In reply to Cooter:
Thanks for reading!!
I have axle weights! 
Front axle is 6200, Rear is 8040
You may be very correct, I didn't think about the axle moving backwards!
In reply to Cooter:
Thanks for reading!!
I have axle weights! Front axle is 6200, Rear is 8040
You may be very correct, I didn't think about the axle moving backwards!
In reply to java230:
In that case it appears you're running the front axle fully loaded.
PDF page 8
https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas/non-html/2008/vs_pdf/f350-550_08bb.pdf
In reply to BrokenYugo:
Yep, 300lbs under GAWR.
I wonder what f550 ambos package front coils would do.
Well the good news is, the 120v side of the wiring is done, bad news is it won't run my coffee maker :( ugh
But the table is installed!
OK I dug into the inverter specs..... It should run it. The coffee machine takes 1260W, thats only 10W over the continuous rating, and its claimed to be able to do 150% for up to 60mins.
Snips from the inverter specs:
So I did run 1/0 cables (manual says 4ga, eek), so I should not be getting voltage drop to the inverter. I am wondering if this is just a bad unit? I did get it used..... Whats the easiest way to test inverter output? Thoughts?
Sounds like a bad unit or the reason it was sold in the first place. As long as the coffee maker was all that was on it should have worked. Now depending on the inrush current draw when the coffee maker first starts up that may put it over the 150% or even the 250% as well. You might try adding small things to the circuit until you get to 1250 watt or until it shuts off which ever comes first. If you have a amp probe you could check the coffee makers draw when it first starts up to see if it is drawing more than the 200% inrush amps.
In reply to brad131a4:
Yeah I'm tempted to say bad unit, it ran it for about 5 seconds before it overloaded. It ran the warm up fine, just not the high pressure pump for long. It's an espresso machine.
My shunt was only showing about 40 amp draw, it should be more like 90 at full power.
Ah yea the converter is only good for 10 amps at 120v and 20amps for up to 1-6 minutes. If your at 40 amps it's not going to run more than 8 seconds if my calculations are correct. So if you say it only runs 5 seconds then that's about right. To run that machine you are going to need a minimum of 4800 watts of power.
In reply to brad131a4:
Input current, not output current, 1250 watts@14 VDC (engine running) is 90 amps, and that's before accounting for losses in the inverter, should probably be more like 100-105 amps at full load and 115-120@12 VDC. Monitoring the output with a Kill A Watt is a good idea though, a lot of stuff rarely pulls full nameplate amps.
Nothing ruins a camping trip like a bad espresso machine.
In reply to BrokenYugo:
That was my calculations as well.
Will a kill a watt measure output at the outlet side? I thought it only read what was plugged into it.
In reply to Wall-e:
Yeah just had via weekend, not the same :(
In reply to java230:
It displays watt/amp draw through the unit and logs KWH, along with voltage/frequency of the line, and power factor.
In reply to BrokenYugo:
Yeah, but on the output side, when there is draw. (I have one :D)
I hooked the coffee maker up again, it ran this time, voltage dropped to 110 ish, but it only pulled 575 watts.
Brought it back in the house and it pulls 1256 watts. I'm lost. 
I'll run it on batteries again soon....
Ok yes you need 12v 95amps input to run the inverter at full output. So the output is 1250 watts ac up to 2500w for up to 1-6 minutes. Yes I know most name plate ratings are not what a machine may acctually use it's just that's what we have to use when calculating loads. So your espresso machine is 120 volt 1260 watts which is 10.5 amps ac power. Your inverter is putting out 1250 watts ac which is 10.4 amps so in therory if it takes less than 6 minutes to brew the coffee and make foamy milk you should be golden. If what you say is true with the watt reader and it is only drawing 575 watts which is 4.79 amps then your not even taxing the inverter. Then where did you get a reading of 40 amps on the espresso machine?
In reply to brad131a4:
OK, espresso machine draws 1256W at 120V (in the house anyway)
I have a shunt on the battery system, I was seeing more amps yesterday, 50 ish, and the kill a watt recorded 575.6 watts max, and the machine was pissed, doesn't like partial sign wave it seems. But it only take a minute or two to brew.
mmmmmm
But going back in the house and running the test again, it pulled 1256W...
Oh we had a great weekend though. Went to the Northwest Overland Rally, lots of friends and a boat load of people showed up!
This was Friday Morning, so that field was FULL on Saturday. 80 Vendors and ~1500-1800 ish people
Well I thought I had a window leak.... Well I got to investigating, turns out the sealant used on the roof to corner extrusion has cracked. The water was running down the channels in the body till it hit the window frame. Some poking shows it cracked all over.... It seems like they just didn't get it on thick enough over the hard edge of the roof sheet metal. I spoke with the body mfg, and they said they have never had issues with it, even servicing 20 year old bodies and it still is good.
The roof issue.....
Across the front. Obviously failed.
Peeled off easily. Luckily there is a big layer of butyl there, so its not leaking there.
But the sides don't have much butyl, and are leaking. Hard to see but you can see the cracks in the middle (i fixed the worst ones without taking pics)
So I took a knotted wire wheel to that area down the middle allllll the way around. That sucked. But it left me with a clean strip that hopefully the Sika will bond nicely too. I got the bare aluminum primer to use as well. So the plan is to clean it up with acetone, give it a coat of primer, then apply a layer of Skiaflex 1a all the way around down the center of the old stuff. Hopefully that works!!
75 lbs of misery. My God, double hanger doughnuts?? Really?
New stuff isn't on yet. I'm beat and gravel driveway sucks.
All sensors except this one came out with some penetrating oil and heat. Not buying a damn new one!
Huge thanks to Ryan at Bahn Camper Works,http://www.bahncamperworks.com, he sold me his last shower unit, and it seemingly was the last one in stock in the US. Thanks again!
Not the ideal location above the exhaust, but the only place it wanted to fit.
Super slick, well worth the $$
It shoots a long *** ways! And hot water comes out. Win.
Internal connections.
Nifty little tuner. Sadly the CEL came on, #6 glow plug circuit failure....
Made a window infill panel.
Our portable AC unit can clip into it! :D
How did the Sikaflex do so far?
Your coffee maker issue might be due to the waveform the inverter is creating. Can you look up the specs and find out if it is outputting a true sine wave. or is it something approximating a sine wave?
Plus, at higher power outputs (like near its rated capacity), you might have increased Total Harmonic Distortion (THD), meaning the output waveform is getting further and further away from a true sine wave, which could definitely affect something with a highly-inductive load like a coffee or espresso maker.
This Electrical Engineer would now like to apologize for completely geeking out in your build thread.
In reply to ssswitch:
Its stuck down and not leaking (although it hasnt really been raining...) There are a few bubbles that showed up, not sure whats up with that, but its stuck on both edges.
In reply to Sky_Render:
Geek away :) And I was thinking the same thing myself. Especially since it pulled justa about half the power as inside. It is not a true sine wave inveter. And the espresso machine makes nasty noises running on it, like its only getting half the wave its looking for kinda noises. But it works. I brewed another cup. .3% of the battery bank..... The voltage also drops to 110-108 ish, but stays at 60hz
Well I guess I never put the Sika pics up. Messy work.... Its not pretty but it should be sealed.
Took 8 tubes....
Wait, what's the in cab portable AC for?
In reply to Enyar:
Its in the box, just ducts out the window there. Heading out on a trip and its going to be hot. We have hook ups at some places so AC will be run to keep things cool!
Nice work, thanks for sharing.
Just got back form 1600 miles, 2 states, 2 provinces, 3 people and two dogs.
Ill add more later. But it was a great trip
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