Introduction
This past summer my wife and I embarked on a road trip like we have never done before. We purchased our 2022 Black Series HQ17 in December 2022 with this road trip in mind. I also purchased a 2022 F250 Platinum with 6.7L Diesel Engine to pull it.
While we did a handful of short excursions in our Black Series we never really experienced the full capabilities of our rig. That was about to change.
Like many Black Series owners, we went through a series of modifications to improve the reliability and function of the camper. We did our best to learn from the experiences of others through a very active Facebook group. Many of our modifications were inspired by the experience of others; however, some are original.
The purpose of this report is to rate and comment on the usefulness of each of our modifications to provide other BS owners additional information to consider before undertaking a project. It is not a “how to” write-up.
Style of Travel
Not all Black Series owners’ travel styles are the same. These differences can alter whether a modification is useful or not for their mode of travel.
We left our Oklahoma home, Black Series in tow, on May 2, 2024. We first headed south to West Texas and then Arizona. We worked our way up through the western states and into British Columbia. We continued up through western Canada and into Alaska where we spent several weeks traveling around the state. In mid-August we left Alaska and headed across Canada to Manitoba before heading south through the midwestern US and back home by late September.
We stayed 4 nights in one place only three times. On average, we stayed 2 to 3 nights at each location. Many times, we were in a location one night and never unhooked. Elaborate camp set-ups were not our thing. Quick and efficient set-ups were what we targeted.
We drove 20,000 miles including 16,000 miles of towing our Black Series.
We boondocked 90+% of the time. Even when we were not boondocking, we rarely had hook-ups at our site. I DO NOT TRAVEL WITH A GENERATOR.
We had no significant problems with the Black Series (that were not self-inflicted) aside from the Wan Li bombs which were quickly replaced in the first 1000 miles of the trip with quality Load Rated E tires.
The Modifications
Lets get into it! These modifications will be listed in order of value to us on this trip by category.
Electrical
Energy Collection and Storage
Value: Indispensable, Complexity: Very High, Cost: Very High
Off with the flex panels! They didn’t work from day 1. We added 1250W of Rich Panels in two arrays. One on the roof and one on the front angle. We additionally added new Victron smart solar charge controllers (one 50amp and one 30amp). Also, we added a 3000W Multiplus Inverter.
To take advantage of time on the road, I added two 30amp Victron DC/DC charge controllers with individual cut-off switches. This required running new 2 AWG wiring from the truck battery through the Black Series frame and under the dining seat where the charge controllers are located.
The original batteries were removed and sold. I installed 3-400AH EG4 batteries (1200AH total) under the lower bunk. Two on one side and one on the other. This required raising the lower bunk 3” to accommodate the height of the batteries. I made a detailed post on this if you need more information on this installation.
This upgrade allowed us to never worry about power for the entire trip. We maximized the use of solar by switching the refrigerator from LPG to 110V as needed. The fridge was on power 30-40% of the time.
The installation was not without its issues.
- I kept the 200A DC breaker between the battery and the inverter because I was not sure what the stock copper conduit between the breaker and the transfer switch (and the stock transfer switch itself) are rated for. This turned out to be a good call because the insulation on the copper conduit melted at 200A.
- With the above 200A breaker in place the full capacity of the inverter was not available, and the breaker tripped occasionally when using multiple 110V appliances. I must increase the conduit size and verify the transfer switch capacity before increasing the breaker size to 300A.
- The cabinet below the seat where all the Victron equipment is located gets very hot. We had to remove the cushions and the board to fully ventilate the area while driving or when inverting or charging significantly. I will need to put a more significant air mover in this box to solve this problem.
- The EG4 batteries would occasionally go into Protect COV (meaning Cell Over-voltage). This only ever happened on one of the three batteries, but it happened often. It does eventually come out of this mode as the other batteries draw down 20% or so. I adjusted the charge controller voltages slightly, but I think it is the internal charge controller on the EG4 that is controlling. I am not sure that I can do anything about this.
