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Date Posted |
Forum
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RE: RV Parks w/older RV restrictions
The ten year thing doesn't bother me - Actually hardly anything bothers me at my age... If the camp sites don't like my ten year old trailer then they probably won't like me as well - Im pretty old myself haha...
Perhaps the Clampetts of the world would have problems..
http://legalectric.org/f/2011/02/clampetts.jpg height=300
source GOOGLE IMAGES
I suspose they would have to turn away something as nice as this
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-An9jogUSdzM/TaNi2YJxBfI/AAAAAAAACUQ/1cd42jA4Tp8/s1600/camping+012.jpg height=300
source GOOGLE IMAGES
I would just move on down the road and spend my money somewhere else.
Roy Ken
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RoyB
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05/24/13 08:42am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Under-chassis storage
I too have a bunch of room under my OFF-ROAD POPUP. I always told folks there is enough room under there to the string up a hammock and sleep there haha..
I always thought this would be a good place to mount a safe box with access from the floor of top side cabinet...
My frames are 8-inch tall so even staying just even with those would be a pretty big safe lock box...
Roy ken
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RoyB
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05/23/13 03:33pm |
Travel Trailers
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RE: Just purchased a hot rod from CW, have a question.
I just read this spec from CW on how many amps the HOTT ROD pulls...
"This will use approximately 440 watts (110 volts at 4 amps)"
This is getting even more interesting now. If it cycle on about every 30 minutes or more than it is something I should look into for sure...
I am pulling around 300WATTs now on my 1500WATT Inverter for all of our home entertainment and other keep alive items. Another 400WATTS is not a show stopper for me especially if its power on cycle is stretched out alot during a 24 hour period...
Roy Ken
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RoyB
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05/23/13 10:30am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Just purchased a hot rod from CW, have a question.
mchero - If it is in the 400WATT range I would try and use it on my inverter for when camping off the power grid. Would sure beat using up my propane to keep hot water going... Once the heat is up to temperature the gas furnace doesnt kick on very much here... Probably same deal with an electric element.
I need it for a PLAN B in my setup for sure.... My hot water may be my source of HYDRONIC HEAT for my trailer soon so will need HOT WATER all the time when camping off the power grid. I have got to get rid of my trailer propane heater and its high current 12VDC fan for sure...
Of course if the HOT ROD is high current then my INVERTER will be too small to run that... I need to run down the specs on it. I have seen lower wattage elements available in the 400-500WATT range.
I did see something hiding behind the propane igniter - didnt know if that was your HOT WATER drain plug or not. Hopefully the photo is making its location looking like its behind the igniter. My Suburban Model is definitely out of the way of anything on the bottom like I showed in my photo. I remove this plug to drain my hot water heater when winterizing.
What you got sounds interesting...
My entire water heater is of course covered with a heat pad so if the temperature sensor has to touch the metal case of the hot water heater than you will have to cut some of the padding out to attach the sensor. Sure don't want to drill a hole through the outer case hehe...
Roy Ken
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RoyB
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05/23/13 10:08am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Just purchased a hot rod from CW, have a question.
I am assuming this is the HOT ROD kit you are referring too... How many WATTS is this device... Hopefully something you can run from an INVERTER when you are running off the power grid.
http://www.rvpartsmarket.com/thumbnail.asp?file=assets/images/hr6.jpg&maxx=300&maxy=0 height=300
This will have to inserted into the HOT WATER HEATER and from the photo you posted I don't see the bottom unused drain port my Surburban model has. It may be hidden by your propane pilot light assy and I cant see it.
http://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mHzc6h_2bVcM6isD0DjS4ag.jpg height=300
My water drain port shown on the very bottom here is a standard size port where you would screw in the HOT ROD element.
Where are you going to insert the electric element into your hot water heater.
Roy Ken
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RoyB
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05/23/13 08:38am |
Tech Issues
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RE: 900 miles of Cicadas 1.5 inch and noisey East Coast US
I sit out in my CAMP BACKYARD every evening at the edge of my woods until dark here in King George - haven't heard them here yet...
Roy Ken
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RoyB
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05/23/13 08:20am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Ceiling Light dim on shore power
You may want to keep a close eye on your batteries. Sometimes finding a tripped converter circuit breaker means perhaps one of your battery cells have boiled out its fluids and the battery is starting to go into self destruct.
The converter/charger unit tripped it's circuit breaker because of a possible heavy load by the battery starting to go bad on you...
just my thoughts
Roy Ken
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RoyB
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05/23/13 07:38am |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Battery Isolator - doing exactly what it should shouldn't?
You have discovered why the DIODE ISOLATORS are not used anymore for charging DEEP CYCLE batteries. The high current diodes in the ISOLATOR have a .7VDC voltage drop across them and when it is really important to have 14.4 VDC for charging the deep cycle batteries and only getting 13.7VDC due to the voltage drop then it will be the difference of three hours charge time to more than twelve hours charge time to get the deep cycle batteries to their 90% charge state.
