Planned Travato Mods

wincrasher · 05-30-2014, 02:41 PM

I've only had my new van for a week and I want to do a couple mods.

First - what are people's thoughts on an angled exhaust tip vs. a resonator on the generator? Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Gibson-500415-...productDetails. My thoughts were pointing the exhaust down may knock quite a bit of the noise down. Or am I dreaming? Maybe I should use both. Does a resonator effect the efficiency of the generator?

Second - I think I really need a second battery (AGM Grp 31). On this van, the coach battery is hung underneath in a steel frame. Not sure if these frames are custom or you can find an off-the-shelf two battery holder, or a holder to add a battery, or to have something custom fabbed. Or should I scrap it and just put in an 8D with it's own frame? Or should I try and put a second battery inside under the dinnette seat and somehow fish the wires thru the floor? I think having 200 ah total is plenty for my uses.

Last weekend's mountain trip, I probably could have made it thru the weekend on my single battery except for the fact I used the furnace at night. All the lights are LED, the tv and sound sytem are 12v native. I don't have an inverter and don't see the need for one since everything runs on propane or 12v. The microwave is a bread storage facility and I made coffee on the stovetop. If I go to the beach, I'll need AC, so that means plug-in or generator.

Third - I have a portable solar panel with it's own charge controller. It has a pigtail for the battery terminals with a quick disconnect for the panel cable. I also have an extension cable from this company so I could set the panel out in the sun up to about 45 ft from the coach.

Davydd · 05-31-2014, 12:49 AM

You'll save a lot if you did not run your furnace. Maybe it is the 40 years of tent camping in me that makes me frugal, but when it gets really cold I use a sleeping bag and no heat at night. We have camped several times with overnight temps down to about 20F. You almost can't avoid it at high altitude in spring and fall. I kind of welcome it because I sleep a lot better in cold temperatures. With our old 2005 Pleasure-way Plateau we camped once 5 straight nights at a national forest in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and we had but the one auxiliary battery. Driving to trail heads a couple of times and going for groceries during that period was all that was needed. That and propane and living like steel tent campers.

A second battery will give you peace of mind and, of course, less draw down. We have two batteries now and have yet to draw down anywhere close to the max.

booster · 05-31-2014, 01:04 AM

I have been told by some offroad motorcycle and quad riders that a downturned tip might get the officials upset. They said the rules that they need to follow, spark arrestors and no downturned, pipes apply to generators also. I have not been able to find any information either way, but these folks said it came right from a Forest Service ranger, so it is unconfirmed, but makes since. It came up when they saw ours, which I had turned down when I moved the exhaust location. I made it back to be straight out, just to be sure. It didn't change the sound much.

The resonator doesn't seem to make any performance difference that I have been able to see.

stanw909 · 06-02-2014, 06:02 PM

A baffle in front of the exhaust such as plywood or even a piece of corrugated plastic (lighter, thinner) used for sign material would send the sound back under the rig. Don't lean the wood against the Travatos exterior or it will scratch the paint when the vehicle rocks. On the rv.net forum you posted pics showing your battery box. It looks like you have room next to it to install another battery. If this is true then that should give plenty of power but as David stated , the heater takes a lot of electricity. We don't like our forced air furnace because of the draw on the batteries and mostly the noise. We have a Coleman Black Cat catalitic heater that we set on the low. It uses half a 1 lb. Lp bottle per night and makes no sound. I wish the rv makers would give you the option of a catalytic heater like an Olympian instead of the noisy ones they install now. Solar is always a good idea. Both our Bounder and our camper van have solar. As an aside comment. We always run the engine for a few minutes in the morning before starting the genny. That causes less stress on the house batteries which are not starting batteries.

stanw909 · 06-02-2014, 06:05 PM

I almost forgot about the battery box. Go to the sportsmobileforum.com to find out what guys have done for extra battery boxes. Thanks again for keeping us informed.

wincrasher · 06-02-2014, 08:23 PM

I posted this over at RV.net looking for ideas on adding a second battery. I'll start researching over at sportsmobileforum.com as suggested:

My van has this battery installed in a rack underneath -

I know that it's a group 31 battery - think I found it here:
http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/Catal ... 0398829449

As you can see, there is no info on amp-hours. I'd suspect it's around 100 ah. Probably less. This is probably a cheap battery and not a good, deep cycle one. So I'm open to replacing it when I go to a 2 battery setup.

Here are a couple more shots:

I'm not sure if this is a stock type bracket or custom fabrication for Winnebago. It's bolted to the floor of the van with 4 bolts. Looks like you loosen the two nuts and slide the battery tray out.

Could adding a second battery be as easy as finding a two battery plate and sliding it in this frame and bolting it down? Or get a whole new assembly?

