The all encompassing RV thread

[Hawndoh 2363]

And if you are looking through my description trying to count the states, we briefly got into North Carolina while inside the national park, so I'm counting it. The trailer never made it to North Carolina but the car and people did.

We only drove through Oklahoma, Illinois, and Indiana, but we stopped and spent money on gas, etc, so I count it.

[davidg 4015]

What was the consensus on trailer tires? what are the recommended brands?

 I just had a royal ass whip of a day with all three (2 tires plus the spare) either going flat or blowing out.  I can’t even comprehend the bad luck here.  Well the spare blowing out I understand because it’s probably the original spare on a 10 year old pop up. But the other two were allegedly newish and had good tread on them. 
 

I recently replaced my factory MiChina Westlakes that had 2500 miles on them for Goodyear Endurance. Went ahead and put a set on my boat trailer too.

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

Hmm.  So it seems Goodyear endurance are not made in 13inch. 

my choices seems to be:

national road max st

towmax vamguard

carlisle radial trail xt

 

 

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

Oh and I figured out why two allegedly new tires failed.  The dude we bought it from out lid range “C” tires in it and it needed “D” 

We were probably about 500lbs over the weight limit for these tires.  Add the fact that it was probably 115F on the pavement and shit happens.

I also may or may not have hit 75 mph.  

Edited June 17, 2021 by dingleberryswitzer

[fattyflattie 4633]

4 hours ago, dingleberryswitzer said:

Hmm.  So it seems Goodyear endurance are not made in 13inch. 

my choices seems to be:

national road max st

towmax vamguard

carlisle radial trail xt

 

 

Post 1163 and 1198 chronicles my tire woes. But you’re pretty shit out of luck with 13’s.  GY only recently got a good 14” in the endurance.  I’ll likely bump the boat from 14 to 15” when it comes time (3 yrs on the dot) to get new shoes.   I’d buy a set of cheap 14” rims and get some Endurance’s. I’ve got them on 3 of 5 trailers now and replacing as they go.    Been very happy. 

Edited June 18, 2021 by fattyflattie

[horn4life 3749]

Yeah just did another week in Port A.  It's so nice just to come "home" to the trailer, rather than wonder where I am going to have everything I want at my fingertips.  NOT having to even think about waiting in line to get fed like so many, is in itself sort of an RV victory.  I noticed a hanger for my sewer line rusted/tore out.  I need to go in and paint over the increasing under trailer rust.  A losing battle that I must fight...

I keep wanting to go boondock, but damn it's hard not to just rent for a week with wifi and hookups, just to save a little over $200 on a week stay.  Only highlight was after I came home Tuesday evening.  I came in from the beach.  On my second or third trip out to the truck apparently there was a coyote about 15 feet behind me.  I am not afraid of a single coyote.  As I have never had one do anything but retreat when they got near me.  But it got the folks parked next to me pretty excited.  At IB Magee I have seen or heard reports of coyotes coming through the edges of  grasslands side of the park most every evening, FYI.  Probably folks leaving out dog food, trash and the like bringing the in.

I am keep worrying about the tires on my rig, simply as they are notorious for blowing.  And my new preferred route is more backroads without good shoulders if I do get a blowout.  I really should just get a space to rent over the Summer near closer to Port A, and cut my towing back and forth.  I just need to find a place close enough inland to where I do worry about every tropical depression.  I think ultimately I will go to 15" tires and rims, but I think that may require me to find a way to remount the spare.  Which currently snugs up into the Y bracket underneath my propane tanks.  As then I can up the speed ratings and get a little more clearance height on the girl.  That might require a new bumper mount for spare, which would be a hassle to take into consideration.

My favorite part of owning the RV is I make the reservations, and if the weather sucks I simply cancel. No lost $1500 for condo, or sitting in shit weather for a $1500 condo.  If it's nice, we go.  If it stays nice, we extend.  What I guess I need to do now is find a good place in New Braunfels. Got any thoughts here?

