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Date Posted |
Forum
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RE: Honeymoon location ideas?
Can't help you on a camp spot unless you come to California. Congratulations. My wife and I are coming up on our 38th anniversary. We honeymooned in a tent high in the Sierras. Right now I'm sitting in our 42 foot diesel pusher looking out across a lake we have spent most of those years visiting. I came early to grab a good boondocking spot. Sheesh. Now we have satellite tv, internet obviously, and several grandchildren to enjoy the outdoors with. Ok, so we don't sleep on rocks anymore. Our first tv was a second hand black and white 12 inch. In any case. Camping on our honeymoon was the start of a great relationship. We fed chipmunks popcorn and have memories of pine trees and fishing a rushing stream. Life is good but to short.
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YC 1
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05/22/12 07:34pm |
RV Lifestyle
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RE: Onan Microquiet 4000 genny only runs when engine is on
You have two battery systems. The bank that the generator is hooked to is sick/discharged. When you started the engine it pulled some solenoid closed and paralled the battery systems. When you turned the engine off the other bank of batteries were to low to keep the genny running. It has a fuel pump and electronic ignition system that needs a good source of 12 volts.
Lots of ways to approach this. Plug the rv in and let it charge in any case if possible. You need to do some battery maintenance and cable maintenance. If you know how to read a voltmeter you will get lots of excellent tips. If not either take it to a dealer or find someone that can run a meter. Dirty battery cables, connections, and abused batteries are incredibly common.
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YC 1
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05/20/12 06:09pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: our Ecoboost is here!!
My wife does not take her remote out of her purse or her cell phone. The phone synchs up automatically and grabbing the door handle unlocks the door. Press the brake pedal and touch the start button and you are off. I just noticed the latest mod has someone swinging their toe under the tow hitch and the hatch opens. Now that is way cool. We actually traded off a nice Cadillac pickup. We looked at the Chevy Equinox and the Cadillacs and decided to drop by the Ford dealership. The Edge interior and features are amazing. So is the price. Right up there with the Caddy. The ride is nice and they handle like go-carts with the acceleration of any of the early muscle cars and get incredible mileage. With a six speed tranny there is lots of fun to be had when you put it in manual shift. You can play DVD movies, input your ipod or thumbdrive, or run your music list from your phone. Talk about distracted driving. No wonder it has the alarms and safety devices. My model will tow 3500 lbs and tows four down wonderfully. Storage in the rear is large and the seats fold down if you need more. Voice operated navigation is amazing.
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YC 1
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05/20/12 05:57pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: our Ecoboost is here!!
We love ours. Didn't get the eco boost engine. I need all the towing capacity I can get. The radar systems is phenominal. With cruise control set you can tell it how far to follow vehicles in front of you. If one passes and pulls in front of you it does not slow down if that passing vehicle is pulling away. If you come up on a slower vehicle it will slow you down. Jump to the other lane and back up to speed it goes. If you come up to fast on a slower vehicle it will give a heads up display and even apply the brakes.
Do watch for the blind spots in the edge. They are rather large spots and I may add a couple of tiny spot mirrors even though the mirrors have yellow warning lights letting you know you have someone next to you.
The navigation system is awesome and the monitor is very high resolution. With 285 hp this thing really accelerates and gets great mileage too. The massive sun roof is actually the only sun roof I have ever cared for. It almost makes it a convertible.
Well. Sorry for trying to steal your thunder. They are great toads but you have to make sure you get the proper model or be creative if you get the one with radar.
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YC 1
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05/20/12 08:35am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Parking at Disney world for 35' RV
Not at WDW but Disneyland here in Calif I drove our 42 footer to the Grand Californian Hotel. After offloading the grandchildren and stowaways a nice young man in a new Cadillac escorted me to a special parking place and patiently waited till I had it shut down. He then drove me back. Give the resort a call directly and they will accomidate you or tell you the best way. You might be able to drive right to the resort as I did, offload, and then there is always a way to get back. Enjoy your trip. I am green. I can't wait until we get to pull the bus into Ft. Wilderness one day soon.
