Question about propane...or rather, propane accessories...

[Dawn Michelle]

Hi all - 

Yes, I'm a King of the Hill fan!  I'm going to post here directly a picture of my propane tank, and regulator - I'm not even sure there's enough room to squeeze in a bypass kit, but in the interim I want to see if I'm even thinking about this correctly.

What I want out of the bypass is to tie in a Mr Heater (the smaller one you can't plumb in to the low pressure lines).

I found this, but it seems to be something for hooking up to an external propane tank (which would be nice to have ADDITIONALLY, but first priority is to use the onboard for the Mr. Heater). 

Thoughts?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N657EZL/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I3NQR7TE...

Then this was going to be the kit for the Mr. Heater to string it to the bypass:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001CFWF5U/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I2NCL5IK...

My only issue with external is I have nowhere to really carry a tank.  The bay isn't tall enough, The shower is already dedicated to the catbox and the laundry basket while in motion (and I don't really like the idea of keeping it inside) which leaves mounting somehow on the back tool box and wouldn't know where to begin for that - is it even legal?  Of course I could just get tanks when and where I needed them - put down deposit, take a quick trip to where I'm setting up and leave it out until ready to leave area and then return to get my deposit back.  I've heard there are smaller pancake ones but they don't seem to be common, easy to find.  

I promise a blog post soon - doing a lot of little details right now and goes back for final mechanic work Monday; then when back I'll be on the home stretch!

[Dawn Michelle]

Ah, so the distance can be problematic in a charging instance.  At least I have to consider the expense of larger cables and how I would run them, and the if that is really necessary.

It sounds like I have plan going forward then.  I'll start with the 100 agm, 100 watt panel and a PWM that can be upgraded to handle more panels.  Renogy has a decent kit on Amazon.  Then just see how my usage works out.  It sounds simple, upgradable and should keep me out of too much trouble....!

[John "T" Nordhoff]

The distance isn't a serious problem, its just that bigger cables are less resistive and less voltage drop so the batteries will get a better charge off the alternator when driving. Sometimes as an engineer I may over worry or over think things lol.   Any solar is good solar and any charge you can get while driving is good charge.

John 

[John "T" Nordhoff]

 While that 14.8 is a tad on the high side, often after some time passes the VR will back off and charge at maybe 14.2 or so. I doubt 14.8 will stay on for a long time UNLESS you have a battery or battery cable problem. Sure a new regulator may be in order but Id check the battery voltage after maybe 15 to 30 minutes of initial high charge. They make solid state voltage regulators that will clamp at x volts but with Radio Shack closed if theres no mom n pop electronic shops near you it may be hard to find the voltage and current capacity you need.

 John T

[Dawn Michelle]

Thanks, I'll do that then - see if it backs off after it's been running awhile.