October and November Upgrades

Motion Sensing Outside Light

We wanted to increase our security around the trailer so we decided to replace the outside porch light (with the yellow cover) with a light that senses motion and automatically turns on.

If you pry the cover off the light above, you can see the four screws below that hold it onto the trailer. 

Remove the four screws and you can remove the housing and use a putty knife to carefully pry the backplate off the trailer.

We chose this light and were very happy to see that the installation holes matched the original fixture.

Once it was sealed and mounted, you would think it was original equipment.  It works like most sensors in that you turn on the power, turn it off and quickly turn the power back on again to put it in motion sensing mode.  Then it only comes on after dark  when it senses somthing near.  I would like to put a couple more on but I will have to figure out how to wire them to the other sides  of the trailer.

Accumulator Tank Mod

We are  trying to decrease the sound level of the water pump, as well as the cycling of it.  I ordered a shureflow accumulator tank and installed it.  We also covered our water lines in foam insulation.  We lowered the noise a little but overall I did not beleive this mod helped very much.

TV Antenna Mod

We have a Winegard Sensar III TV antenna that you manually rotate to pickup the best TV signal.  I installed a King Controls SureLock SL1000 Digital TV Signal Finder so that I could tell when I was pointed in the best direction for maximum signal stength.

I permanently inserted the meter between the powered antenna out jack and the TV inside the trailer and velcroed it to the wall by the thermostat.  The meter uses one 9V battery, has an on/off switch, and also a sensitivity dial so you can adjust the meter sensitivity to work in whatever environment you are in.  I also installed a Winegard Wingman on the antenna to increase the UHF sensitivity for digital tv signals.

Here is the picture of the Winegard Sensar III prior to the installation of the Wingman.

Here is the picture of the Wingman installed on the antenna.

And here is the proof of signal gain using the Wingman.  This mod will allow us greater ability to pickup over the air digtal HD tv as well as ensure we have pointed the antenna in the best possible direction for reception.


Flag Pole Installation.

I enjoy flying our flags while camping, so I purchased a flag pole holder that I can put under any of the jacks or wheels of the trailer.

So far, I like putting it under the front jack of the trailer and adjusting it so that the pole comes right up beside the front frame by the LP bottles.

Here is a picture with the pole and US flag flying.  We also have a locator flag we use when in large groups but it is not in this picture.

I also installed a 12V cigarette lighter plug in the outside compartment behind the refridgerator to power our 12V lights we hang from the awning but I don't have any pictures of it yet.  I will post pictures later.

Small Modifications in the beginning .....

First of all, I must tell you that this trailer is the biggest little trailer you will ever find and the best!  When we first took delivery of our trailer in December 2009, we needed a fix for the shower curtain because the shower faucets and water line to the shower head blocked the curtain from closing all the way.  Lance provided us with a modfied curtain that would fit around the controls which were mounted on the vanity in the bathroom.

The curtain has an access hole that can be closed with velcro.  We added several other velcro tabs around the control and along each edge of the curtin.

Now the curtain stays in place and does not move when moving the shower head around.  The velcro was worked great and there is no problems with it coming off the shower wall or vanity.  I would prefer the controls were mounted on the outside wall, however we feel that the current solution is one that we can live with.

We also added a strip of velcro across the insets inside of the shower to help hold bottles when placed in them.  Otherwise we could not get any bottles to stay in place.

This same idea was used inside the medicine cabinet to keep everything in place and has worked very well.  The door shuts over the velcro and nothing falls out once you reach your destination and open the cabinet.  Where would this world be without velcro?

We never used the key rack installed above the entry door so we removed it, drilled two holes in a plastic paper towel holder to match the intallation holes on the key rack, and installed it.

We then cut a wooden down to insert between the two end caps to ensure the paper towels would not bounce loose.

Then simply add your paper towels and they are out of the way, and accessible from either inside or outside the trailer.

A great idea for keeping the dishes in place was to put a standard dish rack inside the cabinet above the sink and place the dishes in it as if they were drying.  This allows easy access and keeps everything safe (including the glass base of the microwave) while in transit.



Like many Lance trailer owners, we chose stackable containers to take advantage of the vertical space within the closet areas.  They really provide a lot of space and a small bar across the bottom keeps them from sliding out during transit.

The last modification we did when we first received the trailer was to add pads to the stabilizing arms to have a larger base area on the ground.  Since we never camped with the trailer without the pads, I can not discuss the overall change in stability however I like the larger base area.

Wall Clock and Vent/Door Shade Covers

September 2010

This month we replaced the original analog clock that you could hear (tick....tick....tick...) all night long.  It never kept accurate time anyway.

The new clock is a LaCrosse Atomic clock wtih weather and also an outside wireless temperature gauge that we set on top of the slideout.  No more tick...tick....tick  all night long and it looks nice as a direct replacement.

We also wanted to put some type of light shade on the vent over the bed, as well as the door window to help keep the trailer a little darker once the sun comes up in the morning.

