The 7 gallon square blue water cubes are exactly what i use for extended stay, plus they fit empty under the seat of mu dinette. The hardest part was designing a usuer friendly fill hose from water cube to gravity fill on trailer.
Great video Rob. I enjoy watching and learning from you. My wife and I just purchased the 2108 TB but not the FLX. If you ever get up to beautiful upstate NY, We'd love to check out your rig. Keep the videos coming and Enjoy Life!
Hey Mike! Thanks for watching. I may just take you up on that. We are considering doing a fall color tour in that part of the country next fall. However, pulling a rig all around the upper east coast lacks appeal to me! For sure. Although, we will likely be in Michigan in July through August. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Goal of course, being to be back west of the Mississippi no later than early to Mid October. Appreciate your being here!
Great Video Rob - We also purchased a Jackery along with the solar panels to charge it up, which helps to charge up any/all small electronics. They are not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but is an alternative option to offload the small stuff, that may not cost $3k. Bluetti has some great sales on their units and they are now making one that will take a 30amp RV plug.
Bluetti is a GREAT product. I have the Jackery 1500 and I installed a DC power plug in the bed of my truck. It rides back there, always getting a charge while driving. As you said, this charges ALL my video/camera/drone equipment for me. I wouldn't buy a Jackery again as their charge cycles are about 1/2 a number of the other makers. But I have it...and they have treated me well with replacing bad product and so on. I support them based on that for now. I HAVE found a new battery that I plan to install in January. I'll put it in parallel with my installed battery and this will give me 620AH total. I'll produce a full video for it when I do, but if it works, it's a $1000 addition...not $4000. I am really juiced to get this in the rig and share it with everyone!
Very interesting info. Thank you. I haven't looked yet, but how about a problems with my Minnie video? That's a lot of road travel, so you must have had to fix a number of issues.
Indeed. A good thought on what to look out for. Although, through a few of my videos, I do address some of the issues I have found. I may do just that. Thanks for watching!
Hi thanks. I enjoy your videos. I have a 2022 micro minnie 2108 ds but not the flx. Does the flx come with an inverter so you can run your tv and micro? Mine didnt. I just came off a 3 month trip and about 90% was off grid. I do have a 500w power bank which i used to run my computer and charge up my batteries for my tools. I did up grade to 2 AGM batteries and i have a 190 watt solar panel. I know i don't do as much as you but i can last 5 days before i have to dump and fill fresh water. Thanks for you great info. My support beam for my fresh water fell half way off this trip. My next project.
Hi and thanks for watching. I do have a Xantrex 3000 watt inverter. Standard on the FLX models. We are testing days out. Today marked a need to dump black tank. 10 days is the limit for us it would seem. 10 Days to needing to dump that is. I did produce a video on the water tank support. It might be helpful for you to check out!
Very helpful info...we have also done "boondocking" a lot with our trailers as well. The water situation you explain is about what we experienced. I too have 4 5 gallon water portable water tanks. So energy wise...we currently have a small 5th wheel and have been looking at a solar/lithium solution for our energy needs...we need a lot...but we also have a dual fuel refrigerator...running it on propane is pretty efficient...it sips propane and uses very little electrical power. With that said, I am in the process of building out a lithium solution with solar at a later date due to cost. However, I found a relatively inexpensive lithium solution using a 48 volt system (priced out with tax and shipping is about $3,200) With VERY little change to my current electrical system (don't need to re-wire the entire RV), I will have 10.2kW battery bank (about 800aH) and a 3K watt inverter and can direct charge the batteries with my little Honda EU 2000 generator. At the moment, I estimate having to run the generator about 2-4 hours per day to keep the system topped off. The comparable system installed by a "professional" RV solar solution person is about $15K - $25K. I have done a bunch of research on this and I estimate the 2nd phase of my build (adding solar) is going to cost me about $2K - $2.5K for about 1200 watts of solar. And this system is completely portable...i.e. I can move it to another rig in a matter of hours.
I don't know that I reference a Growatt in this video. I don't own or have any such devices that I am aware of. I'm adding an Epoch 300ah to my unit in January to give me a total of 620ah. That should cover us.
