What have you done to your 200 Series this week? (89 Viewers)
- Thread starter MScruiser
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eimkeith
Supporting Vendor
Glad you like it, and thanks for the order!
Motor pool Monday, but on a Tuesday lol. I got around to doing my first oil change on the Cruiser myself. I've been wanting to switch over to 5w-30 oil for a while now and I took this chance to get away from the stealership and their crap service as well. I found two missing bolts while removing the skid plates, surprise surprise. This will be my last oil change without a valve in place of the drain plug, holy hell did I have a mess to clean up as the oil bounced out of my pan and all over the back side of the tire and the garage floor. I am no fan of the cartridge style filter either.
Oil pressure seems to be slightly higher at highway speeds but similar to before when idling. I did notice that the drivetrain is quieter altogether now.
Oil pressure seems to be slightly higher at highway speeds but similar to before when idling. I did notice that the drivetrain is quieter altogether now.
Julian73
SILVER Star
Do you have the PN for that Cap?Motor pool Monday, but on a Tuesday lol. I got around to doing my first oil change on the Cruiser myself. I've been wanting to switch over to 5w-30 oil for a while now and I took this chance to get away from the stealership and their crap service as well. I found two missing bolts while removing the skid plates, surprise surprise. This will be my last oil change without a valve in place of the drain plug, holy hell did I have a mess to clean up as the oil bounced out of my pan and all over the back side of the tire and the garage floor. I am no fan of the cartridge style filter either.
Oil pressure seems to be slightly higher at highway speeds but similar to before when idling. I did notice that the drivetrain is quieter altogether now.
Funny. I hacked mine off this weekend and put the turn down where it was. Basically zero exhaust note change, no fumes noticed in the cab, and my leg doesn’t catch on fire at the tailgate when it’s running.
turbo8
Supporting Vendor
Looking good!
P/N 12180-0H012
So we have a Ququq camping box that we used for our trips all last year. It wasn't my first choice for a cargo set-up, but it has everything you need, a full size fold out bed with mattress, and it goes in and out of the car fairly easily. The downside is that with the box in the trunk, there's really not room for anything else. We got two rescue dogs this past summer that we plan to go camping with, but they really need to be in a kennel still while we travel and there wasn't room for both the Ququq box and a kennel back there so decisions had to be made. Well, by this time my wife had fallen in love with the box so selling it or not bringing it wasn't an option and so she just told me to figure it out. So i disassembled the Ququq box and designed/built a battery box/dog kennel support made out of 30x30mm aluprofile extruded aluminum that matches the dimensions of the Ququq box and the remainder of the interior, and bolted the fold out bed portion of the Ququq box to my battery box. I designed everything in Fusion 360 and it fits like a glove. It will hold my two 120AH AGM house batteries and associated electrics, our air conditioner, and a Ninja Air Fryer/oven. I still haven't wired everything up yet so I can't yet verify that it will all play together nicely, but I am hoping to get to it this weekend. Below are some pics of the Ququq box, my design, and the frame assembly.
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And here are some pics of the frame in the car. My plan is to use cargo boxes for storage that match the dimensions of the open space where the middle seats fold up, and when we park, they will go from stored on top of the Ququq box to between the folded up seats and the frame. This might mean that I don't need the foldout bed portion at all, but we'll see. MTF.
Cage for the kids?
Did you say air conditioner? Photo?
Are the dogs chewing up the seats?
Are the dogs chewing up the seats?
I did. I made the box to fit our Autoclima U-Go AC/heater. I think they only sell these in Europe and are made for the truckers here since, due to length restrictions, aren't able to have a full sleeper with built in AC.
We just have two high energy small dogs that for the sake of everyone in the car, it's nice to be able to allow them to have their "own" space and give my wife and girls a break from having them on their laps. Also, per German law, the dogs need to have their own "seatbelts" that secure them to the vehicle or be in a kennel.
Curious how you're venting that A/C? I assume it's a heat pump and has a hot air exchange port? Haven't seen those in the US.
Regarding the 2x AGMs, for as heavily loaded as you are, surprised you haven't taken the jump to LiFePO4? Or are they not as accessible in Europe? It would be less than half the weight, size, and possibly more usable power?
Regarding the 2x AGMs, for as heavily loaded as you are, surprised you haven't taken the jump to LiFePO4? Or are they not as accessible in Europe? It would be less than half the weight, size, and possibly more usable power?
I just ran down to my basement to grab the AC unit and show a picture of it installed, I haven't run all the ducting yet, but the heat exchanger discharges out the back and I have ducting to run it across the floor of the car, up the side, and out the driver side 2nd row window, just not there yet with the build.
A couple reasons why no LiFePO4:
1) I actually have three 120AH AGM's, the third is in the engine bay on a SLEE mount connected to a 1250 REDARC BCDC and connected to the other two via a Tigerexped TEXU400 distribution block (or will be), and for the math I worked out for my power requirements running the AC, fridge, and accessories, I didn't want to spend as much on batteries as three identical engine bay approved 100 AH LiFePO4's would cost, at least here in Europe.
2) I'm kind of a closet prepper and an overly skeptic, and I just didn't want my babies sleeping over two LiFePO4's that I had wired up myself TBH.
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Gotcha. If it helps at all, LiFePO4 are different from classic lithium batts which have the more dangerous reputation. LiFePO4 by comparison are far more chemically and thermally stable and probably safer than AGM in the interior as there's no chance of venting. They've gotten pretty cheap here in the states at under $300/100Ah. Considering it's full usable capacity, on a per Ah basis, would be cheaper than AGM. That doesn't make it cheaper if AGMs already working for ya.
safest chemistry is Lithium Titanate. It's got awkward voltages for 12v cell combos though.
I definitely need to do that additional research on the LiFePO4's, I guess I was just planning off of my working knowledge of lithium batteries, but regardless, I needed three identical "extreme weather/engine bay" rated batteries and here in Europe those are still around $1000 a piece or about three times what I paid for the AGMs. I retire out of the Army next summer and when I get back to the states I think that will be one of my first upgrades to save myself 100 lbs (+).
Julian73
SILVER Star
LiFePO4 (LFP) are far more stable that the contact that Li-ion name gives. The price paid is that LFP's are much lower energy density than full blown Li-Ion's. Auto 3 'Identical" that is not needed What you need in the engine bay is one that is heat and cold resilient. May now have built in thermal heaters to permit charging below 0C. Auto sizing, as you are not running off alternator no need to balance to main starter battery. with only 50amp charging capacity I would suggest wiring charger to a switch to charge one battery at a time.
As Julian stated, there really is no reason to chase "identical" batteries. Especially when you could put one big 200ah LiFePO4 in there and have the same capacity as all three of your current AGM batteries and still have an AGM battery under the hood.
The wiring in a switch with 2 batteries wouldn't be necessary as long as you used your DC - DC charger to control how much draw off the start battery/alternator you were using. This is a pretty standard feature, in fact any DC to DC charger that is over 50amps would get pretty expensive and be difficult to wire for that kind of load.