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YC 1
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05/20/12 08:18am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Electrical Issues
There are two 35 amp fuses on the front of it next to the battery cables. If one is blown you would have an issue. If they are not blown then you need to make sure there is AC power to the outlet it plugs into. A safe way is to plug a drop light, radio, or some device that runs on 110 volts. That way you don't have to take a chance of getting lit up using voltage probes. Sharing a secret here. When you are trying to find which circuit breaker runs an outlet, just plug a radio or light with an extension cord and you can listen or watch for action when the breakers are flipped.
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YC 1
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05/20/12 08:12am |
Tech Issues
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RE: right turn signal not working on hooked up toad
thanks for all of the good advice- i'm dumb where is and what does a diode look like- i'm trying to follow the wire from the toad connector back to the right turn bulb but hard to follow.
to trnfla: good idea- my wife says I just go in circles anyway.
Just take the tail light assembly out or the panel covering it on the inside if there is one. Chasing ghost wires can be impossible. Skip all the imbetween stuff because it is not really important unless it is broken and then you can just run a new one if necessary using the old one as a tag line. Of course that is impossible if it is a ribbon type wire.
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YC 1
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05/20/12 07:58am |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Padded invoice on work done
Communicating with a customer is critical when dealing with things like this. It takes a rare talent to do it delicately and they failed to do so because you are unhappy. On some occassions we have made that same mistake. If the customer still feels uncomfortable with my explanation I will ask what they would like to pay and we will do what ever it takes to keep them satisfied. We do installations of specialized equipment including video recording systems in police cars etc. The labor sounds very reasonable to me knowing how many hours a "simple repair" can take. I suspect they are making a small margin on the monitor but has nothing to do with the labor charges being padded.
I am making comment only to try and ease your pain and make you feel a bit better. In my humble opinion the cost was definitely in line. This is why 40 years of "Customer Service" put another stent in my heart this week. Taking care of customers is like licking honey off a cactus. You can go from High to Low instantly., :)
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YC 1
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05/19/12 06:08pm |
Camping World Accessories
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RE: yellow plastic vent -- paint it?
Sometimes the cost of a rattle can of paint is more than it cost to replace the cheap plastic. Of course the RV store needs to be close.
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YC 1
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05/19/12 05:58pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: UPS for wall warts
I am guessing you mean inverter and the voltage patterns often confuse electric blankets. We have smoked more than one lap blanket.
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YC 1
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05/19/12 05:56pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: right turn signal not working on hooked up toad
Since you have voltage on both sides of the plug and socket,and the lights on the toad work by themselves, that leaves following the wire back to a bad spot from the plug wire, bad diode if used, or a bad bulb if standalone bulbs were installed.
Find which color it is and then try to find a place as far back as possible. I would take the light assembly off on that side and look for the wire. It might become clear with a simple inspection. If you need to probe that wire use a simple sewing pin to pierce the wire and find a good clean ground.
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YC 1
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05/19/12 07:31am |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Buying a new diesel pusher for first time (pointers?)
If possible get the owners manual as soon as possible. Also insist the seller provides schematics and plumbing diagrams on dvd'd or cd's.
Start reading and taking notes. When you are done, start over. You will be amazed how much useful information there can be in one line hidden in the middle of the book. This will give you a chance to ask questions here before taking possession of the new toy. Whey they do the walk through you will be much more versed. I still pull my manual out once in awhile and breeze through it to remind me there is information on manually retracting the slides and things like that.
Congrats on the new one.
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YC 1
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05/16/12 12:14pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Initial Solar Hookup only shows partial watts and amps
Yes. Just ran the hair dryer off the inverter for about 15 seconds and the amps climbed by .5 and the watts increased by 5 watts. I thought there would at least be a setting telling me what is actually coming in from the panels (true watts & amps).
With fully charged batteries 15 seconds did little to drain them. Leave a couple of lights on over night. Cover the panels with a towell. Then at noon remove the towell. I suspect you will see a bit more current. I suspect you will see 7-9 amps. If the panels were tilted directly into the sun you might get 10-12. Seems like things are working fine and you will never regret adding the panel.
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YC 1
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05/15/12 06:24pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Battery Drain
Unfortunately yes that is a very very common issue mentioned on the rv forums. Engine and transmission computers, clocks, steps, propapane detectors and other things can easily run an engine battery down in two weeks. This can lead to a sick battery from being depleted low and several times.