@@livingwithrobLOL..sorry...you are correct about the Growatt thingy...Sorry about that.. I too was looking at the Epoch batteries but found EG4 Water Proof batteries for less $$$ and more capacity. Really enjoyed this video to shed light on the "off grid" terminology used by manufactures!!
Heya Rob .Love your video's.. We have a 2020 2108DS I love this little camper.. great layout for a couple. Couple of questions.. How do you handle your grey tank and I'm considering upgrading mine with solar.. Do you think we would be better off tradiding to a new flex or doing the upgrades .. I also have an F150 powerboost with the 7.2kw outlet so I won't need a generator. Thanks again rich
Hey Rich! Thanks for watching and dropping by. I just dump the gray with the black. If I get over I can either use the portable, or where legal (some BLM and desert divisions allow for gray water release) I'll dump (only gray) on the desert floor. I do like to have some gray water in the tank when I dump black because it flushes the drain hose. I don't leave the gray open all the time because the tank develops healthy bacteria when the water is in it and that helps keep the "scum" off the walls and helps also to keep sludge from developing on the tank bottom. If you like your rig, I can't see spending the cash to upgrade. However, I do have all TRUMA appliances and they are outstanding. The upside that you have is your underbelly get's heated forced air...mine does not and that's a big complaint of mine. If I had yours and it fit the bill for DRIVING off road as we will, I'd keep it and upgrade to Solar. Look at the Epoch batteries. I am adding their product to my rig in parallel to my Lithionics. www.epochbatteries.com/products/12v-300ah-v2-heated-bluetooth-lifepo4-battery-epoch-essentials I like the Newpowa Solar panels as well as HQST and RICH. One of the advantages of doing your own upgrade is total customization. AND you already know your unit and likely have run into and fixed the major problems...something you'll have to do again with the new rig. You'll sink about 3k into an uber powerful solar system if you do it yourself. Maybe 4k...tops. Should you have any more questions, please feel free to reach out and ask.
Thanks for the great information Rob.! FYI My volume was up to 100% and the sound on this video was still pretty low. Not sure if that is something on your end or not. Safe travels buddy,
Thanks Brother. We're doing great out here. In AZ for a month or so now. Volume checks out on my end at almost equal to the ads when the ads play. Appreciate the feedback.
Hi Rob. Can you talk more about what happens when you plug in the free-standing solar in conjunction to the roof mounted? I don't understand what happens and why. I would think this is similar to adding another to the roof, but what did Gopower say?
Hey Chris. Sure. What I was told by GoPower is as follows. The GoPower panels are wired from the factory in Series. Positive from one panel wired in a daisy chain fashion to negative of the second, and vice-versa. They then are wired down to the Solar Charge Controller. However, when they wired the side port, apparently it's wired in a Parallel fashion to the system. I don't fully understand the negative effect, however, GoPower told me toplug a panel into it will really negatively affect the overall charge abilities of the system. From what I understand it's not catastrophic, but instead the way I understood it, putting a panel on the side as wired from the factory is a waste of money. It's actually counter productive. Better to add a 3rd panel in series on the roof...or wire the solar on the side to it's own MPPT (as I did) and then to the battery. Plus, adding a second MPPT gives you more options for additional Solar. It would be the same as wiring it to the roof if the wires were in series., but it's not. At least that's what I was told. Does that help?
Every panel has amps and volts ratings. For instance Go Power 190 watts panel has 20.4v and 9.45 amps at most. Multiplying volts with amps gives wattage, 20.4v * 9.45amps = 192.78 watts. Thus, it can produce slightly more than it’s rated for. Now, when 2 such panels are connected in series, like 2 panels in Rob’s trailer roof, the total output of these two panels is going to be 20.4v + 20.4v = 40.8 volts total and 9.45 amps. In series connection total amps equals to the amps of a single panel with the smallest number of amps, since both panels have the same rating then total amps is going to be 9.45. If one of the panels were rated for 8.5 amps then total output would be 8.5 from them. Anyway, 40.8v * 9.45amps = 385.56 watts that we can expect to get at most from these two panels connected in series. Now if we connect a 3rd (the same Go Power 180 watts) panel in parallel to the above setup, we going to get 9.45amps from panels connected in series + 9.45 amps from the 3rd panel = 18.9amps total and 20.4 volts (in parallel connection total volts equals to the smallest number which is 20.4). Total output of these 3 panels is going to be 18.9amps * 20.4v = 385.56 watts. Thus, 3 panels would produce the same power as 2 panels connected in series and it would make no sense to connect a 3rd one. There are two ways to fix it. 1st is to connect all 3 panels in parallel. 2nd is to connect 3rd panel to another solar charger controller basically exactly what Go Power recommended. The 1st fix makes sense only if the 3rd panel is exactly the same as two others (on the roof). It’s a little over simplified, but hopefully it gives an idea.
