RE: who's responsible?
I'm in a RV park now with lots of nice big oak trees and it clearly states they are not responsible for tree damage on the contract.
I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV. But just because they say they're not responsible, that doesn't necessarily make it so. If they did something grossly negligent, they could still be liable regardless of how many pieces of paper they printed with their disclaimer. If the injured party had signed that piece of paper, it could make a claim more difficult, but not impossible.
RE: permanent supplemental brake?
Like many others, I'm also happily using the US Gear Universal Tow Brake. It's a bit of an initial installation process, but do that once and then you're never installing/removing anything every time you tow.
You simply plug it in in a similar way that you do when you connect your tow vehicle lights to get them to signal when your RV signal lights do.
I went a step further when installing mine and did a little custom wiring. Rather than having one umbilical cord for the lights, and another for the brakes, I combined them all into a single umbilical. I have a standard 7 pin trailer plug on the back of the coach. I used all of the standard wiring conventions to hook up the lights, then ran the brake system's control wire through the brake control pin, the battery charge through the aux power pin, and ground through the ground pin.
Now when towing, all I have to do is connect the tow bar and lighting umbilical and put the toad's transfer case in neutral (all of this like you'd do for any setup.) The only other thing I have to do (and the only thing related to the brake system) is clip on the break-away cable (just like you'd do for a trailer.)
One thing I really like about the control panel in the driver's cockpit is that I can easily test the brakes every time I head out: When I put the coach in drive and release the parking brake, I hold the manual lever down to keep the toad brakes engaged. I can feel the toad holding back the idling coach. Then I let go of the manual lever and feel the toad brakes release and the idling coach start to roll. That way I know it's properly engaging and releasing, and can drive off with confidence.
RE: Dish network keep alive
I have a hopper/joey at home and a 211k/tailgater for the RV.
It looks like the tailgater is the crux of the issue here. I did a little reading up on Hopper configurations after writing my previous post, and it looks like it is technically possible to hook up a standard ViP receiver to a Hopper/Joey setup, although a mixed setup like that is apparently not officially supported by Dish (in other words, you'd be on your own and don't expect them to help you figure it out.)
But since you are using it with a Tailgater, all that's out the window. In those references I looked at, they say that if you have a Tailgater receiver, it must be on a separate account from a Hopper, perhaps because of the firmware differences you mention.
my point is that I shouldn't have to jump through all these hoops to use my equipment, just because I let it go dormant for a few weeks.
That is a valid point. But looking at it from their point of view, they are doing it to help prevent signal piracy (and thus help prevent price increases to you.) The vast majority of users have their receivers hooked up at home where they are connected and on 24/7, so this scheme does not impact them. But for the small minority that have part-time installations (like RVers) it can be a problem.
They clearly are not totally ignoring the RV/temporary crowd with their offerings such as the Tailgater and prepaid seasonal RV accounts, and that's good. But with the transient nature of the Tailgater, you would think they would've worked out a better solution to this, even if it only applies to the Tailgater.
And before the Dish-bashers start taking cheap shots, DirecTV has similar issues and will also deactivate a disconnected receiver after a while. The only difference is that they make it easy to self-service the issue and reactivate the receiver using their web site. If only Dish would do the same, the issues would mostly go away (except for your case where you have to drive 20 minutes to get a signal, I wonder what the DirecTV people do in that case?)
For your case, the Tailgater looks like it should be easy to set up, is there no way you can keep it connected and running at home?
RE: Help/Advice on wiring a new outlet direct to fuse panel
I have added breakers to a home panel, installed, rewired, routed, etc numerous switches and outlets in a home
That's good! You are likely in good shape. Sorry about doubting you, but you never know and it's better to be safe than sorry.
So would it be as simple as disconnecting all the power, pulling out the panel (I assume it has to be pulled out), adding a breaker in it, then doing the necessary wiring?
The panel may or may not have to be removed, hard to tell without seeing it. Generally, there is a cover that can be removed without removing the whole panel. Then the breaker snaps in and the cover holds it in place. But there are so many variations out there...
When disconnecting power, remember you might have up to three sources: shore cord, generator, and inverter. Make sure all of them that apply are shut down. (Since you said "all power" you likely know this already, but like I said, better safe than sorry! ;))
For the most part, I'm no master electrician, but it seems easy enough to follow the examples of other breakers on the panel, and mimic their wiring.
Pay particular attention to the way the wires are secured to the panels, and how they are routed/secured along the way. You don't want to leave a wire where it can vibrate around or chafe while you are bouncing down the road!
Good luck!
RE: Dish network keep alive
I have a hopper/joey system at home so I cant plug the rec from the RV into the house as they are not compatible.
What kind of dish do you have at home? I've not used a Hopper, but does it have the same kind of menu structure as the other receiver types? Can you hit Menu-6-1-1, then "Check Switch" and see the list of satellites and dish type? What does it say?
And what type of dish do you use for the RV?
Unless they use a completely different type of dish for the Hopper, or all of the dish output ports are used up, you might still be able to get your RV receiver to work with your home dish.