 

[utee94 15722]

4 minutes ago, horn4life said:

Yeah just did another week in Port A.  It's so nice just to come "home" to the trailer, rather than wonder where I am going to have everything I want at my fingertips.  NOT having to even think about waiting in line to get fed like so many, is in itself sort of an RV victory.  I noticed a hanger for my sewer line rusted/tore out.  I need to go in and paint over the increasing under trailer rust.  A losing battle that I must fight...

I keep wanting to go boondock, but damn it's hard not to just rent for a week with wifi and hookups, just to save a little over $200 on a week stay.  Only highlight was after I came home Tuesday evening.  I came in from the beach.  On my second or third trip out to the truck apparently there was a coyote about 15 feet behind me.  I am not afraid of a single coyote.  As I have never had one do anything but retreat when they got near me.  But it got the folks parked next to me pretty excited.  At IB Magee I have seen or heard reports of coyotes coming through the edges of  grasslands side of the park most every evening, FYI.  Probably folks leaving out dog food, trash and the like bringing the in.

I am keep worrying about the tires on my rig, simply as they are notorious for blowing.  And my new preferred route is more backroads without good shoulders if I do get a blowout.  I really should just get a space to rent over the Summer near closer to Port A, and cut my towing back and forth.  I just need to find a place close enough inland to where I do worry about every tropical depression.  I think ultimately I will go to 15" tires and rims, but I think that may require me to find a way to remount the spare.  Which currently snugs up into the Y bracket underneath my propane tanks.  As then I can up the speed ratings and get a little more clearance height on the girl.  That might require a new bumper mount for spare, which would be a hassle to take into consideration.

My favorite part of owning the RV is I make the reservations, and if the weather sucks I simply cancel. No lost $1500 for condo, or sitting in shit weather for a $1500 condo.  If it's nice, we go.  If it stays nice, we extend.  What I guess I need to do now is find a good place in New Braunfels. Got any thoughts here?

 

We don't ever dry camp to save money, we do it when we want to go someplace that doesn't have hookups.  We like to go to PINS and get down the beach a few miles, so that's always a boondocking trip.  We boondock out at my friend's ranch in Ozona because it's beautiful and there are no hookups.  We boondock at TX-OU so we can set up our RVs in whatever configuration we want. And we boondock at COTA every year for the Formula 1 race because... well, that one really is because the electrical camping spots are really, really expensive.  So my initial statement wasn't entirely true.

 

 

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

1 hour ago, horn4life said:

What I guess I need to do now is find a good place in New Braunfels. Got any thoughts here?

I had interest in finding a campground there or new braunfels. I wanted to be able to do a toobing trip or 3 without having to drive back drunk. 

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

2 hours ago, horn4life said:

What I guess I need to do now is find a good place in New Braunfels. Got any thoughts here?

I had interest in finding a campground there or san  marcos area.  I wanted to be able to do a toobing trip or 3 without having to drive back drunk. 

[horn4life 3749]

2 hours ago, utee94 said:

We don't ever dry camp to save money, we do it when we want to go someplace that doesn't have hookups.  We like to go to PINS and get down the beach a few miles, so that's always a boondocking trip.  We boondock out at my friend's ranch in Ozona because it's beautiful and there are no hookups.  We boondock at TX-OU so we can set up our RVs in whatever configuration we want. And we boondock at COTA every year for the Formula 1 race because... well, that one really is because the electrical camping spots are really, really expensive.  So my initial statement wasn't entirely true.

 

 

PINS is why I have all the gear to boondock.  Thankfully... as we were the one dot of light in our area in our trailer during the snow week of no power.  

One question I have about PINS is do you run the A/C all day and night?  Or do you just run it at night?  I am just trying to get an idea of my potential fuel consumption.  I honestly do not know what my burn rate is with the Air conditioner blasting.  I know I like it cool at night, and since I have a dual fuel Generator I figure a couple of 5 gallon gas tanks, and 4 propane tanks would last me at least a couple days.  

