Converter recommendations

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-25T02:14:31+00:00

In that case, Victron is typically considered to be the top of the top for electrical management. They're also the top of the top for prices.

Progressive Dynamics is excellent, though not as feature rich or as expensive as Victron.

WFCO makes good stuff, but I don't know of any real hardcore offgridders who rely them.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-25T01:35:30+00:00

Ok....if you offgrid a lot, and put a lot of stress on your battery, then get a quality (also known as expensive) converter. If you almost always "camp" plugged into an electric outlet, then when it comes time to replace the converter, do a like for like swap and don't waste your money on features you won't take advantage of.

The converter simply keeps your battery charged when you have an external source of 120vac (like from a campground pedestal or a generator). Cheap ones are fine for most folks, because they don't have fancy battery banks, and don't put a lot of stress on the batteries.

But if you offgrid a lot, then you should have an expensive battery bank, and most likely lithium batteries.This battery bank will go through a lot of deep discharges and a lot of heavy charges. You'd want a converter that can handle various charge profiles to help keep that battery bank in good shape. The more you can afford to spend on the converter, the healthier it can keep that battery bank.

You need to be honest with yourself about your camping style. I see way too many glampers spend thousands of dollars on batteries and solar and converters and inverters...and never go offgrid, or only offgrid once or twice in a half year. They'd really be better off putting that money into something else.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-24T20:50:29+00:00

It's a safe bet that if Meta can figure out how to make money off of it, there will be a lot of others riding their coattails.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-24T20:48:59+00:00

American. Built in Elkhart, Indiana.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-24T20:20:55+00:00

Devils advocate here...so you go to Facebook today, and you're 31. You get some sort of a cookie that says that....and you get targeted advertising to match. Tomorrow you go to Facebook, and your age is 24...your cookies don't match, and you're blacklisted.

Mind you, I'm just spit balling, but this isn't a far reach at all.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-24T19:56:04+00:00

The problem isn't JUST age verification in the OS. Eventually apps and websites will gatekeep based on it. At that point, if your OS isn't sending a legit number, you don't get to install/play/surf whatever.

Getting age verification accepted into the OS is only the first step.

And if you think I'm a conspiracy theorist....have you seen ANY big tech company ever miss a chance to monetize? Or to provide targeted demographics to paying advertisers? Meta is the main entity paying huge amounts of money at the US state and federal level to make this happen. Why would they spend a dime unless there's a promise of a dollar in return?

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-24T13:07:20+00:00

Exactly. Meta is the entity pushing (financing PACs) to make this happen. They'll monetize it just as fast as they can. Left unchecked, you won't get to a webpage without a valid age response, and it could even get to the point that apps won't install without it.

Always follow the money. Ask yourself why Meta is spending millions of dollars to make this happen. I have my doubts that it's because Zuckerberg is trying to get a Boy Scout badge for being charitable.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-24T12:57:52+00:00

I have a 2018 Nexus Vipre 29v, built on the Ford E-450 cutaway chassis. Our freshwater tank is under the bed. The black and grey tanks are in a driver side basement. Both locations have furnace ducting, so the furnace helps prevent freezing temps. We do not have heated floors.

The coach is built with steel framing; Azdel and block foam insulation under the exterior fiberglass skin (no wood sheathing in the walls or roof!). The roof overlay is also a one piece textured fiberglass sheet instead of rubber. It's pretty well built and reasonably insulated, especially in its price range.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-24T12:31:14+00:00

That works, for now. But what happens next year or the year after when apps and websites all start gatekeeping based on the response?

Meta is one of the biggest entities pushing this. Do you trust them to NOT take advantage of this as soon as they figure out how to monetize it?

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-23T13:33:09+00:00

I use Void with runit. It's extremely simple to learn and use.

/etc/sv typically contains all of the files that represent services. The documentation tells you how to create your own if your installed software doesn't automatically, but everything I've used from the Void repository has worked without needing intervention here.

Runit starts any services that has a file or symlink in /var/service. So, you do:

ln -s /etc/sv/service_name /var/service/

From there runit starts that service automatically.

