The all encompassing RV thread

[HOOKEM4 5044]

Also we did have a surge guard deal on the suppy. I am thinking it failed. Poked around some rv forums and seems like a problem that can occur. I guess I need to get another, better one and hope that was the issue.

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

^^^

Never plug in an RV without using a surge protector. RV parks are notorious for their 'creative' wiring.  Wonder if you hooked into something running 240 instead of 120?

Considered the gold standard- https://www.campingworld.com/progressive-industries-ems-pt30x-30-amp-ems-with-surge-protection-18l-102484.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwgo_5BRDuARIsADDEntSpoO-VhFlldTypc_brTLQJh1BrYKJed5elYw8xmjyLcTYu6OgLdDsaAnz9EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Edited August 4, 2020 by ShaggyBevo RIP

[HOOKEM4 5044]

No it was at our ranch. It was wired correctly and have never had an issue. I am hoping it was a failed surge protector. I will check that one out. I need to replace two of them since I believe one of the two failed so both trailers get new protectors. 

[davidg 4038]

Let it begin ...

[Pato del Muerto 52600]

Query. I’ve got 300w of pv panels and a controller in the garage. I can make about 15 amps with this setup at full sun. Is there any reason to bother with an inverter to make ac power?

i think I should just run this to the batteries to keep them charged for lights and water pump. If I add a couple more panels later then I can think about ac power. 

Edited August 8, 2020 by Pato del Muerto

[MaclovioBrown 100]

Count me in. Pulled the trigger on this 2015 Heartland Bighorn yesterday. It’s in really good shape and the wife has put the nut clippers away for now. Can’t wait to start traveling. Probably make an inaugural weekend trip to the hill country from RGV. Has the Yeti package, so excited for a Montana run without fear of my shit tank freezing.

Keeping it out on the SoTx farm where I can drink beer and watch calves get into mischief.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[troph 24906]

Very nice additions to the thread! Show some interior pics !! Wanna see the tent set up too!

[utee94 15862]

2 hours ago, troph said:

Very nice additions to the thread! Show some interior pics !! Wanna see the tent set up too!

Sex tent?

[Incredulity 11683]

1 hour ago, utee94 said:

Sex tent?

[davidg 4038]

Let it begin ...

And there it goes ...


Stayed at the dealer campsite last night to do a very thorough PDI based on my own list. Found some small sealing issues on the roof that needed touch up and a quarter (or maybe just a screw) melded into the tire. They couldn’t do anything with the tire till Monday but I’m glad I found it before taking it out on the road.

[Texaus 377]

Very nice! Tell them to stop being cheap and put a cover on your spare tire

[davidg 4038]

7 minutes ago, Texaus said:

Very nice! Tell them to stop being cheap and put a cover on your spare tire

Didn’t even notice that but yeah.

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

6 hours ago, utee94 said:

Sex tent?

I'm never gonna be able to sleep in a tent ever again without thinking of wulaws wife.  

[troph 24906]

I'm never gonna be able to sleep in a tent ever again without thinking of wulaws wife.  

That’s not very nice, kinda creepy too.

[utee94 15862]

1 hour ago, troph said:

That’s not very nice, kinda creepy too.

And yet..

 

[davidg 4038]

On 8/7/2020 at 8:08 PM, Pato del Muerto said:

Query. I’ve got 300w of pv panels and a controller in the garage. I can make about 15 amps with this setup at full sun. Is there any reason to bother with an inverter to make ac power?

i think I should just run this to the batteries to keep them charged for lights and water pump. If I add a couple more panels later then I can think about ac power. 

Are there AC only loads that you want to run when on solar/battery power in your trailer?  The only ones I know of in my trailer are the fridge (if not wanting to run on gas) and the AC and a setup to run both of those would be way to big and expensive.

 

 

[utee94 15862]

A small TV could run off that kind of current. But in general, people only use solar to charge the batteries or run small loads like interior lights, vent fans, furnace fan, etc.

 

 

[Pato del Muerto 52600]

5 minutes ago, davidg said:

Are there AC only loads that you want to run when on solar/battery power in your trailer?  The only ones I know of in my trailer are the fridge (if not wanting to run on gas) and the AC and a setup to run both of those would be way to big and expensive.

