R-pod Owners Forum Homepage

This site is free to use.
Donations benefit a non-profit Girls Softball organization

Forum Home Forum Home > R-pod Discussion Forums > Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed: List Your Mods:
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Calendar   Register Register  Login Login

List Your Mods:

 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <1 7172737475 77>
Author
Message
Camp town usa View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie


Joined: 26 Sep 2020
Location: Wi
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 32
Post Options Post Options   Quote Camp town usa Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: List Your Mods:
    Posted: 01 Sep 2021 at 10:54am
Back to Top
Camp town usa View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie


Joined: 26 Sep 2020
Location: Wi
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 32
Post Options Post Options   Quote Camp town usa Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Sep 2021 at 11:50am
first picture worked! 2015 178 mods listed below with some more info;

Camp Town Mods:
above: removed U-dinette peninsula. moved the outlet to the floor and filled the hole on the floor from the marker lights (which were re-positioned under the bench) with some goop.  The cushions were too bulky, i dont use the table and i wanted more floor space and it turned out easier than i had thought.  she was impressed.

added under bench lift struts (one of my fav and easiest mods)
added 300W pure sin inverter for 12V in-cabin battery bank, mostly for the TV usage (little red box in picture above)

Some other thoughts after a great summer podding;
get some type of stair stabilizer system
put on the slide-cover already
open up under sink area for better and more storage
alternative to recreating entirely new, larger drawers - just screw in a rectangle basket on the end
Renogy 200W solar suitcase - works awesome (note: need sun)
ziptied extendable sewer hose carrier to frame - elbow piece is on its own in a tote in garage storage
stove cover - bought a suitable plastic cutting board and just screwed in some short wood pegs
surge protection - i bit the cost bullet and hardwired mine in.
electric tongue jack and stabilizer drill kit

I had not thought I was capable to do some of this stuff. I only continue and try because of the support i have seen and received from this community.
Back to Top
alohapad View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie
Avatar

Joined: 09 Feb 2020
Location: Canton MI
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 6
Post Options Post Options   Quote alohapad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Sep 2021 at 7:23am
As a retired 3M'er, THANKS for the unsolicited commercial for Command Strips & Hooks!! As long as the user REALLY tries to NOT overload the adhesive capacity, THEY ARE COOL. Happy Podding!!
- Pete -
Back to Top
BlindMan View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie
Avatar

Joined: 09 Nov 2021
Location: NM
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 8
Post Options Post Options   Quote BlindMan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Nov 2021 at 6:06pm
First thing I did when I got the 202 home is open the pass thru up and remove the side walls. Moved them back to just touching the other walls. This makes the pass thru close to 9 inch's wider. Unsure why FR puts those false wall's like that. Needed the 9 inches to install the 2500 watt inverter.

2022 r-pod 202
Back to Top
BlindMan View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie
Avatar

Joined: 09 Nov 2021
Location: NM
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 8
Post Options Post Options   Quote BlindMan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Nov 2021 at 2:34pm
got the last solar panel on and hooked up. I say last, because I just can't fit any more, Did a short test by unpugging the trailer from the house and turning on the AC. Before turning on the AC, panels were putting just over 1 amp to the batteries, after turning on the AC they were putting 13.5 amps to the batteries. Voltage stayed right around 13 volts. ran the ac long enough to drop the temp 2 degrees. Iknow this setup will kill these batteries. I'm just playing with it to find out how far I can go with a soft start, 500 watts of solar and 200ah of batteries.

2022 r-pod 202
Back to Top
offgrid View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member


Joined: 23 Jul 2018
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5290
Post Options Post Options   Quote offgrid Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Nov 2021 at 4:39pm
You'd be able to run the a/c fir around one hour per day continuous if it was sunny, your solar array was clear of shading, and you used no power fir anything else.


The math is:

Power requirement of a/c 1600 watts
Inverter efficiency: 85%.
Battery discharge voltage 12.5V

DC load on batteries

1600/.85/12.5= 150.6A.

or 150.6 amp hours for one hour continuous operation.

Solar output at 1 sun and 25 degrees C: 500 watts
solar module temp on summer day : 65 degrees C
module temp derate 0.5% per degree or (65-25)*0.5 = 20%
Typical sunny day irradiance : 5 sun hours
Charging voltage 13.5V

Solar array output to batteries

500*0.8/13.5*5=148 amphours per day.

An hour a day isn't veryp practical. To cool the trailer for what most ppl would consider a reasonable period of time you'd need to chanfe out the crummy roof a/c for a high efficiency minisplit, put in 1500 plus watts of solar, and about 5kwh plus battery capacity.



1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold
Back to Top
BlindMan View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie
Avatar

Joined: 09 Nov 2021
Location: NM
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 8
Post Options Post Options   Quote BlindMan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Nov 2021 at 5:04pm
To put enough solar on it I would actually have to buy 3 more rpods and stack them together, there is just not enough roof space. Oh and give up my pass through and under bed space for batteries. lol. But I have enough to watch a lil TV with the wife, heat up some popcorn in the microwave. So it's all good.

2022 r-pod 202
Back to Top
offgrid View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member


Joined: 23 Jul 2018
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5290
Post Options Post Options   Quote offgrid Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Nov 2021 at 6:22pm
One salvage Tesla battery module (about 1 ft x 2 ft x 2 inches thick is 5.3 kwh and weighs about 50 lbs. Two would be better but either way that's not too much to consider size and weight to consider. Four industrial size solar modules (each about 1 x 2 meters or 40 x 78 inches would just about get to 1500 watts. Attached crosswize those would pretty much cover the whole trailer roof, with the roof a/c, spoiler and TV antenna removed, and weigh in at around 200 lbs. The minisplit condenser could go on the tongue where the batteries used to be.
Since the top minisplits are close to twice the efficiency of RV roof a/c's (which are better at making noise than cooling) that out to get around 5-6 hours of a/c operation a day. At a typical 50% duty cycle that ought to keep an rpod cool for around 10-12 hours daily (or nightly in a humid climate).

So it's quite possible with current technology, more a matter of cost and motivation to do the mod than space.
1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold
Back to Top
Susan_55 View Drop Down
Newbie
Newbie


Joined: 01 Dec 2021
Location: Sequim, WA
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 12
Post Options Post Options   Quote Susan_55 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Dec 2021 at 10:19pm
My VERY first Pod Mod in my 178 seems to be a success! This stove cover is a cabinet door with a recessed panel that I found at the local building supply recycler. The feet are soft rubber (so non-skid) bumpers screwed on with a plastic shim to make them the right height -- about 3/4" above the burners. Then I cut a piece of sheet brass (I KNEW I would need that for something... 20 years ago) and screwed it to the recessed underside for a heat shield just in case the burners were still a little warm when I covered them. And when I'm cooking, the cover sits on the bed for extra "counter" space.
2014 R-Pod 178 HRE
2015 Toyota Tacoma 4WD V6
on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula, Washington State
Back to Top
jato View Drop Down
Senior Member
Senior Member
Avatar

Joined: 23 Feb 2012
Location: Kewadin, MI
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3216
Post Options Post Options   Quote jato Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Dec 2021 at 5:43am
Very nice, well done.  Looks great!
God's pod
'11 model 177
'17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost
Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake
"...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free."
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <1 7172737475 77>

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down

Bulletin Board Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 9.64
Copyright ©2001-2009 Web Wiz