Car Camping / Trip Reports / Photos / Buildouts / “Overland” / Expedition Rigs Area (homeless?)

Phrase my old man drilled into my head as a kid...

“Half of nothing is nothing.”

Better to have something to work with than nothing at all.

 

Not yet. Still in plans.

But 35s and new wheels are on the plate now.

 

Of course if you are a civic with semislicks in the cottonwood canyons, you're a dumbass, and also half of no tread is no tread!

 

Yea, well i just ordered a solar panel and will be setting it up in the next few weeks if you want to check it out.

 

Cool yea! Do you have a dual battery setup too?

 

Not yet, but im getting one. Im removing the 40% rear seat and building a shelf for a fridge, going dual yellow tops, and solar. Then upping the bed outlet to run off of a 1500w invertor.

 

https://youtu.be/LDZ84tkcnaE

Member @fajitas21 made this portable power pack using a DC to DC charger smart relay with solar MPPT charge controller built into it (ctek d250s dual). It's pretty cool. It's a little expensive. But after doing some research, it seems well worth it. I'll be incorporateing this into a portable solar generator to run a fridge and anything else. Plus, did I mention it will be PORTABLE!

 

Almost exactly the same setup I have!

 

Yep - I'm jealous of that set up. Back in 2016, I came close to using the CTEK D250S as shown in the video to charge my fridge battery - while driving my truck - but I lucked out and bought a second hand ArkPak set up for $100. The set up in the video charges a depleted battery in about 1/4 of the time needed by an ArkPak unit.

Lee Mims set up gets an A+ with regards to execution. Andersen plugs are definitely the way to roll.

For a remote second battery location, a DC to DC charger like the CTEK or RedArc units are the ticket.

* Both are units are over $250
* Both convert an input voltage of 12.5 to 13 volts to an output voltage of ~14.5 volts
* Both units isolate your truck's starter battery from the 2nd battery, while the latter discharges.

There are a multitude of set ups over at Expedition Portal to charge an auxiliary battery. Most use only solar.

 

I would jump on an arkpak too for that much. Good score!

 

@EatSleepTacos

 

20% off on ebay until tomorrow until 8pm PT. The Renogy kits are on there.

Code: PSPRING20

 

Portable Camp power ready to go

 

What type of battery?

 

3, 12 volt. Same batteries we use to power portable XRay machines.

 

Been in NV on BLM land since Nov 29th, so far so good. Trailer fridge stopped working on propane, works fine on AC from the generator. Yamaha generator is good powered by propane, 4.5g LP tank lasts a long time. Propane is god-like for me.

 

@monkeyface Why did you decide to convert the generator to propane?

 

4.5 gallons from a 20 lb propane tank vs 1 gallon stock gas tank. Can run the gen for a lot longer than gasoline. And don't have the messy refill, nor carry gasoline containers.

 

@monkeyface how did you convert the generator, and do you have pictures of it?

thank you

 

I've installed tri-fuel kits from here on three generators - https://www.motorsnorkel.com/

Others have similar kits. https://centuryfuelproducts.com/generators/conversion-kits
https://www.propanecarbs.com/small_engines.html

USCarburetion (aka motorsnorkel.com) has been good for me. Easy install, I think it's the easiest install of the bunch. Yamaha EF2000isv2.

Notice on the right of the brass T fitting there is a loadblock. That has to be set right to get it running and get the air/fuel mixture correct. Can be adjusted out to richen the mixture at high altitude.