RV Fest Open To All Types RVs and Wannabes

Diamondsea

New member
The Advanced RV Fest is open to owners of all types of RVs and to any folks who are interested in the RV lifestyle. See Class B RVs being built, listen to presentations by experts, and enjoy a party atmosphere with great food and fun. Dry camping is available at the factory location and for others there are nearby hotels. There is still time to register -- see: advanced-rv.com.
 

Diamondsea

New member
The Fest is May 2 to 4 at the Advanced factory near Cleveland, Ohio. All details are on the website advanced-rv.com. Just click on the link at the bottom of the picture on the home page.
 

Davydd

Well-known member
We decided last week to attend. Then we will head on to Indy for the inaugural Indianapolis Grand Prix Indy Car race.
 

Diamondsea

New member
To whet your appetite for the Advanced RV Fest take a look at the TV segment produced by Rollin' On. Total segment is 25 minutes; the part about Advanced RV is 18 minutes with a short commercial break at 10 minutes. Much discussion is about how progressive the business is and their innovations in their RVs and how the team operates. How many companies have no sick leave or vacation policies? When you are sick you don't come to work! When you want or need a vacation you go! The team builds every Class B as a semi custom vehicle to the customers' desires.

The link is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXmlG0wJClM&feature=youtu.be

There is still time to plan to attend the Advanced RV Fest on May 2-4. Go to their website advanced-rv.com for all information. Wannabes and all types of RVs are invited to this event at their factory where dry camping is available. Arrangements can be made at local hotels for anyone interested in seeing how they are built as touched upon in the Rollin' On video.

Shoot them an email or give them a call.
 

Diamondsea

New member
Detailed Fest Schedule Released

Go to Advanced-RV.com and click on the link at the bottom of the main photo. Speakers and subjects are identified.
 

Davydd

Well-known member
Advanced RV Advanced Fest was an enjoyable sociable and informative experience. There were several people there who were wanna Bs or had other brand Bs like us (Great West Van), Winnebago ERA, MB Cruiser, and even a DIY B. There were potential customers, customers in waiting and there were Advance RV owners there like Diamondsea himself. The owner of the very first Advanced RV came from Colorado and the owner of the much publicized dog kennel designed RV was there. So we all got to see some already on the road Bs plus several being built including a B with an incredible sound system for a jazz musician. They were all being built custom to the owners' desires. I will say this. Regardless of costs you will not find a better built Class B RV, period.
 

pattonsr

New member
Did Advanced RV say anything about power generation via a second alternator/generator? Did they discuss their ideas on solar panels?
 

Davydd

Well-known member
Did Advanced RV say anything about power generation via a second alternator/generator? Did they discuss their ideas on solar panels?
They are putting a second alternator in. They feel you can run the engine on high idle for about 3 hours with a break between idle sessions of actually driving for at least 40 minutes.

They have designs right now for up to 500W of solar panels.
 

Diamondsea

New member
Since I own an Advanced RV I must agree with Davydd that there is nothing better built!! The Fest was a fantastic event.

Currently I am told they are doing the DC electric as follows: The standard Sprinter alternator powers just the Sprinter battery and all its stuff. Sprinter regulation is different than used on "normal" vehicles in that the alternator (on new models) is actually regulated differently. Both battery voltage and current in/out is monitored by a computer and the alternator is controlled by the CAN bus rather than normal field current control. It is actually turned off at times to save fuel when battery draw is low. The alternator itself is different and cannot be replaced by a conventional alternator. Advanced RV adds a second alternator that charges the house batteries separately so that they may be controlled by a smart multi-stage charger having bulk, absorption, and float stages. Up to 6 group 31 size batteries may be installed -- either AGMs or Lithium Iron. This arrangement permits faster charging of a house battery bank.

At the Fest Advanced RV had up and running a display of their up-and-coming new system. This also uses the separate alternator but it uses a new, larger, custom Lithium battery bank in stead of the separate group 31s. This new has larger cells where each cell is individually monitored for voltage, current and temperature and the entire battery is three stage charged. Heating is provided to keep the battery bank happy at below freezing temperatures.
 
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Diamondsea

New member
More on the electrical: The very fast to full charge of the house batteries permits easy off-the-grid living. It also permits unattended charging for unattended air conditioning operation to keep pets comfy if the owners are away for the day. Automatic engine start is controlled by the SilverLeaf coach computer system when a settable low battery voltage is reached. Cell phone long range roof antennas with internal WiFi are fitted. A phone app can monitor everything including temperature, and the engine for generation may be manually started remotely.

Low profile roof solar cells are used. No roof space is wasted; Advanced now has a custom A/C shroud with solar cells.
 

pattonsr

New member
Diamondsea,

You said a second alternator is used to charge the house batteries. Where does the multi-stage charger get involved? I assume you are not talking about the Outback inverter/charger but something else.

At one time Advanced RV was looking at a MEPS system which ends up acting like a generator which feeds the Outback. I thought they had eliminated MEPS as a contender and were looking at a second alternator. Do they have a multi-stage regulator that feeds the house bank directly?
 

Davydd

Well-known member
Some things we learned:

You cannot bulk charge lithium ion batteries below freezing temps because you will destroy the batteries. Advanced RV is developing an insulated battery box with heating pads.

The Outback pure sine wave converter/charger they use has built in surge protection when connected to shore power.

The city water connection has a built in pressure regulator so you don't have to add one to your hose.