Today they use smart solenoids instead of diode based isolators to get the job done. The diode based isolators work great with your truck standard start battery but not so good feeding a deep cycle type battery unless you got a lot of time on hands to get it charged.
This is probably why you are finding both an isolator and solenoids in your setup.
just my thoughts
Roy Ken
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RoyB
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05/23/13 07:29am |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Will this generator work for my camper
using on private property you can do what ever you need to do. Most public camp grounds only allow you a coupe hours in the morning and maybe three hours in the early evening to run a generator. This doesn't give you much time to use the generator for air conditioning or high wattage type appliances. I dont know of any public camp ground we go to that would allow you to run the generator all night long. At the Natl Forest camp ground you usually get to run your generator from 8AM to 8PM. Never all night long at the places we go to here on the East side of the US.
This is why you see alot of folks beefing up there battery systems and smart mode charging converter/chargers, led lights etc so that can run all of the 120VAC toys with an Inverter and other 12VDC items direct connected to the battery banks. Then when allowed to run their generator it is only to used to re-charge the battery banks in the short run time they are allowed to use.
We camp off the power grid alot and do just fine doing just this. We watch HDTV every night and play with all kinds of other things usually most of the time between 8PM and 11PM. Our camp site is lit up just like we do at regular camp sites. Then the next morning we run the generator to re-charge everything back up to at least 90% charge state so we can do all of this all over again for the next day/night run off the batteries.
Being on private property your borrowed generator should do the trick for you just fine. Just be sure to have enough gasoline with you as you will probably use more gasoline then expected. My little 2KW Honda Generator will only run about 7 hours for 1/4 load on one tank of gasoline. Maybe just 4 hours under full load... My gasoline tank is almost 1 gallon capacity...
Also like mentioned above the overall rating of 5-6000 watts may not be available at each receptacle. They get tricky on you on specs and sometimes all you have available is half that much power at each side of the 120VAC receptacle. Both sides added together might be their final output rating. You need a good 3600WATTS (120VAC at 30AMPS) to run everything on your 30A trailer at the same time. The RV30A to 15A long Adapter can be picked up at WALMART. Looks something like this
http://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/370x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_16515.jpg height=200 Using this adapter plugged into one of your 120VAC standard receptacles on the generator will run most of your 120VAC items but not all at the same time.
The higher wattage twist lock type adapters to fit your generator will probably have to come from a RV PARTS place or ordered from AMAZON.
IMO it would be a good idea to do a test run at the house using the generator so you can be aware of the possible short comings...
Just some of my thoughts
Roy Ken
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RoyB
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05/23/13 06:41am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Ice cream stays soft. Wonder why?
Having similar problems with my setup I sometimes bring along my DORM SIZE smaller compressor type fridge if we going to be staying for several days. This has a freezer compartment where my inside fridge does not...
Fortunate for me I have enough room on my trailer front deck to haul the extra fridge with us.
When camping at regular electric camp sites its not so much a problem as we usually only have two days of frozen food with us at any given time. Have to go get ice everyday anyway.
Its only a problem when we are camping off the power grid somewhere and have to live out of the 5-day ice chest and generator power for the fridge a couple of times a day.
I like to have some ice cream every now and then as well...
We manage the best we can with what we have...
Roy Ken
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RoyB
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05/23/13 06:25am |
Tech Issues
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RE: EU200i Companion receptacles
msiminoff - thanks for the info... I was just looking at the info on the front panel that says 20AMPS for the 20A recetpacle and 26.6AMPS for the twist lock receptacle. There is definitely not 26.6AMPS there unless you are paralleled to another 2KW Generator... Actually without being paralleled there wont be 20AMPS available at the 20Amp receptacle either. Each generator by itself can only produce 13.3AMPS
again tks for the info - Never had touched one of the companion units.
Roy Ken
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RoyB
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05/23/13 05:49am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Help for satellite connection
I would look inside all of the cabinet doors around the fireplace for the TV WALL PANELS.
http://www.tomraper.com/console/watermark_large.php?src=88782 height=400
Should have a similar arrangement as you found in the bed room
http://www.tomraper.com/console/watermark_large.php?src=88774 height=300
photos from google images - not mine
Roy Ken
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RoyB
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05/23/13 05:21am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Help for satellite connection
I have a wall plate near my home entertainment setup in the living room area. The WALL PLATE also has the push button to provide 12VDC POWER to the OTA BATWING PREAMP on top of my trailer. I have seen these also mounted inside a cabinet door close to the home entertainment setup. Got to be a connection point somewhere where your TV set connects too. Hand trace the cable I guess.
I tried to use the SAT CONNECTION on the outside of the trailer when I was bringing along my DIRECTV portable DISH setup. There was no way I could use this SAT connection without modifying things which I really didnt want to do. The easiest way out for me was to run two RG cables from the portable SAT DISH two port LNB with one cable going to the living room home entertainment center location and the second RG cable going to the bed room location.
