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Subject |
Author |
Date Posted |
Forum
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RE: Honda 2000 tied to Honda 1000
Has anyone tried this,
Haven't tried it because Honda says not to.
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bill h
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03/12/10 10:03pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: use of outdoor shower when in Boondock mode
If you shower inside, your drain water is toxic, evil and illegal to let out on the ground.
If you shower outside, it is OK because tenters do it.
Same with dishwater.
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bill h
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03/12/10 10:25am |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: shuntless ammeter
Can not order one today but I bookmarked it for later delivery
Oh,,,, I like where it says "THe first"
Years ago (Growing up on the farm) I drove, a FORD tractor, this was a 20 horse Farm Tractor with a Ferguson Hydraulic system and it was also painted Fergurson Gray instead of Ford Blue.. (I also drove a Ferguson TO-30, basically the same tractor but 30 horse)
THe Ford had a shuntless ammeter on it,, There was a wire that passed through a metal loop on the back of the meter but there was NO electrical connection to the meter itself.. Thing worked, that is all I could tell you then.
Today I know about Hall Effect (In fact I demonstrated it in college)
I remember studying the "left hand rule" in the '50s. I think we watched WW II Navy training films on it. It was demonstrated by placing a compass near a wire with DC current flowing through it.
I have had a shuntless ammeter since forever. It is held with the back of it next to the wire, and it reads in DC amps. I use it for checking alternator output and starter amp draw. It has two scales, one needle and two sets of notches on the back for light and heavy wire.
There have been "short detectors" around forever, too, that seemed to use the same principle.
It is possible to get wrapped around the axle with Left Hand Rule, Right Hand Rule, Hall Effect and Lorentz-something-or-other. :)
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bill h
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03/12/10 10:20am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Use of Tire Pressure Monitor Caps
Only problem I had with them was the wife had to run alongside the rig to warn me if they changed color..
My wife found that running alongside was OK, but the wheel rotation still made it hard to detect a color change. She solved that by rolling like hoop snake at the same rotational speed as the wheel, but that only worked when she was younger.
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bill h
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03/12/10 10:07am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Charger Size and Gen Times Figures
Thanks, it would be very interesting if that Iota could be moved to the battery bank temporarily to work the same as a portable charger for wiring, and then compare results with the graph above.
Those results for that Iota are kind of shocking. It seems converters are not located to advantage in many rigs.
The Iota is connected to the batts with 2 gauge wire perhaps 12 feet away.
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bill h
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03/11/10 11:26pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Bridgestone vs BF Goodrich
I just replaced the front Bridgestone M734Fs with R250fs. Big improvement. I am very happy with them. Steel sidewalls.
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bill h
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03/11/10 10:35pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Quartzsite Veterans a question for you..please ?
However, as long as you stay between the paved road and first wash you should be fine.
The camping area on either side of Plomosa Rd will support your 5th wheel no problem. As long as you dont cross through a wash and get hammered with rain, traction and ground support is excellent for a heavy rig.
Yup. That is the way to stay safe, particularly in a wet year. Even in a dry year, some of the washes are dodgy.
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bill h
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03/10/10 07:55am |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: Charger Size and Gen Times Figures
Nice Work! Very informative.
Forgot to mention those times are with portable smart chargers.
FWIW, I have found my portable charger to be more efficient than my built in converter/charger.
I have only used my Iota DLS 75IQ converter/charger and my portable Vector 1095A. Even though it is rated at one third the Iota, the Vector puts more amps into the batteries over the charge cycle.
With my two T-125s at 50%, the Iota starts our at 36 amps dropping to 27 amps after one minute, and rapidly tapering off to 25 amps after 5 minutes. Stayed at 25 amps for about an hour, and starts to drop down after that.
The Vector starts out at 25 amps and stays there until the batteries are in the mid to high nineties on the percent SOC display on my TriMetric.
The Vector can be powered by my very quiet teensie-weenie EX650, while the Iota cannot.
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bill h
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03/10/10 07:44am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Looking for Cheap Digital Panel Meter...
Today at lunch, I ran down to the local electronics surplus/salvage store and picked up the parts needed to build this: Water Level Indicator for $1.86. Seems like a fun project too.
I see it calls for 6 volt power? Did you:
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1. Tap just one of your 6V GC batteries?
2. Build a regulated 6 volt source?
2a. Use a 5 volt source?
3. Dropping resistor? I'm gonna guess changing load would make that
imprecise.
4. Try it on 12 volts?
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bill h
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03/10/10 07:26am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Generators, two or one
We started out with one of the Honda EU2000i's and soon found we needed a second one to tie with the first one to run our AC...after 1 1/2 years of lugging both of these around we decided to purchase a new 5er and the first option we chose was to get a built-in Onan 5500W generator...one of the better decisions we have made
A built-in is definitely more convenient, but is usually louder than a small Japanese inverter gen, and will definitely cost more to charge batteries. A little inverter gen powering a good three stage charger is the most economical way to charge batteries.
The amount of the saving will depend on your energy use pattern. I have spoken with snowbirds who paid for their little inverter gen in a fairly short time, and had much less noise to boot. The figures one quoted are not relevant now, as fuel prices are higher.
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bill h
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03/10/10 06:57am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Transmission Cooler
I added this one Tru-Cool Max about 8 months ago on an F-250 7.3 liter diesel (4R100 transmission).
I had to go to that one, too. Works fine.
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bill h
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03/09/10 09:21pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Quartzsite Tornado?
The big jan storm had tornadoes touch down in Blythe.
susan saw the same cloud and commented that it looked like it wanted to funnel, but we missed it.
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bill h
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03/08/10 09:47pm |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: Fuel-cell technology arrives for RVs
i am using a Protonex fuel cell that uses methanol. It has to be a low sulphur methanol, though, so as not to wreck the membrane. by controlling the fuel supply, they control the purity.
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bill h
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03/08/10 09:41pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Longer valve stems
Best are short stems, but you have to have a trucker's filler and gauge or something similar.
Next best is long stems, but things get sticky when tire positions are changed.
Next best is hard metal extensions held on with blue Loctite.
Last place is flexible extensions. One failed on me. Lost a tire, lots of drama. Replaced its mate on acc of running overloaded for a while. No more.
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bill h
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03/08/10 08:10am |
Tech Issues
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RE: gas stabilizer question
I use RedLine fuel system cleaner for extreme situations and Seafoam for normal maintenance.
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bill h
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03/08/10 07:59am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: 1991 31' P30-Steer Safe or Safe T Plus?
If I had to buy one myself I would get the Safe T Plus. To me springs belong on garage doors and not under my rv.
Both units have springs. One is internal, the other external. You pick what pleases your eye. They both help center the steering, providing a little more resistance to side forces.
I would expect the external set up to have more adjustability as far as spring tension, but can't say for sure, as no experience with the other one.
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bill h
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03/08/10 07:57am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: air bag tricks?
dupe
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bill h
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03/07/10 09:39pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Where to buy tires in So. Cal.
Fremont Tires in L.A.
J
Fremont or Fairmont?
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bill h
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03/07/10 09:37pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: The ' BLOOM-BOX'
Interesting,
Bill h, has a neat small fuel cell. Seems all these different methods of its use, come from Silicon Valley.
The Protonex unit I am using is made in Boston and Colorado. They are a Boston-area company.
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bill h
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03/07/10 08:39am |
Tech Issues
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RE: attributes of an ideal converter?
One made by a company with parts, service and tech support.
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bill h
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03/06/10 06:58pm |
Tech Issues
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