MB 1120 Coming to America! Purchase, Build and Now Travel!

[Neil]

Ours was mostly fine whilst I owned it, but it would occasionally just forget to turn on. Very irritating when you've been parked up for a week or so and the batteries are low, and you do a long day of driving, and find the batteries haven't been getting any charge.

Ours also did this probably 4 times in 10. Luckily i have a volt meter in the cab that is connected to the cabin bateries so i could see it happening. Sometimes i woukd have to pull over and restart the cycle 3 or 4 times before it kicked in. This happened on my original, the replacement and after all the fixes.

In the end i had a dreadful conversation with the very rude and arrogant Charles Sterling who basically told that i was imagining the problem and that failed startups were acceptable and normal. It was a "what do you expect it to do " converstation.

One day it didnt fire up at all and when i went in the back to check the fuses the cain was full of burnt plastic fumes, it had melted itself into a mess.

If i hadnt of seen the failed start up on the volt meter in the front and continued to drive, i am pretty sure i would have set the cabin on fire .

The other issue i had with it was that it never once ever went to float charge, it remained at bulk constantly pushing out 28.8v, I never saw the different charging stages even after hours of driving .

Not a great experience

My advice to anyone with a Sterling B2B woukd be to put a volt meter in the front so you can see whats happening.


Sorry Jon, might have gone off on a tangent from your thread

Neil

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Just a quick one with some pics (oh and I got the Sterling b2b charger fixed, one of the fans died).



And, yup we are having a blast. In a couple of days will be heading inland to a mission. Should be some interesting rougher road driving. Good to be going with another full sized truck (the blue double cab 1113 parked behind us).

 

[luthj]

Which mission? Obviously post after the fact.

 

[charlieaarons]

Ours also did this probably 4 times in 10. Luckily i have a volt meter in the cab that is connected to the cabin bateries so i could see it happening. Sometimes i woukd have to pull over and restart the cycle 3 or 4 times before it kicked in. This happened on my original, the replacement and after all the fixes.

In the end i had a dreadful conversation with the very rude and arrogant Charles Sterling who basically told that i was imagining the problem and that failed startups were acceptable and normal. It was a "what do you expect it to do " converstation.

One day it didnt fire up at all and when i went in the back to check the fuses the cain was full of burnt plastic fumes, it had melted itself into a mess.

If i hadnt of seen the failed start up on the volt meter in the front and continued to drive, i am pretty sure i would have set the cabin on fire .

The other issue i had with it was that it never once ever went to float charge, it remained at bulk constantly pushing out 28.8v, I never saw the different charging stages even after hours of driving .

Not a great experience

My advice to anyone with a Sterling B2B woukd be to put a volt meter in the front so you can see whats happening.


Sorry Jon, might have gone off on a tangent from your thread

Neil

Is it Sterling of Sterling electronics?
My experience is 1 of 2 12v to 12v 50/45a B2B chargers that came with the camper never worked till I replaced it. I purchased 12/12v trickle charger for solar to chassis batteries which worked ok but 12/24v trickle charger (1a) for solar to 24v EAS transmission batteries were defective x 2 or 3 till I got one that reliably works.
Can’t recommend Sterling at all.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Which mission? Obviously post after the fact.

Misión San Francisco Borja - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

It is about 34km of rough roads in and 36km out (going in off route 12 and exiting to 1). There are also hot springs there and we plan on spending the night.

Is it Sterling of Sterling electronics?
My experience is 1 of 2 12v to 12v 50/45a B2B chargers that came with the camper never worked till I replaced it. I purchased 12/12v trickle charger for solar to chassis batteries which worked ok but 12/24v trickle charger (1a) for solar to 24v EAS transmission batteries were defective x 2 or 3 till I got one that reliably works.
Can’t recommend Sterling at all.

Yup, that Sterling. This is our second charger replaced under warranty. The first one had a defective fuse holder that needed to be soldered properly. This one had 1 of the 2 cooling fans fail. It looked to be a low quality fan. Once we get back to the USA I will order 2 of the highest quality fans I can find and preemptively replace them both (I saved the original charger and pulled a fan off it to get our current charger working). And no, at this point I would not recommend them either (though I do like seeing 70amps going in which is more than others).

