Vatrer 300 amp hour battery upgrade to my Truck Camper

Still at Somerset Airfield near Wilmington Vermont.  

This is also the first trip with the new battery in the truck. 

  A youtuber, Will Prowse discovered that the highly trusted BattleBorn batteries actually have a shoddy design if you use them to their max charge and discharge ratings.   I never worked mine that hard, and they probably would have continued to be fine, but for the peace of mind I've removed them.   

Will Prowse's video is here https://youtu.be/XP2yPY57Wjc?is=ihYvnuF-Rf8RdikZ

Long story short, they used a plastic washer between the wires that connect the battery cells to the positive and negative terminal posts.   So if you charge or drain the battery at the max rating the platic washer deforms.  ALL batteries get hot, but because Battleborn used plastic in the wire to post connection, the plastic can melt and things get loose which makes the connections to the battery cells unreliable.   The cells are also cheap too (per Will) and fail far earlier than the rated 3,000 fully charged/drained cycles.   Battleborn claims using the plastic in the wire to post connection was an intentional safety feature, which is probably B.S.   They're sueing Will Prowse, but I think Will is likely right.   Comparing Battleborn's design to other cheaper batteries, the cheap Chinese batteries are actually much safer.

The good news is that the way I used my Battleborn batteries, they never got drained or charged hard enough to run the risk Will Prowse found, but better safe than sorry.   My worry is that I keep them out in the truck all Winter, and a few times they got too cold to charge and the batteries went dead.   That's hard on any battery.  Fiddling with the main battery positive and negative posts, I didn't notice any wiggle, but I bet I nuked a few of the cells inside when I let the batteries freeze.

For $799 (the cost of one Battleborn battery back in 2020),  I got a new Vatrer brand battery that gives me the same capacity as 3 Battle Born batteries (I only had 2 battleborns).    

https://a.co/d/0iqJbARZhttps://a.co/d/0iqJbARZ

The Vatrer has an app so I can monitor the battery directly, the battleborns didn't.    The Vatrer is built in a metal box and  built-in heating pads to keep the battery cells from freezing.   Will Prowse took a Vatrer apart and was really impressed by the design.    They use square/rectangular prismatic cells , so the battery box is smaller.   Battleborn uses cylinder shape battery cells, like bigger D cell alkaline batteries.   The round cells waste space and make the battery bigger overall. 

The BattleBorns use a lot of plastic inside, don't have an app, and no built-in heating pads.    I'd added some myself to the outside of the battleborn, so I could use the batteries even in the Winter when it's single digits out, but I had to think about it and turns things off/on myself.   Because I had 2 battleborns, they took up more space in the truck, and I wasn't able to make a foam box to completely surround them like I did with the Vatrer, more on that below.

The Vatrer also put the BMS outside the battery box on top of the battery with it's own cooling fan,.    The BMS (battery management system) is a circuit board doing all the thinking for the battery and just like a laptop you don't want it getting too hot.     So having it outside the battery box with it's own cooling fan will be great when I use the battery in hot, Summer conditions.   Like that time I was with Jeff in Tuscon Arizona.

Last but not least the Vatrer battery is much smaller too. 

  A BattleBorn was 11.5 inches long, 8inches wide, 9.5 inches tall.   But again, I'd need 3 Battleborns to match the battery storage in the Vatrer.   The Vatrer is 15.5 inches long, 8.25 inches wide and 12 inches tall.   

Or more simply, the Vatrer is only 4 inches longer, 3 inches taller, and a quarter inch wider than just one Battleborn.   But I'd need 3 battleborns to match the Vatrer.

  I was able to install it in the same spot as the two BattleBorns, but I was also able to surround the Vatrer with 1 inch of pink foam board because it takes up less space than the 2 battleborns I had before.  

The pink foam you see in the photos below are not glued in place, I made a basket of aluminum angle and c channel to hold the pink foam board pieces in place.   In the warm months, I'll just remove the foam board pieces and put the metal baskets back to keep stuff off the battery and let it vent heat better in the warm months.