We found premade covers that were inexpensive so we decided to try those first before making our own and it was the right choice.  The vent cover attached with velcro tabs and really kept the light off the bed.

The premade door shade was about 3/4" too short but ended up working just fine.  It also stopped the majority of light coming from the door.  I guess we are ready for Alaska in the summer now!

Battery Monitor and LED Light Replacement

May - June 2010

Wanted to have a better understanding of our DC power consumption so after a lot of research, decided on the Trimetric 2020 meter with a 100A shunt.  The 100A shunt provides an extra decimal place on the reading so I am able to get specfic values for appliance useage.

The installation was pretty easy.  Installed the shunt in the battery box, ran the signal cable along the same run as the DC supply line to the power distribution panel and installed the meter under the sink and to the left of the Lance standard monitor.

We were able to determine our average daily consumption while boondocking was 20Ahrs per day.  It is nice to have an accurate understanding of your power situation so you can truely manage your batteries.

After reviewing our average daily consumption, we decided to swap out our internal bulbs with LED lights.  The LED's use about 1/3 of the power that a standard bulb does, and we found LEDs that provided the warm light color that matched the bulbs.

We also swapped out the outside porch light and cargo light in the front of the trailer with brighter LED's.

Inverter & Solar Installation

August 1 – 31 2010  Inverter and Solar installation

I decided to upgrade our 2010 Lance 1685 travel trailer to include an inverter to power our microwave and accessory outlets. We have two Honda EU2000I generators but you can’t always use a generator when you want to in a campground and we are usually dry camping since our background is originally tent campers who moved up to pop up tent trailers prior to getting our first travel trailer. I was going to only install an inverter since the trailer already had a charger built into the power distribution center but it was hard to find an inverter without a charger in the wattage (size) I wanted to use.

While doing my research I decided that by installing an inverter/charger, I would end up with a better quality charger that was more efficient in charging the batteries since it would be connected with larger cables and installed within two feet of the batteries. Trying to power the A/C with an inverter was out of the question so since the microwave was the next largest load and is rated for 1050 watts I chose the Xantrex Freedom HF1800 modified sine wave inverter/charger and it has worked fine.

In making the decision to install the inverter, I also decided to upgrade the batteries from two 12 Volt (parallel) to two 6 Volt (series). This provided over 30% more Amp Hours available as well as having batteries with much heavier plates in them for better deep cycle use. The one area where this design was lacking was a way to feed power into the batteries that the inverter would quickly use up, without having to run the generators on a daily basis.

A Trimetric 2020 power meter that we installed in April 2010 helped us gauge our pre-inverter power usage while dry camping at 20 Ahrs per day. With the addition of an inverter, we could easily double our usage rate to 40 Ahrs per day. Solar panels were the answer. Solar charging the batteries will be quiet and automatic.

List of Components:

• Xantrex Freedom HF 1800 Inverter Charger - $619
• Kyocera KD135SX-UPU 135W 12V Solar Panel J-BOX - $417 each
• CW Combiner box for fridge vent - $40
• Unirac 990013 RV Rack w/ Folding Tilt Legs - $68 each
• Blue Sky  Solar Boost 2512iX 25A,12V 3 Stage Charger with Remote IPN Panel- $420
• Interstate 6 Volt Battery with Box - $155 each
• Cable, Breakers, Switches, Fuses, metal fabrication, panel installation, tools, etc - $1560
• Panel installation by service center - $440

The front storage compartment of the trailer was chosen to hold the inverter, solar controller, and switch/fuse circuitry. This location was as close as possible to the batteries, and protected from the weather.

The first step was to remove the shore power input from the power distribution center inside the trailer and using a junction box and 10 gauge cable, extend the power cable up to a circuit breaker box in the front storage compartment.

This breaker box fed into the AC input of the inverter and then another cable was run from the AC output of the inverter back to the power distribution box and connected so the same power distribution designed into the trailer could be reused. The power leads to the old converter in the power distribution box were removed and capped to that it can be used in the future if required. The Freedom HF 1800 has an automatic power transfer switch built into the unit.

The second step was to replace the old 12 Volt batteries with the new 6 Volt Batteries. This required building a new battery rack to allow enough space to add a small box in the center to house the 12 Volt cutout switch and the shunt from the Trimetric 2020 power meter.

With the new rack in place, cables were measured and installed from the batteries to the front storage compartment for connection to the inverter and solar controller. The shortest route was to drill two holes into the front of the trailer behind the batteries. Plastic through hull fittings from my local boat shop allowed the entry points to remain sealed.

An access hole was cut in the front storage compartment wall to allow access to the front of the trailer where the battery cables came through.

2/0 battery cables were measured and installed to connect the batteries, battery bank cutout switch, Trimetric meter shunt and also to feed into the Inverter/controller panel. Through hull fittings were used in the center switch box for entry/exit of the cables due to the difficulty in bending cables of this size. The DC input cables to the trailer distribution panel were also connected in this switch box.