Or as an alternative, you can often get dishes quite cheap (especially if you use an older/simpler style with the RV.) Maybe you have an out of the way place to permanently set up a dish that can be plugged into the RV when it's home? (That's what I've done.)
log on to dish account click on my equipment top of page click activate receiver have receiver # and smart caed # hope this works next time i go through the same thing if i dont hook up at home and use at least once a month and i be sure it is activated before i leave home it a pitb when u dont know whether you a hitting sat or your receiver is not activated
I don't see this option when I log onto my account and look at the equipment list. The only time I've seen anything like this is when installing a replacement receiver, but that appears to be a one-time thing. This could be quite useful to many people if you could provide some more details.
RE: Help/Advice on wiring a new outlet direct to fuse panel
it as simple as adding in an other breaker?
It lists breakers 1 through 9, but only has 1 through 6 occupied, so one would assume that I can add up to 3 more.
Yes, it could be that simple, but it's hard to answer without seeing it.
Your questions are quite basic, so it sounds like you've never done this before. Do you have a friend who's added circuits to a panel before, someone who could check it out and make sure it's all being done right? It's not difficult, but it is easy to make a mistake that could be dangerous down the road. Driving an electric heater is a fairly significant load, and that's the sort of thing that can show up any weaknesses in a wiring job by overheating and causing a fire. It's pretty easy to hook up a couple wires so that it works, but there are a lot of non-obvious details required to make sure it's all done safely and won't fall apart as your RV bounces down the road.
Please be very careful, especially for any wiring around the precious baby.
RE: Dish network keep alive
I think the problem is the updating, done at around 3AM CDT, everyday..If it doesn't get an update in 'so many days' it turns it's service off and you have to call for a new hit..
That's what I read and understood form the people at Dish, also..
I may have some of the details wrong, but my understanding is that the update you are referring to (which you can change to any time of the day) is there for the system to check for and load updated software and program guide updates, both of which are being transmitted constantly.
In addition, Dish periodically sends out authorization signals to all of the receivers, telling each receiver what it is allowed to receive and display, and what options are enabled (such as external hard disk storage.) This is how the receiver knows that the account is up to date and what channel packages have been purchased. This information is sent out periodically, and because there are a lot of receivers out there in the world, it takes time to send it all out (which is why the authorization for your receiver is not being sent all of the time.)
If your receiver misses an update or two, it will still keep going using the last received authorization hit. But if it misses too many of these updates in a row, then the receiver deactivates itself because the old information it has is expired and may not be valid. It seems to take a few weeks to a month for this to happen. When it does, you can either start up the receiver, make sure it has a good connection, and wait some days for the next authorization to be sent - or you can call and have them send an authorization immediately.
If you keep the receiver plugged in with a good signal most of the time, you shouldn't run into any problems. But if you use it infrequently, and keep it unplugged from either power or the dish most of the time, that's when you may have issues.
another reason to drop them i did.
This is destined to be the least helpful response in this thread. Why even bother posting something like this?
RE: Dish network keep alive
Why not just keep it plugged in. As long as it how 120 volt power and a signal on the dish it should remain active. Not sure there IS any OTHER way to keep it active.
Pretty hard to keep them plugged in all the time in a RV, unless it never travels. The call to DISH only takes a few minutes. I turn service on and off a couple of times a year, depending on how much traveling I will be doing.
It doesn't have to be CONSTANT, just don't leave it unplugged for weeks at a time.
I have a rooftop dish, and where I park the MH there are tall trees that prevent me from getting a signal with it. I was able to permanently mount a cheap dish where there was clear line of sight, and run a cable to the parking pad. So now when I park and plug in the coach, I also plug in the cable to the dish to the input in the power compartment, and flip a switch by the receiver to switch from the rooftop dish to the remote dish. (This is the same input/switch I use when I need to set up a portable dish at a campsite with trees.)
The only time I need to call in to reactivate the receiver is in the spring, as I don't see the need to leave the receiver running all winter long.
When you call in, I once found an option for automated support, and it had an option to send a re-authorization signal. The last time I called in, I couldn't find that option. Did they change it and now you have to talk to someone? Or does anyone know the number to call to get the automated system that has the authorization option? With the automated system I could get the system working much faster than it took for a live agent to answer the phone, let alone wait for them to go through their script and get to the authorization part.
RE: over heated & Broke down, update now in Flagstaff
Some words of wisdom (I hope) from a truck driver with 35 years and about 3,000,000 miles of experience:
Actually check your engine every day before you start out and every evening when you stop. Just being acquainted with how it looks cold and hot can help you spot problems.
Excellent advice, but what do you do if you can barely see the engine? On mine, like many rear-radiator diesel pushers, the only places where you can see any part of the engine are:Open the side compartment, unlock and swing away the A/C condenser and fan, and you can see one side of the oil pan and a few miscellaneous filters.Open the slides and pop the engine hatch in the back bedroom floor and you can see the valve cover, turbo, and exhaust brake.Crawl underneath and sit up next to the engine, and you can see more (but I'm not going to do that without jack stands since the air bags could deflate, dropping the chassis and crushing me.)
Why do they have to make it so hard to get to anything? Filters are easy, but getting to just about any other part of the engine is a major PITA! Sure would be nice to just pull back the hood and see all of the engine like you can on a semi tractor.
