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RE: No electric in rig - although plugged in - bad batteries.
While you've got your meter out, switch it over to AC, set the scale to something above 120VAC and check the 15/20A plug at the pedestal. If it's powered up, plug in your 15-30A adapter and check its output; again, if its powered up, plug in your 30-50A adapter and check once more - if you've still got somewhere around 120VAC at the output of your 50A adapter, then you know you've got power at least up to your shore power cord. Then it's just a matter of following it in to your breaker panel.
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Alan_Hepburn
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05/20/13 09:35pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Inside Cover for Shower Skylight
Yup - go to any fabric store and buy a piece of foam big enough to fit. I used some marine vinyl to make a light shield on ours - held it up with some snap fasteners so that it can be removed easily.
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Alan_Hepburn
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05/20/13 09:25pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco
If it is a leasurely trip, then right up the 101, First stop Paso Robles, Vines RV Park is lovely, then past Carmel to Moss Landing KOA, a great base camp for the penninsular, or Santa Cruz KOA which is larger and more family oriented. Keep heading north over the Golden Gate to Petaluma KOA, a great basecamp for the San Francisco area.
Be aware that it won't be an inexpensive trip. The Vines RV Park wants anywhere from $60 to $80 per night; the Moss Landing KOA is around $75 per night; the Santa Cruz KOA is $83 per night; and the Petaluma KOA is a bargain at $61 per night!
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Alan_Hepburn
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05/18/13 09:16pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Diesel on I-880 Bay Area
If you're going to be going south on 101 to Paso Robles then you can make a small detour - from 880 go north on 101 to the DeLaCruz exit. Make a left at the top of the off-ramp and then a right after you cross over the freeway, onto Central Expressway. The first light will be Lafayette - turn right and go to the second light. On the right will be a Rotten Robbie station that has a real good turnover of diesel fuel, and when we used to buy diesel it was one of the lowest price places in the area. - Our crew cab F450 with a 37 foot fifth wheel fit in the atation with no problems.
Farther south, on 101 take the Tennant Rd exit in Morgan Hill and go right at the end of the off-ramp. Get in the left lane and you'll see a Safeway station on the left at the corner of Tennant and Monterey Rd - a bout 3 stop lights if I recall. Again easy in and out for large motorhomes, and the diesel is reasonable. If you have a Safeway members card you get a discount based on how much you spend in the store. We just filled up our gas motorhome there this morning - the pump price was $3.899 per gallon, but with our Safeway card we got 10 cents off per gallon for the first 30 gallons.
If you want to stay right on the highway, the Garlic Farm is a good choice - and the campground there is a nice place for a layover if you need to stay the night.
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Alan_Hepburn
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05/12/13 10:13pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Is it possible to rent a tow dolly?
And the upside of buying one? when you get back from your trip, give it a good wash and wax and sell it for more than you paid for it! :B
So tow dollies are an appreciating asset? How can they be found for a cheap price in the used market if everybody turns around and sells them for more than they paid for it?
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Alan_Hepburn
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05/12/13 10:00pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Fried A/C, 2 TV's and micro wave-my fault or electricians.
...The job of the inspector is to visually inspect the installation to confirm that it meets code requirements, and that it was done to a minimum standard.
Meeting code requirements includes making sure that L1, L2, Neutral, and ground are all connected to the correct terminals - they also make sure that the correct size wire is used based on the requirements of the load and the circuit breaker. Sounds great when you state what SHOULD be done in a perfect world. However, wording your statement as a declaration of fact isn't going to wash. After a few hundreds hours spent, along side of various electrical inspectors, as the perform their duties, I can assure you that a significant percentage of them would of given this job a pass, and jumped in the truck less than five minutes after they arrived. Doesn't matter what their job is on paper, the reality is that they often have a full schedule, a lot of ground to cover, and often no time to be going over another professional's work with a microscope.
And how long would that inspector have a job if it turns out that he signed off on a job that ended up killing someone? Cities, as a general rule, do not like liability issues and I don't think miswiring an electrical circuit would be something that would be passed by ANY ethical inspector...
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Alan_Hepburn
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05/10/13 05:31pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Fried A/C, 2 TV's and micro wave-my fault or electricians.
...The job of the inspector is to visually inspect the installation to confirm that it meets code requirements, and that it was done to a minimum standard.