At each location in the trailer I would have a SAT RCVR from my house account and then connect the VIDEO OUTS of the SAT RCVR to each of the HDTV VIDEO TV inputs. Now I can watch CABLE/OTA TV at both locations the normal way by selecting CABLE or ANTENNA from the HDTV menu using my remote. I can also watch SAT TV by selecting VIDEO 1 from each HDTV using the remote.
This seemed to be the easiest way for me to make it all work. This is only for regular standard SAT TV reception. Have no idea what you are suppose to do to get HIGH DEF working from SAT TV.
My method allowed both the Living Room and Bedroom HDTV sets to watch whatever channels they want to watch all using the remote - never leave my big chair or the bed...
Now that digital NATL BROADCAST TV has come around I stopped bringing out my DIRECTV SAT EQUIP items and watch full blown full screen high def TV signals from the local towns just about anywhere we go. Even when we are at the Camp Grounds we watch the local town HDTV signals. Then switch back to CABLE to watch the cable channels if we want to. Most campgrounds only provide analog signals to the CABLE connections. Watch full blown High DEF digital TV form the local towns is much better quality...
When camping off the power grid we usually pick up 6-36 local towns using the OTA BATWING antenna and pick up all those full blown HDTV signals for free to the public. If we want to watch some cables channels then we downstream them using the internet. Don't need the SAT TV anymore...
My CABLE SAT HDTV story
Roy Ken
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RoyB
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05/23/13 05:08am |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: Testing Carbon Monoxide Detector
My 2KW Honda Generator is always sitting on the tailgate of my truck. If I have the exhaust pointed toward the trailer I usually set off the Carbon Monoxide detector. Then I have trouble getting it to quit sounding haha...
Roy Ken
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RoyB
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05/22/13 09:09pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: EU200i Companion receptacles
If it was me i would just pick up one of these multiple 120VAC drop cables and plug this into the 120VAC 20AMP receptacle on the Generator.
http://i50.tinypic.com/2j33yi1.jpg height=300
http://webobjects2.cdw.com/is/image/CDW/1315398?$product_230$ height=300
I have never played with the companion model but I almost think the twist lock receptacle 26.6A on the generator is not active unless you connect two of these 2KW generator in parallel..
just my thoughts
Roy Ken
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RoyB
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05/22/13 09:03pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Yard dolly or trailer mover?
I can move my 4200LBS OFF-ROAD POPUP pretty easy with my Sears LT1000 mower. It sure is alot easier to spot in my CAMP BACKYARD instead of hooking up to the truck...
Looks alot like this photo from google images...
https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/12676_3984155087567_210202370_n.jpg height=300
In NORTH TEXAS at a local RV dealership they used a riding lawn mower on their RV LOT to spot all of their trailers around... 5th wheels and all..
Guess it can be done...
Roy Ken
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RoyB
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05/22/13 12:22pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: No water, what am I missing
Here is a simplified typical trailer water flow block diagram showing the major players...
http://bigdiscountrv.com/images/water_system_diagram.png height=400
Roy Ken
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RoyB
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05/22/13 11:37am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Battery disconnect when plugged in at home?
I have my setup at home using a 20AMP 120VAC plugged into the garage. I also have the smart-mode converter/charger unit going which is not suppose to over charge batteries. However out of habit I still inspect my battery fluids levels just to be safe...
Like everyone else I usually follow my coffee cup around the yard at least once a day. Might as well do something useful...
If your converter/charger unit is constantly putting out 13.6VDC all the time it is right on the edge of over-charging your batteries which may boil out the fluids over time...
Its just a good idea I think to still checks the fluid levels.. Batteries don't come cheap...
My converter/charger is the PD9260C
just my thoughts
Roy Ken
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RoyB
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05/22/13 10:33am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Help please!
Here is typical 30AMP electrical block diagram...
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w251/Spike99-Pictures/Seasonal%20Camp%20Site/RV110V-12VRVDiagram-1.jpg height=400
Some converter/charger units require a good connected 12VDc battery to work...
Roy Ken
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RoyB
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05/22/13 10:25am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Why is my converter is cooking my battery?
Also if you have two or more batteries in this setup then the other batteries should also be replaced if they are older batteries. This would especially tru if your batteries are older than a year or so. The new battery may get sucked down to the same level as the older batteries and not last as long as a new battery should...
This just happened to me last season. One of my three 85AH 12VDC batteries had a shorted cell and boiled out all of the fluids. Got real warm when I tried to rejuvenate it. I am down to two batteries this season so I am also in the market for more batteries. Mine are at least all 12VDC sizes.
My converter is the PD9260C
Just my thoughts
Roy Ken
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RoyB
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05/22/13 08:27am |
Tech Issues
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