RE: Motorhome inexcusable DC wiring
I was chasing a wiring problem last summer and called Fleetwood. They sent me the wiring schematic for the RV by model number. That vague drawing was totally USELESS. If that's what the assembly people had to work with, I understand what a substantial portion of the problem is. Add that to poor workmanship and lack of caring about the work being done by generic workers and this is not surprising in the least.
As for techniques used, well how's this: To turn the floor lights on, you apply power to one of the two wires running to the bulbs, to turn it off with the other switch (this is not a 3 way setup) you obviously don't break the circuit like any sensible person would do, you go out of your way to add 12V to the ground wire so the potential difference between the wires is 0V even though both are now hot with no light being emitted. Fruitcake electrical wiring for sure.
Don't even get me started on what kind of thought process that leads to routing wires through the wheel wells without some serious armor around them. One blowout or tread departure and the wiring is finished. Crazy crazy.
As I work on things, I'm making my own wiring schematic AND rewire things as needed.
RE: GPS Error
Physics overrules signs on bridges.
Signs on bridges overrrule numbers on maps
GPS database numbers are probably derived from map numbers IF those numbers were ever looked up in the first place.
Not reading the sign on bridges before proceeding under bridges is almost always directly related to a software error in the device that connects the steering wheel to the seat cushion.
"If this guy was a professional driver, he should have known his bus was 12 feet high and couldn't fit into a 9-foot box,"
IMHO: Case closed right there.
RE: 10% ethanol
"gas mileage varies very little with an ethanol blend compared to straight gasoline."
They LIE and I have the real world numbers to prove it.
Motorcycle: 57mpg. Put in 10% ethanol and it dropped to 52mpg immediately. Two tanks later it's still 52mpg. Carefully measure the fuel quantity and it's roughly the same numbers. I'm thinking what??, because if there's a mileage drop, there's usually a carburetor related mechanical failure that's directly related to it..but I can't find anything mechanical going on. So I put gas from the jeep that was straight gasoline (no ethanol) in at the next refuel and it jumped to 57mpg immediately. 10% next time and guess what? 50mpg immediately.
Same type numbers occurred for the jeep. As for the RV, well, I can't find non 10% fuel anymore to try the experiment but the sucker bet is that the trend continues there as well.
RE: Beginner RVers: Your Awning and Murphy's Law
Strange. I have NEVER seen an awning damaged by wind, rain, or whatever. (Other than the movie RV, of course.) I have seen a lot of tie downs like MI Director mentions.
I see about 2-3 a year get taken out by high winds along the Front Range. Occasionally you'll go to bed with 5-10mph winds and wake up in the middle of the night to 60+ winds. If the wind gets under the awning, it generally rips the lower attach points out and throws the roller and support arms up over top of the RV often damaging vents, AC and antennas. Sometimes it hits the RV behind them as well. If the wind can't get under it, the upper attach points get ripped out or the support arms bend while it and shoves the entire thing down the side of the RV..OR it pushes the upper support arms to minimum length then gets under the awning and uses all that slack to yank hard and rip everything to pieces. The awnings tend to get shredded while all this is going on. Deflappers and tiedown ropes just delay the inevitable by a few seconds when the wind is determined to destroy stuff. It's not pretty. Every single incident I've seen could have been easily prevented in under one minute just before bedtime or before getting in the car.
I think the use common sense suggestion is better than an "always" edict. I'm too lazy to do roll it in and out several times a day.
I agree with the common sense approach up to a point. You generally only have to roll it up if you're leaving the RV for a length of time and at night or if the weather is threatening. It only takes 1 minute to save yourself a lot of hassle and lots and lots of pennies. One minute out of your day or $1000+ and down time for repairs. Choose.
RE: Ethanol in fuel?
Less BTU per gallon.
I get a 10-15% reduction in mileage with the stuff. Higher price, less total energy available, hate what it does to my motorcycle carburetors, vapor locks much easier. Apparently it burns cleaner however I have to use more for the same mileage so the net decrease in pollution vs miles is probably zero. I can no longer find any gas station around that doesn't have the nasty gunk in their fuel.
RE: Fire Escape ladder - do you have one?
Whoever designs emergency exits in most of the RV's that I've seen obviously totally ignores reality when they have their pencil out. My escape window is in the bathroom. It's the classic small window with a 6ish foot drop to the ground with no hand holds. Just a small hand hold outside above the window would make it useable but nooooooo, can't have that out there for some reason short of installing one myself. Just 6 feet away and far more convinent for a fast egress is the back window (does not open) that happens to have a readily available roof ladder right there to grab and descend.
In my RV the plan is to forget the silly time consuming dangerous head first to the ground escape window. I'm going out the much larger back window and taking the ladder to the ground under control. In the event a quick egress is required, it will be much MUCH faster and far safer going out the back via the ladder.
RE: Not accepting credit cards
That's crazy. With today's fuel prices you're asking to be robbed carrying enough cash around to pay for a tank full in a car, much less a RV.
Besides, the bank will likely turn you in to the DEA for withdrawing large amounts of $20's. I mean if you need that kind of cash, you're obviously buying illegal drugs.
RE: a few thoughts
80 would be about right if it's 100 outside, and you're right, it is better than 100. Unless your rig is a 4 season package with extra insulation all around, your ac is doing about as good as could be expected. And yes, the gray water tanks can stink as bad as the black water, because of food particles and bacteria not getting flushed out as well as the black water tank. I've tried a few products designed to deodorize the gray tanks, but the galley one in particular is bad. Think I will try bleach next. Any ideas, please throw them out. Good luck to you!
I get about a 20 degree temperature drop when the sun is out. The AC is trying to cool the air mass while fighting off solar heating. It's like filling up a swimming pool with the drain open.
