Converting to LiFePO4 batteries and Sailor Man's LiFePO4 Build

Well the rear Advent Air conditioning unit is gone and there is a small 14” x 14” hole in the overhead. The old Advent air conditioning unit was 21 1/2” x 22 1/2” x 3 1/2” deep.
There is a nasty discolored patch in the overhead, 21 1/2” x 22 1/2” that looks nasty. I have ordered (2) Jensen 46VR 12v dc lat screen tv units that will lie up flat to the overhead on a 12” x 12” Vespa mount. The TV can drop down and rotate. The entire is 22” x 22 1/2” x 3 1/2”, so it will not take up the entire space.
I plan to fashion a sold cypress panel to match the cabinetry that hides the tv. I might add indirect edge LED lighting to illuminate indirectly illuminate the surrounding overhead and period a couple of adjustable recessed reading lights.
I will do the same thing forward in the salon where the forward air conditioning unit used to be.
And here is the 48v dc YMGI heat pump in the salon.
I think that the curvilinear surface of the YMGI mini split compliments the similar forms of the coach.
View attachment 8630
View attachment 8631
The overhead flat tv and enclosure will be much less bulky, so the and the space will seem much higher and more spacious.
The scissors couch will expand into a double bed and it is across from the dinette that also months into a double bed. I hope that I will be able to rotate both the passenger and driver seat around to make this a very spacious and cozy room.
On top of it all, the heating and air conditioning will be very quiet. In a pinch, I could even turn on the dashboard air conditioning without starting the engine.
I hope it will be a very pleasant and peaceful place, especially if we are boon docking in the wilderness.
On the top picture, you can barely see the 3 circuit dc breaker panel in the location where the former generator switch was located. In the original electrical power center there was a 15 amp dc breaker for the original refrigerator. I took that wire over to this 3 breaker panel to power it. Idel requires a 15 amp breaker for each of their compressors, but that is way overkill for the unit you are installing. I have not been able to get an update from Idel but I suspect that with the greatly reduced electrical power requirements, 5 amp circuit breakers would probably be more appropriate.
 
I saw a YouTube video recently that a Hyundai sorrento electric fan nearly matches up with the original radiator, that might work for your desired fan setup.
Take a look at posting #244, 2/21/23 on Page 13. This is the fan cooling system that is described by Jason Stryker in the GMC COOP video on how this system works. It is the one that I having installed.
 
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View attachment 8738
Jason Stryker delivers the Drew Koba COOP 455 and the motor meets the coach.

JasonStryker
Now that the Drew Koba 455 is in my coach, I am left with the old 455 that was running just fine on the motor stand that I bought. I don't know what to do with this engine, so I called Jim Bounds and asked him if he would build a new COOP from it. He said that he would love to, so is there anyone interested?
I paid $8,000 for the new engine just as you see it here. I did not have to buy a crate 455 plus shipping. I didn't think there would ever be another built like it so I put in a bid at the COOP auction and won it.
The GMC COOP had options for serpentine belt systems, FiTech fuel injection and other upgrades for additional costs.

Jim Bounds says that no one else has made a COOP 455 arranged like mine.

My set up is very different. The March Racing components came with a new power steering pump and water pump. I am happy with that because so much of the new set up is brand new and I hope will be far more reliable.
I think that the head was replaced about 20 years ago.
I just hate the thought of just junking this engine. I can't stand throwing out useful stuff. Help me out!
Oh, Jim says that Chuck Botts is gone. However, I found something very interesting that he investigated. He installed a HHO system on his COOP 455 and tested it. He says that he increased his fuel efficiency from 8.0 mpg to 11.5 mpg. Does anyone know about this system?
Here is the link to his presentation:

Anybody know anything about this?

I already buy lots of distilled water because I use it in my CPAP machine to control my sleep apnea. I got tired of carrying around cartons of 6 jugs of distilled water, so I just bought a small device that makes distilled water from tap water. I wonder if I can make my own fuel.

