2017 4X4 2500 144 High Roof Lithium Based Stone Grey

[HikeBeerRepeat]

Very much looking forward to your posts. Especially interested in your decision regarding the bed and the flareouts.

[HikeBeerRepeat]

Oh, and would love to hear how the aux fuel tank is working out. Did you get the 14 gallon size? Thanks.

[Backcountryguy]

• Build completed by SMB West Fresno CA
• Initial delivery trip mid-May, prior to Agile Offroad suspension work. Van as delivered had stock tires/rims, stock suspension, no aux fuel tank, no Aluminess rear bumper, no Van Compass skid plates.
• Delivery process was smooth, no issues. Weight of the van at delivery was 8225 lbs across the scale.
• I had no issues with the van from delivery through drive down to San Diego for Agile Offroad work, and only one minor plumbing issue in first five months.
• After this introduction post I will cover as many of the pre-Agile aspects that may be off interest before going over the Agile work and thoughts through first five months of ownership.
• I'll post pictures of various trips.

[Backcountryguy]

• The system has worked as advertised. We love the 600Ah bank.
• No issues or faults first five months
• The added amp hours have resulted in our never having to worry about amp hour usage while camping up remote logging roads or off-grid. Even in state parks where we have electrical hook-ups I rarely bother hooking up the shore power cord. We just don't need it.
• Using the rooftop fan, water pump, lights, fridge/freezer, radio we have used a maximum of 34Ah/day.
• Our max time at one camp, in one place, without running engine was 7 days. In that time the battery bank drew down to 380Ah. Still plenty of juice remaining.
• The initial thought for the lithium setup was for the rooftop A/C. This did work as advertised, but we only needed it once since the van is so well insulated and the rooftop fan does such a good job along with window coverings. We drew down to 280AH after 2.7 hours of use, about what we would expect. We probably could have gone four hours with the rooftop A/C running and engine off drawing from the bank.
• During our flarepod modification (thread forthcoming), we are going to remove the rooftop A/C and install another rooftop fan.
• The electrical system is enclosed in it's entirety underneath the passenger side settee/couch.
• Two 300AH lithium batteries: LITHIONICS
• 2nd 220Ah alternator
• Balmar Smart Regulator
• Freedom 3000KW Invertor
• Separate smart controller/Ah meter for lithium batteries.

[Fitz]

Alex,

This is going to be good! Two pieces of background information you might want to add at this point:
1. Where the van was built
2. How many miles/nights you have on the van as of this writing

Thanks in advance from all of us for writing all this up.

Tim

[Backcountryguy]

Tim,


1. Definitely should have put that in my first delivery post, I'll update that post with SMB West in Fresno.
2. How many nights, etc I'm going to do in a later thread after I go over the Agile work, etc.


Alex

[SteveW]

Nice work !!

I’m very interested in your electrical setup... looks like Lithium Ion Technologies batteries - correct ??

Steve W
Southern California

[Backcountryguy]

• We are very satisfied with the fit/finish and overall look of the interior as completed by SMB West.
• This initial work is what drove me to want SMB West to do the flare pod modification, which will require removal of the aft section of the interior and significant cabinetry rebuild as well. Possibly also a few systems will need to be moved, but not the electrical. I did look at several outfits up north who would have probably done a bang-up job, but was so happy with the work SMB West did I decided to make the drive to them for the work, which is a fairly destructive modification.
• It's not everyone's cup of tea, but we like the light grey cabinets offset by grey loncoin decking, light grey overhead, darker grey countertops.
• The storage areas, small slide out pantry, location of the fridge, freezer, and sink area are as we had hoped for with utility/fit and finish
• Cooking is as we expected: We have no built in stove, and we use our Jetboil a HUGE amount of time for boiling water (coffee, tea, soups, pasta, etc), and other than that we have a lot of precooked meals, chicken, beef, pasta, etc made at home and then ziplocked and put in refrigerator and freezer. Hence to the microwave. Even the occasional freeze dried backpack meal (as evidenced by one of the photos in my initial drive north), although once we got into the swing of things those have disappeared. We have an outdoor grill as well which we occasionally grill steaks/brtas/chicken on.
• We are confident our choice of the largest fridge/freezer combination was the best for us. It isn't everyone's choice but fits with our past camping/backpacking/climbing life very well, but one step up from that!

[Backcountryguy]

• We had one delivery SMB issue which manifested itself after about 30 days of living/travelling in the van
• The cold water plumbing PEX fitting under the sink started to leak.
• Most likely due to a faulty PEX fitting at install.
• I did a bit of research and also asked for advice from Fitz and Tom H on the matter.
• The fittings and PEX hose are very easy to work with.
• The old PEX ring, if faulty, is easy to cut off with a dremel tool.
• I bought the PEX tool and rings, various elbows, straight fittings, 50' of red and blue PEX hose, PEX hose cutter, and went to town on it.
• Easy fix which I completed myself, although just before delivery back down to SMB West I decided I wanted to renew the straight run from behind the aft galley bulkhead into the sink compartment, and to do this I am having SMB West redo the access box underneath the passenger side settee/couch so I can access the PEX fittings there, and more easily access under the sink with the PEX tool.
• I believe the consensus is these fittings are extremely reliable, and my problem is very rare.

[Backcountryguy]

SteveW asked a specific question on battery.

• The batteries are Lithionics batteries, which I believe Xantrex now has for their systems.
• The system required a quite a bit of discussion, which TomH helped with enormously.
• All the components and the stand-alone batteries in their own box had to be approved and tested to RIVA and SMB West satisfaction for install in their vehicles. The process was long and laborious.
• In addition, the batteries, as now paired with the Xantrex components, balmar charger, external BMS, and smart system were very expensive. To the tune of $5,000/each. The single 600Ah battery was even more expensive. But I liked the idea of two smaller batteries which would (in theory) be easier to move individually even though the combined weight was more than the single 600Ah battery.
• The bottom line is that the system has performed flawlessly so far, as designed and with no issues or faults. Is it worth it? For us, even though we are removing the original reason for the system (rooftop A/C), it is.
• I believe the main idea with Sportsmobile was that previously (just as with boats) all batteries inside the van had to be in an enclosed, vented battery box. Vented to the outside. the way this system is worked that is not required. The battery is it's own battery box, in effect.
• The attached isn't the exact battery that is in our vehicle, but it is comparable.