The third step was to build a panel to install in the front storage compartment which would support the Solar panel controller and Inverter. This panel contained the 12 VDC cutout switch and 250Amp DC fuse for the Inverter, as well as the Solar Controller and circuit breaker panel (20 Amp for Panel input & 30 Amp for controller output to batteries).

Two 400A Blue Sea feed through terminals were installed in the panel to connect the battery cables (on the back side) to the inverter and controller (on the front side).

A 6 gauge ground wire was run from the panel to the trailer chassis ground. The panel was installed over top of the access hole that was cut in the storage compartment wall.

With the AC circuit breaker box installed along with the DC control panel, the forth step was to install the inverter in the front storage compartment. More 2/0 power cables were measured and cut to connect the inverter to the feed through terminals on the DC control panel and a 6 gauge wire measured to connect the inverter ground to the trailer chassis ground on the DC control panel.  A wire shelf was cut to make a cage surronding the inverter for protection.

The Xantrex Freedom HF 1800 control panel was removed from the inverter and remotely installed inside the trailer between the Trimetric 2020 power meter and the original Lance Systems Monitor Panel. This allowes ease of use in turning the Inverter on/off as required, as well as monitoring the power usage gauged by the Xantrex remote panel which can be compared to the Trimetric meter results to the left of the Xantrex remote panel.

The fifth and final step was to wire in the solar panels. A combiner box was installed on the outside of the fridge vent on the roof of the trailer.

This allowed the use of 6 gauge cable to be run from the combiner box, down the fridge vent to the back of the fridge access hatch and down from the access hatch to the front storage compartment along the same route as the shore power cable and then connected to the solar controller.

As a compromise with my better half, I agreed to have a service center install the panels on our Lance travel trailer to ensure that water tight integrity remained in the roof; a small compromise considering we will now have an inverter and solar charging system installed in our trailer. Since we live within 2 hours of the Lance manufacturing facility in Lancaster, CA, I chose to have their service department install the panels because they have access to all the diagrams of wiring runs for the trailer roof.

We had two Kyocera KD135SX-UPU 135W 12V Solar Panels with J-BOX's installed on  Unirac 990013 RV Racks w/ Folding Tilt Legs.  This allows us the option to tilt the panels if desired, or use them flat on the roof.

One panel was installed on the front left corner of the trailer.

The second panel was installed on the rear right side above the entry door.

8 gauge wire was used to connect the panels in parallel to the juction box on the fridge vent cover.

I realized that in order to program the solar charge controller, I would need to use a Blue Sky IPN remote panel.  I purchased one and installed it in place of my Trimetric 2020 battery meter.  I had to upgrade my 100A shunt to a 500A shunt in the process to account for the new inverter draw from the batteries.  The IPN remote gives me the battery use monitoring capability while also letting me program the solar controller for proper charging voltatges during bulk, absorption, and float stages of charging as well as other functions. 

During our first use of the system, the panels produced 11.7A per hour in full sun (10AM to 2 PM) with the panels flat on the roof.  I will do some experiments with tilting the panels in the future to see how much of an increase I can gain.  Overall, this upgrade has been worth it for us to have the availability of the microwave and convenience outlets all the time while boondocking, and the charging power from the panels to pay the debt back to the batteries while never disturbing the peace and quiet.

After using the system, I found out that I could no longer power my A/C unit with my generators.  Research found that the inverter's automatic transfer switch would see a drop in the power from the generators when I would start the A/C and the inverter would automatically try to switch to inverter mode instead of waiting for the generators to speed up to produce the required power for the A/C.  To solve this problem, I installed a circuit breaker subpanel in place of the junction box intially installed under the sink and removed the A/C and electric water heater circuits from the power distribution panel that is fed by the inverter.

This was the junction box I originally installed to reroute the shore power input from the power distribution center directly to the inverter/charger.

This is the replacement circuit breaker subpanel that serves as a junction box to route shore power to the inverter/charger, and also sends shore power directly to the A/C and electric water heater so the units do not draw power from the inverter circuit.  The generators are now able to run the A/C and electric water heater if desired without causing the inverter's automatic transfer switch to engage.

***UPDATE 11/29/11***

Added an additional breaker into the subpanel for the refrigerator and moved the circuit from the inverter feed to the shore power feed.  Although the inverter could power the refrigerator, the draw was too much for the batteries over a long period of time.  My concern was that when the trailer loses shore power, the inverter by design automatically comes on to keep providing AC and if the refrigerator is set to AUTO, then it starts to draw from the inverter.  If I was using shore power, the power dropped, and I was away from the trailer, the inverter would begin producing AC and the refrigerator would kill the batteries.  At this point, I am running the refrigerator (AUTO), A/C, and electric water heater directly off shore power, and only the microwave and accessory outlets off the inverter.  If the power drops and the inverter automatically comes on, the refrigerator will switch to propane mode and there is no load on the inverter big enough to worry about if I am gone for awhile.