Chinook RV

Tested it with a bolt meter and confirmed my suspicion. It's less than 2 years old, but is no longer passing current (13+ one side, 11.6 on the other side). Low voltage disconnect alarm wouldn't stop once I started the van, but did stop when I started the generator).
I don't have the receipt for it since it was replaced by a repair shop in Florida last time. I will check on the warranty of these things, but it's probably only a year. Is there a better brand/model?

Somewhat related, but where do people ship stuff to when they are on the road? Do you just stay at a campground for a few days while waiting for a delivery? I assume there's no reasonable place local to the Seattle area to just pick one up. Wish I would have done my solar project already..

Manitou wrote:Is there a better brand/model?

I would recommend the Blue Sea 7622.

Another recommendation: Mount it somewhere other than on the fenderwell. There is more heat/dust/water there than a separator should have to endure. Plus, once you get the Surepower out, you'll be glad you don't have to wrangle a new one in to that spot! (Removing the antifreeze overflow bottle and shifting it a bit to the side helps.)

You can put the 7622 anywhere along the wire that connects the start and house batteries and it's all the same electrically. So of course it's good to put it "indoors." Also, the 7622 has a manual lockout knob on it, so you will want to be able to reach it. This is nice if you are going to be working on one part of the system and want to KNOW it's not going to "connect" when you least expect it. Or if you simply don't want it to connect the two (start and house) for some reason.

Manitou wrote:Somewhat related, but where do people ship stuff to when they are on the road?

I have a few strategies depending on the location, etc. I'll list them from most to least favorable:

1) If I'm at a location where I can have something shipped to their address (friend's house, campground) then I can easily order - and best of all - not care what shipping service is used. Ahhhh. Amazon Prime is handy because you know about when it will arrive, but when you've got a friend's house, life is good.

2) If I'm boondocking of course that doesn't work (this is more common for me). So, if I can specify how something is shipped, and I'm near a UPS Customer Center (i.e. a hub), I use that as they are free. Same goes for Fedex at a FedEx customer center. Or USPS and general delivery - easier at a smaller town post office and I check ahead for easy parking.

3) If I can't specify (or even know) how something is going to ship (Amazon, I'm looking at you), then I look for a place that accepts packages from everyone (UPS, FedEx, USPS). This will be some sort of Mailboxes place, which includes UPS stores (not the same as the Customer Center, these are for-pay franchise places that are not "really" UPS as we think of them. They are basically just shipping/mailbox places, and they accept packages from all common services. Do call ahead as the rates can vary. I've had everything from $2 per package to $10 per package (and you know how Amazon can somehow ship five items in eight boxes...)

4) One thing is that you CAN force Amazon to ship via USPS to a post office by making your address "So and So, P.O. Box [but then list general delivery address because you don't actually have a PO box there), blah blah ZIP code. This is by far my last choice because I detest post office tracking and it pretty much takes all the fizz out of 2-day shipping (no tracking while package is enroute, then after you have it in hand, by the way, your package delivered yesterday....groan).

5) If you are going to be in an area for awhile, and/or are going to be getting a lot of packages, you can look into renting a box at a UPS store. That may end up being less expensive if you are say, going to get 25 packages and they are one that charges $10 per.

6) I have very occasionally asked a business if they would accept something for me. As an example one time I was going to a specific business and was going to be spending quite a bit of money there. I asked them if I could have something shipped overnight to their address while I was there and they said yes. But I would only do this very occasionally for a business I was patronizing with $$$.

7) One thing you don't want to do is have "mismatching" services and free pickup locations. By that I mean USPS brings something to the address of a UPS hub, or UPS delivers something to a post office address. The receiver will either refuse the package (hassle!) or sometimes release it to you for $$$ (one time when I thought something was being shipped USPS, it went UPS instead, and I had it addressed to a post office, and the post office wanted $15 per box to release it to me - it was quite a few boxes and some of them were trivial items so this was not good! Try hard not to have that happen. Of course if you are using a fee based mailbox place or UPS store (not a post office or UPS hub) then this is not a problem and they will accept the item and just charge you the fee you already knew was going to be applied.

As always, appreciate your reply Blue. The story changed in just the past 30 min. After researching the blue sea alternative and my current model, I decided to take a closer look. I took the bolts out of the antifreeze overflow and cocked it to the side. Then started to undo the 1 screw holding the seperator to the fender well. I wiggled all the connections as best I could and thought better of undoing the screw anymore (probably drop it and besides.. I don't have a replacement unit on hand). So, I started up the van again.. Hit the "boost start" overhead button a couple of times, I didn't notice any change in sounds (overhead fan is on, but I can usually hear it pick up just a little when it gets more juice). I heard a thump from the seperator or 2. I shut down the engine, screwed it back to the fender well and tested again. Wala.. I'm getting juice now. I'm not sure what did the trick. I don't think the unit is ground through the case to the fender and none of the cables were noticeably loose. I can only suspect some internal arm was stuck and the boost button or my wiggling freed it. I'll keep an eye on it a while longer and research the details of the blue sea replacement for the future.
Replacing an existing unit for exact same is so much easier than recabeling/engineering a solution.. But if it's going to die every 2 years, it's not a good solution to begin with.

It was short lived. Back to no charge again. I'll have to deal with this when I get back from a work trip in a week. I think I'll just replace with another sure power unit though to avoid recabeling and such. Maybe I'll get a 200amp unit rather than the stock 100amp (not that it should really matter I don't think).

Manitou wrote:I assume there's no reasonable place local to the Seattle area to just pick one up. Wish I would have done my solar project already..

This has to be one of the coolest stores ever...

http://www.westmarine.com/buy/blue-sea- ... --14122147

1827 - 15th Ave W Ste A22
Seattle, WA
98119
206-926-0356

You know, I misunderstood that part of the post. I was thinking "just pick up a package," when I now see (thanks to Scott) that you meant pick up a separator. Yes, likely tons of marine stores there to grab a Blue Sea 7622 from - Blue Sea is in Bellingham (WA) and they are very well represented in the marine world. Another great store in Seattle would be Fisheries Supply. Huge, local, and fun to shop. Great selection of electrical stuff.

(Sounds like you are no longer planning to replace it, but just in case.)

Also, you *could* just mount a 7622 on the fenderwell using the existing cabling. It's just not a great location due to heat, moisture, and inaccessibility. But I'd guess the 7622 is better "potted" than the Surepower (at least mine was pretty much exposed by design). Or you could use a Blue Sea power post on the fenderwell to join the two cables, and then put the Blue Sea in the battery area at that end (so little re-doing of things). Basically any of these are just interrupting the positive cable that runs between the two battery banks - nothing magical. A plain old switch will do the same thing, but manually.

And yes, a decent solar setup will likely make it so you don't need to combine much. Well, everyone is different, but with 200 watts (and a compressor refrigerator) I haven't needed to combine except for two or three times, and that was because my panels are ground panels at the moment, so if I'm traveling for some days in a row I'm not putting the panels out, and that's when I combine. I prefer not to though, as the alternator is the "stupidest" charger I have aboard.

Bring this to closure bullet point style.
1) the wiggle move only last 1 time and died again
2) replaced 1315 bi-directional with 1314 uni-directional
3) 1315 said "sure power" right on it. 1314 says Eaton on it. (Box says something about Bussman)
4) did park and fly from a courtyard hotel. Sent packages to the hotel while I was gone (but chinook was still there as part of the "park" in park&fly).
5) there was 2 screws holding to the fender wall and it was a bit of a pain, but replaced in about 30-45min.

Drove for an hour and seems to be charging fine again.