 

 

I think it’d be nice to run the air con for 30-60 minutes but it seems like that draws way too much continuous power. 
fridge would be nice but we never seem to run low on propane so I should probably just not bother. Might be nice to have a plug or two working to charge phones or whatnot, but my truck has an inverter and a couple of plugs if I need ac power. 

I guess I’ll just wire the panels to the batteries through the controller and leave it at that. Maybe have a small inverter (2k or less) and plug strip stowed just in case, that I can bring out and connect to the battery terminals in good weather. 

[davidg 4038]

1 minute ago, Pato del Muerto said:

I think it’d be nice to run the air con for 30-60 minutes but it seems like that draws way too much continuous power. 
fridge would be nice but we never seem to run low on propane so I should probably just not bother. Might be nice to have a plug or two working to charge phones or whatnot, but my truck has an inverter and a couple of plugs if I need ac power. 

I guess I’ll just wire the panels to the batteries through the controller and leave it at that. Maybe have a small inverter (2k or less) and plug strip stowed just in case, that I can bring out and connect to the battery terminals in good weather. 

Our trailer has a ton of usb outlets for charging phones and small stuff.  I have a small inverter that I can hook to the house or truck batteries to charge my cordless tool batteries.  I guess the TV Is AC powered and could be run off of a small inverter but I not really wanting to put in  a transfer switch or some other setup to manage multiple AC sources.

Our trailer has an inlet connector that is for ‘solar’ but it is wire size and fuse limited to 10 A.  It is designed to be used with a 100W suitcase panel to keep the main battery topped off.  If I decide to use a bigger solar system to power stuff, I’ll put in a better connector setup to plug everything into.

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3868]

On 8/7/2020 at 9:08 PM, Pato del Muerto said:

Query. I’ve got 300w of pv panels and a controller in the garage. I can make about 15 amps with this setup at full sun. Is there any reason to bother with an inverter to make ac power?

i think I should just run this to the batteries to keep them charged for lights and water pump. If I add a couple more panels later then I can think about ac power. 

Do you know what you battery set up is? There is a big difference between some of the battery technologies.

One solution to consider is an inverter battery that you charge at home and then run the extra items off of including charging phones and tablets.  It is a common approach but handles a limited number of days.

There are a number of brands on Amazon but something like this-  https://www.rei.com/product/180610/goal-zero-yeti-lithium-500x-portable-power-station

Edited August 10, 2020 by ShaggyBevo RIP

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4977]

FYI for those of y'all who like to boondock with your campers, we were in Creede, CO last week visiting my Aunt and Uncle on the tail end of our road trip, and there are several excellent places to tow a trailer up into the mountains and camp overlooking the town of Creede. There are plenty of great roads going into the mountains that people were towing their fifth wheels up to camp, and plenty of choices for great camping spots. All the better if you have a side by side or four wheeler to ride some of the trails up there.

[fattyflattie 4638]

On 8/8/2020 at 10:17 AM, MaclovioBrown said:

Count me in. Pulled the trigger on this 2015 Heartland Bighorn yesterday. It’s in really good shape and the wife has put the nut clippers away for now. Can’t wait to start traveling. Probably make an inaugural weekend trip to the hill country from RGV. Has the Yeti package, so excited for a Montana run without fear of my shit tank freezing.

Keeping it out on the SoTx farm where I can drink beer and watch calves get into mischief.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We’ve been looking harder and the Bighorn is at the top of the list.  Man those are nice.  Did find another that fit the bill the other day but apparently didn’t move fast enough.  

[MaclovioBrown 100]

Agree. We narrowed down to the Bighorn and Big Country. I was interested in the 3750FL with front living room, but ultimately feel the taller rear living is the best layout.

We’re on our first trip. Short haul to Port A. Gulf Waters is really nice.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[davidg 4038]

You ever get 5 miles from the entrance of the park you are planning on staying at for the weekend and think, you know, I never looked at those reservations since I made them?  Then you pop the confirmation email up on your phone and realize that the confirmation is for next weekend,  well, that's how my first trip in our new trailer started. Fuck Me!

We went ahead and drove to the park and sat at the entrance working 3 phones trying to find a spot. The park office was already closed but we finally came up with an available site for Friday night only.  I was cooking breakfast Sat morning and a ranger knocked  on the door and asked if we had moved in last night, telling us that someone else had the spot reserved for Sat night.  I explained what had happened and he let us know they had additional spots open that night that don't show in the reservation system and we could go to the office,  get it sorted out and move the trailer which we did.   Both sites were 30 Amp electric instead of 50 amp which worked OK at night but warmed up a bunch during the day so we spend most of the days in the boat on the lake.  

