Inverter / watts question

[chefdennis]

mjm wrote:

Edit; add-on. I hasten to add here that my situation is probably different than what many here deal with. I drive for an outfit that has me go out loaded, come back empty. That means I'm not trying to pass time at truck stops for three days straight as some here do, so the need for the big hardware simply doesn't exist for me. A small cooler would handle the food I'm likely to need, I have a two-gallon water cooler for longer trips and a sleeping bag handles the times I need to stop for a few hours. Primitive, I know, but when you're gone from home for three days at the most you get by alright "on the cheap".

But in this post, your point wasn't about YOU or YOUR needs, it was to make the point that in a Van after we upfit them,where were we going to have room for paying freight..and that it would requirer wiring that probably was beyond most here...

I have one question. After you've placed half of the appliances that you would have in your house into your truck, where do you put the paying freight??? Seriously, an apartment-sized refrigerator? A microwave oven, a wok and I don't know what other odds and ends--- it all makes life more comfortable and of course you need big power to make it all happen, but all that stuff must take up some room and even in the bigger trucks you reach a point where the stuff crowds out either your freight or your sleeping space, I would think.

Now, for me it's not an issue because in a standard CV you have a choice: Set it up as an RV with all the comforts of home, or have room for freight-- you can't really do both. But it makes me wonder how much room you really have in the larger trucks.

So since you were shown that everything you questioned is done in a CV and there is still room for "money making" freight" (cause those setting up their vans this way are making money) you kinds changed you story line.....this industry is full of people from all kinds of different walks of life..you'd be amazed at the previous jobs people have held before getting into this...alot of them do some stuff that you might think can't be done in a CV....and when your questions are answered, as yours were here, acknowledging those answers is nornamlly what most people do...as Mcavoy did with his post that he is giving up his rice cooker.....

 

[mjmsprt40]

Chef, I might never have posted at all if somebody hadn't mentioned having an apartment-sized refrigerator in their truck. That got my attention because even the small ones I've seen gobble up space in a hurry. Elsewhere I saw a room air conditioner mentioned, with questions about where to put that and how to wire it in and so forth. My question was legitimate, since there's a point where our CVs cease to be work trucks and become RVs for all practical purposes. Even the really huge Sprinters will run into a comforts of home vs paying freight problem if you put enough stuff in them.

It's really very simple. If I hope to get two skids onto my Chevy van, I'm probably going to have to do without the 42" TV and the 20 cubic foot deep-freeze, as much as I'd probably like to have such things available if I am standing by somewhere for a while. I realize that the 42" TV and 20 cu.ft. freezer are ridiculous examples since I doubt that anybody would try to squeeze such things into an expediting van, but-- you never know.

Extra add-on: I've been paying attention, especially to some of the stuff Turtle has posted. If I get rid of the "Shotgun Seat" I have a place to put a couple of small things, and wiring a suitable battery pack/isolator/inverter doesn't look impossible-- at least in the photo Turtle provides here. The thing is, I'm kind of into the idea of keeping it relatively small, reasonably portable and able to be shifted if it gets in the way of what has to be done to make a living at this.

 

[chefdennis]

A well equipped CV and hauling 2 52x48x48 skid and up to 3000 lbs is not out of the question at all. I own 2 CV's, 1 is a 2005 GMC 9600 gvw extened 3500. It is equppied with a 1.7 cu ft frig, a microwave a 22" tv/dvd player and a twin sized bed, it also a 12,000 btu single room roll around ac unit, a 2200 watt generator and 2 6volt Trojan batteries setup simuliar to Turtles setup....That van hauls 2 skids and 3000 lbs on a regular basis and is close to 455,000 miles on a 4.8 V-8.

My 2009 Cargo Max is set up the same way but with a bigger frig and freezier, but i also have an extra 3 feet between the twin bed and the drivers seat to move around it...their are pictures posted of that...oh and that van, I regularly haul 4-4500 lbs and up to 6 skids 48x48x35....

Yes the pass seat is gone in both, and the beds both flod out of the way, but they both do what they are intended to do, haul freight and make money while letting me and my driver be comfortable....and as you seen with the pictures Turtle posted, we are not alone, there are a bunch of van out here doing exactly has have posted...heck, there is one husband and wife team that have a full functioning electric fireplace in their 3500 chevy can...

 

[cheri1122]

Chef, I might never have posted at all if somebody hadn't mentioned having an apartment-sized refrigerator in their truck.

Guilty. [But I don't have a tv!]

That got my attention because even the small ones I've seen gobble up space in a hurry.

Everything inside gobbles up space - it's a question of utilizing the space efficiently, to include what you use most. The refrigerator didn't use any additional space, as it replaced the passenger seat, and it saves money, which seems a more efficient use of space to me than a seat to throw my clipboard on. [The clipboard now hangs from a magnetic hook on the fridge.]