Sorry, I forgot to mention the 3rd way to fix it (Rob already described it in his response), which is to connect all 3 panels in series. However, it also makes sense only if all 3 panels are exactly the same OR they have very similar characteristics (volts and amps).
@@aleksandrarkhipov1 100 % agree. This is the route I took when adding the last panel to my full set up. I matched a panel and wired it in series. Great explanation and thank you for taking the time.
Rob, have you ever taken a look at the Ember brand overland series? 50 gallon fresh water? They also have 400 watts solar with a package up to 800 watts on the top with all top.
Funny you should mention it. We have been looking at the Ember brand yesterday and the day before. I am anxious to see one in person. We may go that route eventually.
@@livingwithrob I learned of you because I was interested in the MiMi Flx and your videos are so informative. I went to an RV show today and one dealer told me about the Ember. I also saw some info online about the GeoPro and NoBo (no boundaries) but the Ember looks great, especially the suped up solar package. MSRP very high, though. I like the Minnie with the dinette and Murphy bed, but most dealers in a 250 mile radius of me do not have the dinette -- they have the couch. Not for me. I need a dinette if it's cold out. I hope you do a video of the Ember if you do a deep dive on it I was looking at the 191MBD.
Well, thanks. We looked at the GeoPro and the NoBo. I do agree, the Embers are high MSRP. We won't ever buy a new RV for a host of reasons, which we can get into perhaps in a video release later on. But yes, these Embers really appeal to us. If we were to upgrade, we would look at the Touring Edition. Really like the 26RB. For the time being, we have, actually, decided, we will stick with what we have and make the best use of it. It tows well with our Tundra. I am a Toyota guy and I love the trucks. They are a little weak on towing however. The 26Rb would require a 3/4 ton for safer towing and I just don't want to upgrade to a Domestic Truck right now. We will see how it goes I guess. We are adding another 200 watts of solar to our unit so we will be over 1100 total watts now. Anxious to hit the road north from Southern CA to begin the spring Photography season. Plan to do a lot of video and will include more 2108 DS FLX vids. Appreciate having you along!
I look forward to it. I wish Winnebago had the option for more solar like Ember does. Re Ember - I just saw a video of someone who bought a 2022 new and wasn't able to make it work. He sold it at a loss. Be well. -Michelle
Honest question. Why pay all the money for the Flex to be off grid, when I can have a small quite 2000 watt generator to recharge batteries? Is it a noise thing?
That's a good question. Out here, on the road, my experience has been that the noise is an issue. I personally don't like listening to it when mine is running. I've also noticed that in settings where others are present, no one seems to appreciate the people running their generator. I think it's nice to have the solar working all the time (when there's sun) to charge. I suppose it's a matter of convenience and the quiet it offers. I do wonder, though, if the cost is worth the benefits.
I think the FLX comes with the higher efficiency Truma AC. So not only does it have larger battery capacity and more solar, it uses less energy. Doesn't look like the Truma heater or water heater has a heat pump mode, so it doesn't offer any better energy efficiency than a regular heater. (Inefficiency means you lose energy as waste heat. But since the desired product from a heater is heat, all heaters are 100% efficient.) I would agree it's a pointless distinction. And they should just offer these as an option on the regular Micro Minnie. So people can mix and match these, the battery bank, the extra solar as they want. Instead of having to be pigeonholed into just two packages.
Our New RV Channel is up and running. All future RV content is now being posted to www.youtube.com/@robthervguy
The 7 gallon square blue water cubes are exactly what i use for extended stay, plus they fit empty under the seat of mu dinette. The hardest part was designing a usuer friendly fill hose from water cube to gravity fill on trailer.
th-cam.com/video/2xWfzAM7yi8/w-d-xo.html
Excellent informative vid:).