So far, we haven't had any big issues with the trailer build.  One of the cover panels on the dinette seating started coming off, so I glued it the frame and shot some brads into it last night.  I had small leaks at the joints on the roof gutters and the AC condensation water would trickle down onto the top of the slideout and onto the side of the trailer.  We found that at our inspection and our dealer did a shitty re-caulk job so I went ahead and fixed that yesterday too.

All in all it turned out OK and we will definitely get a lot of use out of the trailer.  We have another trip planned later this month so hopefully it start a little smoother. 

 

 

[Pato del Muerto 52600]

Do you have the ability to only run one ac unit if you are plugged in to 30a?  Or is it all or nothing?

[davidg 4038]

On a 30A 120V outlet I can run the main 15K BTU AC, the fridge, the bedroom 13.5K BTU AC with just fan only  and the AC/DC power convertor and I'm about 23A.  I was able to run the microwave a bit too (I didn't look at my EMS to check total current draw when it was running) and it didn't trip the breaker.  They put us in an accessible site which was very big and open but surrounded by yaupons and other brush and there was no wind or shade and it was hot AF.  At home yesterday, with the temps lower and mostly overcast or under partial shade from my oak tree I was able to run both ACs on low auto and it kept the unit at 71F.  A little bit of shade and the second AC makes a real difference.

Before I ungraded my oulet at home to 50A, I ran both ACs on low on the 30 A outlet and it was drawing 32-33A.  It ran for about 5 mins but didn't trip the breaker and I went ahead and shut it off and then installed the 50A circuit.

 

Edited August 18, 2020 by davidg

[Pato del Muerto 52600]

Does yours have an awning?  We found that if you open that just to shade the camper, it helps the interior temp a lot. Of course I’m dealing with highs of 85 or so and it cools off plenty by nighttime. 
last two trips out we were parked awning side East, so in the morning the awning shaded the camper, and in the afternoon it shaded us. I parked the truck on the opposite side to try and shade the camper in the afternoon. Never got uncomfortably hot inside. 

[utee94 15862]

8 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Does yours have an awning?  We found that if you open that just to shade the camper, it helps the interior temp a lot. Of course I’m dealing with highs of 85 or so and it cools off plenty by nighttime. 
last two trips out we were parked awning side East, so in the morning the awning shaded the camper, and in the afternoon it shaded us. I parked the truck on the opposite side to try and shade the camper in the afternoon. Never got uncomfortably hot inside. 

Some trailers have awnings over the street side windows and not just the curb side, for just this reason.  It's especially common amongst Airstreams.

 

[troph 24906]

Headed to telluride area tomorrow, private land with a fishable stream about 20 yards from our campsite. Going to gunnison and spending the night to grab our fifth wheel then moving to some gorgeous land. Hope the hip camp pics and reviews are what they seem. Got a new tuner and installed it for the old 7.3, also a cell phone booster antenna so we will see if we can work remote in areas with limited reception. Folks online swear by them. Bottom line I have a ton of work but damn I need some mountain respite in a bad bad way. Amarillo by (Monday) morning, as they say.

[davidg 4038]

Don’t know what booster you bought but if you have one with a external directional antenna, you can put it up on a mast system mounted to your trailer ladder and aim it around until you get the best signal.  We have had good success with similar setups on equipment trailers we manufacture for oilfield use.  

 

[troph 24906]

Weboost RV connect 65




https://www.weboost.com/products/connect-rv-65

[Chewbacca 7785]

Headed to telluride area tomorrow, private land with a fishable stream about 20 yards from our campsite. Going to gunnison and spending the night to grab our fifth wheel then moving to some gorgeous land. Hope the hip camp pics and reviews are what they seem. Got a new tuner and installed it for the old 7.3, also a cell phone booster antenna so we will see if we can work remote in areas with limited reception. Folks online swear by them. Bottom line I have a ton of work but damn I need some mountain respite in a bad bad way. Amarillo by (Monday) morning, as they say.

Just a heads up, there is a fire ban in the whole state right now fire the next month. Everything is on fire. Big fires by Grand Junction, Glenwood Springs, Winter Park and Ft Collins. Fucking smoke everywhere.