HQ Display Light Switch
Value: Indispensable, Complexity: Low, Cost: Low
That display generates a lot of light! I like to sleep in the dark. Enough said. This is a great simple project that everyone should do.
Power Configuration and Use Upgrades
Value: High, Complexity: Medium, Cost: Medium
This project allows everything that is 110V to be run from the new Victron Multiplus Inverter. This required two new runs of properly sized wire between the breaker panel and the inverter. They run under the camper in conduit. A new 30-amp breaker is also needed in the passthrough for the shore power. In addition to that, we added a couple of outlets at more convenient locations and converted the inside gas stove into an induction stove top. My wife would argue that the stove top upgrade was indispensable, and I would agree.
Awning Kill Switch
Value: High, Complexity: Low, Cost: Low
In rare cases, an awning will deploy unexpectedly while driving down the road. Why? Maybe the remote is bouncing in a drawer and the deploy button activates or maybe the relay gets jostled and activates.
Installing a switch on the power going to the awning eliminates the worry.
Moving Breaker Panel
Value: High, Complexity: Medium, Cost: Low
The breaker panel is in the passthrough and is oriented in a way that restricts the access to one side of the passthrough. With some effort the panel can be rotated 90-degrees and pushed against the wall to make access to the passthrough a breeze!
Battery Protect Installation
Value: High, Complexity: Medium, Cost: Low
We eliminated the two under voltage protection relays under the dinner table seat and replaced them with a Victron Battery Protect to eliminate the constant 1-2amp drain on the battery.
Remote Voltage Read-out on Break-away Battery
Value: High, Complexity: Medium, Cost: Low
As part of converting under the dining seat to additional storage (see below), I needed to block easy access to this battery. Wiring a voltage indicator to the break-away battery required opening the battery box itself to find the terminals that are directly on the battery. The terminals on the outside of the box are wired with circuitry so the battery voltage cannot be acquired at this location.
This project made it very easy to verify the voltage on this little battery by toggling a switch located in the Victron Component area.
Flood Light Segregation
Value: Medium, Complexity: Low, Cost: Low
The switch for the flood light by the door also turns on the flood light on the opposite side of the Black Series. While this could be a bigger issue when in campgrounds, it is not so much of a problem when boondocking. It does save a couple of amps. We didn’t use this very much.
You will need to pull the microwave out for this one.
Adding Switch to Battery Compartment Fan
Value: Medium, Complexity: Medium, Cost: Low
The fan was wired to be on whenever the HQ panel was on. It was noisy. Not sure if this fan provides any benefit but having it off unless specifically needed or wanted made for a quieter night’s sleep and stops a 0.2 amp continuous draw.
Water and Sewer Systems
Black Water Hose and Fitting Storage
Value: Indispensable, Complexity: Medium, Cost: Low
Who wants the black hose to touch other things being stored in the camper? That is just gross. The biggest challenge I have that I still need to work on is to keep the tube from rotating on the back and make the end cap easier to take on and off, but I have some ideas.
Disconnect the Water from the Toilet
Value: Indispensable, Complexity: Low, Cost: Low
This saved a lot of general water and a lot of grey water tank space. We recovered sink water and used it to flush the toilet via a 1-gallon jug. It wasn’t our plan but was a fall-out from the next project.
Hot Water Recycle in Shower
Value: High, Complexity: Medium, Cost: Medium
You cannot imagine the amount of water saved with this. I used the hot water line as the supply to the shower and the cold-water line to recycle back to the general water tank. The device is called “Shower Miser”. The cold-water line used to recycle is the same line that goes to the toilet so we had be abandon the water to the toilet as mentioned above.
New Shower Head
Value: High, Complexity: Low, Cost: Low
We all know that the silly little combination faucet/showerhead was a joke. Simple enough to put a proper shower head on when adding the recycle system.
Anti-scald Valve Removal
Value: High, Complexity: Low, Cost: Low
I frustrated myself twice on this valve before deciding to get rid of it. This one was done during the trip. It is a no brainer, don’t wait for it to fail or get sticky, just get it out of there ASAP.