I was thinking about maybe trying to get a buddy to head down and do some surf fishing on PINS.  Or do a day on the laguna side with his kayaks.  But weekdays are tough for him right now.  

[utee94 15722]

1 hour ago, horn4life said:

PINS is why I have all the gear to boondock.  Thankfully... as we were the one dot of light in our area in our trailer during the snow week of no power.  

One question I have about PINS is do you run the A/C all day and night?  Or do you just run it at night?  I am just trying to get an idea of my potential fuel consumption.  I honestly do not know what my burn rate is with the Air conditioner blasting.  I know I like it cool at night, and since I have a dual fuel Generator I figure a couple of 5 gallon gas tanks, and 4 propane tanks would last me at least a couple days.  

I was thinking about maybe trying to get a buddy to head down and do some surf fishing on PINS.  Or do a day on the laguna side with his kayaks.  But weekdays are tough for him right now.  

Depends on your time of year.  In the Spring and Fall, I can leave the windows open all day and all night and be mostly comfortable.

In high summer, I tend to keep the A/C running nonstop, because our kids would take naps and it gets pretty miserable inside without the A/C.  Our kids are older now, but honestly I like having the option of a cool retreat myself.

For my genny, 1 gallon lasts around 4-5 hours at full load.  But I'd definitely recommend checking yours at full load, and typical load, to get an idea of how much fuel you'll need.  

[horn4life 3749]

19 minutes ago, utee94 said:

Depends on your time of year.  In the Spring and Fall, I can leave the windows open all day and all night and be mostly comfortable.

In high summer, I tend to keep the A/C running nonstop, because our kids would take naps and it gets pretty miserable inside without the A/C.  Our kids are older now, but honestly I like having the option of a cool retreat myself.

For my genny, 1 gallon lasts around 4-5 hours at full load.  But I'd definitely recommend checking yours at full load, and typical load, to get an idea of how much fuel you'll need.  

I think that's pretty close to what I am getting, though full load I am unsure about.  In the heat this weekend, I can't really see any alternative other than running the AC full time.  The idea of taking a nap myself sounds pretty damn good actually during the heat of the day from the beachfront.  I love the beach at sunset when everyone is off waiting in line at some restaurant, or has retreated from the heat.   

Does you AC cycle on and off a lot during the heat of the day?  We are gone mostly in the heat of the day, but we noticed the unit shutting on and off in the most intense heat of the day.

[troph 24028]

Finishing up our first diving trip to Cozumel and turning toward our summer trip to Colorado and the boondocking convo comes up again. We boondock for the location and remoteness only.  You can’t really find this remoteness in an rv park…

 

 

 

we love the hook ups on the coast though, man walking to the beach and coming back to a full set up is so great.  
 

we haven’t tried to camp on the beach on PINS - I would like to just worried about getting stuck in the sand with our heavy ass trailer and truck.

Edited June 19, 2021 by troph

[Lhorn 4863]

As someone who’s not looked into it but have some interest, I’ll ask: where/how does one go about finding places to legally do such camping?  Not necessarily “no human beings for miles” but not typical state/national park camp grounds where you have to reserve 9 months ahead of time and have campers 10 feet away from you on 3 sides.  Tent/car camping mostly. Don’t care about concrete pad to park an RV or hook ups etc. 

I imagine it varies by state but interested mostly in California where I live as well as Idaho, Wyoming. 

[troph 24028]

17 minutes ago, Lhorn said:

As someone who’s not looked into it but have some interest, I’ll ask: where/how does one go about finding places to legally do such camping?  Not necessarily “no human beings for miles” but not typical state/national park camp grounds where you have to reserve 9 months ahead of time and have campers 10 feet away from you on 3 sides.  Tent/car camping mostly. Don’t care about concrete pad to park an RV or hook ups etc. 