I will be posting later my solution for collecting rain water to eliminating filling my water tank with municipal drinking water.

Just think, rain water is close to distilled already. If I collect it before it hits the ground, I make distilled water from rain water. I then turn distilled water into HHO (hydrogen & oxygen) using the solar electrical power I am collecting and mixing it with bought ethanol free gasoline. Won't that be cool!

Maybe this is better than than installing electrical motors to replace the internal combustion engines.
 
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The link to the presentation is damage and not working. Try again copy/pasting it and see if it works for you before you repost it. Interesting concept.
 
Here is a discussion thread on HHO archived from GMCNet in 2015 started by Charles Botts.


The link in his initial post to the source of his PWM controller is no longer available as is the link to his book on the subject.

This link to his presentation to GMC Western States is still available. (for some reason I must click on the title of the document to get the actual presentation even though it shows the same URL)


Note that his initial math was wrong (at saving $1.00/mile) which was pointed out to him in this thread. Chuck acknowledged this and corrected the presentation as noted in his document title, although I did not read the document.
 
The link to the presentation is damage and not working. Try again copy/pasting it and see if it works for you before you repost it. Interesting concept.
I also found this that recently received an award in Europe.
 
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Now that the Drew Koba 455 is in my coach, I am left with the old 455 that was running just fine on the motor stand that I bought. I don't know what to do with this engine, so I called Jim Bounds and asked him if he would build a new COOP from it. He said that he would love to, so is there anyone interested?
Distance too far for me (opposite corner of country) but someone in the region‘s gotta want this built to spec or an as-is spare. GMCMI classifieds currently lists a 403 near Boston and a 455 north of Denver.
 
One must consider the actual conditions, trying to match the actual demand for energy with actual solar radiation.
I am located in Florida, which means that I am closer to the equator than most of you. It is true that June 21 has the maximum solar radiation, but that does not match the time for maximum demand. Generally, air conditioning loads are maximized in the 6 weeks in August and September here. That is also true in other locations. It takes a long time to heat the Earth's mass. This is a delaying flywheel effect.
So as one approaches the autumn equinox, one faces the greatest cooling demand.
In Florida, it is spring when we collect the most solar radiation. It is the dry season with little moisture suspended in the air. In summer, it is sunny almost every day until about 4:00pm EDT here (Solar Time 2:00) and then the clouds and thunderstorms start. Tampa Bay is actually west of Detroit, so we are in the wrong time zone.
What seems to be never talked about is how to control demand. Air conditioning needs to be controlled by temperature and humidity. It is almost universally controller only by temperature.
Lowering the humidity in controlled air allows much higher air temperature and sensible load is directly related to the delta temperature between interior air and exterior
Who would have guessed…
Detroit is west of Tampa.
Detroit (United States): 42.33143, -83.04575

Tampa, FL : 27.964157, -82.452606.​

 
Distance too far for me (opposite corner of country) but someone in the region‘s gotta want this built to spec or an as-is spare. GMCMI classifieds currently lists a 403 near Boston and a 455 north of Denver.
I talked to Jim Bounds about my old engine and asked him if he was interested in making a new Koba Olds 455 COOP engine out of it. He is interested in doing it. I just can't throw it away or wait for someone to ask for it. Maybe we could have Cliff add another of my March Racing serpentine belt system.
Maybe my GMC Coop 455 will not be the last after all.
 
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No water heater boondocking and I haven't tried the furnace this way (I will this year).
- 3 roof vent fans running 24/7
- Propane fridge 24/7 (also consumes DC power)
- 3 additional USB fans running all night
- Lighting as needed, and charged phones & iPad
- Swamp cooler 4 to 6 hours per day.
Swamp cooler fits over the engine cover and draws shaded air from underneath while parked, uses an electric car radiator fan plus a 12v pump to mist water (helps in Nevada but not Florida).