The cooling fan is the orange thing in the top of the black box in the photo below.   The blue thing on the right is the 2000 watt Victron inverter.   

I'll fix the orientation of this photo below, but it shows me stack the pink foam board around the Vatrer battery.   There's 1 inch of foam board under the battery too

It's completely walled off with foam board.

Last but not least foam board on top with the custom aluminum framing over it.   

I couldn't do full width pieces because of the overhanging safe.   No biggee, just more cutting/ building work.    It's like adult legos/erector set work.   It was fun.  The aluminum pieces are riveted together.     Here's a photo showing the smaller metal frame pulled off

The framing also lets me stack duffel bags on top without worrying about their weight making contact with the battery terminals.

And because the width of the Vatrer is roughly the same as the Battleborn, it frees up space for me to store my misc tool roll bag in the dead space between the battery and the side of the truck bed.

that other metal bar going side to side is from the kitchen pullout drawer.   It's why when I made the metal baskets to go over the pink foam board, I made the c channel pieces on top longer so the duffel bag wouldn't sag and get in the way of the metal tubing that slides in and out .   For the photo I shoved the tool bag to the right, but I can't keep it there because it covers the air intake for the inverter, it would make the inverter overheat if I kept it there.   I don't use this tool roll much.   It's for repairs when I'm on the road, so it's nice it's no longer taking up space behind the passenger seat in the truck cab.

Finally, this morning I checked, the battery was 11 degrees warmer than the temperature dongle for the victron inverter.      I'd called that a success, pretty sure it was below freezing from 4a.m. to 8a.m.

The inverter's temp was 37F

 

The battery's was 48F

Somerset outing, Oct 20-22

Jeff and I did a bike ride Sunday in Connecticut.   Between Vernon and Willimantic  CT.    We'd planned an out and back ride on the Hop River rail trail.   It was going to be a 47 mile out and back, but was cut shorter to just 37 miles because the parking area was full.     The original spot wasn't really a parking area, just a pull off for 4-5 cars.    So we went to the nearest proper parking area, but it was 5 miles away, so we cut 10 miles off our planned ride for the day.   I can almost hear Jacqui saying sarcastically, "and what exactly is the problem?"

Anyway, we had a nice lunch at willimantic brewing.   They're in Willimantic's old post office building.    Anyhoo during the ride, Jeff invited me to his camp outing to Somerset (near Wilmington).    The forecast was for clear skies and he wanted to get some astronomy photos of stuff going on.   I didn't take any photos during the ride.   There weren't any views from the trail.   A couple cool tunnels under bridges, and a couple cool cut throughs old steep hills, so you pedaled through rock walls that were 30-40 ft tall on both sides.   Narrow too, must have been for old skinny trains.

Anyway,  I couldn't join Jeff Monday night.   Jacqui was returning from being at her folks over the weekend, and I wanted to see her before leaving, and I needed time Monday to load up the camper.   It's also the time of year to start putting my stuff away so Jacqui can park her car in the garage.    I've been buying Rigid brand tool boxes from home depot to better organize all by biking related stuff.   But that deserves its own blog.   More later.

Anyway, I'm joining him for Tuesday and Wednesday night.   Driving back home Thursday..    Somerset's old airfield has open sky, so his starlink works well and he has a small computer driven telescope.    It takes hundreds, even thousands of photos depending on how he configures it to run overnight, and then he uses software to stack the images on his computer   I'll get him to text me a couple and come back to update the blog here.

9:45a.m. Wednesday morning. Just texted jeff to send a photo, he's still in his van this morning.    it's just funny because with his Starlink, my phone works.   Otherwise, I get no signal here.   And it's funny that I could just walk 30 ft to knock on his van, but I think it's less instrusive to text instead.  I get why young people don't cold call people .   they text first, makes sense.    

