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The floor fits, and all fastening points (even those I had to drill manually) aligned well. In total I have fastened the floor in 8 places - 7 using the big 7/16-20 threaded nuts used for tie-down points, and one using some pre-existing hole near the entrance footstep (very convenient that it was there!). Now to cover it with some temporary protective material (recently learned about a product called Ram Board so got some of that), and prepare for the van's first camping trip next weekend.
It looks great! I'm very interested to see how the heated floor works out in practice. Can't remember if that's your only heat source or you're planning a 'regular' air heater as well.
 
Got the solar panels and LED light bars mounted this afternoon. 3xREC Alpha 365W and Chinese LED lightbars. Used the same brand on the previous van, it got the job done. Not happy with the angle - would've liked both front and rear to point further down, but I think the front will end up just lighting the roof or the windshield, and the rear covers the top break light and that's not great. We'll see how useful they are when I get a chance to wire them and play for a bit. Very happy with the solar panels mounting. To my surprise I haven't noticed any wind noise on the drive back home even at 70mph.

Each panel is attached at 10 different points - 6 to the cross bar, and 4 to the main rail via L brackets.

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Nice installation.

Are you getting any wind buffeting / vibration from the panels being that far forward into the air flow coming off of the windshield ?
 
Discussion starter · #203 ·
Sorry for any repetition but I am new to this thread and was wondering if you ever posted your final order configuration. I am weeding through the options and your vehicle looks like a good starting point. I am excited for your process! Thanks!
No problem! Here's the list of stuff that I ordered:
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Discussion starter · #204 ·
It looks great! I'm very interested to see how the heated floor works out in practice. Can't remember if that's your only heat source or you're planning a 'regular' air heater as well.
Thanks! I'm also looking forward to seeing how it performs :)
I will have a hydronic air heater as well.

Nice installation.

Are you getting any wind buffeting / vibration from the panels being that far forward into the air flow coming off of the windshield ?
Thank you. To my surprise, as far as I can tell, no. They are not too far forward, I think.
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Discussion starter · #208 ·
Please post if you find anything about how to access the info from the undocumented (at lest in 2020 manual) $45 vehicle maintenance monitor.
The order guide says "Depending on the engine, this feature will display engine hour meter, oil life, oil level and tire pressure status."
I am able to see engine running hours, idle hours oil life and tire pressure but not oil level.

Here's where I've found each of these things:
Engine hours is under "Settings -> Information -> Engine hours"
Oil life and tire pressure are under "Settings -> Vehicle maintenance" (there are two options under that menu for those two things)
 
Oil life and tire pressure can be found in Ford app too.
I am not quite understand what algorithm ford used to calculate oil life. It can’t be that intelligent since there is no any built-in oil analyzer in transit. I would preferjust using miles driven as my primary indicator. 🙃
 
The order guide says "Depending on the engine, this feature will display engine hour meter, oil life, oil level and tire pressure status."
I am able to see engine running hours, idle hours oil life and tire pressure but not oil level.

Here's where I've found each of these things:
Engine hours is under "Settings -> Information -> Engine hours"
Oil life and tire pressure are under "Settings -> Vehicle maintenance" (there are two options under that menu for those two things)
Thanks. Did not see (notice?) that in 2020 guide. I've seen the tire pressures but thought that was standard to do with the tpms, but if that was because of the option, then I'm a happy camper. I'm pretty oil life was standard too. 🤷‍♀️ I'll double check the display for engine and idle hours in the settings. Never heard of an oil level gauge in a vehicle and sure hope such a gauge is not necessary, at least for a long time.
 
Discussion starter · #211 ·
It can't all go smoothly, can it? This is the junk that showed up from the group order I participated in from the diysolarforum. More happy customers here. Still not sure what the next step is. Maybe order cells from a different supplier while waiting for a resolution from this mess, maybe throwing a lot of money at the problem and getting pre-made batteries.

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WOW, that sucks.

When I was shopping around, the price of raw sells available from domestic sources for DIY there didn't seem to be much of cost advantage vs "mid -tier" the pre-built options such as SOK or Big Battery that are "serviceable". I did not want the cheap generic sealed boxes and did not want to pay the $$$ for the bigger name brands.