GuzzleH2O UV Sterilizer and Filter
Value: Medium, Complexity: Medium, Cost: Medium
I know, many will say that I am undervaluing this. The stock 3-stage filter is actually fine and there is no real driver to upgrade except for the amount of space you gain under the sink and the ease of changing the filter.
Water Tank Drain Valves
Value: Medium, Complexity: Low, Cost: Low
The stock drain valves were not stainless steel and because of corrosion they were very difficult to turn by hand. I bought two valves with SS body, stem and ball and now they can be easily turned when needed but do not vibrate open on the road.
Convenience
Hanging Solutions Throughout Black Series
Value: Indispensable, Complexity: Low, Cost: Low
We added hangers everywhere. I don’t know how we would have managed without them. Coats, towels, toiletries, etc.
Starlink
Value: Indispensable, Complexity: Medium, Cost: High
Thank you, Elon. Although that $165 per month is quite high for a roving internet connection, we could always find a satellite, even above the arctic circle. The cable was run through the camper and spliced twice. We always set the dish on the ground. We did bring a pole and pole mount, but it was never used. We were surprised at the power consumption of starlink: about 5-9 amps.
Bunk Bed Shelves
Value: Indispensable, Complexity: Medium, Cost: Low
Without these shelves, organizing our clothes would have been impossible.
Kitchen Upgrade
Value: High, Complexity: High, Cost: High
This upgrade included putting a granite top on, extending it about 3” to the right, removing that goofy shallow sink/gas burner thing and replacing it with a deep sink, new faucet and induction stove top. A kill switch for the induction stove top was added under the counter to prevent accidentally turning the stove on. The countertop had to be raised about 3” to insert the deeper sink without requiring further mods under the sink.
Awning Stabilization
Value: High, Complexity: Low, Cost: Low
You only need to put your awning out once to know that this little project is of high value. We didn’t use the awning very often as our travel mode didn’t have us sitting around the camp very often. If we used the awning more often, this would be indispensable.
We went with the two exhaust pipe clamps to the rock bars option.
Shorten the Curtains
Value: Medium, Complexity: Medium, Cost: Low
In our unit the horizontal length of the curtains extended well past the windows blocking good wall space. A simple fix if you know how to use a sewing machine. Not me, my wife, I’m better with wrenches and screwdrivers.
Ruuvi Tags and Gateway
Value: Medium, Complexity: Low, Cost: Medium
I bought 9 ruuvi tags, including 3 of the black all-weather ones. This was nice and made it easy to monitor the freezer, fridge and Victron component area. I also had some in the battery compartments and under the bed, sink and dining table. Since we did not get into any freezing weather, they lost some purpose.
We never used the Gateway because we did not want to leave starlink up and running while we were gone.
Under Seat Storage
Value: Medium, Complexity: Medium, Cost: Low
The space under the other dining table seat was not configured for storage. The 7-pin fuse box, break-away battery and entry step relay were exposed and there were large cutouts into the area under the table floor mount. I made some modifications to make this area safe and useful for storage. We used it mostly for canned food. We were not in it as much as I thought we would be, but still it is a nice storage spot.
Make Stereo Bass Control Accessible
Value: Low, Complexity: Low, Cost: Low
We just did not use the stereo much. If you are an audiophile, this could be important for you.
Chassis
Hitch Upgrade
Value: Indispensable, Complexity: Medium, Cost: High
I went with the Hitch EZY 5 Tonne. I am very satisfied with this hitch. I greased it every 3000 miles and rechecked the torque a couple of times on my trip. To me, the polyblock hitch is a disaster waiting to happen, so we made the upgrade right before this trip.
I would like to add that since all parts for this hitch come from Australia, if you have a failure/damage on any hitch part you will be in a real bind. The most likely scenario in my opinion is someone running into the back of your truck when you are unhitched and damaging the post. This is why, every time we were unhooked, we removed the post and stuck a regular ball hitch into the receiver.