I imagine it varies by state but interested mostly in California where I live as well as Idaho, Wyoming. 

Hipcamp its like Airbnb for rv spots on private land. We camp almost exclusively that way in CO.

Edited June 19, 2021 by troph

[Lhorn 4863]

Cool. Didn’t know such thing existed. I’ll look into that. Thanks 

[Hawndoh 2363]

There are also apps and websites that compile campgrounds, RV parks, rest areas, etc for RVs. A popular one is Campendium. People can post reviews and pictures, etc.

[thunderlounge 7642]

3 hours ago, troph said:

Hipcamp its like Airbnb for rv spots on private land. We camp almost exclusively that way in CO.

That’s an interesting thing. Would be nice to talk to a few owners and see what they have to say. 
 

I would think it would be kinda similar to something like vrbo, but a different resource. That could be a huge difference though, and the one I would want to find out. 
 

Might be a decent way to make use of some land. Big thing is keeping it from getting trashed or burned down. 

[troph 24028]

Yeah we use campendium some but really prefer folks who allow campers on their land.  We’ve had some fantastic experiences during covid that way. 

[horn4life 3749]

Hadn't really thought too much about private land.  Mainly I want to fish, hear the waves and see the stars.  PINS is pretty black at night with almost no ambient light beyond headlights occasionally ruining the night vision.  Thanks for the Hipcamp and campendium suggestions. 

[troph 24028]

1 hour ago, horn4life said:

Hadn't really thought too much about private land.  Mainly I want to fish, hear the waves and see the stars.  PINS is pretty black at night with almost no ambient light beyond headlights occasionally ruining the night vision.  Thanks for the Hipcamp and campendium suggestions. 

Don’t worry, you’re doing it right. PINS is perfect and remote.  Ideal boondocking sand in the rv notwithstanding.  I may force a PINS beach trip this fall. Surf fish for a few days non stop. I can tell my truck is sad sitting in the driveway most of the spring. 
 

for CO the best way imo to get really close to water and be remote is hipcamp private land spots. Essentially the Same result as your PINS strategy just different means.

[horn4life 3749]

The one thing I still don't know about PINS is if I got a cell phone booster and a super long pole might I get signal above the dunes?  I know if you go all the way to the land cut you can get signal atop the dunes.  IF I could get something like that working then the wife could work remotely to some degree and stretch the days considerably. 

Anyone know of anyone who successfully got a cellular signal on PINS?  

Edited June 21, 2021 by horn4life

[utee94 15722]

1 hour ago, horn4life said:

The one thing I still don't know about PINS is if I got a cell phone booster and a super long pole might I get signal above the dunes?  I know if you go all the way to the land cut you can get signal atop the dunes.  IF I could get something like that working then the wife could work remotely to some degree and stretch the days considerably. 

Anyone know of anyone who successfully got a cellular signal on PINS?  

I definitely can't answer that.  I specifically go there in order to NOT get a cellular signal.

 

[troph 24028]

Never got one myself there for the afternoons we snuck of to fish. But we’ve never taken our RV and booster there.  But our booster only makes an existing signal better. So if none is picked up it won’t stretch to find it.

Edited June 21, 2021 by troph

[horn4life 3749]

I think probably I am S.O.L. when it comes to the signal.  But my assumption was also that the dunes will knock out any signal line of sight.  I have had some luck getting signal by carefully parking on Northern nub of PINS before the guard station.  When I look at the nearest cell towers farther down they look pretty far away (15-20 miles).  I think my 5G new iPhone actually makes the signal more not less difficult to capture.

You may laugh but I seriously thought of just having my wife try to call me repeatedly while I have my phone tied to my 20 foot long painters pole.  Figuring that my Apple watch would link to the handset easily from that distance and just spend and a couple hours trying to see if I could capture any signal at all.  Or I may just pull the trigger, but buy the best booster available and attach it to the 20 foot tall painters pole.