Thanks sir!
Great video Rob. I enjoy watching and learning from you. My wife and I just purchased the 2108 TB but not the FLX. If you ever get up to beautiful upstate NY, We'd love to check out your rig. Keep the videos coming and Enjoy Life!
Hey Mike! Thanks for watching. I may just take you up on that. We are considering doing a fall color tour in that part of the country next fall. However, pulling a rig all around the upper east coast lacks appeal to me! For sure. Although, we will likely be in Michigan in July through August. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Goal of course, being to be back west of the Mississippi no later than early to Mid October. Appreciate your being here!
Great Video Rob - We also purchased a Jackery along with the solar panels to charge it up, which helps to charge up any/all small electronics. They are not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but is an alternative option to offload the small stuff, that may not cost $3k. Bluetti has some great sales on their units and they are now making one that will take a 30amp RV plug.
Bluetti is a GREAT product. I have the Jackery 1500 and I installed a DC power plug in the bed of my truck. It rides back there, always getting a charge while driving. As you said, this charges ALL my video/camera/drone equipment for me. I wouldn't buy a Jackery again as their charge cycles are about 1/2 a number of the other makers. But I have it...and they have treated me well with replacing bad product and so on. I support them based on that for now. I HAVE found a new battery that I plan to install in January. I'll put it in parallel with my installed battery and this will give me 620AH total. I'll produce a full video for it when I do, but if it works, it's a $1000 addition...not $4000. I am really juiced to get this in the rig and share it with everyone!
Very interesting info. Thank you. I haven't looked yet, but how about a problems with my Minnie video? That's a lot of road travel, so you must have had to fix a number of issues.
Indeed. A good thought on what to look out for. Although, through a few of my videos, I do address some of the issues I have found. I may do just that. Thanks for watching!
Hi thanks. I enjoy your videos. I have a 2022 micro minnie 2108 ds but not the flx. Does the flx come with an inverter so you can run your tv and micro? Mine didnt. I just came off a 3 month trip and about 90% was off grid. I do have a 500w power bank which i used to run my computer and charge up my batteries for my tools. I did up grade to 2 AGM batteries and i have a 190 watt solar panel. I know i don't do as much as you but i can last 5 days before i have to dump and fill fresh water. Thanks for you great info. My support beam for my fresh water fell half way off this trip. My next project.
Hi and thanks for watching. I do have a Xantrex 3000 watt inverter. Standard on the FLX models. We are testing days out. Today marked a need to dump black tank. 10 days is the limit for us it would seem. 10 Days to needing to dump that is. I did produce a video on the water tank support. It might be helpful for you to check out!
Very helpful info...we have also done "boondocking" a lot with our trailers as well. The water situation you explain is about what we experienced. I too have 4 5 gallon water portable water tanks. So energy wise...we currently have a small 5th wheel and have been looking at a solar/lithium solution for our energy needs...we need a lot...but we also have a dual fuel refrigerator...running it on propane is pretty efficient...it sips propane and uses very little electrical power. With that said, I am in the process of building out a lithium solution with solar at a later date due to cost. However, I found a relatively inexpensive lithium solution using a 48 volt system (priced out with tax and shipping is about $3,200) With VERY little change to my current electrical system (don't need to re-wire the entire RV), I will have 10.2kW battery bank (about 800aH) and a 3K watt inverter and can direct charge the batteries with my little Honda EU 2000 generator. At the moment, I estimate having to run the generator about 2-4 hours per day to keep the system topped off. The comparable system installed by a "professional" RV solar solution person is about $15K - $25K. I have done a bunch of research on this and I estimate the 2nd phase of my build (adding solar) is going to cost me about $2K - $2.5K for about 1200 watts of solar. And this system is completely portable...i.e. I can move it to another rig in a matter of hours.
Sounds like you are all over it and fully on top of it. Let me know how it works out as you move ahead with the project!
I don't know that I reference a Growatt in this video. I don't own or have any such devices that I am aware of. I'm adding an Epoch 300ah to my unit in January to give me a total of 620ah. That should cover us.