I'm about to switch from propane fridge to a dedicated 12v DC fridge. I'll do a full write-up this spring along with amperages.

Apologies to Sailor Man, I don't want to hijack your build thread. Hoping this information helps with decisions.
Tell me more about your swamp cooler! I need something to cool my rig without using much electricity. I'm in western Canada so the air is pretty dry here and I doubt I'll ever go where the humidity would be too high.
 
Tell me more about your swamp cooler! I need something to cool my rig without using much electricity. I'm in western Canada so the air is pretty dry here and I doubt I'll ever go where the humidity would be too high.
The swamp cooler I designed is grafted onto the engine cover when parked. This was done at the same time we converted to solar (half dozen Renogy flex panels, 300A LiFePo, Victron inverter etc.) and eliminated the generator. The swamp cooler did the job while parked 1-1/2 weeks in the Nevada desert a loooong way from the nearest shore power. Didn't start the engine until we left and we were able to run everything except A/C.

I think one reason this design works is it draws air from under the GMC while parked. I figured the air under the engine (once it's parked a few hours) is a few degrees cooler since that's shaded by the GMC at all hours. It worked.

Details on the swamp cooler that snaps onto the engine cover are in the thread GMC at Burning Man 2022.
 
The swamp cooler I designed is grafted onto the engine cover when parked. This was done at the same time we converted to solar (half dozen Renogy flex panels, 300A LiFePo, Victron inverter etc.) and eliminated the generator. The swamp cooler did the job while parked 1-1/2 weeks in the Nevada desert a loooong way from the nearest shore power. Didn't start the engine until we left and we were able to run everything except A/C.

I think one reason this design works is it draws air from under the GMC while parked. I figured the air under the engine (once it's parked a few hours) is a few degrees cooler since that's shaded by the GMC at all hours. It worked.

Details on the swamp cooler that snaps onto the engine cover are in the thread GMC at Burning Man 2022.
Not a lot of details there, though I guess I can figure out what you have done from the photos. I have 300 watts solar installed with 200 ah LFP battery. A mixture of Renogy and Victron components! Also a 2500w pure sine inverter but I still have the generator. (for now) I'll try it out this summer and see if I need the genny at all. I think with an evaporative cooler I can eliminate the roof air and generator reducing the weight and wind resistance for more efficiency. I don't think any long distance trips are in my future so likely always will be in relatively dry Western Canada.
 
