21 VNL860 upgrades, mini split/battery APU

Thanks man, I appreciate the kind words.

- Off the main chassis batteries I have 8 gauge wire (dedicated) through a 60a DC breaker to a Kisae DMT 1250 DC to DC charger ($265 on Amazon)
- From there through another 60a DC breaker to the battery bank
- Battery bank is 2@ 280ah Chins lithium batteries from Amazon. (by far the biggest cost at about $500 each)
- From the battery bank I have an Aims pure sine wave 2500w inverter to provide the AC power to the mini split. I kept this from my old truck I had but any good inverter of at least 2000w is less than $500.
- I splurged on a Victron bluetooth shunt/battery monitor that has a phone app. Model is Victron BMV712 @ about $150 but you can get a much cheaper shunt/monitor or none at all but I recommend it for a lithium bank. I monitor it from my phone a lot more than from the display.
- The mini split I bought is a 9000 btu Mr. Cool DIY unit. I bought it on sale at Home Depot for about $750.
- The rack for the mini split is off Amazon ($40) It's a stainless steel one rated for a lot more weight than my unit since it's on a vibrating truck.

The rest of the wiring, etc. I had around already. I fool with this kind of stuff a lot working on campers. So, I said in my thread I had about $2k in it but I guess that was a little low, more like $2500. If I add in the cabinetry etc. it goes up a couple hundred bucks.

 

My last truck had a fold up bunk but this one came with a fixed bunk. I unbolted it (only 4 bolts) and used it as a template for the U shaped cabinet base which is just 3/4" plywood. I like 3/4" birch ply from Home Depot, easy to carpet or stain. The whole thing is bolted in the same holes as the bunk so it can be removed if I ever need to.

I used an RV 12v water pump and small parts all from Amazon. The water tank is a 10 gallon I had from some old camper. I put a gravity feed inlet on it and I fill it up with a water hose every couple weeks at home but I have to drag a hose into the truck which isn't ideal. You can see my inlet in the pics. I don't wash very many dishes so I get about a week out of 5 gallons. The sink drain just goes to the ground, no gray tank. Like I said, never anything too funky going down the drain. I would not want to fool with a gray tank outside of the truck year round. That would be a pain in the winter.

No solar panels for me. I think they are a waste on a truck if you drive it every day. My factory alternator charges my whole system just fine everyday and I don't really run that hard but the truck is usually running at least 10 hours a day. Solar would only help if I spent 34's on the road but I never do.

As for inverters my truck has the factory inverter/shore power plug from Volvo. I used a second, dedicated inverter for the AC. I did not want it to have to share with all my other loads.

I can't comment on how long this system will run my AC in 'August in the south' type conditions yet but it should easily run the AC for 12 hours at the very least.

 

I could not find anyone in my city to make rubber lines that size. I have a great place for custom hoses/fittings that can make about anything and they said they could not make the smaller line (1/4"?). You can buy flexible ones on Amazon but they are about $100 per and I decided to try the fixed ones that came with it (that have worked for other people) before spending more. If I have to upgrade someday then I will.

Shunts are just reliable power meters that will do more than tell you your voltage. They tell you accurate amperage and wattage in/out of the bank and log it all as well, at least the better ones like Victron do. A simple digital battery meter on a lithium system doesn't really tell you quite enough because the difference between 13.9 and 13.1v state-of-charge is huge, for instance.