Anyway, here's IC434 the Horsehead Nebula

M45 Pleiades

the white mist around the stars are because they're new stars forming, and they're still gathering up all the nearby material.

M101 pinwheel galaxy

Uranus photo ( the brightest spot in center)

M33 Triangulum Galaxy

I have too many hobbies already, but cost wise, assuming you have a decent laptop already, the software and telescope to do this stuff is well under $1,000 now.   And you don't even have to stay out in the cold.   You might need a small battery power station for the telescope though.    I think Jeff just runs a power cord to the van.

Anyhoo, it was def chilly last night.   Frost on the ground this morning.    I'm glad I brought the mini camper along.    It's like having a mini living room on wheels.    When I have the cot set up inside it, I lose a lot of space, so I like just having a camp chair inside with stuff spread out.  Also gives me more room to haul the solo stove for campfire stuff.  I put that stuff in the front of the camper when driving.   puts more weight on the tongue, so it tows nice.

 Speaking of campfires, Jeff and I started one around 3pm yesterday.  I used tractor supply pellets and compressed sawdust bricks.   Worked well, and if a Ranger shows up, I won't get fined for bring firewood from home.   The sun set at 6p.m., and we retreated to our respective campers around 6:30 because it was too cold to hang around outside by then.   I could hang out for a bit in Jeff's van, but we'd been hanging out chatting for 3-4 hours by then, so it's nice to give each other space too.

From 6:30-9p.m. I hung out in the mini camper, reading off my Kindle while I had a movie playing on my tablet.    Just an old scifi movie I've watched a dozen times before, had it on for background noise.  A nearby camper was running their generator and I wanted nicer background noise.   

Around 9, I briefly left the warm mini camper to turn on the portable diesel heater to warm up the truck's GFC rtt (Go Fast Camper roof top tent).  After hitting the on switch,  I quickly retreated to the warm mini camper to brush my teeth.    I just have a funnel and large 5 gallon jug to spit into.     I dump it at home in the basement utility sink and rinse it out.

It was only in the mid 40's when I went to bed in the truck, but my portable diesel heater turns the rtt into a sauna at those temps even on its lowest setting, so I turned it off to sleep.   

The mini camper would have the same problem but it has a roof top fan and side windows, so I just open them as needed to regulate the temp inside.   Can't do that as well in the GFC rtt   the side windows are low.    They redesigned the rtt tent fabric to have vents near the peak.    But it would be at least 2k to replace the tent fabric    No thanks.   I'll use the tent until it wears out and deal with it then.

I woke up around 4a.m. with my arms and shoulders too cold.   My cold weather,  synthetic down quilt is too short for my stomach/side,  superman flying sleeping pose.   I normalIy bring my summer quilt too, to lay over top my winter quilt,  and I  pull the summer quilt up over my exposed arm(s) and shoulders.     But it needs washing, so I left it at home.  Alternatively, I could have pulled up a floor panel, hopped down to the truck bed, and grabbed another jacket to wear under the goose down jacket I had on, but it's hard to get yourself to crawl out of a mostly warm bed at 4a.m.  when you can just reach over and turn on the heater, so I did that instead.   Because it was at least 15 degrees cooler, I didn't cook myself out of the RTT this time either.   

 Tonight, I'll just make sure I have another layer to wear on my torso.   I have the nice, thick, green flannel Mom bought me for Christmas a few years back.   I'll just wear that over my t-shirt tonight, with the goose down over top (tonight is supposed to be colder too).    A side benefit of losing weight, my flannels and jackets are too big now, so layering is easier .

I prefer just sleeping in th quiet/cold, and using the portable heater for getting into/out of bed.   The mornings are worse, cold wise.     Temperatures are always coldest at Sunrise, as you'd expect.     I always lay in bed until the urge to poo/pee won't go away.   TMI probably, sorry.    