Elsewhere I saw a room air conditioner mentioned, with questions about where to put that and how to wire it in and so forth. My question was legitimate, since there's a point where our CVs cease to be work trucks and become RVs for all practical purposes. Even the really huge Sprinters will run into a comforts of home vs paying freight problem if you put enough stuff in them.

Disagree - maybe it's a 'comfort or freight' deal for some, but not for most of us. It's about finding ways to include comfort without impinging on the space for the freight, and it's something we each do in our own ways, then share the success stories in case it might inspire or help someone else.

It's really very simple. If I hope to get two skids onto my Chevy van, I'm probably going to have to do without the 42" TV and the 20 cubic foot deep-freeze, as much as I'd probably like to have such things available if I am standing by somewhere for a while. I realize that the 42" TV and 20 cu.ft. freezer are ridiculous examples since I doubt that anybody would try to squeeze such things into an expediting van, but-- you never know.

I'm still looking for a way to get a Jacuzzi in, lol. [I could do it, too - if there was never any water in it. ] Just kidding!

Extra add-on: I've been paying attention, especially to some of the stuff Turtle has posted. If I get rid of the "Shotgun Seat" I have a place to put a couple of small things, and wiring a suitable battery pack/isolator/inverter doesn't look impossible-- at least in the photo Turtle provides here. The thing is, I'm kind of into the idea of keeping it relatively small, reasonably portable and able to be shifted if it gets in the way of what has to be done to make a living at this.

When you find ways that work, post them [preferably with photos] because it might work for someone else, too. [If I hadn't seen Turtle's Sprinter with the passenger seat removed, it might not have occurred to me that it can be done.]

 

[mjmsprt40]

When you find ways that work, post them [preferably with photos] because it might work for someone else, too. [If I hadn't seen Turtle's Sprinter with the passenger seat removed, it might not have occurred to me that it can be done.]

I have one question about that refrigerator, it's rather serious. In the photo, it looks like it just might block your vision in the right-side mirror and certainly does block visibility through the right-side window. How do you work around that?

 

[BlackJack]

I have one question about that refrigerator, it's rather serious. In the photo, it looks like it just might block your vision in the right-side mirror and certainly does block visibility through the right-side window. How do you work around that?

I was wondering the same thing regarding the refrigerator..Otherwise, it's a nice set up.

 

[chefdennis]

The question about the placement of the frig (in my case frig and microwave) in the line of vision out the right side window has been covered a few times. If you look at the picures in the link about building my Cargo Max, you can see that placement and just how much of the line of vision is lost.

http://www.expeditersonline.com/forum/truck-talk/46846-chef-denniss-new-cargomax.html

To be honset, you do lose some, but no more then if yo had a "bigger" adult sitting in the pas seat....Thi setup is the same that i have in my CV that a driver is now in...I have been stopped by city police, state troopers in more then a few states, DOT officers and border patrol officers...all of them seen this setup, a few even commented about how i had everythng but the sink in the van...not a 1 of them had any concerns or voice that the restricted line of vision was a issue..it isn't...

 

[MissKat]

1. Where can you buy the 2/0 wire? 2. Chefdennis. What kind if batteries did you have installed in your van we saw at EXPO? 3. Plz explain further this isolator. Thanks Dennis and Mr Turtle.

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[chefdennis]

MissKat, you can get the wire, lugs and fuses at most good electrically supply houses...as for the Batteries they are Trojan Floor Scrubber batteries and they can be bought a a good quality industrial battery supplier...I got mine at the same place Turtle got his (his recommendation) Staab Battery in Springfield, ill...

Staab Battery: Floor Scrubber, Aerial Lifts, High Lifters and Motive Power Batteries, Pro-Pel Brand

The isolator seperates the house bank from the starting battery and allows them all to be charged at the same time, but allows you to use the house bank and not drain the starting battery when the truck is not runnng....The info that i gave you at the expo on my setup and use of the "continous run solenoid" is the same as using a isolator...i used a isolator on my 05 van, but chose to go to the "solenoid" for the Cargo Max...it is really a "simpler" setup with less "parts" to go bad over time...

 

[MissKat]

Thank you Really Nice Chef Dennis!!!!!!!!!

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[chefdennis]

LOL.. Tell your other half i said hi!!

 

[mjmsprt40]

About the isolators: Any good RV shop should be able to set you up with one of these. RVs have much the same problem-- if not more so-- that expedited vans and trucks do. Lots of power-hungry devices eating into your battery bank. Obviously you don't want them having access to your starting battery, so your auxiliary pack needs to be isolated from the starting battery while you're using the pack. The isolator circuitry is designed to allow the alternator to charge the pack while the engine is running, but to cut the pack off from the charge/start circuits while the engine is off.

Just down the road from where I live there's "Art's RV", and I happen to know they have all this kind of battery-pack stuff there because I've seen it. I'm inclined to give them a look-see when I get ready to more fully equip my vehicle.