Long days night

gary miller

New member
Aug 18, 1998
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Arch,
When I installed my new furnace the instructions were very specific to provide a
minimum of 35 sq inches of discharge air duct (for a 30 MBTU furnace) and
instructed to provide more area if any of the vents were to be closed off. I
don't know what the effect of too little air flow would be but it must not be
desirable. Don't know if this consideration applies to your situation.
Gary
'77 Kingsley
North Bend, Oregon Coast

> GMCers
>
> First the good news. Any of you who have not bought a Statpower 40&
> because you did not know if it would fit somewhere---forget it. Mine at
> least fits just fine in the old converter cabinet. Nice snug fit but it works.
> I did cut some holes so the wires could come up from below. Not enough
> clearance to make a 90 degree bend that I felt comfortable with. 25 feet of
> wire will not get you to the battery box if yours is on the passenger side.
> I will have to splice it. Nobody here sells wire in longer lengths than 25
> feet. It took 14 feet to get to the house battery by the genset---but I did
> cut off some. I have the roll out battery tray so you may not need that much.
>
> Now for the real big *&%$@#$%$$# I ordered a new counter top from
> a local good old boy. We measured everything twice and did it right.
> He built me a real good one! Looked real nice. The step in the back is
> not curved but square. Matched the original to a tee. Now
> while he was building it I decided to square up the cabinets. Man did I
> improve on what they did. Got a way to hold the end of the aluminum
> bracket, got the face frames square to the floor. Got in some bracing
> so that not everything was held in place by the top, I was on a roll.
> Put the new top up there and it was 3/4 of an inch off the wall. I dont
> know if the face frames were ever square to the floor on not--there was
> to much rot to tell. Dont tell me to move the floor brackets back because
> the way I installed the furnace I cant.
>
> A final thought. This is theory. The outlets on our furnace are 2x8. Nobody
> carries that size register. I am going to have new ones made 2x12. Lowes
> has these with a slide that allows me to turn off the front of the coach at
> night and the back of the coach during the day. I dont know if this is an
> improvement or not. I just like to control things like that.
>
> Thats why I am in a bad mood tonight.
>
> Take Care
> Arch
 
I'm about a week away from installing my refurbished
Statpower 40 (my GMC is currently at Cinnabar getting
a passenger side exhaust manifold leak corrected and
the carburetor calibrated). I'm planning on locating the
TC40 in the right rear of the converter compartment.
My plan is to also cut the bottom out of the cabinet to
allow the cables to come up from below. In my coach
the TC40 fits exactly. There is no room for the cables
to connect to the TC40 without cutting out the bottom
of the cabinet.

The Todd PS245L generator transfer switch is mounted
vertically on the left rear side of the cabinet. There will
be more then enough room for a 30 amp DPDT relay I ordered
from Grainger to switch the #3 circuit breaker (that supplies
the 115 VAC outlets) from the inverter to AC when
shore power or generator AC is present. I also will have
to move the AC source for the TC40 from my circuit #2
(water heater and converter) to #4 (vacuum cleaner)
because I have a 1500 watt element (all I could find at
Home Depot) and the TC40 uses up to 12 amps which will
be more then the 20 amp breaker can handle. I also moved
the refrigerator AC from circuit #3 to #2 because I
don't want the inverter powering the fridge.

I'm going to install the inverter in the compartment between
the battery box and rear of the coach. I'm pretty sure there
will be adequate ventilation for the inverter in that compartment.
At least as much ventilation as there is in the existing converter
compartment. When I pulled the old buzz box out I was shocked
at how heavy it is. I'm sure glad to be rid of that amount of weight!
I think I want a switch to disconnect the inverter from the battery
and maybe a fuse. The inverter I bought has a remote "on/off"
switch and LED that I have not decided on where it will be installed.

My cable supplier was not able to get me 6AWG for the TC40.
He could only come up with 4AWG battery cable so I ordered 25'
of black and 25' of red. I hope that's enough. Now all I need are
lugs for the battery end of the cables. I don't know what I'm going
use for lugs at this point.

I think I'll just get some already made up 4AWG battery cables from
the local auto parts super store for the inverter. Should be cheap
enough and easy to buy.