 

[charlieaarons]

It does seem, however, that once you actually get a item that works properly it lasts. But the quality control rate is ~50%, maybe 60%
I had to order the 12/12 and 12/24 trickle chargers from them; AFAIK nobody else makes them, and they keep my chassis batteries charged from camper plug-in wintertime and solar panels for camper when no snow and sun is higher.
I used to lose batteries un-necessarily.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Our trip thru the Baja continues and keeps getting better and better. Whales, tacos, meeting new friends and playing with our truck! Heather has way more pictures and stories in our blog if you're interested in more details, but here are a few pics.

Some evening grilling in the desert

 

[Neil]

We travelled with Fabian in 2017 down to Ushuai

That Diesel Enfield motorcycle is 8hp, slightly less than our food blender.

Glad you are having a great time, looks fantastic

Neil

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Little update as I have my morning coffee. We have been hanging out on the beach for the last 3 nights, really pretty spot with nice snorkeling. Last night we had a special treat, we met a couple at the Overland Expo in 2019. They were camped next to us in their Ford Econoline that they had built into a RV with a pop top and 4x4. Nice truck. Well anyway, ends up they inherited a house right down the road from us, saw our truck and invited us over for dinner. Fun catching up with them and great food and drinks as well.

This is a pretty famous beach near La Paz. Really pretty, especially the higher you got.


Gotta love views like this out of your window. We even cleaned the windows so we could see out of them!


And lastly (for today), a little project I have had going for a while. Although clean drinking water is not an issue in Baja our plans are to visit more remote areas once Covid settles down. Also, our water tank fill is just over 6' off the ground and I would need a ladder to try and pour water in from a jerry can. So I put together this portable pump/filter and UV sterilizer so we can pump water from various sources. The battery is a lifepo4 one and should last long enough to fill our 100 gallon tank completely before it dies. I have not tested it yet but the components are rated for just over 3gpm so it would take a while to fill but should be essentially hands free. The cost was roughly $300-$400 for the parts and if anyone is interested on which parts I used just let me know.

 

[Iain_U1250]

HI Jon, I would be keen to see what you used, my system involves running long wires from the truck or using buckets. I have two pre-fiilters for water going into the main tanks, and rely on the Seagull IV for cleaning up the drinking water, but would be keen on seeing what you are using.

 

[wfv56]

Some details on your water filter would be most welcome! Nice work.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

HI Jon, I would be keen to see what you used, my system involves running long wires from the truck or using buckets. I have two pre-fiilters for water going into the main tanks, and rely on the Seagull IV for cleaning up the drinking water, but would be keen on seeing what you are using.

We are in a very sketchy internet area right now, once we get back to civilization I will look up the bits and post links.

 

[mog]

Until Jon can post the details of his system, here is the setup that John Rhetts built for his FM260 Click for Wash System
More 'wash' orientated, but with different filters, perhaps a potable water source. I sure like the idea of a UV light in Jon & Heather's system for potable water.

 

[charlieaarons]

I have a huge number of hermetically sealed ClO2 tablets, 2 tablets will give ~1 ppm in a 220L tank. 7 tablets will give 4ppm for a rapid sterilization but too much for drinking. I also have a filter system that has a fleece unit, then iodine unit, then activated charcoal that removes iodine taste but strangely not ClO2. They’re out of business but it takes standard elements.
If I were there I would give you a few.
I had to order them from Accepta in the UK so I got >>200 to save on freight and border hassles.
Only problem with meeting up with you in Baja is crossing the Canadian border into Yukon....even though I’ve had 2 shots.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

So here is a list of the parts to build your own portable water filter. If anyone comes up with some better components or ideas please share them.

The exterior hose connections

5" water filter housing

5" carbon filters

This is the battery I used, for some reason Amazon's pricing is now crazy on it, I think it was around $50 when I bought it

This is the UV sterilizer, it is listed at 110v. This is the external ballast which I replaced

The 12v ballast mentioned above
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07X8N58S2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s04?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The battery charger for it, I use this also to keep our motorbike battery topped up
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H95R87N/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s04?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is the pump, I had one that I had bought as a spare for the sailboat!
https://www.amazon.com/Flojet-04105143A-Freshwater-3-3-GPM-12-Volt/dp/B000O8B16A

And the little inlet strainer
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077BKB2BL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And the case I mounted everything in

3800 Weatherproof Protective Case, Large, Black

Amazing deals on this Lg Weatherproof Protective Case Black at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

And of course there was bits of hose, hose clamps, wiring and screws/bolts.