Shock Absorbers
Value: High, Complexity: Low, Cost: Medium
Following the experience of others with the stock shock absorbers, I went with the Bilstein shocks. Two of eight of the stock shocks were defective which was better than average. It was a good peace of mind job.
Trial of Different Suspension Bushings
Value: Medium, Complexity: Medium, Cost: Medium
There are the blue stock bushings made of a poly type material and there are the black bushings made of a type of rubber which were recently designed and group purchased by a Black Series owner.
I have replaced 12 of 16 bushings to date. Four of the twelve are the black bushings.
Most of the damage done to the original bushings was from a lack of lubrication from the time the RV left California new and was pulled to Oklahoma where I purchased it and then a couple of short trips by me. So perhaps 4000 miles without lubrication maintenance and who knows how good the original lubrication was. On this trip, I lubricated them with Red and Tacky every 1500 miles and have seen no sign of damage on either the black or the blue.
In my opinion, the jury is still out on the black vs the blue. I personally like the design of the black because there is a groove to allow grease to better lubricate the sleeve OD and bushing ID.
Tow Vehicle
Mudflaps
Value: Indispensable, Complexity: Medium, Cost: Medium
We installed a full width mudflap on the truck. The key advantage of this flap is how easily it could be installed. We could install it in less than 2 minutes from the time I went into PARK until I was putting the truck back into DRIVE. We travelled hundreds of miles on gravel roads and it saved much damage on the front of the camper. They have a massive impact on fuel efficiency so you would be foolish to have them on unless on gravel or dirt.
Bluetooth Voltage Monitoring
Value: High, Complexity: Low, Cost: Low
Despite my best Forscan efforts, I could not get the battery voltage to read out on the truck console. I was worried that pulling 60 extra amps off the stock F250 Power Stroke alternator to charge my camper batteries might be too much and I would have a really bad experience with a dead battery.
Enter the Victron Battery Voltage and Temperature monitor. For very little time and money it gave me peace of mind to know that I was not draining my battery while driving down the road.
Suspension Airbags
Value: Medium, Complexity: Medium, Cost: Medium
I might be generous on the value of this modification. I played with different inflation levels on the bags and had a hard time noticing a difference in trailer sway. I will note that there is a minimum of 5 psi inflation on the system and it is quite possible that there is a big difference between 0 psi inflation and 5 psi inflation.
What Is Next?
Was there anything that I regretted not doing before leaving? Not really. That being said, there is always room for improvement.
- The top job that I need to do before another long trip is to fix the issues in the Victron Component area. Install a more significant air mover so that I don’t have to always remove cushions and ventilate the area. Also, upsize the breaker and copper conduit between the battery and the transfer switch and verify the transfer switch is proper for 300 amps.
- Despite my effort to make the stock Back-up Camera work by relocating the antenna to the outside and top/front of the Black Series, it did not. I will put a new back-up camera in that can hopefully tie into my console screen at some customer access point in the rear of the truck.
- We did not use the stabilizers often, but I can see a real advantage to having high-capacity stabilizers on the unit, if for nothing else, they will be good for lay-up to take load off the wheel bearings and the suspension bushings when storing long-term.
- I want a TPMS installed as a safety enhancement.
- If the next trip involves some hot camping situations a Max Air Fan or similar will be installed.
- Eliminate the jet engine known as a Dometic AC in favor of a quieter and more efficient unit if the next trip involves hot weather.
- Improve dust sealing in the ARE shell hatch and truck tailgate. Everything in the back of the truck was covered in dust. I hope I can improve on this.
- We were more limited with the Drinking Water than General Water. I will install a jumper from General to Drinking to replenish as needed.
- Digital Thermostat for the heater. The on/off slide is a real pain in the butt.
- I noticed I had to move my Brake Gain from 4.5 slowly to 7.5 during the course of the trip. Time for new brakes, I will upgrade (but not to disk, yet).
- Eliminate the break-away battery and wire to the 1200 AH of house battery.
- Install some simple lighting in the lower bunk bed where we put the shelves. This is a dark corner behind the shower.
If you have comments or want more information on any of these items you can comment on this blog or email me directly.