That's what I'm planning on.
Richard Waters '76 PB, Troy, MI

> GMCers
>
> First the good news. Any of you who have not bought a Statpower 40&
> because you did not know if it would fit somewhere---forget it. Mine at
> least fits just fine in the old converter cabinet. Nice snug fit but it works.
> I did cut some holes so the wires could come up from below. Not enough
> clearance to make a 90 degree bend that I felt comfortable with.
 
Arch,
Thanks for thinking about me. I'm headed for the battery box in the
rear from the converter cabinet in the middle of the coach. I sure
hope that 25' is enough to go that far. If not, then I'm in trouble again!

Didn't you say a little while ago, "On mine it is 8 feet from the cabinet
where the charger is to the back of the battery cabinet. I am planning to
run #6 cable in plastic conduit..."

As far as the cable, I buy thousands of feet of electronic cable a month
from a cable supplier here in town for use in my business. That supplier
actually gave me the 4AWG battery cable at no charge when I told
him it was for my own use. I thought that was better then paying money
for 6AWG cable.

Can you tell me more about the lugs you bought at True Value?

Thanks,
Richard Waters '76 PB, Troy, MI

> Richard
>
> Where are you trying to go with the cables? If you are headed for the
> passenger side battery box 25 feet wont make it you will have to splice
> it.
> #6 cable I got from NAPA and the lugs came from True Value.
>
> Take Care
> Arch 76 GB IL
>
 
> The Todd PS245L generator transfer switch is mounted
> vertically on the left rear side of the cabinet. There will
> be more then enough room for a 30 amp DPDT relay I ordered
> from Grainger to switch the #3 circuit breaker (that supplies
> the 115 VAC outlets) from the inverter to AC when
> shore power or generator AC is present.

Richard - sounds good, I will be interested to see how it works out as I've
been considering the Statpower Prosine series just to get the transfer
switch option.

> I think I want a switch to disconnect the inverter from the battery
> and maybe a fuse.

Just remember how much current we're talkin' here and buy your switch sized
accordingly. BTW, I was looking through the West Marine catalog the other
day and they've got some switches, fuses and circuit breakers for exactly
this purpose. Don't remember the price right off, but IIRC, it was
"reasonable" considering we're talkin' "boat stuff".

Patrick
 
Arch,
I didn't think it was more then 25' to from the converter compartment
to the rear batteries. You had me worried for a minute. I couldn't go
out and check for myself because the coach is over at Cinnabar right
now.

After reading your comment on the thickness of the shell of the
battery box, I looked in my Grainger catalog. They have of
course metal cable clamps. Those would probably not be good
to use due to corrosion problems. I looked further and found
"Nylon Strain Relief Cord Connectors". They are available for
cable diameters of up to 1". They are "highly resistant to corrosion,
yet tough, durable..Provides liquid tight seal around cord...minimizes
tension on terminals....ideal for wash down areas". I wonder if one of
those would work for our application. They are on page 670 of the
Grainger Catalog. I couldn't find rubber grommets in the Grainger
Catalog.

I need to come up with a way to slide out my batteries as well. I saw
the one listed in the Ragusa catalog and while it looks nice, it is apparently
for only one battery. I guess I could try to make one up like you describe.
Richard Waters

> Richard
>
> It is about 8 feet from the charger cabinet to the back of the battery
> cabinet. You then have to get inside it. I have a slide out battery tray
> so I needed some slack to pull the tray in and out. The problem I have
> right now is that the aluminum shell of the battery box is thick enough
> that I have not found a grommet to fit that thickness----have not looked that
> hard yet. BTW if I had it to do over I would not use the tray I did. I would
> instead have bought side slides so I could just slide out the bats on their
> own. A very popular slide out tray that I used you have to support the
> batteries until you get to the end and hook it on a catch. Just my thoughts.
>
 
Richaard,
The Ragusa tray holds two large golf cart batteries.
Gary
'77 Kingsley
North Bend, Oregon Coast

Richard Waters wrote: (snip)I need to come up with a way to slide out my batteries
as well. I saw

> the one listed in the Ragusa catalog and while it looks nice, it is apparently
> for only one battery. I guess I could try to make one up like you describe.
> Richard Waters