Probably a lost cause.  Mainly I just would like to be able to know I can check messages once or twice a day.  To communicate with elderly parents and in-laws, or give my buddies my mile marker location on PINS without having to drive back out of the park.  Normally the signal craps out on the road heading into the park just about to get into the park, so probably S.O.L. but I could use a signal booster anyhow.  But it would be beyond awesome if I could get one to work on PINS.  I need to probably just spend some time down there, looking to see if I see someone else's booster on a monster pole down there.

[Johnny Sack 8397]

3 hours ago, horn4life said:

I think probably I am S.O.L. when it comes to the signal.  But my assumption was also that the dunes will knock out any signal line of sight.  I have had some luck getting signal by carefully parking on Northern nub of PINS before the guard station.  When I look at the nearest cell towers farther down they look pretty far away (15-20 miles).  I think my 5G new iPhone actually makes the signal more not less difficult to capture.

You may laugh but I seriously thought of just having my wife try to call me repeatedly while I have my phone tied to my 20 foot long painters pole.  Figuring that my Apple watch would link to the handset easily from that distance and just spend and a couple hours trying to see if I could capture any signal at all.  Or I may just pull the trigger, but buy the best booster available and attach it to the 20 foot tall painters pole.

Probably a lost cause.  Mainly I just would like to be able to know I can check messages once or twice a day.  To communicate with elderly parents and in-laws, or give my buddies my mile marker location on PINS without having to drive back out of the park.  Normally the signal craps out on the road heading into the park just about to get into the park, so probably S.O.L. but I could use a signal booster anyhow.  But it would be beyond awesome if I could get one to work on PINS.  I need to probably just spend some time down there, looking to see if I see someone else's booster on a monster pole down there.

I have a buddy with a cabin on the ICW right at the land cut.  He puts a cell antenna on the top of his cabin and it's good enough where can can watch football games.

Edited June 21, 2021 by Johnny Sack

[UnivTex34 1762]

Couple years back we camped near Big Shell (~30 miles) and were able to check scores by hiking up to the top of the dunes. Couldn't stream video, but you could stream radio broadcasts while you were up there. Was fine to text/email but was very slow.

[CoachTex 2612]

Mustang island run for a couple of beach days. 

[JMFP 1113]

Had to take the fifth wheel back to the dealer last week to work on a leaky slide. So while it was gone I pulled a @Steel Shank - rented a hoe and laid some pipe. Now I officially have full hookups in the backyard.

 

 

[troph 24028]

that's pretty fucking stellar right there.

[Steel Shank 9338]

@JMFP, that's some serious pipe laying. I commend you, sir.

[Pato del Muerto 52117]

I spent this weekend hand digging a trench to get a 30 amp plug out to my garage.  You used toys. Power, water, and sewer?

[JMFP 1113]

20 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

I spent this weekend hand digging a trench to get a 30 amp plug out to my garage.  You used toys. Power, water, and sewer?

Yeah I was pretty fortunate everything was already there on that side of the house. Before I was dragging 50 feet of stinky slinky and a 50 amp extension cord across the yard to hook up at home.

After our last trip we tore up the yard pretty bad trying to park so we needed to do something to fix the ruts. I've only been planning to do this for about 4 years so I figured might as well go ahead and get it done sooner rather than later :).

I just had to dig a 40 foot trench from the side of the house, my sewer and electric was right there and I was able to tap into a water line from the basement. I was able to tee in to the sewer clean out and had I stole the circuit for the electric range (220, 221 whatever it takes). I ran 4 inch dwv, 1/2 inch pex , and 6/3 wg across the yard.

[horn4life 3749]

I'm just glad for once South Austin's mom was not involved with the pipe laying. 😉

I'm gonna have some crazy tall hillbilly antenna mount. and... I just opened a weather balloon site, and I think I am gonna pour a jack and find some sort of helium lift math formulas.