@@livingwithrobLOL..sorry...you are correct about the Growatt thingy...Sorry about that.. I too was looking at the Epoch batteries but found EG4 Water Proof batteries for less $$$ and more capacity. Really enjoyed this video to shed light on the "off grid" terminology used by manufactures!!
Heya Rob .Love your video's.. We have a 2020 2108DS I love this little camper.. great layout for a couple. Couple of questions.. How do you handle your grey tank and I'm considering upgrading mine with solar.. Do you think we would be better off tradiding to a new flex or doing the upgrades .. I also have an F150 powerboost with the 7.2kw outlet so I won't need a generator. Thanks again rich
Hey Rich! Thanks for watching and dropping by. I just dump the gray with the black. If I get over I can either use the portable, or where legal (some BLM and desert divisions allow for gray water release) I'll dump (only gray) on the desert floor. I do like to have some gray water in the tank when I dump black because it flushes the drain hose.
I don't leave the gray open all the time because the tank develops healthy bacteria when the water is in it and that helps keep the "scum" off the walls and helps also to keep sludge from developing on the tank bottom.
If you like your rig, I can't see spending the cash to upgrade.
However, I do have all TRUMA appliances and they are outstanding. The upside that you have is your underbelly get's heated forced air...mine does not and that's a big complaint of mine.
If I had yours and it fit the bill for DRIVING off road as we will, I'd keep it and upgrade to Solar.
Look at the Epoch batteries. I am adding their product to my rig in parallel to my Lithionics. www.epochbatteries.com/products/12v-300ah-v2-heated-bluetooth-lifepo4-battery-epoch-essentials
I like the Newpowa Solar panels as well as HQST and RICH.
One of the advantages of doing your own upgrade is total customization. AND you already know your unit and likely have run into and fixed the major problems...something you'll have to do again with the new rig.
You'll sink about 3k into an uber powerful solar system if you do it yourself. Maybe 4k...tops.
Should you have any more questions, please feel free to reach out and ask.
Thanks for the great information Rob.! FYI My volume was up to 100% and the sound on this video was still pretty low. Not sure if that is something on your end or not. Safe travels buddy,
Thanks Brother. We're doing great out here. In AZ for a month or so now. Volume checks out on my end at almost equal to the ads when the ads play. Appreciate the feedback.
Hi Rob. Can you talk more about what happens when you plug in the free-standing solar in conjunction to the roof mounted? I don't understand what happens and why. I would think this is similar to adding another to the roof, but what did Gopower say?
Hey Chris. Sure. What I was told by GoPower is as follows.
The GoPower panels are wired from the factory in Series. Positive from one panel wired in a daisy chain fashion to negative of the second, and vice-versa. They then are wired down to the Solar Charge Controller. However, when they wired the side port, apparently it's wired in a Parallel fashion to the system. I don't fully understand the negative effect, however, GoPower told me toplug a panel into it will really negatively affect the overall charge abilities of the system. From what I understand it's not catastrophic, but instead the way I understood it, putting a panel on the side as wired from the factory is a waste of money. It's actually counter productive. Better to add a 3rd panel in series on the roof...or wire the solar on the side to it's own MPPT (as I did) and then to the battery. Plus, adding a second MPPT gives you more options for additional Solar.
It would be the same as wiring it to the roof if the wires were in series., but it's not. At least that's what I was told.
Does that help?
Every panel has amps and volts ratings. For instance Go Power 190 watts panel has 20.4v and 9.45 amps at most. Multiplying volts with amps gives wattage, 20.4v * 9.45amps = 192.78 watts. Thus, it can produce slightly more than it’s rated for. Now, when 2 such panels are connected in series, like 2 panels in Rob’s trailer roof, the total output of these two panels is going to be 20.4v + 20.4v = 40.8 volts total and 9.45 amps. In series connection total amps equals to the amps of a single panel with the smallest number of amps, since both panels have the same rating then total amps is going to be 9.45. If one of the panels were rated for 8.5 amps then total output would be 8.5 from them. Anyway, 40.8v * 9.45amps = 385.56 watts that we can expect to get at most from these two panels connected in series. Now if we connect a 3rd (the same Go Power 180 watts) panel in parallel to the above setup, we going to get 9.45amps from panels connected in series + 9.45 amps from the 3rd panel = 18.9amps total and 20.4 volts (in parallel connection total volts equals to the smallest number which is 20.4). Total output of these 3 panels is going to be 18.9amps * 20.4v = 385.56 watts. Thus, 3 panels would produce the same power as 2 panels connected in series and it would make no sense to connect a 3rd one. There are two ways to fix it. 1st is to connect all 3 panels in parallel. 2nd is to connect 3rd panel to another solar charger controller basically exactly what Go Power recommended. The 1st fix makes sense only if the 3rd panel is exactly the same as two others (on the roof). It’s a little over simplified, but hopefully it gives an idea.
