The Fancy Electrical System in our Holiday Rambler Vacationer 36F | Precision Circuits Illumaplex

[@brianvandy4002]

In this weather (I'm on the west edge of the Portland Metro area and it's been cold here too), I can go through 7 gallons of propane in 4 days. Luckily I'm on full hookups and run a 1500w space heater when I'm here. I keep it out of the area wheren my furnace thermostat is when it's gone down into the 20's to make sure the furnace keeps my belly heated (no heaters on tanks, just a heated belly). So the colder it gets, the less I use the space heater. So, yeah, I feel your pain, brother. You're doing it right, though. It's cheaper to warm the body than the space.

[@CozyLivingMachine]

Oh yeah, just cooking right through the LP!! I've been wondering about being on full hookups, if there's a way to basically run a little space heater through one of the vents to push air down into the bays, or something other than just skirting and a little heater beneath! And that's the perfect way of putting it: "cheaper to warm the body than the space"

[@brianvandy4002]

@@CozyLivingMachine I have family out here on the edge of the metro area that had a couple of full hookup sites and they're letting me use one. I'm paying them for the electic. I lived in a 5th wheel about 12 years ago for 6 months while we sold a house, and I am doing it again right now (Since August). I'm loving it, so I'm looking to buy a motorhome soon. I've wanted it since the first time we lived in an rv.

[@nickoftime007]

2 👍👍s up!

[@CozyLivingMachine]

Thanks!! 😎

[@tg9388]

Joel, that panel is great, tracking temps for everything and LP % and Tanks by % instead of 1/3 1/2 etc.... That is a huge feature! Can you connect solar levels with that as well?

[@CozyLivingMachine]

It's very nice!! Really cool setup. And I'd love to see that, but I've yet to be able to tell. I know there must be a way to program this system, but I've yet to find a good manual or anything on this so I need to reach out and get some information about this system and a few others at the same time!

[@georges4562]

Good morning ! Well I must say I’m impressed with the control panel and the diagnostic one too ! So is the one factory installed solar panel helping with anything or is it too hard to determine ? How many hours to the gallon to you get with the generator 😂😂😂😂😂 Great video ! 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@CozyLivingMachine]

Good morning!! And it's actually surprisingly nice, no glitches at all, very solid for what it is and I can appreciate that! The one panel really doesn't seem to be adding anything, though there hasn't been much in the way of sun lately. I need to find the charge controller and see if I can connect via Bluetooth to monitor that from my phone. Lots of digging in left to do, many new systems on this rig! I do wonder if HPGs are a unit of measurement for generators... 🤔 If not, they should be! That makes good sense! 😂 I will say, I haven't noticed our needle move from our genny usage, though I wish I could say that about our propane usage!

[@CozyLivingMachine]

Oh man, so I actually looked it up, and it turns out that the Onan 5500 is designed to use .6 to .7/gph! That's good information to know!

[@georges4562]

@@CozyLivingMachine What can I say, you guys hit a home run with that beautiful rig ! 👍👍👍👍👍👍 So the propane usage is due to the refer and heater ?

[@georges4562]

@@CozyLivingMachine 😂😂 good to know for sure !

[@CozyLivingMachine]

I think so as well! Time will tell and we'll do a full review after our repairs in April! And the fridge is purely 110V so the propane is just for the furnace and stove! In the summer we may not even have to fill the tank more than one time. But these thirsty heaters!!

[@Sillieb74]

Love this Technical Video 👍. Very usefull for me. I won’t to buy a HR Invicta in the Future. Is there the tech ??? Sorry for my Bad Wrighting i am from the Netherlands 🤙. Gr.

[@CozyLivingMachine]

Thanks! And absolutely, there sure is! Very similar tech to this unit that we have! And welcome!! 👋

[@Sillieb74]

@@CozyLivingMachine Thnx 👍

[@Technocrat.]

Be nice if they combined the propane furnace with generating electricity.

[@CozyLivingMachine]

That would be interesting, though I wonder if one would get even a fraction of what energy is required just to run the furnace! That would be neat though if it could somehow recharge its own battery!

[@Technocrat.]

@@CozyLivingMachine how do jet turbines work, they use part of the unused fuel and ignite it and turn the turbine faster. I guess you could harness the burned energy, heat up water to steam and create power.