 

 

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

1 hour ago, JMFP said:

Had to take the fifth wheel back to the dealer last week to work on a leaky slide. So while it was gone I pulled a @Steel Shank - rented a hoe and laid some pipe. Now I officially have full hookups in the backyard.

 

 

I heard steel shank had a full hookup with your moms backyard.  Respectfully of course. 
 

(are we still doing mom jokes?  Or just south Austin’s mom jokes?)

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

Also, back to my tire issue.  Is there a recommended way to keep the tires when not in use?  Is it cool to keep them at full pressure with all the trailer weight on them for months at a time?  I was thinking about putting down the stabilizers and letting some pressure out while storing it.  

[JMFP 1113]

2 minutes ago, dingleberryswitzer said:

Also, back to my tire issue.  Is there a recommended way to keep the tires when not in use?  Is it cool to keep them at full pressure with all the trailer weight on them for months at a time?  I was thinking about putting down the stabilizers and letting some pressure out while storing it.  

I just try to keep them clean and out of direct sunlight best I can, I haven't had any issues...

[fattyflattie 4633]

35 minutes ago, dingleberryswitzer said:

Also, back to my tire issue.  Is there a recommended way to keep the tires when not in use?  Is it cool to keep them at full pressure with all the trailer weight on them for months at a time?  I was thinking about putting down the stabilizers and letting some pressure out while storing it.  

Full pressure. On cement or cement pavers if possible. 

[horn4life 3749]

So WeBoost RV booster for $650 seems to be the best on the market?  Comes with a 25 foot pole, and 30 foot incoming cable I figure I can probably fairly easily add another 12-15 feet onto that and get the height I need.  With the antenna swaying in the 17 mph winds to a degree that will make me uncomfortable, as well as being a wonderful lightning rod...  so some sort of badass surge protector as protection?  Also could perhaps drive in basically a monster rod holder into the dunes as a base mount, use some parachute line and stakes to secure against wind gusts, and buy/build a long ass cable.

I guess I will buy the thing, and take advantage of the 30 return policy and make sure it will do the job.  Apparently there is a way to DC power the thing.  So maybe just take the truck, extra battery or my inverter and look for lower spots, or high spots in the dunes and test the thing.  IF I ever get this shit to work. I will make sure and record the GPS coordinates as a surly public service.  Seems like the real problem might be that the 5G requires a better connection.  

Anyhow thanks for the input.  Now time to go get the grinder and remove the paint off my rusted jacks and get some paint on them.  Painting the underbelly is gonna be a part time job going forward if I keep going to the beach.

[troph 24028]

1 hour ago, horn4life said:

So WeBoost RV booster for $650 seems to be the best on the market?  Comes with a 25 foot pole, and 30 foot incoming cable I figure I can probably fairly easily add another 12-15 feet onto that and get the height I need.  With the antenna swaying in the 17 mph winds to a degree that will make me uncomfortable, as well as being a wonderful lightning rod...  so some sort of badass surge protector as protection?  Also could perhaps drive in basically a monster rod holder into the dunes as a base mount, use some parachute line and stakes to secure against wind gusts, and buy/build a long ass cable.

I guess I will buy the thing, and take advantage of the 30 return policy and make sure it will do the job.  Apparently there is a way to DC power the thing.  So maybe just take the truck, extra battery or my inverter and look for lower spots, or high spots in the dunes and test the thing.  IF I ever get this shit to work. I will make sure and record the GPS coordinates as a surly public service.  Seems like the real problem might be that the 5G requires a better connection.  

Anyhow thanks for the input.  Now time to go get the grinder and remove the paint off my rusted jacks and get some paint on them.  Painting the underbelly is gonna be a part time job going forward if I keep going to the beach.

that's what we have.  It only takes a signal we get and makes it stronger.  I've never seen it pick up a signal when my phone is fully out of range.  It's phenomenal at taking a reliable 1 bar LTE and making it 3 bar LTE, 2 bar LTE and making it full bars LTE.  It does the same for 3G.  It won't convert 3G to LTE and it won't convert roaming or 1X to 3G or LTE and it won't pick up a non-existent signal.   now if the dunes really are the only object in the way and the signal is right there with enough height, I suspect it could pick it up.  but if you scroll up and look at our set up in the third I posted above, you'll see the product on display and in that set up we had 1 bar LTE so we ended up able to work that week.  try it out, but that's our experience, makes a huge difference but it has significant limitations.