I can understand why most women probably hate cold weather camping just for the whole hassle of having to pee at night.   If I had to get up to use a toilet instead of just throwing my quilt off enough  to use my pee jug while laying on my side, I'd dislike cold camping too.   I'd want a heated camper for the toilet trek in the middle of the night if I was in a woman's shoes too.   As I get older, I guess I'm starting to undestand these things better.  

This morning, after doing my business in the Joolca toilet in the truck bed.    I moved my clothes and night bag over to the mini camper, and turned the diesel heater to warm it up again.

Then, I went back to the Truck tailgate area to make a protein smoothie and grabbed a few dates, half a wheat wrap and small peanut butter jar.   I put that stuff into mini camper, went back to the truck to boil some water for tea and dirty dishes.    While the water came up to boil, I put the bin of dirty dishes into the mini camper too.    So I was outside in the cold for maybe 5 minutes max this morning.  Idk, that impressed me, maybe it's not.

Inside the mini camper I ate my breakfast while listening to a podcast. then I did the dishes, and finally, I relaxed while drinking my tea.   LUXURY

My Dad might get that Luxury comment..    Fall camping is fun, but standing outside when it's upper 30's, not as much.

to add context, I took a couple photos from inside the mini camper.   First shot shows the camping chair I sit in.   It's where I read, watch movies, eat, do dishes etc.

and in the next photo is what I see when doing dishes.   And for the snoopy readers.  I bought a 2nd bidet bottle to rinse dishes.  It's never been used for it's intended purpose, just dishes, I marked it so I won't accidentally use it on the toilet.   In warmer weather I use a manual pump sprayer that's for misting indoor plants, but with freezing temps I didn't want to damage the pump seals.   

i'll end this blog here and do another about the new battery I added to the truck so it's easier to find on my blog later.

Blue Mountain Fire Tower hike

Friday, before driving home, I drove to the trailhead to do the Blue Mt Fire Tower hike.   Rated as "hard" on the All Trails app.   I didn't remember it as a hard hike the last time I did it, about 20 years ago with my older sister.   Maybe we did a different trail back then?   

Anyhoo, when I got there,  I deployed the shower stall so I could change clothes discreetly.    And I parked so the truck would be in the Sun, so the solar panels could top off the batteries. 

Off I went.   

I was a little worried because a young woman arrived at the same time.   I couldn't tell if she was being slow so i'd go first, but she gave up and left before me.   I thought she was just waiting for a friend to show up.    Felt bad about that, but I needed time to get my stuff sorted.

Sure enough about 30 minutes later, I had caught up to her on the trail.   I always feel bad for solo female hikers in those situations.   I wouldn't feel 100% comfortable it if a sorta fit dude a foot taller and weighing 2x more caught up to me either.    While I was still a couple hundred feet behind her, I decided to stop to take a leak, because I could feel the need coming and I didn't want to pass her, just to have to stop again.    How creepy would it be to pass her, just to have her catch up 5 minutes later as I'm standing 10-20ft  off the trail taking a leak.  Not cool.

Anyhoo, I caught up to her again 5 minutes later, and I just called out that I'd pass when she felt comfortable and found a safe spot.    I guess that was the right thing to say because she seemed to relax a lot, and started asking questions about my truck.   She was interested in the shower stall I'd used.

I walked in front of her, she followed behind me the rest of the way up.   We traded travel and camping stories.   She lives in Duluth Minnesota with her boyfriend but was on a road trip to explore the Northeast.   I talked more than her on the climb up, she told me later that my pace was faster than she'd normally go, but she wants to get in better shape and appreciated the challenge to push herself a little.   I took it as a big compliment to my fitness.

I will say again.   Gosh Darn!!! it's so much easier hiking up a mountain at 215lbs vs  265-290lbs.    Night and day difference.   I'm sure with all the biking I do my legs and cardio are strong too, but I felt great climbing up, and the poles save my knees, especially on the way down. 