I have come across a paper published in the Alexandria Engineering Journal, Alexandria, Egypt, Circa 11/21/2015 that seems to confirm Chuck's experience in using HHO in his coach.
https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/270704/1-s2.0-S1110016816X00026/1-s2.0-S1110016815001714/main.pdf?X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjECcaCXVzLWVhc3QtMSJHMEUCIQCmM6%2F3ZGhFuhcMmDzO5BSv2sEtuVGQbrkYcDrs6jjMPQIgNwN45eB0VzgGbzp30695%2FVgK%2BGP%2B8jkIlBlk17KgZz0qswUIYBAFGgwwNTkwMDM1NDY4NjUiDKHmJrn8Fc%2B%2Fqe9lNyqQBdZuTSj%2Fmq0zSszqEdQe33DyYrFugd9IasIru9USBG291nwAivPV7whJwF%2FByywq1colJHWf30zvuaVG5AAsAGr1DDHJw1w41AZb4ZsRzaZk9WoVhhOcELjo%2BPYJDXaWoYnpkpkYCb6X1xe6tzGnzVTeneAYfit8Dat0a773m%2ByoGf%2FMriXzhCNwsR40JT7VziSNQBrAXc%2Bzy5yYqaXXSkoOPnvkMb%2FgJRbc2S6tpF97ptsiSxXCX%2FOwo7telliHvTIT0l4FXvpJwdhqDuH0h7vRyt6I0PGJPV1wRtYc6Q6XWBd8AUFN6j3ZWAfw3w8uIoOWKo%2FcGqIF1ysv5es2uJs8DfBWsdlyfPAEuZyvZoG0Dlt%2Fj1nYojzPmSd9BpXcw0HwaRYasb3MwA%2BvDLxV2wptbJyDScQq9LVTOKHrxsNyGHIx78KZ9ysrE1YcZ551X0ZfM4KtIDD2fu4NqT9R5Q45Pfyp7YohYdX2gLwQewBNiqu3PYXOB0rFAuhww4W%2Fujp7s4vg0M1c2AyVB5SWXKIGhTcYXeThB0xP99SLKaBIOMY9imKR%2Bb7EnWM11CS8%2FvHOImafTEdo95DmYovXn2%2FckpTp84ZOsy4gETlPJ6kbI55iw8zX029mSIWd29yE4spMEK1msOcAhOEWnqGV6eNaYgVMJk9AAMRqJnSvWm5QXzKVdFzyutXeLkiB%2BCZfA2nu6CVSb7IxRBvTuFcDw%2F5H9kZF4ONFAGwjIaN9ktZkkQeh73pMqXIn9qh%2FIb%2BJDgqw6qNdzuQ7A5xF2FRjPGh7uS5wXH2qngxwYtEdTkDKrt2mkAm6iYvV7Rd%2Bvn624QyJa5t25xVvRmLiPMfkv27bj2AjUdm%2FF%2Bqbu3vCUun9MOKI5bAGOrEBw%2B2%2FA6mKaH%2FykyOvYVzcV84hLUaaz2YZqtnjEiZPe8X7bBZWfhLwDVz5OZVR9mPo8Z5UOI6YfA5NLjOnyrNfGCUBHxpOp%2B44xp60MwbcWPIj8uJSedclazQhCeba%2B4VJtCEWxn9H0prBIz7jBTtQhXqhjewa4EU2OUKoFJxsYUdJK5HIM5UQj%2FX8EswGxXL9jD0VDACuEpBdlh1dTHQPFTkicdRR8mOWNNpNTWZGwEnv&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20240412T161815Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAQ3PHCVTYUQHZMR63%2F20240412%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=af8208b9d8bf54b2145733543553a4e2d90ca788fca71327d31b60ed2eb173b8&hash=102193b8c608f750e1c15d4c45a409ded8f542bcfbb115bf38d2c5c739403d10&host=68042c943591013ac2b2430a89b270f6af2c76d8dfd086a07176afe7c76c2c61&pii=S1110016815001714&tid=spdf-24a28017-35c0-45ba-8333-691b82bb3d4c&sid=60cff1377f7c4549ff89875977980bbf2332gxrqa&type=client&tsoh=d3d3LnNjaWVuY2VkaXJlY3QuY29t&ua=1517595756505a52&rr=873487fd0ad96d9e&cc=us
I hope that this link works!
The conclusion states that HHO increases the thermal efficiency by 10% resulting in a 34% reduction in fuel consumption. That is what Chuck Botts said. It also showed an 18% reduction in CO, 14% in HC and 15% in NO.
The link worked, so let me know if you have problems.
 
