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Forum
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RE: AC/DC Frame Grounding. Need help.
why does larry's article cover bonding a floating ground invertor such as mine?
http://blog.rv.net/2009/10/generator-bonding-and-grounding/
Also many comments on the article state people's trailers wouldnt accept generator power until they put a dummy plug on the generator.
Should I just NOT ground anything in this trailer? LOL
The guys whom I know that havent grounded AC or DC in their trailers are still alive after a few years of use. heh..
If your trailer has an "energy managment system AKA EMS" you likely will need to use a bonding plug. Likely you don't have an EMS system.
Among the things an EMS system does is check for proper voltage and connectivity before allowing power to the trailer. (open ground,open neutral, reversed polarity, over/under voltage etc.)
What it will do is :
1) look for an "Open ground" Since your neutral and ground aren't bonded either at the trailer or generator, it will show an open ground and not let power go to the trailer. the "bonding plug" connecting neutral and ground at the generator solves the problem
So, again, unless you have an EMS system, there is no reason or need for a bonding plug on the generator.
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ktmrfs
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05/24/12 08:40am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Water Hose
"Often regular garden hoses contain high consentrations of led"
makes them easier to see at night. :)
sorry bob, had to do it.
lead was a common additive in plastics until a few years ago. AFAIK lead had to be eliminated from all plastics that children would be exposed to starting a few years ago so any newer water hose should be lead free.
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ktmrfs
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05/24/12 08:21am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Water Hose
Just use the garden hose.
x2. I run the hose for a few minutes to flush out any stale or warm water, then through the normal carbon filter straight into the fresh water tank.
Never noticed any difference in the water taste, and been drinking out of the water hose for 60 year and still around.
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ktmrfs
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05/24/12 08:18am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: AC/DC Frame Grounding. Need help.
My trailer came OEM with 120v ground and battery negative attched to the frame.
Fuses and switches on the 12v positive.
No bond (connection) between 120v neutral and ground in the trailer.
I would only have it this way. RVIA standards.
x2
and NEC compliance as well. you should see an open circuit between the 120V neutral and 120V ground if you measure at the plug.
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ktmrfs
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05/23/12 07:40pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Backing-Up with Reese Weight Distribution Hitch
I have never disconnected my Reese dual cam when backing up. It is an issue for some designs, but not the dual cam.
x2. but I do suggest have someone watch if your close to jacknifing to verify that your bars are clearing the cam arm, especially on the pre 2010 design. If you verify your good, you really only need to verify once.
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ktmrfs
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05/23/12 07:35pm |
Towing
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RE: Battery
in addition to parasitic drain, the fridge is a drain even on propane. Mine draws something between 0.5 and 1.0 A constantly, more when the fan comes on. also, that radio is another 1A or so constant drain, even when "off", which is really standby. I'd suggest pulling both fuses to the radio unless you need it on. (power and standby)
I agree with others, 1 battery is not a good idea for dry camping, at least two, a real charger, if the trailer has a WFCO converter, there is a good chance it will never go into boost mode with only one battery and even a few hours of charging will do little to recharge. And even with a good 3 stage charger you'll likely need to run a genny at least 2 hours/day with a single battery.
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ktmrfs
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05/23/12 08:20am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Certificate Of Origin - weight
If the trailer is newer (2009 or newer) there should also be a yellow sticker on the door showing the actual empty weight as shipped and showing actual allowed CCC.
The empty weight in most cases will not include any propane or batteries or water since most trailers leave the factory w/o either. However, the yellow sticker CCC assumes the propane tank(s) are full and accounts for the propane weight in the CCC.
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ktmrfs
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05/23/12 08:07am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Keystone service
One week before our 1 yr warranty expired on our outback I noticed the alloy wheels had small white spots. Dealer took pictures and sent them to keystone. I expected "normal wear and tear, cosmetic, no warranty" as a response. A few days later the dealer called and said "bring it in, we have 4 brand new alloy wheels for you under warranty".
That was the only warranty or other issue we have had with the trailer after 2 years, 10K+ miles and about 120 camping days.