[fattyflattie 4633]

1 hour ago, horn4life said:

Now time to go get the grinder and remove the paint off my rusted jacks and get some paint on them.

If you’re talking about the basic scissor jacks, they are like $35/ea.  Might be easier to coat them in oil a few times a year and just chock that to a $150/annual consumable for beach camping.  Unless you just really like wire wheeling.  Me, I've spent countless hours behind one and $150 seems like a deal.  

[conVINCEd 21468]

15 hours ago, JMFP said:

Had to take the fifth wheel back to the dealer last week to work on a leaky slide. So while it was gone I pulled a @Steel Shank - rented a hoe and laid some pipe. Now I officially have full hookups in the backyard.

 

 

That looks like a lot of fucking work.

[CoachTex 2612]

[CoachTex 2612]

Seeking some advice.  Going from San Antonio to Palo duro canyon for Thanksgiving week.  Wanted to break up the drive there with an overnight in Lubbock.  Can anyone suggest a good spot to stay that is dog friendly for 1 night.  Thanks in advance. 

[ShaggyBevo RIP 3859]

Getting the hang of our new baby. Had no idea how glorious never stepping foot in a public restroom would be.

[CoachTex 2612]

Lake Texoma run.

[Pato del Muerto 52117]

Electrical question:

just put service at the house. Plugged in today for the first time and bad things happen.  I have a 30a breaker at the box, but the “main” on the rv is a 20 and keeps tripping. 
 

I had everything running well a couple weeks ago when I was breaking in the gennys. 

shouldn’t the line only be delivering what is being drawn?  

what’s the difference here?  
 

trying to give my wife the option of working in there during the day. 

[Pato del Muerto 52117]

Further review:  rv main is 30a and a/c is 20. I got the gens out and plugged in and they are reporting an overload as well and not delivering. 
 

so I started playing with the rv breaker panel and one 15a breaker, the one that keeps tripping, that says general, when I re-engage it I hear a nice electrical buzzing right behind the panel for a second and then it trips again. 
 

so I guess I have a short somewhere on that circuit path?

any chance it’s a faulty breaker that I can swap out right there instead of chasing wiring?

[CHIEF 5045]

15 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Further review:  rv main is 30a and a/c is 20. I got the gens out and plugged in and they are reporting an overload as well and not delivering. 
 

so I started playing with the rv breaker panel and one 15a breaker, the one that keeps tripping, that says general, when I re-engage it I hear a nice electrical buzzing right behind the panel for a second and then it trips again. 
 

so I guess I have a short somewhere on that circuit path?

any chance it’s a faulty breaker that I can swap out right there instead of chasing wiring?

That would be my first solution. If it still trips, start tracing wires. Since it sounds like the problem is at the panel, you might unplug the main, pull the panel, if you can and make sure wires aren't touching on the backside. Might be a good idea to pull all of the breakers and clean all of the contacts with contact cleaner. It can get dirty and dusty behind there. Especially if you take it down any dirt roads.

CHIEF

Edited July 17, 2021 by CHIEF

[Pato del Muerto 52117]

Weird that it wasn’t happening when I tested the generators last month.  I did move it from the driveway to beside the garage last weekend.
 

had the same thing last year when it kept tripping the power tower breaker at a site, so as we were leaving I pulled into an unoccupied site and tried that tower and everything seemed to work.  
 

i wonder if it is wires touching and movement is affecting it. 
 

would also maybe explain why the batteries don’t seem to hold a charge very long?

Edited July 17, 2021 by Pato del Muerto