I stumbled on this battery the other day that looked like it might be an interesting https://www.epicoffgrid.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=222&product_id=384 IIRC they may be a member on the forum, based on the van build they have posted on their web page. Maybe even they would just sell you some raw cells (looks they may be 150a cells)
Anyway, might be worth reaching out, they even have a phone# on the web site.

My initial impression of the SOK's based on the packaging, almost on time delivery from promised pre-order date and responsiveness to email inquires has been positive. All 3 batteries were received at identical voltages. I opened one up and the build quality was as expected based on the video teardowns I saw on YouTube. I've yet to check the individual cell voltages. Unfortunately I cannot speak to performance since I am quite a way from putting them into service. My guesstimate is the pre-built batteries cost me about 50% more than cells/BMS from China. I see the 206ah SOK's actually currently in stock.

Given your forward looking approach, no doubt you will find a good way to move past this bump in the road. 🚐
 
Discussion starter · #214 ·
Yeah, it does suck. Thankfully it is not something that will affect me long term, its annoying and expensive but in the grand scheme of things not bad enough to lose sleep over. Not how I was hoping to spend my money and time, but it's not the end of the world.

I'm not super excited about a solution that involves multiple individual batteries. With my desire for a large pack for running an air conditioner, this would involve 4-8 batteries to get my 24V 600AH capacity, each with its own BMS that could fail at any point and needs to be monitored (and some don't support that). It's also more cables, takes more space, and is more difficult to mount. I don't think I'd want to build my own pack with 150A cells since I wouldn't want to connect more than 2 cells in parallel, so I won't ask them for cells, but I wonder if they have a 24v version. I might try and reach out to them and see if they have any thoughts, thank you!

As it happens, I am borrowing a 206aH SOK battery for the weekend to run the fridge for a short camping trip. It does look like a nice battery.

I think my options right now are:
1) Try and order cells from a different supplier and hope for the best. This would still mean having to wait for them 2-3 months and having to deal with building the custom pack which would also take a few weeks. I'm not at a point yet where I need my battery, but I am not excited about the potential to find myself still without a battery a few months from now.
2) Go with something like the one you linked to, that allows monitoring over Bluetooth (or preferably serial port), with the hope that I can connect to it using a Raspberry Pi or similar. Then I might be able to satisfy my requirement of knowing all batteries are actually in good working condition at any given point. More $ than the full-on DIY solution, probably about the same time to get a working setup, bulkier, more cables. But less unknowns of having to deal with Alibaba orders.
3) Trade time for (a lot of) money, and go with a Lithionics solution. They're mighty expensive, but supposedly top of the line, made in the US, with a company that picks up the phone and supports their customers (or at least picks up the phone before they have your money. I've chatted with them in December to get a quote for a 600AH setup). This is the easiest solution, but substantially more expensive than all other options. For the money they would charge I could probably double my battery capacity if I go with a different solution...
4) Spend more time researching batteries, there might be other options in the market. I haven't looked at this stuff since around February, which is when I placed my order in that group order.
 
Or buy a gas generator for the AC ;-)

Give the guys at AMSolar a call. They’ve been doing solar and batteries for years. I used them for my 600Ah (12v) system on my Class A. Just got a 100Ah battery for my Jeep.
 
Lithionics solution
No doubt top of the line, and priced accordingly. Great if cost is no object or application is highly critical but don't see the cost benefit in a van build. Have you seen the video tour of there facility on FitRV. REALLY impressive facility/product.

I see there are now a bunch of sellers on Amazon that have 280ah cells with quickish shipping claims. More $$ than Alibaba. Maybe you easier recourse through Amazon if you have a problem, but I'm not certain about that with a 3rd party come and go Chinese seller.

Yea I was hoping that the BMS on the SOK's had the UART port for BT modules, but they don't. I've got a few ideas for work arounds. Hopefully some manual checks give me the confidence that it's not particularly worthwhile. Once you get past this problem, I'll bug you for your ideas.
 