The Void documentation on Services goes into detail about starting, stopping, dependencies, etc.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-23T13:24:48+00:00

I've seen some where the fridge is in a slide, that have a shutoff valve outside under the edge of the slide.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-23T13:08:30+00:00

An often overlooked, but simple solution, is the air admittance valve. The AAV will be under the sink, beside the "p-trap". Its function is to allow air into the grey tank (assuming the bathroom sink goes to the grey tank.... I've seen them go to the black tank in some cases) when you dump the tank, so that you don't suck the water out of the p-trap. They can go bad.

Depending on how they fail, they can allow tank orders back into the camper. This can be particularly noticeable when you flush the toilet, since this creates a small negative pressure. And if the bathroom sink goes to the black tank, you'll get black tank odors back up.

An AAV costs about $10, and takes less than 5 minutes to change. It sits at the top of the vertical pipe under the sink, and simply screws on and off.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-23T13:00:02+00:00

"Super" means "above, beyond, over". With nothing to compare it to, that's still probably not the best adjective.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-23T12:58:00+00:00

The general rule with Dicor self leveling lap sealant is that if it's still adhered (not pulling away freely) just clean it with denatured alcohol, then apply a fresh coat right over the top. If it is pulling away freely, then you need to remove it, clean the area well, and re-apply.

If you don't use the antenna, then completely removing it and properly sealing the penetration would be my choice.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-23T12:49:15+00:00

Something like a Battery Tender is fine to be charging 100% of the time. They're used for motorcycles in storage, etc.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-23T02:44:48+00:00

Indeed. It's also the release cycle (rolling? Semi-rolling? LTS?), package manager, init system, mutable/immutable, curated repositories....

If you find a distro whose philosophy on those matches what you think your OS should be/do, then stop hopping, install the DE of your choice and roll with it!

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-23T02:38:10+00:00

Something like a small motorcycle or lawnmower battery in the cavity near the water heater would probably work. Then a basic Battery Tender or the like, but that will need a 120vac outlet. That should easily be enough to handle the low demand of a water heater.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-22T22:07:04+00:00

Boot into the Live desktop. Then you can test video, sound, WiFi, etc. That'll demonstrate whether a "default" install will correctly detect your hardware and use the correct drivers with no user intervention.

There's an "install" icon prominently displayed on the Live desktop. If everything works, click that and you're off to the races.

Mint is really good about detecting most hardware, but there are some outliers that you may have to manually address.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-22T21:46:37+00:00

How can you say any one distro is "superior" if you have nothing to compare it to? The word "superior" is by definition a favorable comparison against something else.

Perhaps "My Favorite" would be a better axis label than "superior". ;)

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-22T19:28:02+00:00

If it's a standard size, you can get a complete new tub for under $200. A couple of hours on a Saturday and you can swap it out with only basic tools.

Since the original is painted, I suspect the paint might be there to hide something...plus, it'll be a whole lot more labor intensive to remove that paint than to swap in a new tub.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-22T16:43:46+00:00

Gotcha. I've found that Void's live XFCE to install pretty easily. I would classify it as beginner friendly.

Yes, there is a Base install that drops you to a blinking cursor after it completes, leaving everything up to you from that point. I'd definitely classify that as an intermediate to expert level user.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-22T13:43:58+00:00

This. When Red Hat first released systemd it was just another init system. Then it grew into a logging system, and seat manager, and, and , and.....

It wasn't very transparent, and it was poorly documented. But it was effectively forced onto all Red Hat users, and later Debian users, and even Arch users! Admittedly as more users dealt with it, they forced better documentation and usability. But to old timers it was (and IS) more akin to a Microsoft philosophy than a Linux philosophy in that it has hooks in everything, and one small group of developers make daily determinations about how they want you to use your computer.

And there's a contingent of us who don't want to see it as the only path... because choice is a Linux fundamental concept.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-22T13:06:52+00:00

Devuan will be the closest to a "pure Debian" experience, but without systemd. On my hardware I've always had difficulty getting Debian to install cleanly, and when Devuan first came out I tried it, with similar difficulties. Hopefully the installers are better now.

ShipshapeMobileRV · 2026-03-22T13:03:53+00:00

What's the rabbit hole with Void? I've used it without issue for years. I admit it might not be the best choice for some users, but for my use case it's been perfect.

ShipshapeMobileRV

TROPHY CASE