Looks to me the only way to go is a north-south arrangement. There is other stuff blocking east-west unless to added a whole new single battery from somewhere on the other side of the blocking items. Which would mean drilling holes in the van, which I am loathe to do.

markopolo · 06-03-2014, 02:41 AM

Adding a 2nd battery would a great Travato Mod

It's hard to tell from the photos but it looks like you could add a 2nd battery box.

The Travato battery box / tray part number is in this PDF file:
http://www.winnebagoind.com/diagram/...ire_184822.pdf

You can probably order the part from a Winnebago dealer. If you find out the price let me know. That box might fit under my van ......

stanw909 · 06-03-2014, 03:11 AM

Regards the battery. At least it's a common brand. It is a good idea to get exactly the same battery so one (weeker) doesn't parasitically draw from the other.it looks as if you may have to have the second battery hang a little lower so the stock box may be too tall.

wincrasher · 06-03-2014, 03:21 AM

Just wondering what you'd bolt a whole 2nd box to. The existing box is hung from threaded bolts that are protruding down from the floor of the van as you see in a few of the pictures. The bolt heads must be between the flooring and the metal deck of the van.

stanw909 · 06-03-2014, 06:38 AM

I'm a trumpet player. That's for people smarter than me. Like the guys at the Sportsmobile forum. Sportsmobiles have the batteries underneath but no one has a Promaster yet. It should translate across platforms. Most Sportsmobiles are Fords.

markopolo · 06-03-2014, 03:31 PM

The battery box looks to be made up of parts. Maybe back, front, sides & bottom are all separate pieces.

If dissembled, then rotating the sides 180 degrees should give much wider hanging support. You'd have to know that the existing mounting is strong enough for more weight. If the battery box sides were rotated then you'd have to have a new back, front and sides made ...............

You might be better off having a custom battery box made to fit the existing battery box mounting holes.

Another method to consider would be a drop in battery box. "E-Trek" style http://www.classbforum.com/phpBB2/vi...battery#p15550 You'd have to carefully cut the flooring and save it to make a top for the drop in box. But then you are cutting into the structure of the van ...............

The easiest solution might be to replace the AGM battery with the biggest wet cell battery that can fit in the box. Maybe a 150ah Trojan or larger would fit. Use a watering system: http://www.classbforum.com/phpBB2/vi...php?f=12&t=451

Another option would be to see if two batteries (rotated 90 degrees) would fit in the box side by side. Maybe 2 x 6 volt batteries.

Davydd · 06-03-2014, 03:37 PM

Is the Travato battery hanging under the van floor and only accessible from underneath or is there a floor cover to get to it from inside? If hanging underneath I would not think you would want a wet cell lead-acid battery that needs tending to periodically.

wincrasher · 06-03-2014, 03:55 PM

It hangs underneath. There is no access panel from above. As an AGM, it is wet cell, but there is no maintenance, other than the potential of needing to clean the terminals periodically (how often is anybody's guess).

I suspect that the bolts to support the bracket were put thru the van's floor prior to the flooring being installed over top it. From the underside of the van, you see the threaded bolts poking thru with nuts to hold the battery bracket in place.

stanw909 · 06-05-2014, 03:48 AM

I have a bank of agm batteries. In 2 years of service. No corrosion but they are inside the vehicle.

wincrasher · 07-02-2014, 11:35 PM

My battery project has languished this last month as I've been busy with other stuff.

This weekend I'm going to try and see if two batteries will fit in the existing bracket (batteries turned 90 degrees). If there is room, then it's just a matter of fabricating a bracket or some way to secure them. This would be ideal solution because it's the minimal effort.

If that doesn't work, then I need to either look for an additional space underneath and get a box that will work, or trash the existing bracket and have something fabricated that will fit the existing bolts.

The more I ponder this project, I keep going back to my generator issues. Lately I'm thinking maybe I should rig up an inverter to run the water heater from. I only need about 20 mins of power to heat the water. It will sit in there for a couple hours and remain hot. That would give me more flexibility on my generator running. Not sure how big an inverter this would require. I'm thinking the water heater must be 12 amps, but don't know for sure. With two group 31 batteries, would I have an adequate bank to do this?

markopolo · 07-03-2014, 12:43 AM

Is your water heater one of these? http://www.atwoodmobile.com/water-he...er-heaters.asp

Could be 1400 watts so 1400/12v = 117 amps. With inverter losses etc. 1400w/10 = 140 amps
You'd need heavy gauge cables to carry that load to the inverter. Probably a 2000 watt inverter. It would be a really large draw on 2 batteries. I'm guessing it wouldn't work with only two batteries.

stanw909 · 07-10-2014, 10:22 PM

Sportsmobile's use inverters for their hot water heaters and microwave ovens. Go to sportsmobileforum.com and someone will tell you how it's done. Sportsmobiles with no propane are very common.

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