 Funny enough she confessed on the mt top that she carries a taser just in case.   I think maybe I said a quick "sorry" about the awkwardness of passing her on the trail to prompt that topic.    She dug it out from her backpack, and I couldn't help but to comment that it doesn't do her any good to have it buried in her bag, she needs to keep it on her waist or shoulder strap where she has quick access to it.    She said she didn't have anything to do that.  I showed her the mesh bag on my backpack's shoulder strap.    I don't use the one on my left strap, but I couldn't remove it until I got back to the truck because I needed to cut through the stitches that keeps the end of the strap folded up so it won't pull through the buckle.

Anyhoo, after the taser conversation, we climbed up the tower.  Me leading again, photos from the tower down below.  Again, leaves nearing peak color.   I left Maya/Mara to enjoy the summit and hiked down solo.  I had trekking poles, so it was going to be a lot easier for me to hike down, and I think she was tired and needed to eat and rest more before heading back.   I thought parting ways up top would also help avoid the creep factor, and there were quite a few other hikers too.   All couples, so it felt safe to leave her on her own. 

I hiked solo on the way down, listening to my audiobooks.    Down at the truck, I ate some reheated low carb pasta and lentil meatballs, heated water for a shower, and went digging through my stuff to donate the mesh bag to the young woman.  I also decided to gift her the little orange green fanny pack I made.    I've been wanting to make a new one to better fit my bike's front rack anyway.   Something that mounts better to the bike's front rack.

I put the bags under her front wiper.   Just as I was packing up, she got back from her hike and drove off, she hadn't noticed the bag under the wiper yet.   It started flopping around as she sped up, so she turned around to thank me.   I told her I'd left her some contact info in the mesh bag if she was interested in the freestanding shower tent I have.   I haven't used it since adding the mounted shower stall to my truck.  I added Jacqui's info in the note too, I felt it might be less creepy that way.     She seemed very happy with my homemade ugly little fanny pack; it's the perfect size to carry her taser and it has a built in clip in one of the pockets to keep car keys secure. 

Mara/Maya will be visiting Salem Mass from a friend's place in NH in a week or so, but it may not be worth driving out of the way for the shower tent; gas is super expensive.   We live an hour and a half west of Salem.   Also, the shower tent takes up space that she may not have in her tiny Rav4.  It's  43.3 × 6.7 × 6.7 inches packed up (110 × 17 × 17 cm).   So it takes up a lot more space than a folded tarp, and she sleeps in the back of the Rav4 at night.  

I like the idea of helping out younger campers just getting started.  And I just have gear sitting around I no longer use.   My Maryland camper buddy and his friends donated some gear to a nice young man just getting started with overlanding.   It's a nice way to pay it forward and get the next generation started.   Lots of backpacking channels do that on their youtube channels.    Donate their old gear that's still perfectly good to their followers .   A lot of the channels get free gear to test and review, so donating to the new generation seems like a perfect solution.

Anyway, the drive home was uneventful.   Glad I wasn't driving north on 87, south of Glens Falls there was an accident and traffic was backed up for miles.    

Just writing blogs the day after and riding out the Nor'easter.   Going to rest today (Saturday), but will use the treadmill in the attic tomorrow and get started sewing a new bag while 4-5 inches of rain blows through New England.   Stuck indoors until Tuesday if the forecast holds, but I don't mind.   it was a busy week. 

 

Wild Center

 This blog will be more photos than yapping.   Had fun walking with my sister checking out the Trolls.   There's a section you walk through sending a wooden ball through ramps and pulley lifts.  Sort of reminded me of the old mousetrap board game.    Weirdly fun and stretches things out nicely.

 My parents were with a retired teachers group, so they were off socializing.    We had plenty of chat time at lunch, and it was fun to hang out with my sister.   We don't do that very much.

anyhoo, a photo dump of the trolls.   Remember the trick on my blog, click on a photo to start a slideshow, on a computer you can use the arrow keys on the keyboard to scroll through the photos.  On a phone/tablet it doesn't work as well.   you have to tap on the tiny picture icons to advance.   I should look for code so swiping works.  sorry.