We are happy!
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ktmrfs
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05/23/12 08:05am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Shore power automatic switch to inverter.
X2 on the transfer switch. They were designed specifically for this purpose.
x3. that's what we did. most transfer switchs can be wired to either switch from shore to generator with a 30 second delay to let the generator stabilize, or switch "instantly" from shore to inverter with a 30 second delay between inverter and switch back to shore. That's the way ours is wired. Works great. And our xfer switch/inverter is wired so the inverter only power the wall outlets, no microwave/ac/fridge etc. so we can't accidentally overload the inverter.
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ktmrfs
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05/23/12 07:59am |
Beginning RVing
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RE: Reese safty pin hard to remove
That set bolt for the snap-up bracket is not supposed to be very tight. I think it is only supposed to be tightened about 1/2 turn after touching the frame. It is only designed to keep the bracket from sliding forward or backward on the A frame - not for holding it on. The tension from the drawn up chains puts plenty of pressure on the bracket to keep in on. In fact, with the Dual Cam system, the bars do not put any forward or backward pressure on the snap ups so the only function of that bolt would be to keep the bracket in place when not towing. It would not need to be tight at all.
You need to check the hitch setup. It is possible that your bars are hitting the dual cam arms or are being tensioned too much when making a turn in a dip or rise, such as entering or leaving a gas station.
If, after checking your hitch setup, you still are having problems you can through bolt the brackets on to the A frame to keep them from bending.
Barney
In cases I've seen where the clip is hard to remove, or the bracket bent, I agree with Barney. The cause ends up being the bar hitting the cam arms and putting extreme pressure on the bracket and bending it. this is especially true with the pre 2010 dual cam setup (chromated arms not the black arms)
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ktmrfs
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05/22/12 08:15pm |
Towing
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RE: Ran Out Of Propane Already?
we keep our trailer thermostat set at 45F at night, programmed to come on to 68 in the AM. At the coast for 12 days, fridge on electric except when towing, WH on gas/electric. 7 days and one 30# tank was empty. Pretty consistent. Remember, a 30KBTU furnace is using slightly over 1/3 gallon of propane/hr. a 30# tank holds 7 gallons max. that equal 21hours of furnace. if you had the furnace on during the night, you could easily gone through 30# as quick as you did.
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ktmrfs
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05/21/12 06:25pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Interesting Tire Decision, Opinions Welcome
My solution is Maxxis AND TPMS on my trailers. BTW the towmasters on our outback so far are doing OK. They will probably last till this fall, Have about 15K miles on them. Maxxis on the other trailer are lasting longer. Already have a TPMS on both trailers, and only tire I'll buy are Maxxis.
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ktmrfs
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05/21/12 05:50pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Holding Tank sensors>>>>
horst miracle sensors are a big improvement at a slight cost and effort. exact fit replacement for existing sensors. To really completely solve the problem under all conditions you'll need a new system that has external tank sensors. Lots more $$$. the horst sensors have proven to be reliable and accurate in my black and grey tanks.
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ktmrfs
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05/21/12 05:46pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Lube on Lug Studs
...
No who remembers the old Chrysler products up through the late 60's that had left hand threads on one side of the car and right hand threads on the other side!! Stud had a "L" or "R" stamped on the end of the stud.
For what purpose did they use different threads?
John
the theory I was always told was that they would always self tighten and wouldn't have to worry about a lug nut/knock off coming loose. Don't know if it was really true or not.
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ktmrfs
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05/21/12 12:01pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: GVWR of TH
As noted the CCC is all cargo,not just the toys in a TH.
and batteries, propane, water,
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ktmrfs
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05/21/12 11:52am |
Towing
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RE: Torklift
We use the set that you can "engage" or "disengage" (rotates 90 degrees) on our silverado HD. Very impressed so far. With the torquelifts, the rear only sags about 1" when I have the front back to normal ride height with the DC set up. have 1400lbs on the tongue. IMHO you can't beat the price, performance or ease of use/installation. Much better than air bags IMHO.