Meeting code requirements includes making sure that L1, L2, Neutral, and ground are all connected to the correct terminals - they also make sure that the correct size wire is used based on the requirements of the load and the circuit breaker.
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Alan_Hepburn
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05/08/13 09:32pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: The elephant behind the palm tree...
I usually get this question asked in a sarcastic way when I'm refueling, "what kind of mileage does that thing get?" My reply, "enough"!
My usual response: it gets lousy mileage for a car, but great mileage for a house!
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Alan_Hepburn
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05/06/13 05:49pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Flying Colors
Just FYI there is a park (or was) in Yuma that does not like any flags any one run into that in there travels?
JimR
Yup - The Palms RV Resort. The Fleetwood Motorhome Association just had their Western Rally there last month. They do not allow ANY flags at all on your rig. They also don't allow any trailers, tow dollies, etc. - one member of the FMA had to stop at the front gate, unload his motorcycles from his trailer, put the trailer in a storage lot across the street (at $20 per day!) and then he was allowed to park at his site. Apparently it's okay to have a motorcycle on your site - just no trailers.
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Alan_Hepburn
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04/29/13 07:56pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Tires, replace or not
Our Bounder was built in October of 2006 - 5 of the tires had a date code of 2806, while one tire, the driver's side front, had a date code of 3405. They had just over 16K miles on them. During a pre-trip inspection I saw significant sidewall cracking on the driver's side front tire. Basically, everywhere there was lettering on the sidewall had cracking at the edge of the lettering. I just replaced all 6 tires through the FMCA program and saved $100 per tire over the best price I could find on the tires locally.
Unless you're on the road constantly, mileage means little when it comes to RV tires - check the date codes and, as Michelin states, after 5 years have them checked annually be a competent tire guy. Some people can get 10 years out of them; others are lucky to get 7 years. Covering the tires helps, but unless you can keep the atmosphere away from both sides of the tire the ozone still works its magic on the rubber.
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Alan_Hepburn
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04/26/13 02:05pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: BlueOx Aventa LX & Swagman XC-2 & Roadmaster Dual Drop Rcvr
I don't have that exact setup - mine is a Aventa II tow bar and a Harbor Freight dual receiver, but it works fine.
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Alan_Hepburn
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04/22/13 08:41pm |
Dinghy Towing
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RE: RV weekend sale!
Probably pegged the OP as a lookey loo
Yeah, sometimes that can turn around and bite them in the posterior! We were looking at fifth wheels back in 1989 and pulled onto a lot in our Jeep Wrangler. We were ignored as we looked at pretty much every trailer on the lot. We found one we were interested in and went searching for a sales person. We ended up in the "showroom" and finally found someone willing to be seen with us. When we told him which trailer we were interested in he laughed and said "That's a fifth wheel - you can't pull it with THAT (pointing to our Jeep)". After we explained that we had a Chevy C30 Crew Cab Dually at home we suddenly turned into celebrities - we had 4 sales people trying to be the first to talk to us...
We ended up buying somewhere else...
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Alan_Hepburn
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04/21/13 02:36pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Oxygenics Shower Head
We picked up a white one last week at the Fleetwood Motorhome Association Western rally - cost us $12 (we won a door prize that gave us a good discount)!
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Alan_Hepburn
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04/15/13 07:41pm |
Do It Yourself Modifications and Upgrades (DIY)
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RE: Smart car
I don't think they are very smart. For what they cost, there are several alternative 4 passenger cars and suvs that will give as good a gas mileage. You can buy a basic Honda CRV LX for around $21,000.
I don't think it's very smart to carry around an extra two seats that will never get used. As for mileage - we have a Ford Escape that we towed on a tow dolly. When we towed it, at 55 mph, our motorhome got about 5.5 - 6 mpg on l=flat ground. Towing our smart, at 55 mpg on the same road we get 7.5 - 8 mpg. May not seem like a lot to some people, but 2 mpg improvement works for me!
As for cost: why should we pay 1/3 more for a basic car when we got a well-equipped car for around $14K?
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Alan_Hepburn
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04/15/13 07:27pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Starting a diesel every 30 days.
Yup - if you're going to go to the trouble to start it up, you need to drive it around for a while. Diesels make very little waste heat when idling so the oil never gets up to a high enough temperature to boil off and condensation - you end up harming the engine more by idling it.