[troph 24906]

We saw that. Sucks big time. We are not in a direct fire area but assume we will see/feel some of it anyway. No fires planned, didn’t even cross our mind based on past summers. Early it’s still snow melt ok but by now it’s a tinder box and high desert. Rain forecasted in our area all week. Would be happy for y’all and the Earth if we did get some real rain while we are there even if it dampens our time.

I assume that means no charcoal too? We assumed so but that I haven’t looked at.

[Chewbacca 7785]

We saw that. Sucks big time. We are not in a direct fire area but assume we will see/feel some of it anyway. No fires planned, didn’t even cross our mind based on past summers. Early it’s still snow melt ok but by now it’s a tinder box and high desert. Rain forecasted in our area all week. Would be happy for y’all and the Earth if we did get some real rain while we are there even if it dampens our time.

I assume that means no charcoal too? We assumed so but that I haven’t looked at.

I'm not 100 percent on charcoal, but i think it is probably banned, too. Propane should be OK, though.

[Pato del Muerto 52600]

There’s a wildland fire north of our spot in the bighorns this next weekend, but it should be far enough away as to not affect us. 
plenty of smoke in the upper atmosphere from California though, gonna pack for cold nights. 

[troph 24906]

Screw job! something snapped in the front drive side wheel while driving near Alamosa in the mountains. Towed to a shop will know more tomorrow. I’m betting it’s ball bearings. Probably a u-joint or something. Saw nothing visible but it felt like a tire blow out. Noisy too. Ugh. At least the tow was covered under our up sell warranty to the ladies plan. $400 we didn’t have to pay. Find out the bill tomorrow and more importantly if we get out of here in one day or three.

[troph 24906]

wheel bearings gave out on the front passenger side actually.  Alamosa inventory has us in luck, there is exactly one in stock in this town.  alternator is going bad too, getting it replaced.  I left that part out, we were pulling over anyway to test a low voltage readout on the tuner.  we had figured based on the current coming from the battery while running that the alternator just started going south.  turns out we were right on both accounts.  separate issues at the same time.  truck will be repaired today and we will ultimately be about 5-7 hours delayed from where we wanted to be same time today.  goal was to be in our camp by 5pm today looks like we will be there 10pm-midnight.  not bad if it holds true. 

[troph 24906]

Picked up the fifth wheel and going to try and set up camp before we go to bed. 140 miles out. Setting up camp at night - a specialty of mine. Heh.

In other news SH-114 is another gorgeous drive. We dropped 5-6 pins in BLM land for remote camping. Coming back for sure.

[Updawg 2286]

Good job. Watch out for the bridges

-wulaw

[troph 24906]

We made it. 7 hours later than we wanted when we started this trip. Truck drove great. Might be a money pit. Ate some dinner, zonking out now. Coffee next to a mountain stream up next. zzz... zzz... zzz.

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4977]

If you are looking for good boondocking spots to come back to later, one thing you can do is take a few pictures of each spot with location data turned on. Put those pics in a folder and you can go back and see where each picture was taken. That way you can remember which sites are which if you come back through in a couple years.

[troph 24906]

Tapa double.

[troph 24906]

Our spot is okay, peek a boo view of the stream:

 

 

 

 

Here’s the stream:

 

 

Tent spots go right up to the water. Nice property. Near Rico, like 2 miles away.

 

Signal booster tower has turned 1-2 bar 3G / 4 bar 1x to consistent 3 bar 3G, sometimes 4 bar 3G. I’ll take that for sure. Could reposition it I’m sure for a bit better performance but it’s raining.

 

 

Fucking generator set up tho. MFer. Same problems. We replaced both generators, could be the parallel device, we didn’t replace that.

 

Going to get a big nasty one and be done with it. We have a spot on the rig for one so we may just get one installed.

 

Solar panels are keeping our 3 batteries up and charged though so we are doing fine.

 

Showed up without water which is ok we have drinking water so we are taking a 5 gal bucket to the river for dish water and gray/black water tanks.

 

Except for the generator stupidity it’s a decent set up. Breakfast tacos this morning and the French press by the stream proved it.

 

Hope to finish work early and fish tomorrow. The camp host says down stream from that pic is good fishing. We’ll see.