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I have come across a paper published in the Alexandria Engineering Journal, Alexandria, Egypt, Circa 11/21/2015 that seems to confirm Chuck's experience in using HHO in his coach.
https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/270704/1-s2.0-S1110016816X00026/1-s2.0-S1110016815001714/main.pdf?X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjECcaCXVzLWVhc3QtMSJHMEUCIQCmM6%2F3ZGhFuhcMmDzO5BSv2sEtuVGQbrkYcDrs6jjMPQIgNwN45eB0VzgGbzp30695%2FVgK%2BGP%2B8jkIlBlk17KgZz0qswUIYBAFGgwwNTkwMDM1NDY4NjUiDKHmJrn8Fc%2B%2Fqe9lNyqQBdZuTSj%2Fmq0zSszqEdQe33DyYrFugd9IasIru9USBG291nwAivPV7whJwF%2FByywq1colJHWf30zvuaVG5AAsAGr1DDHJw1w41AZb4ZsRzaZk9WoVhhOcELjo%2BPYJDXaWoYnpkpkYCb6X1xe6tzGnzVTeneAYfit8Dat0a773m%2ByoGf%2FMriXzhCNwsR40JT7VziSNQBrAXc%2Bzy5yYqaXXSkoOPnvkMb%2FgJRbc2S6tpF97ptsiSxXCX%2FOwo7telliHvTIT0l4FXvpJwdhqDuH0h7vRyt6I0PGJPV1wRtYc6Q6XWBd8AUFN6j3ZWAfw3w8uIoOWKo%2FcGqIF1ysv5es2uJs8DfBWsdlyfPAEuZyvZoG0Dlt%2Fj1nYojzPmSd9BpXcw0HwaRYasb3MwA%2BvDLxV2wptbJyDScQq9LVTOKHrxsNyGHIx78KZ9ysrE1YcZ551X0ZfM4KtIDD2fu4NqT9R5Q45Pfyp7YohYdX2gLwQewBNiqu3PYXOB0rFAuhww4W%2Fujp7s4vg0M1c2AyVB5SWXKIGhTcYXeThB0xP99SLKaBIOMY9imKR%2Bb7EnWM11CS8%2FvHOImafTEdo95DmYovXn2%2FckpTp84ZOsy4gETlPJ6kbI55iw8zX029mSIWd29yE4spMEK1msOcAhOEWnqGV6eNaYgVMJk9AAMRqJnSvWm5QXzKVdFzyutXeLkiB%2BCZfA2nu6CVSb7IxRBvTuFcDw%2F5H9kZF4ONFAGwjIaN9ktZkkQeh73pMqXIn9qh%2FIb%2BJDgqw6qNdzuQ7A5xF2FRjPGh7uS5wXH2qngxwYtEdTkDKrt2mkAm6iYvV7Rd%2Bvn624QyJa5t25xVvRmLiPMfkv27bj2AjUdm%2FF%2Bqbu3vCUun9MOKI5bAGOrEBw%2B2%2FA6mKaH%2FykyOvYVzcV84hLUaaz2YZqtnjEiZPe8X7bBZWfhLwDVz5OZVR9mPo8Z5UOI6YfA5NLjOnyrNfGCUBHxpOp%2B44xp60MwbcWPIj8uJSedclazQhCeba%2B4VJtCEWxn9H0prBIz7jBTtQhXqhjewa4EU2OUKoFJxsYUdJK5HIM5UQj%2FX8EswGxXL9jD0VDACuEpBdlh1dTHQPFTkicdRR8mOWNNpNTWZGwEnv&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20240412T161815Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAQ3PHCVTYUQHZMR63%2F20240412%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=af8208b9d8bf54b2145733543553a4e2d90ca788fca71327d31b60ed2eb173b8&hash=102193b8c608f750e1c15d4c45a409ded8f542bcfbb115bf38d2c5c739403d10&host=68042c943591013ac2b2430a89b270f6af2c76d8dfd086a07176afe7c76c2c61&pii=S1110016815001714&tid=spdf-24a28017-35c0-45ba-8333-691b82bb3d4c&sid=60cff1377f7c4549ff89875977980bbf2332gxrqa&type=client&tsoh=d3d3LnNjaWVuY2VkaXJlY3QuY29t&ua=1517595756505a52&rr=873487fd0ad96d9e&cc=us
I hope that this link works!
The conclusion states that HHO increases the thermal efficiency by 10% resulting in a 34% reduction in fuel consumption. That is what Chuck Botts said. It also showed an 18% reduction in CO, 14% in HC and 15% in NO.
The link worked, so let me know if you have problems.
yes the link works, but it's only really necessary to clip the first part of a link, like so:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1110016815001714

;)