Sorry, I forgot to mention the 3rd way to fix it (Rob already described it in his response), which is to connect all 3 panels in series. However, it also makes sense only if all 3 panels are exactly the same OR they have very similar characteristics (volts and amps).
@@aleksandrarkhipov1 100 % agree. This is the route I took when adding the last panel to my full set up. I matched a panel and wired it in series. Great explanation and thank you for taking the time.
Rob, have you ever taken a look at the Ember brand overland series? 50 gallon fresh water? They also have 400 watts solar with a package up to 800 watts on the top with all top.
Funny you should mention it. We have been looking at the Ember brand yesterday and the day before. I am anxious to see one in person. We may go that route eventually.
@@livingwithrob I learned of you because I was interested in the MiMi Flx and your videos are so informative. I went to an RV show today and one dealer told me about the Ember. I also saw some info online about the GeoPro and NoBo (no boundaries) but the Ember looks great, especially the suped up solar package. MSRP very high, though. I like the Minnie with the dinette and Murphy bed, but most dealers in a 250 mile radius of me do not have the dinette -- they have the couch. Not for me. I need a dinette if it's cold out. I hope you do a video of the Ember if you do a deep dive on it
I was looking at the 191MBD.
Well, thanks. We looked at the GeoPro and the NoBo. I do agree, the Embers are high MSRP. We won't ever buy a new RV for a host of reasons, which we can get into perhaps in a video release later on. But yes, these Embers really appeal to us. If we were to upgrade, we would look at the Touring Edition. Really like the 26RB. For the time being, we have, actually, decided, we will stick with what we have and make the best use of it. It tows well with our Tundra. I am a Toyota guy and I love the trucks. They are a little weak on towing however. The 26Rb would require a 3/4 ton for safer towing and I just don't want to upgrade to a Domestic Truck right now. We will see how it goes I guess. We are adding another 200 watts of solar to our unit so we will be over 1100 total watts now. Anxious to hit the road north from Southern CA to begin the spring Photography season. Plan to do a lot of video and will include more 2108 DS FLX vids. Appreciate having you along!
I look forward to it. I wish Winnebago had the option for more solar like Ember does. Re Ember - I just saw a video of someone who bought a 2022 new and wasn't able to make it work. He sold it at a loss. Be well. -Michelle
@@mishdude thanks. Appreciate you.
Honest question. Why pay all the money for the Flex to be off grid, when I can have a small quite 2000 watt generator to recharge batteries? Is it a noise thing?
That's a good question. Out here, on the road, my experience has been that the noise is an issue. I personally don't like listening to it when mine is running. I've also noticed that in settings where others are present, no one seems to appreciate the people running their generator.
I think it's nice to have the solar working all the time (when there's sun) to charge.
I suppose it's a matter of convenience and the quiet it offers. I do wonder, though, if the cost is worth the benefits.
I think the FLX comes with the higher efficiency Truma AC. So not only does it have larger battery capacity and more solar, it uses less energy. Doesn't look like the Truma heater or water heater has a heat pump mode, so it doesn't offer any better energy efficiency than a regular heater. (Inefficiency means you lose energy as waste heat. But since the desired product from a heater is heat, all heaters are 100% efficient.)
I would agree it's a pointless distinction. And they should just offer these as an option on the regular Micro Minnie. So people can mix and match these, the battery bank, the extra solar as they want. Instead of having to be pigeonholed into just two packages.
The real fun starts when you have to be a energy and water conservationist. Every watt counts!
Every watt does count, no doubt.