7x16x6.5 Featherlite Build

[bdosborn]

Damn, that's quite the upgrade. Nicely done!
Bruce

[featherliteCT1]

Damn, that's quite the upgrade. Nicely done!
Bruce

thanks!

[flboy]

Nice. Thanks for the explanation. I am using a 3.3 cuFt Magic Chef refridgerator from Home Depot that has a freezer box in it. It does freeze things or keep them frozen in there and I often have to turn it down else things in the fridge start to freeze. In any case , it draws about 60 watts (give or take a few) at 110VAC. I never really took enough data to see how long every hour it runs and what the ambient temps are to arrive at an aH measurement... but it is off much more than on. I have 510aH of LifePo4 batteries , so the fridge never really puts a dent in it. I can go 4 or 5 days with no sun before I get to 30% on the LifePo4 batteries.. but I am running and charging lot of things besides the fridge (Fans, Microwave, Lights, laptop, radio, etc..).

[featherliteCT1]

flboy,

I also built a second 280Ah battery, identical to the first one depicted in my photos, with its own BMS. Combined, in parallel, the two batteries would give me 560Ah. I am not sure whether I will parallel them as two batteries or combine all the cells in one fixture to make one battery.

I would like to be able to run my air conditioner for a few hours like you do. However, I do not like the idea of pulling 100 Ah to run the air conditioner. With that many amps, I would probably want to increase the size of my BMS's, get a bigger inverter and have to install bigger wire.

I have been thinking about eventually reconfiguring from a 12v system to a 24v system. That would also allow me to install more panels to push more watts through my Din rail mounted breakers without over heating them.

So many options!

I am not sure if the electrical system is a worse disease than trailer converting.

[flboy]

flboy,
I am not sure if the electrical system is a worse disease than trailer converting.

It is as bad, at least for me.



Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

[featherliteCT1]

IMG_4228 188 holes filled.jpeg (131.97 KiB) Viewed 1685 times

IMG_4230 seepage.jpeg (72.27 KiB) Viewed 1685 times

IMG_4234 black rivets.jpeg (101.64 KiB) Viewed 1685 times

For a long time, I have wanted to insulate the ramp door on my trailer with sheets of polyiso insulation, like the rest of the trailer. So, a friend helped me grind off all the welds and rivets affixing the 1/4 inch aluminum diamond plate to the door framing. After grinding off all the welds and drilling out all the rivets, we discovered that the plate is also welded onto the framing from the inside. Consequently, we could not remove the plate.

However, the time was not wasted because we were able to lift the plate up around the edges just high enough to peek inside with a flashlight to see where the framing is located. All of the the framing is aluminum square tubing.

So, we decided to drill about 188 holes in the plate in order to inject 20 cans of window and door type spray foam insulation into the panel voids as well as into all of the square tubing.

We drilled so many holes thinking that this would reduce the risk of blowing out the exterior skin. Notwithstanding, some of the foam seeped out of and slightly bulged the exterior seam. Not shown is where the foam seeped out and bulged the seam because we had already trimmed off the excess foam at the seam. I still need to caulk the seam which bulges out about 1/16 inch along a 12 inch long stretch of the seam.

Then we installed black plastic push rivets to close the holes.

Even though there is a thermal bridge connecting the exterior skin, the framing and the plate, I suspect that we made a significant improvement. I will watch for condensation forming on the inside where the thermal bridges exist.

[lfhoward]

Nice work with the spray foam insulation. It will make a huge difference, both summer and winter!

[flboy]

Wow, looks like that was alot of work. Did the foam clean up well off the deck? That stuff is so messy. Glad you got it done in any case.

Is that your shop? Looks nice and big.

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

[featherliteCT1]

Yes, there was much more work than I had anticipated. It took us about three days.

On the first day we tried to remove the plate and ended up spending most of the day drilling all 188 holes. It took about one minute to drill each hole (188 holes x 1 minute/hole = 3 man hours of drilling).

On the second day, we spent half the day finding and buying the foam and filling the holes with the foam. Then the foam had to set up overnight before we could peel off the blobs.

On the third day, we spent half the day cleaning off the residual foam with acetone.

The residual foam came off fairly easy with acetone, but it still took about two minutes of scrubbing with a rag, per hole (188 holes x 2 minutes/hole = 6 man hours of scrubbing).

The foam from Lowes cost $11 per can. We used 20 cans (20 x $11= $220 of foam).

The shop is our company's shop that I have access to 24/7. Nice perk!

We install underground water and sewer lines for public works projects. We use lots of heavy equipment like: excavators, bull dozers, drilling machines, semi tractors, trailers and a whole lot of other miscellaneous stuff. Almost all our work is lump sum bid. We are blessed.

[featherliteCT1]

Even though we spray foamed the ramp seven days ago, today the trailer had a bout of severe diarrhea.

Bad Foam Leak Day 7.jpg (174.59 KiB) Viewed 1541 times

Which surprises me.

[flboy]

Wow.. must be airtight in there ' it never got a chance to cure.

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

[bdosborn]

Even though we spray foamed the ramp seven days ago, today the trailer had a bout of severe diarrhea.

I had a colonoscopy several years ago and the prep was just like that.
Bruce

[Modstock]

Maybe poke through all the holes with a screwdriver, help release some trapped air or undried foam.

Any bulging ?

Sent from my SM-A115AP using Tapatalk

[featherliteCT1]

On the 10th after the installation of the foam, I saw more seepage in a second location. I watched the foam drip out onto the concrete. The foam has the consistency of soup.

230610 Foam Seapage Day 10.jpg (110.9 KiB) Viewed 1451 times

I removed one of the black plugs installed in the plate over the area of seepage. I noted that the foam is cured below and around the immediate surroundings of the hole; however, I am only able to probe the hole with a tool a distance of about 1/4 in all directions.

The first location of seepage after day 7 bulged the skin out about 1/8 inch at the bottom of the ramp. This second location of seepage after day 10 bulged the skin out about 1/2 inch at the very bottom of the ramp. The outer skin of the ramp door shows a slight amount of oil canning. The glare in the photo makes the slight bulge in the skin look way worse than it really is.

In each case, the seepage occurred after the ramp door was expoed to direct sunlight in the afternoon and heated up.

The foam spray is Great Stuff for windows and doors.

We shall see in the future if foam continues to leak out.

[bdosborn]

When I was researching insulation for the van it was pretty common for the exterior sheet metal to get wavy with foam insulation. I don't think there's much you can do but wait till it all hardens.
Bruce