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ktmrfs
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05/21/12 11:36am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Lube on Lug Studs
When you add lubrication to threads the torque that you apply with your wrench is roughly 20 percent more than what you intended. Key work "roughly." You are going to get lots of opinions on whether to apply anti seize compound. I've never used it on lug nuts. If you do use the compound then the torque wrench setting should be something less than what the recommended torque is supposed to be. You will sometimes see references to dry torque values and "wet" torque values. In critical situations they do make a distinction between dry and lubricated values.
x2 on the above. For critical applications torque values are given for dry and lubed threads. Difference can be dramatic.
Lug nuts are one of the threads that I have never seen a manufacturer specify that any lube should be applied to them. Every case I've seen specifically states NOT to lube. There may be an exception, but don't recall them.
No who remembers the old Chrysler products up through the late 60's that had left hand threads on one side of the car and right hand threads on the other side!! Stud had a "L" or "R" stamped on the end of the stud.
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ktmrfs
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05/19/12 09:46am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Solar or Generator?
To add to my original post. We spent the last two weeks camping on the oregon coast. One of the unusual times with no rain, and clear sky's every day. there was NO repeat No campground that we chose to stay at that had enough clear path to the sun such that we were able to get more than 3-4 hours of solar unless we moved our portable solar panels around during the day. To many trees and tall shrubs. Even then the max would have been about 8 hours under best conditions. and none of the campsite would have given us more than a few hours if the panels were on the trailer roof with all the tree cover. Since we were gone most of the daytime, moving panels really wasn't an option, so we lived with only a few hours of solar charging.
We have 160 watts of portable solar panels with a MPPT controller, 10-12A under ideal conditions. I love it, and it minimizes the time we need to run a generator. But the reality is unless we really conserved, solar by itself isn't really viable if we want to dry camp more than 3-4 days w/o electric or a generator unless we can get 6-8 hours of clear sun w/o moving the panels. Places like that usually mean we want AC in the afternoon anyway. Batteries are a pair of Trojan T125's.
The solar is a great supplement, with it, along with a generator, we moved from running the genny at times to only charge the batteries, to charging batteries only when the genny was running for some other reason, microwave, AC etc. Now we only need the genny for charging every few days for a few hours at most.
And during the times with cloud cover, even all day doesn't keep up with our current draw. The 10-12 A drops down to 4-6 A at best under moderate clouds, so I'm down to 30AH/day to the batteries at best, our draw is 60AH/day or so. It sure helps, but doesn't replace the genny.
My 160W of solar was $500 for the portable panels and $200 for a good MPPT controller. a little less than 2000W honda which gives us 10X the power (1600VA continous)
If we had to give up one, the solar would disappear in a hearbeat. We'd be hanging on to the generators kicking and screaming.
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ktmrfs
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05/18/12 11:02pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Solar or Generator?
A lot of campgrounds are in the forest/trees, so getting enough sun w/o a portable solar array that you keep moving around during the day can be a problem. And during the day I'd rather be out exploring. And solar on the trailer means parking where you will get as much direct sun as possible. Opposite of what we want in the summer!
I have 160W of portable solar with an MPPT controller and a trailer with all LED lights. In good sun the solar will pretty much keep the batteries charged (12A max chargng current). But no microwave or AC.
I have two honda 2000's. So we use the solar when we can, and back it up with the honda(s) as needed. When using the microwave I fire up both genny's and also charge the batteries with dual pd chargers stuffing 100A into the batteries. Minimizes genny run time.
that said, 160W of solar with a MPPT controller is going to cost as much as a honda 2000. IMHO get a QUIET genny, first use it only when needed, then think about solar as a fill in.
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ktmrfs
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05/18/12 09:57am |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Maxxis trailer tires
Maxxis rates their tires to 65mph. Do all of you keep within that limit? If not what speeds do you run at?
ALL ST tires, regardless of mfg are rated at 65mph max.
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ktmrfs
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05/17/12 09:13am |
Towing
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