All lighting is LED. How much so? They even supplied Nova Kool the LED lights to install in the refrigerator.

They are starting a rental B company. I think the first renting couple left right at the end of the Fest.

There is not much they don't research and try to improve. They had several vans there. There is a base system and design but just about every van was custom to a high extent. The customer has a lot of say in what they want. The downside is it is a long time process from conception to delivery unless one can be satisfied with one of the few spec Bs they build. Even then a few customers had those already built spec Bs extensively modified.
 

Diamondsea

New member
Diamondsea,

You said a second alternator is used to charge the house batteries. Where does the multi-stage charger get involved? I assume you are not talking about the Outback inverter/charger but something else.

At one time Advanced RV was looking at a MEPS system which ends up acting like a generator which feeds the Outback. I thought they had eliminated MEPS as a contender and were looking at a second alternator. Do they have a multi-stage regulator that feeds the house bank directly?
I will try to clarify some. First, I believe I have the only Advanced RV built without the second alternator. This was at my request based on my decades of power management on boats. I simply prefer to try to limit power use. For charging my four group 31 batteries I prefer direct connection to the Sprinter chassis battery so that almost the full power of the standard 220 amp alternator is available as the van itself normally uses little power. My experience with boats and Sprinters is that when underway I usually go for three hours minimum which seems to get the batteries almost fully charged. The last 5 to 10 percent is maybe missed but the batteries end up fully charged when I can plug into shore power. On my Advanced RV a big ass relay controlled by the SilverLeaf computer system closes to do the job when SilverLeaf detects that the Sprinter battery is up to a certain voltage - I think about 13.2 (it is settable). My previous Sprinter DIY camper had a similar system where I simply connected the two systems together with a Blue Sea Automatic Charge Relay.

Now to most Advanced RVs having the second alternator. Your comment about a MEPS now has me thinking that perhaps I am confused as to their current practice. Perhaps they are using such and somehow supplying AC volts to the Outback which makes DC volts to charge the batteries; the Outback having 3-stage regulation. Perhaps others reading this can chime in to clarify this. I do know that the new demo system up and running for the Fest had a small 3-stage regulator box. Obviously contacting Advanced RV could clarify this.

By the way the willingness of Advanced RV to set up my system the way I wanted it with only one alternator shows their attitude to do things semi-custom to meet the owners' desires.
 

Diamondsea

New member
A couple of clarifications: On my vehicle at least, if connected to city water there is no failure prone regulator valve; the high city water pressure does not reach all the plumbing. It only goes to a simple on/off valve controlled by the SilverLeaf computer "Auto Fill" feature. When touching the Auto Fill on the SilverLeaf screen the valve opens to fill the water tank and it shuts off automatically or you can shut it off manually by touching the screen. This last permits partially filling the tank if desired.

Up until now Advanced has as a standard feature internally installed an expensive electrical surge protector of the type available to use at the power post in line with your power cord. Internal installation prevents theft of an external device hanging on the power post. These protectors also have a couple of minutes delay to prevent instant reapplication of power to protect air conditioner compressors after a drop out. There was an Outback rep at the Fest and in a discussion I had with him I learned that Outback has an option for their own add on surge protector. I pointed this out to management and Advanced will decide if they want to eliminate the separate device and use the Outback option for new vans. Anyone interested I suggest you ask Advanced.
 
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Davydd

Well-known member
Diamondsea, you clearly know the details. I'm a generalist in wanting to know regardless of what or how Advanced RV does it I will ever be dangling a high priced piece of surge protection out on a post. They did just learn themselves they needn't have to even add one inside the van since Outback could incorporate the surge protection. One thing to know. They don't go by model years. If there are improvements to be made they go into the next van on the line it seems. I was their first visitor two years ago. I gave them many suggestions at the time, you continued that spirit with your B as have many others. Now I am glad I hesitated two years with so many developments that came along. In two more years I might be envious once again. The 4 x 4 drive is the one big thing coming that has me in a tither.
 

pattonsr

New member
I question relying only on surge protection from the Outback FLEXware surge protector that is designed to protect the Outback inverter/charger from high voltages. A built-in Surgeguard is cheap protection from all the pedestal wiring problems as well as power transient surges. If one has a transfer switch then the Surgeguard protects it. Not sure if a transfer switch is involved if a generator is not specified. But until Advanced RV documents in detail how they are doing the battery bank charging from the second alternator, we can only speculate.

I would hate to have the Outback fried due to a lightning strike. The coach is totally dead if the Outback has problems. Everything is run from the Outback including the AC and microwave. I prefer layered protection. Let the inexpensive Surgeguard ($282 with remote) take the first big hit and what still gets by can be handled by the Outback surge protector (around $200). The expensive Outback VFX2812M (around $2,000) has two layers of protection so it will probably survive.

Plus I do not think the Outback FLEXware does all the checking that the Surgeguard does before allowing power in (mis-wired pedestal, low voltage, etc.) The Surgeguard has a nice remote that shows status and detailed error codes. Unless Silverleaf supports the Outback error lights, one would have to look at the simple error lights on the FLEXware that is usually attached to the Outback inverter/charger which may not be readily accessible in the middle of the night. Besides all they will tell you is that there is a problem.
 
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Davydd

Well-known member
It is all speculation right now. Advanced RV just learned from the Outback rep that came to Advanced Fest last weekend that there is or could be built in surge protection. I doubt they have even investigated it yet let alone make any decisions. They are and have been installing surge protectors inside the van. The question is anyone else doing that?
 

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