[@tg9388]

gm that rig hasn't move in 48hrs, lol that's the way to show those people across the street you have claimed that area. New Sheriff in town, lol... Once you install all that solar and add 2 more batteries you will be able to run a small amp drawing electric heater, right? I use 2 Vornado Velocity 5 250 sq ft Electric Whole Room Space Heater

[@CozyLivingMachine]

Good morning! And I actually filmed this within a day of parking here, but for the idiots that called on us because they have nothing better to do, welp... 🤣

[@tg9388]

@@CozyLivingMachine added heater specs above

[@CozyLivingMachine]

Ah. As for the heater, my answer would be no for battery functioning. Even kept on low, that unit will draw at least 750W. Over 24 hours, 18kW. If you didn't run it but one hour for every three, 6000W still. If we have 5 of the 206Ah batteries, we would have about 12,360Wh so we'd blow right on through the battery system. The reality is that if it was cold AND perfectly angled sun on the solar, then we'd have no problem during the day but overnight would be the trouble most likely. And we'd be eating up much of the power meant to refill the batteries, so not an ideal setup, unfortunately. ☀️🪫🔌

[@tg9388]

@@CozyLivingMachine oh darn, I know when I had solar installed on my house they used Enphase IQ7 Up To 350W 240VAC/208VAC Microinverter w/ MC4 Connectors but now the IQ8 is out offering better/more energy transfer. My issue is I'm waiting on getting battery storage setup. I was thinking with 12,360 WH of storage you would be good. Wow many details to get the right setup and still costly? So what microinverter do you have setup now?

[@CozyLivingMachine]

Oh interesting! I've never used a microinverter... I'd never even heard of those outside of house setups! I would say that battery storage is huge, but so is being able to refill those batteries. Solar panels are MUCH cheaper than batteries. 😂 We're solid on just the three 206Ah of lithium batteries, but more isn't bad either, of course! But as for what we currently use we have 12x 100W solar panels > Victron 150V|100A charge controller > 3x 206Ah SOK batteries > 3kW PG Inverter > Coach wiring! We've kept things a little more separated as well, so as to keep costs down and simplify troubleshooting should something go wrong and need repair (hasn't happened yet, but nothing lasts forever!)

[@SeanBMT]

Listening to all this I definitely have peanut butter and jealous all over me. I wish that the Entegra had the auto on for the generator, but even better house batteries would be an awesome start lol! I found it interesting that you say the Heat Pump is not as efficient… typically they are the most efficient way to heat a space, better than space heaters and gas furnaces. What brought you to this conclusion or what are basing it off of?

[@CozyLivingMachine]

Hahahaha PB & Jelly 😂 And I know it, I was surprised that the Esteems didn't have that considering they have power management and the rest of the good stuff! Better batteries are a must, considering the price of lithiums now, I suspect we'll be having them standard. Unfortunately, the offerings from any company willing to upgrade to lithium is a joke. They're charging at least 2x what they should! Good question! The heat pump is up in the roof, so it doesn't get the heat down low, and this unit tends to be much slower to heat the room compared to the furnace by far. It also seems to have the air intake/exhaust issues that the A/Cs suffer from, where they may intake their own cooled air because of the designs of the units, while also requiring much more power to run than the furnace. The only system that I've ever genuinely appreciated the efficiency of is the Aldi heating system that heats the glycol and slowly pumps this through the unit, letting the heat rise through. No noise, hardly any power, no moisture, minimal maintenance - just perfect!

[@Betlenut]

How do you upgrade the software version on the IllumaPLEX?

[@CozyLivingMachine]

Download the PCI Updater app, that will allow you to connect via Bluetooth and update from there. The primary app doesn't have that function, which is pretty silly to me.

[@tantsits77]

Looks like you are in a residential area. Doesn’t the generator noise cause issues with neighbors if it turns on when the batteries drain?

[@CozyLivingMachine]

Nope, no issues! We're far away from any houses as well, so people could walk by across the street, but this generator is much quieter than the previous unit we had, thankfully.

[@lurenacornella6588]

Put a stove in there

[@CozyLivingMachine]

We do have a stove! No oven though, we've never found that we used one more than one single time in the last 7 years!