Discussion starter · #217 ·
Or buy a gas generator for the AC ;-)

Give the guys at AMSolar a call. They’ve been doing solar and batteries for years. I used them for my 600Ah (12v) system on my Class A. Just got a 100Ah battery for my Jeep.
Good idea, they're a good company. I bought all my Victron stuff from them.

No doubt top of the line, and priced accordingly. Great if cost is no object or application is highly critical but don't see the cost benefit in a van build. Have you seen the video tour of there facility on FitRV. REALLY impressive facility/product.

I see there are now a bunch of sellers on Amazon that have 280ah cells with quickish shipping claims. More $$ than Alibaba. Maybe you easier recourse through Amazon if you have a problem, but I'm not certain about that with a 3rd party come and go Chinese seller.

Yea I was hoping that the BMS on the SOK's had the UART port for BT modules, but they don't. I've got a few ideas for work arounds. Hopefully some manual checks give me the confidence that it's not particularly worthwhile. Once you get past this problem, I'll bug you for your ideas.
Yeah, I saw it. They're serious and come with a serious price tag... very hard to swallow.

These Amazon cells are an interesting option. I'm waiting to get a quote from a seller that is considered reputable (although the previous one was also considered reputable :/), and then I'll see how more expensive the Amazon option is. Seems like about 30-50% more but maybe worth it to move past this problem. I'm also not sure if there's an easier recourse, but perhaps it will be easier to dispute the transaction with the credit card company? Thank you for the idea!

The SOK batteries actually allow replacing the BMS from what I understand, so I guess that's also an option...
One of my concerns is what happens if one of the batteries in a 4 or 8 battery system decides to switch off and stay off, you will only find out when you notice you're running out of juice earlier than expected - which is probably when you want that extra capacity.
 
Discussion starter · #218 ·
Ran into these two possible options last night:

Who knows whats inside. Additionally got a quote for $2392 for 16 280AH cells from the recommended Chinese supplier.
 
be easier to dispute the transaction with the credit card company?
That would be the first thing I would do. Hopefully you are still within the available time period to dispute the charge.
That was one of the things that I checked before dropping the $$ on my SOK pre-order. IIRC my CC was 90days.

The SOK batteries actually allow replacing the BMS from what I understand, so I guess that's also an option...
That is one of the reasons I bought the SOK's, but more from the potential to replace a failed BMS down the line. Sure would make it easy if SOK is around for warranty in the future should that need arise and it's just a case of mailing them the failed BMS rather than the whole battery. Up front upgrade sorta defeats the purpose of ready built and some of the cost advantage of the SOK's vs some of the other brands.
One of my concerns is what happens if one of the batteries in a 4 or 8 battery system decides to switch off and stay off, you will only find out when you notice you're running out of juice earlier than expected - which is probably when you want that extra capacity.
That's a good point. Will keep that in mind. I was more thinking of an out of balance pack and the a complete shut off might be more noticeable. But for a battery pack shut down, if the battery monitor has good data logging then it might be pretty easy to confirm ASSUMING you notice a sudden/unusual SOC drop.
Ran into these two possible options last night:
That is a good price/watt-hr for a pre-build battery with good construction. I am having a bit of buyers remorse now. ;)
 
Discussion starter · #220 ·
That would be the first thing I would do. Hopefully you are still within the available time period to dispute the charge.
That was one of the things that I checked before dropping the $$ on my SOK pre-order. IIRC my CC was 90days.
Unfortunately I made the bulk of the payment in Feb... and I stupidly used PayPal Friend&Family option to save on ~3% fees. Not money well spent :rolleyes:

That is one of the reasons I bought the SOK's, but more from the potential to replace a failed BMS down the line. Sure would make it easy if SOK is around for warranty in the future should that need arise and it's just a case of mailing them the failed BMS rather than the whole battery. Up front upgrade sorta defeats the purpose of ready built and some of the cost advantage of the SOK's vs some of the other brands.
True that its not cost effective, but it is also not a thing that has to be done immediately upon purchase. Its nice to have the option to improve, or replace like you said.

That is a good price/watt-hr for a pre-build battery with good construction. I am having a bit of buyers remorse now. ;)
If only I could find documentation for their RS485 bus...
 
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