The solution is a battery cutoff switch, which can be a pain because you lose radio stations and often engine computers learn your driving habits.
My H3 Huummer sits a lot and when driven the trips are short. I installed a small $29 charger under the hood and have the power cord dangling in front of the radiator. It is a smart charger so won't damage the battery.
On my Winnebago I had solar panels but they were set up to charge the coach batteries. I installed the trik-l-start device that tapped off a bit of current from those and kept the engine battery up. Before that I actually just soldered a 12 volt tail light in series with the two banks of batteries and used alligator clips across the terminals. The bulb limited the current between the two batteries and did a great job. I just removed the bulb when ready to go.
You can chase all the parasitic drains you want but two weeks is not unusual and you will do yourself a great service if you buy a battery tender type charger and connect it to all your batteries.
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YC 1
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05/13/12 08:15am |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: keep from banging?
fumble fingers posted twice.
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YC 1
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05/13/12 07:56am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: keep from banging?
I like the idea of the split wrap pipe insulation because you can get it in various sizes and it is dirt cheap. Use some velcro inside it to keep it in place. I use it along the bottoms of my slides and use short strips of velcro inside it to keep it in place. I leave the split wrap in place when the slides are shut. They have saved so many back and head bumps I can't count.
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YC 1
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05/13/12 07:55am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Shocking experience
Long extension cords and poor connections can cause the skin to be hot.
Think of a water hose filling a tub of water. You have to use the same size hose to drain it or it will over flow or if enclosed pressure (voltage) would build up. Your inlet hose is working fine but the water has to drain off. With a poor outlet hose (return line) the pressure build up wants to go to ground any way it can. If you use a voltmeter in the AC volt mode you should be able to measure the voltage on the skin with one probe and the other end in the ground. If the ground damp it will show even better.
This can be a dangerous situation and that is why power tools are often "double insulated". Also modern housing require ground fault outlets when used outdoors. I believe there were probably some deaths from folks mowing their lawns with old electric mowers. If the return line opens up the tool can become electrically hot so the gfci trips to protect you.
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YC 1
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05/09/12 06:34pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Itasca Horizon bedroom Ceiling fan shot, need new one
Glad to be of service. I keep those things in a folder and on a thumbdrive because the question comes up about different things and I get tired of re-doing the research and really like having it all on my thumbdrive. I have scanned tons of documents so I virtually have a library for the MH. Schematics and all. I have pictures of the fan motor repair and will see I have those on the net just to show folks what it looks like.
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YC 1
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05/09/12 06:16pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Itasca Horizon bedroom Ceiling fan shot, need new one
Now for the great news. You broke it good. After buying new bearings and carefully repairing mine I patted myself on the back. Only $20 or so for new bearings. Then a few days later. Tick, tick tick. Grrrrr.
I have spent many many hours trying to make that motor quiet. I have the brush thing down pat. My last go round I bought a new fan kit which came with a fancy multi speed control that wouldn't fit in the same hole as the nice little round one. No worries. I just sent it to someone that needed one. I swapped out my old blades and things and just used the new motor.
Now the great news. The new motor has been redesigned. It is apparent they have done something to the bearing holding area but don't know if more has been done. I had glued my bearing in place and the motor still ticked. I believe it is a poor brush holder design. In any case the new motor has been running for months and it is very quiet.
The other good news is I have a web page for you to visit that I thought I lost due to a computer crash but I am crazy about backing things up and found it. If the new motor doesn't look different than the old one send it back and buy a complete fan kit so you get the new style. The changes are around the bearing areas. I have information on where I bought mine.
The 12 volt ceiling fan makes a tremendous difference in comfort level in our mh. We have a tempurpedic bed and they can be a bit warm so circulating is is nice.
Ok,now for the site.
Don't lose this site
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YC 1
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05/08/12 08:10pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Electrical Help
Have a beer and don't worry about it. GFCI's are very picky outlets and like to drive you crazy. If everything is running don't worry about it. Your converter is fine. :@
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YC 1
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05/08/12 07:46pm |
Tech Issues
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