As for the grey tank: As long as I stay on top of the geo method in both tanks, I've never had a smell. I neglected the grey tank too much and had the same problem you're describing. STINKY during dumps and the bathroom sink smelled occasionally. (Trust me, DO NOT ever overfill the grey tank and let it back up into the tub when it stinks like that) The geo method was catching up again but it was taking too long. I got some of the standard RV blue stuff for holding tanks, (first time I've ever bought any in almost 2 years of fulltiming) read the label that said X ounces per Y gallons, started to do the math in my head and decided this really needed Caveman Og's bucket chemistry technique and promptly dumped half the bottle down the shower drain and let it cook as I filled the tank over the week and did it again for the next dump. Stinky gone now.
RE: Grey valve replacement woes
Had to use one hand to pull on one section of PVC to widen the gap and the other to insert the valve.
Take it apart again and carefully make sure the valve seal doesn't get moved on the valve when sliding it up between the fixed PVC pipes. If it moves, you're asking for a leak if the seal gets pinched or sets wrong when you tighten the bolts. A little water or silicone spray on the rubber seals go a long way in making it slide into place easily. Take your time and don't let it bind up on either side of the valve as you're putting it in place.
RE: What I've learned so far about Full-time
Number one is you need quarters, LOTS of quarters!
You got that right. What people haven't caught onto yet is that to a fulltimer, quarters are worth about $0.50 maybe $0.75 each.
I carry spare change when going to the store. Pennies, nickles, dimes. The point is when I buy something I plan the cash I hand them so I'll get quarters back. Three quarters returned is the jackpot.
So IMHO there should be a warning posted somewhere that you need to have a ton of quarters with you at all times, when heading out as a full-time RV'er
There should at least be a dedicated compartment in all RV's somewhere that is designed to carry at least 5 lbs of quarters. Put quarters in the top slot, flip the lever and get 4 quarters out at a time.
RE: Stinky Slinky supports?
I have a few pieces of 4" PVC pipe cut in half the long way to hold the hose. I carry a few small pieces of wood that will hold it up as needed.
RE: Buying new RV and neighbors losing it all in floods.
1. Helping is one thing, and it's a good thing to do, but you don't have to give up your life because someone else is having problems. If it's not here somewhere, it's the classic Indian Ocean typhoons every year or earthquakes in Japan or people dying from silly easily preventable things in Africa or whatever.
2. To be very blunt: Living in low lying terrain in a major river basin flood plain area and below sea level in hurricane alley pretty much falls in the self inflicted category. Yes, I feel sorry for them just like anyone else should and would go help if I had the funds to do so, but it gets a little old after the 3rd or 4th time around with the same people in the same area. A while back I was listening to a guy with his entire family complaining that he lost everything he owned FOUR TIMES. I asked where he lived then later looked it up on a topographical map and looked at local weather patterns - it turns out he had kept rebuilding his house literally within sight of the Mississippi River in the area labeled "flood plains" that tends to flood every time a cloud goes over.
3. Consider that by owning a RV, you can RUN and don't have to be one of those individuals needing help when the water starts to rise where you live. Flood starts, hurricane approaches, you hitch up and run for high dry ground until the problem goes away.
RE: Truck charges trailer batteries when hooked up??
Should not, once again if wired properly.
Did someone change the basic design at some point? Granted that it's easier than dirt simple to add a relay to shut power off but that doesn't seem to be a standard design criteria. Every vehicle I've ever been around or owned has supplied power through the plug with the engine off and the key removed. Trace the wiring and it goes from the plug, direct to a fuse then direct to the main power buss. Sometimes there's a few extra terminals or alternate routing involved but electrically that's how it's wired.
Engine off + power available = battery power drain
RE: Why I Left Texas for the Summer
OK, I am the odd man on here,, I LIKE it hot,, can't stand cool and COLD? Forget about it,, Today here in Texas, just a stone throw south of Fort Worth, we had storms come through with rain and it never got above 85 all day.. All you "Texans" up in greeney state? stay there,, less traffic on the freeways. :-)
Did you mention what happens when the storms don't roll through to cool things off there? Last summer East of Dallas: 105 degrees, 100% humidity, SUN, no clouds, water saturated ground, NO air flow at all. It was actually cooler over concrete than over grass. I was there a few weeks ago and it was 95F and 90% humidity with no airflow at 9:30am.
To each their own I say.
I'll take -15F, many many feet of snow and blizzards for weeks on end over that kind of heat anyday.
RE: Air compressor line
Run a flexible hose from the compressor attachment to the mounted air line. If you hit a bump and the compressor jumps, you're going to likely break the regular attach point.
PVC is asking for trouble. It's all happy hunky dorey right up to the moment that it fails. PVC that fails under pressure tends to shatter into sharp high velocity projectiles. Metal piping or hoses that fail just dump the pressure through the break without coming to pieces. Don't forget that you're planning on running this plumbing OUTSIDE the trailer in one of the most hostile environments on a vehicle which means it'll probably get hit with stuff that will weaken the pipe. If you're running a hose through the PVC, no problem since it'll never be pressurized.
For the external mounted disconnects do you have a way to keep debris out of them? Think mud/dirt on the road during a rainstorm getting kicked up by the tires on oncoming traffic.
As someone else mentioned, what's wrong with a longer hose?
RE: Be safe and don't get in a hurry
I learned the same lesson except it was under the back of the RV. Just because you scooch out from under everything carefully and your head is clear of the STEEL hitch hardware and the bash your brains out BUMPER is well clear doesn't mean you're good to stand up. I got stupid and thought I was clear of everything. Missed the bumper, check. Missed the hitch, check. No compartments back there, no crazy mounted objects to ram into, check. Clear to the Moon...or at least as far as the bottom of the frigging spare tire. Had to pick myself up off the ground after that one.
