Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

Give Battleborn a call. They actually talked me out of the heater kit for my winter setup in Reno area even after I told him my winter hot springs & skiing plans. I will still add some insulation and try to keep it warm but when he sold me on a cheaper product I took his advice. Time will tell if it was the right call.

 

The heated battery that battleborn sells is manually activated so to charge in the cold your battery needs to have enough juice to warm itself up, this could take over an hour. You flip a switch and wait, if you just leave it on all the time then it will run itself flat. Your charger also needs to output power, if its self regulated and wont charge unless a temperature is high enough then the heated battery wont make a difference as the battery cant tell the charger that its warm.

In my Drifter I have to run a heater for about an hour until the camper is warm but the battery takes a few hours to warm up so until its up to temp the charger wont kick on even if you have solar, running your truck, plugged into shore power, etc. Its not a perfect system at this moment. You need a charger with a battery temperature sensor, a heated battery, and patience for it to work.

 

The new Battleborn heated battery has both an automatic heat function as well as a on/off feature of the auto heat, just depends on how you wire it up. https://battlebornbatteries.com/product/100ah-12v-lifepo4-heated-battery-kit/ (It's in the heat manual doc) The battery also has a low voltage cutoff for the heater and BB states, "The heater will continue to operate until the battery disconnects for low voltage cutoff. With no charging, or other loads, this could take up to four days in an insulated box in subzero temperatures."

This feature is pretty much useless if you don't turn it on or used the battery all night for other means and it needs a charge pretty early in the morning. Definitely fits into the not a perfect system category.

 

i think that's the BMS initiating low voltage cutoff. when that's the case, you'll have to charge it to reactivate the microrelay within the Battery management system.

With that said, you can always get an external lvd hooked up to your battery heater. In the winter if you insulate the battery with foam and/or reflectix with a 5-10 watt ceramic heater, it's enough to keep the battery warm for as long as you have power.

 

BMS would make sense instead of a separate control system.
Any ceramic heater systems you’ve had good luck with?

*Definitely overthinking ceramic heaters...Gonna go the insulation/heating pad/heater option first before I get too wild with my system.

 

Same...you must watch the same Will Prowse videos on YouTube! He's a fan of SOK. I will probably just go with 100ah and keep it dedicated for and in the camper.

 

I found that the gasoline heater i installed is hungry for power so if I run it 18hrs a day without sunshine my 100Ah AGM is no good. Its the same story in the summer when I use the refrigerator and the fan continuously. This is my first camper build so Im learning.

 

Maybe I missed it, but what gas heater did you get?

 

Also same...first camper build here...starting soon (when I have it!) and trying to learn as much as possible. Planning to do diesel heater. I have dual batteries in my engine bay (agm). I plan to have a disconnect/switch to power everything in the camper while truck is running with the secondary battery, and then switch to my lithium (I guess my 3rd battery) that is in the camper when I am parked for the evening. The lithium basically takes over and powers everything at camp.
Maybe it's overkill...or a dumb plan. Guess I'll find out...and my camper is not a Drifter, so its possible to detach and leave on its own.

 

I bought an Espar B4L which is the gasoline version. I installed a 1.5gal tank in the same space as the heater and finding this arrangement to have a few drawbacks so Im working with a local shop to see if they can tie the fuel line into my existing tank to avoid the following:

1. Tank expands when it gets warm so if you dont vent outside then it becomes a timebomb. It shrinks when it gets cold and the cap does allow air in but it also allows fuel to slosh out when driving. Bad fuel cap design? I put a piece of tape over it when driving. Havent solved the expansion problem yet.

2. If you do vent outside then fuel is wasted due to evaporation. A pressure relief valve that vents outside is a possible solution but will have to wait, for now.

3. Tank lasts about 18 hours in 25F weather so if you live out of the Drifter for a week during winter then it needs to be filled each day.

4. Filling the tank makes it stink inside the camper so you have to ventilate which sucks when its very cold outside.

5. I have a long range tank which is 32 gallons precisely so that I wouldn't have to carry fuel cans, now I need one for the heater.

Hence if you guys are installing this type of heater, just tie it into your trucks tank and you will be much happier.

 

Yes, there is apparently an error code for "too cold" regardless of what charging profile you use. It just kicks on at different temps for lithium vs. all the others.

If I understand this correctly, you will see the code at 14F or below. It's two-flash groups, separated by a few seconds.

 

Nice! I have a very similar arrangement, two AGMs under the hood and a third in the camper.

 

why not tap into the factory tank if it’s gas?

 

something cheap like this:

$14 4 PCS Film Heater Plate Adhesive Pad, Icstation PI Heating Elements Film 12V 7W Strip Heater Adhesive Polyimide Heater Plate 25mmx50mm

https://www.amazon.com/12V-Flexible-Polyimide-Heater-Plate/dp/B07P2RJDPL/

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Here's a programmable LVD

$10 daier XH-M609 DC 12V-36V Battery Low Voltage Disconnect Protection Module DC Output

https://www.amazon.com/daier-XH-M609-12V-36V-Disconnect-Protection/dp/B07RK3RZNH

 

All I can say is my 100ah lead acid battery is not hanging when my heater and fridge are both running. I've been trying to follow the battery talk (literally gibberish to me); what's the best replacement under $1500?

 

How much power is the heater drawing? Mine setup is not quite the same since I'm not running any kind of hard mounted heater but I think the cheapest would be to just go with an AGM battery. I run just one AGM in the engine bay for my Drifter lights, charging plugs and fridge.

 

Thats the plan.

 

Ive been trying to figure out which line is best to tap into. If you figure it out keep us updated.

 

A 100Ah BattleBorn battery is equivalent to a 200 Ah AGM battery set, and that only costs $1000. And, you could get the option of a heated battery! Sounds like a deal to me.

 

The fuel tank I have is impossible to remove at home with the tools i have, which is why I didnt go that route. I took the truck in for a recall on the fuel pump today and at first they said two hours but then actually looked at the beast and changed it to a tune of $500 plus whatever Toyota is paying them. I just hope they dont ruin the truck. My plan was to get a pump from them and then have my local mechanic do it but the service manager said that they are not allowed to just hand over the part. I haven't figured out which line I will use to get the fuel through. Maybe an additional port can be added with a pickup line. The sprinter vans have an aux port you just hook into with a quick connect, dont know about Toyota.