6 replies to this topic

[craig333]

A bit warm in the valley

A good time to get out of town and head to the Rally held outside Sierraville. Okay, maybe closer to Beckwourth but I didn't measure. I also neglected to take many pics. Around 120 rigs attended and I didn't get a shot them   Plenty of food. I got a lot of ideas for mods to my rig. Some seriously nice campers attended. All very nice people and quite a few dogs too. Riley made some new friends. 

The Q and A was interesting. They have noticed the new electric trucks. That FWC defended the use of 10ga wire didn't go over well but they said they would probably upgrade it anyway just to make people stop complaining. I guess whining does help

It pays to get up early. By the time I was ready to head out it was already starting to rain. Ran into some good downpours coming down 80. More than a few WTWers were in attendance. Hopefully someone can some more pics.

[Lighthawk]

Great shots to tell the story.  We saw about a dozen FWC rigs driving south on 89 today.  That was an interesting rainy morning!

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

The FWC rallys are getting larger. 120 rigs there that's a bunch for sure.

Frank

[Jack]

We are back from our trip that included the FWC Nor-Cal rally in Beckwourth CA.

 

I thought FWC put on an excellent event and we greatly enjoyed it.

 

Saturday night featured a Q&A session by Robert Vogl, FWC's CEO. A CEO Q&A with customers is certainly not the norm and he was direct and forthright with his answers. This bodes very well for the future of FWC.

 

FWC is in partnership with Ford to find out how loads like the Project M Topper on a Lightning work out. First a a cross country trip this summer and then to Alaska for cold weather.

 

Robert also made a number of comments about production problems - lot's of delays and FWC is on allocation from many suppliers. Their aluminum supplier put them on 30% allocation and they had to find a new supplier. Pretty much everyone at FWC gets involved with these kinds of production problems. This explains a lot of the current 12 to 18 month lead time for a new FWC.

 

Of particular interest to me, a person asked Robert about upgrading the wire from the camper to the truck to a thicker gauge. He said that engineering had told him that 10 gauge was quite adequate for 30 amps. He certainly was aware of the grumblings from FWC owners and did allow that they might upgrade the wiring just to make people happy. I spoke with him after the Q&A and said the problem was not current but voltage-drop at the DC-DC charger and that trucks with smart alternators needed a DC-DC charger. He responded that very few trucks had smart alternators. Very much to his credit, he said to email him if I had better information, so I did. I documented what vehicles had smart alternators (all Tacomas from 2016 and most Fords from 2017 and most other trucks from around 2017) and that Redarc and Victron both point out the need for DC-DC chargers with smart alternators. I think it likely that the pressing production problems leave little time for other issues to be properly addressed and so it may be a while before there is any change.

[AWG_Pics]

 

Of particular interest to me, a person asked Robert about upgrading the wire from the camper to the truck to a thicker gauge. He said that engineering had told him that 10 gauge was quite adequate for 30 amps. He certainly was aware of the grumblings from FWC owners and did allow that they might upgrade the wiring just to make people happy. I spoke with him after the Q&A and said the problem was not current but voltage-drop at the DC-DC charger and that trucks with smart alternators needed a DC-DC charger. He responded that very few trucks had smart alternators. Very much to his credit, he said to email him if I had better information, so I did. I documented what vehicles had smart alternators (all Tacomas from 2016 and most Fords from 2017 and most other trucks from around 2017) and that Redarc and Victron both point out the need for DC-DC chargers with smart alternators. I think it likely that the pressing production problems leave little time for other issues to be properly addressed and so it may be a while before there is any change.

 

Interesting report Jack. We received our camper in early January of 2020 and have spent maybe 150 or more nights in it in all seasons. Hot, cold, cloudy, rainy or sunny in Oregon, Washington, Nevada, California, Arizona and Utah. We have 170 W of solar, two deep cycle lead acid batteries, the large 3.1 cubic foot fridge, led lights, water pump for various needs, USB charging phones, furnace running sometimes. My point is the factory wiring has never let us down. Charges to 12.7 to 14.2 without fail. So, at the risk of causing a ruckus, our experience is the factory engineers have it right. Now I better knock on wood.

 

We have a supplemental 100W solar panel, which I set up for the exterior Zamp plug, but have never needed it. Still carry it around everywhere we go. But in our experience I would have to say Robert Vogel is not pulling anyone's leg.

 

My apologies to the wise electrical whiz folks on this site that say you need 4 or 6 gauge wire (I bought some, and it is waiting in my storage cabinet should I ever need it.)

[bsharp007]

I just got my new camper in March, I ordered it without the solar package because of all the reports of FWC components sucking. I just installed 2-175 watt rigid Renogy panels on the roof and disconnected the truck battery (alternator) from the camper batteries because I noticed while driving there were amps actually flowing from my camper batteries TO the truck battery, sometimes as much as 15 amps.

Just back from a week in the Sierras and my battery monitor showed fully charged when I arrived at my campsite each day and was full topped off from solar by around Noonish each day.   I don't need a DC-DC charger at all.

[craig333]

I wouldn't think so with 350 watts of solar. How many ah of battery do you have?