Camper Trailer Revolution?

[ldjessee]

That looks like a cool custom camper. One of the nicest designs for an enclosed trailer that I've seen is the Aerovault. It is designed to be aerodynamic, but is pretty low (designed to hold a car) and could not be converted to a camper. Well, maybe if they made the ceiling pop up higher or made a taller version. It's a very nice trailer, but also very expensive. Check it out https://www.bre2.net/aerovault.info/the-aerovault/

The problem with this as with most trailer, it does not really put the air back into its wake. Many people think that moving the air out of the way is the hard part to aerodynamics, but it is usually putting the air back behind you with the least amount of turbulence that provides bigger gains (ie, reducing drag).

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[CappyJax]

They skipped the step when they used the air stiffeners. They balanced the tongue before they changed the height of the truck, which changed the balance.

Which means of course the air stiffening failed,

-Crissa

What do you mean they "balanced the tonque"?

 

[Crissa]

What do you mean they "balanced the tonque"?

'Setting the hitch height' https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/a6791/the-right-way-to-tow-a-trailer/

If you change the stiffness if the rear shocks after you do this, you've changed the height, and messed up the balance. Which is what they did in the video.

I'm not arguing that an equalizing hitch isn't better, just that their video was misledIng.

-Crissa

 

[CappyJax]

'Setting the hitch height' https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/a6791/the-right-way-to-tow-a-trailer/

If you change the stiffness if the rear shocks after you do this, you've changed the height, and messed up the balance. Which is what they did in the video.

I'm not arguing that an equalizing hitch isn't better, just that their video was misledIng.

-Crissa

No, they didn't. When they installed the weight distribution hitch, the height of the rear axle was changed only by the weight distribution hitch and not the airbags at all.

 

[Crissa]

No, they didn't. When they installed the weight distribution hitch, the height of the rear axle was changed only by the weight distribution hitch and not the airbags at all.

...Which isn't relevant to what I said. They did the airbags wrong. Stiffening the shocks changes the tongue height. They did these steps in the wrong order, making the air bags look worse.

-Crissa

 

[android04]

The problem with this as with most trailer, it does not really put the air back into its wake. Many people think that moving the air out of the way is the hard part to aerodynamics, but it is usually putting the air back behind you with the least amount of turbulence that provides bigger gains (ie, reducing drag).

If one wants better results as far as aerodynamics, one can put in flaps that fold out to form a wedge on the tail of the trailer. Those can be seen on semi trailers, but apparently they only save about 5% of fuel usage (should be greater for an EV because wind drag is a larger part of energy loss than on an ICE vehicle) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trailer_tail

 

[CappyJax]

...Which isn't relevant to what I said. They did the airbags wrong. Stiffening the shocks changes the tongue height. They did these steps in the wrong order, making the air bags look worse.

-Crissa

I really have no idea what you are trying to say. Airbags don't do anything for stability or weight distribution. They never have. They only give you back your suspension travel.

 

[Crissa]

I really have no idea what you are trying to say. Airbags don't do anything for stability or weight distribution. They never have. They only give you back your suspension travel.

And the video you linked to showed them being used wrong, so there's no way for me to know if that statement is true or not,

-Crissa

 

[CappyJax]

And the video you linked to showed them being used wrong, so there's no way for me to know if that statement is true or not,

-Crissa

How are they used wrong????

 

[Crissa]

How are they used wrong????

I already pointed this out:

They stiffened the shocks after balancing the load, which changed the tongue height.

They should have balanced the load after using the airbags, but they did not,

-Crissa

 

[CappyJax]

You determine the hitch height before you hook up the trailer. The hitch height was identical for all weighs.

 

[Crissa]

You determine the hitch height before you hook up the trailer. The hitch height was identical for all weighs.

Not once they used the stiffeners.

Hence, they did it in the wrong order, so obviously it would look bad.

-Crissa

 

[ldjessee]

Not once they used the stiffeners.

Hence, they did it in the wrong order, so obviously it would look bad.

-Crissa

I think without a diagram or slide show, you two are going to keep talking past each other... I know I am not sure what you two are going on about... but I am more a visual learner, so it could be just that.

 

[Crissa]

When experimenting it's important to try things in different order of operations, which they didn't do in the video, so all I'm complaining about is the video. Their demo was flawed, so it didn't show anything.

The load-balancing hitch just changes the hitch height after it's been hooked up, which is very good for balancing.

You can be right but have the wrong reason. ??‍

-Crissa

 

[android04]

There are some concept campers out there that have hub motors for aid in driving and braking (regen), and battery packs to drive them. They usually use sensors to detect how much force there is between the tow vehicle and trailer and try to match that with the hub motors. With a Tesla, that could be made easier and more responsive by having the trailer tap into the vehicle's CAN bus. I've actually been brainstorming and thinking of developing my own. But I'm not an entrepreneur and am saving my money for the Cybertruck.

Here's a few examples of those campers:
https://newatlas.com/outdoors/ozx-self-powered-camper-trailer/

https://gearjunkie.com/dethleffs-e-home-coco-rv-trailer-electric-motor

Just remember that adding a battery pack and motors to the camper will make it heavier, so I think the best case scenario is that with one of these your tow vehicle energy consumption is the same with or without the trailer.

For anybody that's interested in trailers/campers with their own battery and motors to aid with towing, my previous post shows a few that prototypes that I've come across. I recently found a few interesting DIY videos from a guy named James Klafehn on Youtube. At first he makes a range extending trailer (dubbed the T-Rex V1) from a Toyota RAV4 EV pack. Later he makes a range extending camper (dubbed the T-Rex Camper) out of a Tesla Model S 85D pack. I'm still in the process of watching everything, but it looks like he just hooks the additional battery pack high voltage lines into the ones for the vehicle battery pack (no electric motors on the trailer needed).

Here are the two playlists.
T-Rex V1 T-Rex Camper
Here's a video on a range test that he does with T-Rex Camper and his Tesla Model X