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Alan_Hepburn
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04/13/13 07:48pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Smart car
We've been towing ours for almost 5 years now so I think I can add some comments...
We have a 2008 Passion Coupe with a Blue Ox baseplate and Aventa II towbar. In 2008 smart did not specify that a battery disconnect was needed and I never installed one. The recommendation came in 2009 because they found that a few people were not real careful with turning the ignition OFF before towing. If the car powers up the computer can any of a number of things, including shirting into gear or locking up the brakes. If you make sure the transmission is in N and the key is OFF then everything works well. If you're sloppy smart felt it was prudent to shut off the power to the computer to be on the safe side. So, you can either install the battery disconnect or not. As for the steering issue - I encountered that when we first had the baseplate installed. When starting to move, if you are going straight ahead then you're usually good. But if the motorhome has to change direction at all as it's moving slowly chances are good that the smart steering will oscillate from lock to lock. It's all due to the geometry of the motorhome and the caster of the smart's front end. In our case I needed an 8" drop receiver to get the draw bar close to level - that moved the pivot point of the draw bar back about a foot. With that configuration I only got the oscillation if I had to make any kind of turn starting out. But then I added a dual receiver to the mix so I could carry a bicycle on a rack. That pushed the pivot point of the drawbar back about another foot and I got oscillation no matter what I did. The solution was a 34" bungee cord strapped to the steering wheel and connected to the drivers seat rails. It gives enough play so the wheel can turn freely as needed, but pulls it back to center and prevents any oscillation.
The photos of the cars on the back of tractors, or on lifts behind motorhomes are all the older 450 models. The 451 is 8" longer and makes the combination too wide to be legal.
One issue we just experienced this week: towing in a high crosswind - heading west from Yuma toward San Diego on I8 we hit strong winds - over 50 mph sustained. The winds were coming from about 45 degrees to our left front. Apparently we hit the right angle - at highway speeds there is a low pressure area directly behind the motorhome; then the added wind hitting the front of the smart car, in that low pressure area is enough to lift the hood off the car! Fortunately it's secured with a safety strap or it would be somewhere in New Mexico by now. The first time it happened I was able to re-latch it but it came off again the next day, this time taking the latches with it. Replacement latches are $8.25 each at the dealer in case anybody needs them! My next modification will be to add a bungee cord to hold the hood on while towing. If you use a bra on the front of the car that will also keep the hood in place.
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Alan_Hepburn
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04/11/13 08:55pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Itasca Sunova
I always think that the Sunova should have a "B" model - with the appropriate decals on the body: Sunova B :B
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Alan_Hepburn
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04/07/13 12:56pm |
Beginning RVing
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RE: Replacement Tire sizes
I want to replace the tires on my Itasca motorhome. The current size is 235/80R22.5
I can only find Michelin tires in that size and the prices is extreme (I'm aware of the quality)
The price for the Michelin XCE in 235/80R22.5 is $413.58 each through the FMCA - a savings of $100 off retail. You have to be an FMCA member to get that price, but it's a no-brainer to spend $40 to save $600 on a set of tires!
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Alan_Hepburn
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04/07/13 12:42pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Getting the RV ready - Tires
If you're pricing Michelin tires, it's hard to beat the price that FMCA has negotiated for us. I just replaced the 6 tires on our motorhome and saved just under $100 per tire going through FMCA.
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Alan_Hepburn
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04/04/13 03:49pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Firefox, Chrome, or Safari?
http://i.imgur.com/bMyVQM3.gif
This is the default Privacy configuration under Chrome's Settings. I personally unchecked all options, and don't really notice much of difference in browser speed.
I also turned off all the options, but it still seemed to use bandwidth continuously. I'm running a program called NetWorx that monitors network usage. It's got a small icon down in the system tray that shows current upload and download data. When Firefox is minimized and idling, NetWorx shows 0 for upload and download; when Chrome is minimized and idling, NetWorx shows non-zero values for upload and download activity.
My Verizon mifi gives me 10GB per month of data - when I run Firefox my wife and I typically use around 9.5GB per month. The 2 weeks I was running Chrome we used 11GB for the month. I can only conclude that no matter how you set the user controls Chrome uses bandwidth even when idling.
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Alan_Hepburn
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03/26/13 08:56pm |
Technology Corner
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