.

Happy trails,
Thom

[frank_a]

Originally Posted by accrete

Hi Frank,
You might want to talk to the local NAPA auto guys (or similar) as to what gauge they recommend running in your setup. I used AWG 8 between the batteries and short ~18" run to the optima charger.

I don't recall what type of batteries you ended up with but for myself, i would go with the Optima charger if charging/maintaining Optima batteries. Overkill most likely, but mine is doing a great job.

Thom

Thom, I called Jimmy, the old battery guy at NAPA, because I wanted an alternative to Optima's maintainer. Optima's is expensive!

I told Jimmy that I had blue top Optima batteries and asked what I needed to do with them over winter. There was no hesitation, he told me I needed a maintainer for them, and there's one waiting for me at NAPA. I'm either getting it tomorrow or Tuesday, & I'll share.

Frank

[accrete]

Originally Posted by frank_a

...I told Jimmy that I had blue top Optima batteries and asked what I needed to do with them over winter. There was no hesitation, he told me I needed a maintainer for them...

Sounds like your contact has things dialed in for you Frank : )

As you may be aware, i was looking for a day-to-day year-round solution to what i had measured/witnessed the PD4045 (the stock converter/charger) in our PL#35 was putting out. As we will use our PL year round ~every 3 to 4 weeks for a three to five day adventure, the solution i was looking for would be chosen for reasons beyond the winter-maintenance so common among many RV owners.
And for better or worse, we have only two seasons here so we can camp year round;
1) Rain,
2) Not so much Rain
All within a relatively mild temp range.

It's great to read of your tweaking and personalizing on #006 !
Thom

[frank_a]

Originally Posted by accrete

Sounds like your contact has things dialed in for you Frank : )

As you may be aware, i was looking for a day-to-day year-round solution to what i had measured/witnessed the PD4045 (the stock converter/charger) in our PL#35 was putting out. As we will use our PL year round ~every 3 to 4 weeks for a three to five day adventure, the solution i was looking for would be chosen for reasons beyond the winter-maintenance so common among many RV owners.
And for better or worse, we have only two seasons here so we can camp year round;
1) Rain,
2) Not so much Rain
All within a relatively mild temp range.

It's great to read of your tweaking and personalizing on #006 !
Thom

What I'm gonna do Thom is buy a couple some short battery cables (a red & a black) to tie the batteries together instead of making my own 10 ga ones. I was thinking of using 10 ga because I think that's what's in 006 tying them together.

We'll be using our trailer intermittently, with probably just two major trips/year.

I have no idea what this maintainer I'm buying looks like or what it is. I'll know soon!

Thanks!

Frank

[accrete]

I believe you are correct on the gauge utilized stock. In my usual fashion i upped all gauge and routed both batteries to a common fused positive buss. In this manner both batteries receive the same volt/amp from charger rather than going through one or the other battery first. Just my silly extreme tweaker solution.

picture of the fused positive buss box (individual 60amp fuse for batties) :

[BL Chiffons]

Hi Thom. Really like the look of your van. You and your wife have a great setup w/ Chevy and Parkliner. Very functional and sounds like great use of space. Wondering was the axle lift hard to do on the van? Reason why I ask is b/c I asked Cameron at PL if they offer raised axle as an option. He said no but now since they are not welding axle we could have it raised as an after market.
Thank you everyone for your willingness to share your knowledge. Really is helpful especially as my sister and I try to navigate the technical aspects of purchasing a fiberglass camper. Very best to all, BL and Bev aka 2 sisters.

[frank_a]

Originally Posted by BL Chiffons

Hi Thom. Really like the look of your van. You and your wife have a great setup w/ Chevy and Parkliner. Very functional and sounds like great use of space. Wondering was the axle lift hard to do on the van? Reason why I ask is b/c I asked Cameron at PL if they offer raised axle as an option. He said no but now since they are not welding axle we could have it raised as an after market.
Thank you everyone for your willingness to share your knowledge. Really is helpful especially as my sister and I try to navigate the technical aspects of purchasing a fiberglass camper. Very best to all, BL and Bev aka 2 sisters.

Thom really does have a great set-up, I agree! Makes me wonder about getting a cap for my pickup...

Why do you two ladies want a raised axle? Just curious.

I need to go out today and see what kind of axle set up we have in 006. I've been so darn busy I keep forgetting to look!

Frank

[frank_a]

Originally Posted by accrete

Greetings,

I thought i'd share a picture of my wife's Daily Driver that doubles as our Tow Vehicle.
During October we added a lift kit and rhino lined the rockers/wells/bumpers.
We love the _look_.

cheers!
Thom

PS. Thanks for any comments!

Thom, can you tell me a bit more about the rhino lining? Did you do it yourself or hire it out? Is it a rust preventative thing? Looks great!

Thanks,

Frank

[accrete]

Greetings BL, Bev, Frank and our EggFamily.

Thank you for the kudos on our rig and your questions.

On "Lift". The lift kit for our chevy AWD is an aftermarket kit with total cost and install at ~$600. It took our local mechanic ~3 hours to do without issue. Rides like a dream, though my wife said the extra 3" to the ground was quite a surprise the first time out of the cab!

I too asked Chandler if an axle lift was available for the Parkliner and at that time it was not an option. I believe it will be on our to-do list ~fall of 2014, we go off road to much to keep it retro-cool-low as it is.

---On Rhino Liner.
Great product! Rust, grime, salt, rock protection. Can color match.
Here is a link to their website:
Liners.RhinoLinings.com

You can locate an installer near you at _this link_ There are four in New York near NYC.

Once we lift our Parkliner, we will probably trim-match with RhinoLining also.

Cheers,
Thom

[accrete]

I wanted to share a tow-vehicle related item that Cari & I just installed on our van... we had a pair of 5"x7" drop in replacement headlamps by Truck Lite installed by a local shop. We could have done it ourselves as they are simple drop in replacements, but since we have no easy way/place (remember we live in an RV) to make sure they were dialed in and adjusted properly we paid the $40 to have them do it for us.



There is a nice technology video up on youtube at _this link_.

The video really sold us on the idea, and i can say, these lights should amaze just about anyone as to their effectiveness on the road. These are a step up from HIDs in that they 1) Are significantly easier to install (drop in for many makes/models), 2) LED amp draw = low draw, little heat 3) cost ~similar or less than an HID kit/lens, 4) million mile bulbs...you should never have to replace one of these in the typical lifetime of a rig.

I took before and after images of the bulbs but they really do not do justice to what is taking place on the roadway. These bulbs are truly amazing and i recommend them.

Cheers,
Thom

[cpaharley2008]

Thom,
Do you have some more detail on the manufacturer of the bulbs and possible sources?

[accrete]

Greetings Jim,
Here is a direct link to the Truck-Lite website. You should be able to go into your local-owned auto-electric shop and see if they can get these bulbs (a quick look in Pen showed ~6 dealers). They are becoming quite popular with OTR Truckers and also tuner-car enthusiasts. My shop stated they had installed several into local fleet trucks and had the particular set for my chevy van ordered as i talked to them and arrived at their shop the next day. The price per bulb here on the WET! Coast of Oregon was $280... i didn't even skip a beat when i heard the price as i was ready to put out that much per side for an HID kit. The stock Chevy headlights were so poor that my wife would not get flashed by oncoming traffic even with the high beams on ,(

Also of note, we have a local multi-branch military base...nearly all new rigs are coming with these LED bulbs in them, Hummers and all : )