 

Need to get to telluride and see some of it. Need to take a nap in a lawn chair by the stream. Need to catch some trout. Don’t need a tent.

[troph 24906]

Predators making a comeback, decided to let them warm up some on a zero/low load and they are humming. They shit the bed and said “hell no we out” at the beginning. We also bought a new capacitor for the AC that I forgot about (because I didn’t buy it). It’s supposed to lighten the load on start up. Gf will install that tomorrow and hope that warmed up generators, and the capacitor will do the trick. She’s going to change the oil in them too in case there are metal shavings from manufacturing.

[troph 24906]

so after a 30 minute warm up the generators are working.  we aren't putting much of a load on them, fridge, plugs, using our signal booster and two laptop set ups and one large monitor.  cell phone chargers too.  they are not tripping which is good.  we did additional research, we are at 8500 elevation.  we have 3200/4000 power specs and the interwebs suggest 3% degredation/loss of power per 1000 feet or 10% per 3000 feet.  That means we are not at 3200 but at 2330 or so which could explain a lot of our troubles.  I think we are going to bring the trailer home and park it in the driveway and run some experiments at <1000 feet. 

going to add this as well....

https://www.vpowerequipment.com/high-altitude-kit-fits-all-predator-212cc-engines/

edit:  turned on the furnace because my bones are cold and all is good.  I'm pretty much convinced our generator "problems" really aren't problems, it's just the altitude and we keep trying to test them at peak loads in the mountains.  I bet when we test at home they will handle the two AC units fine.  As long as that works, we don't ever need to try them up here like that, we need very little power at all with the temps 45-80.

Edited August 27, 2020 by troph

[Pato del Muerto 52600]

Yeah you need those high altitude jets for the genny carbs to have decent performance up here. 

[cabowabo 4514]

https://www.cnn.com/videos/weather/2020/08/27/hurricane-laura-brandon-clement-storm-chaser-rv-flips-over-sot-vpx.cnn

 

 

[davidg 4038]

Troph,

Maybe its just me, but I wouldn't run those gensets tucked up under my unit.  I would be worried about CO and possibly one of them flaming up.  I know there are onboard gensets but I would expect them to be a higher build quality than the HFs.

On my trailer, with the fridge on and both ACs on, I was drawing about 32A  of 120VAC.  Didn't trip my breaker on the 30A outlet during the couple of minutes I ran it.   Unless you invest in soft start units for your ACs, I don't think there will be any way to get the second one started while on those 2K gensets as the starting current will overload the gensets and cause a brownout or trip.

Edited August 27, 2020 by davidg

[troph 24906]

35 minutes ago, davidg said:

Troph,

Maybe its just me, but I wouldn't run those gensets tucked up under my unit.  I would be worried about CO and possibly one of them flaming up.  I know there are onboard gensets but I would expect them to be a higher build quality than the HFs.

On my trailer, with the fridge on and both ACs on, I was drawing about 32A  of 120VAC.  Didn't trip my breaker on the 30A outlet during the couple of minutes I ran it.   Unless you invest in soft start units for your ACs, I don't think there will be any way to get the second one started while on those 2K gensets as the starting current will overload the gensets and cause a brownout or trip.

you're right on tucked under - I put them under when I turned them off and it was raining and then when we restarted them I didn't pull them out because I was lazy.  I have them out from under the trailer today - about 3-5 feet.  we are on our second run with them - this morning was great, and a quick email check/send before we go fishing and they fired up, let them hum for a minute then plugged them in.  I agree about CO and there are beds right above that spot in the bunk room but no one is using them this trip.  also you can hear them from the otherside much more easily if they are under ... and you can smell the exhaust.  all around running under the trailer is a bad idea.  I'll probably still tuck them under when not in use especially if raining.

we have the soft start for the main AC (if it works we will get the other) and will get the altitude kits.  folks on the forums out there say they have no issues with our set up and load requirements (run one AC, fridge and outlets) - the variable here is altitude.  we'll see.  truth is we don't need the AC.  and the furnace worked just fine which is more in need than AC on the places we want to go.  I know it's under power and if it doesn't straighten out we will move in a different direction.

Edited August 27, 2020 by troph

[Pato del Muerto 52600]

I think we are going to pass on our trip this weekend. Have reservations Saturday and Sunday night, meaning our only full day is Sunday. Check out Sunday’s forecast