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Date Posted |
Forum
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RE: Disconnect load before stopping generator?
The old Onans were famous for blowing out the bridge for the field when shut down with much load on. That thing was not easy to get at most times.
Many of the less primitive units still have trouble because the fancy output voltage regulation system doesn't know it is being shut down and the system kills itself trying to hold the output up.
Matt
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Matt_Colie
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07/13/19 12:16pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: The Fascinating Evolution of the American RV
I was dismayed to see the bastardization of a GMC in this line. It has nothing to do with development and is really only an example of an expensive mistake.
I have seen this coach up close and real personal (they were at one of the GMC events), and while some of the execution is very well done, the plan was not. The couple that got this done ended up donating it because it was not comfortable to either drive or live in and if you knew more about it, you would know why.
They actually got a write-up in the FMCA magazine that made all of the current owners of operational GMCs angry. So much so that the president of GMCMI wrote to the editors and explained what a complete looser this coach had become.
-rant off-
Matt Colie
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Matt_Colie
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07/13/19 12:04pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: "Best" RV GPS Nav Systems
Border,
If you want to stay below 300$us, you are going to have to catch as good sale. The Garmin and the Rand McNally are both nominal 400.
Matt
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Matt_Colie
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07/11/19 03:51pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: House battery charging issue
Bill,
If you killed a pair of GC2s and expected them to be better than 80% after five hours of driving, the only thing wrong here may be your expectations.
Try charging them from shore power before you do anything rash.
Matt
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Matt_Colie
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07/05/19 08:46am |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Favorite multi-meter for RV / Solar
Clamp on DC current probes are great, particularly for trying to diagnose issues with solar backs. Just be sure to get one that reads to relatively low (<10A) levels.
If you have nothing, start off with a Hazard Fright cheapy and a Kill-A-Watt. The HF will do you well for nearly all the DC work, and the KAW will diagnose AC issues faster than anything else.
I have a stable of Fluke stuff. I started buying it with the introduction of the 70series and have added as needed over the years. I would never have amassed this collection if it were not deductible. You don't need what I have so do not buy it and don't worry about what you have.
Matt
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Matt_Colie
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07/04/19 09:11am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Advice for first time RV rental and experience
ascanio1,
While I have tried to digest most of your posts and I have commend your careful planning. Your effort to collect the needed information is also much more than I usually expect. Good Man.
There is, however, an issue that you should also study carefully. This has been an issue with visiting family from Europe. The US is a big place.
Yellowstone is an amazing place, but it is about 1000miles (1600Km) from LAX. That may be a stopper right there. Even with two very capable drivers, that is a long way to go. I strongly suggest that you use all the planning capability you can find to determine your schedule. Yellowstone is about a 5 day park by itself.
The Grand Canyon and Yosemite part of the plan is nearly possible. But remember to include that you will lose a day at each end for the acquire and return of the vehicle.
I wish you luck that is hours of driving without problems and memories that make it all worth the effort.
Matt
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Matt_Colie
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07/03/19 05:36pm |
Beginning RVing
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RE: power convert how to diagnose.
OK Hiii,
The converter fan won't run unless it is needed. I almost never hear any of mine.
Do it like this....
Get tape and mark every cable that is on one battery terminal. If you only have black tape, use it to make a flag on every wire on the negative connection.
Now, disconnect the battery.
Connect shore power.
Measure the battery (terminal) voltage.
Measure the voltage at the converter terminals.
The battery (if charged) should be 12.6 (it better be more than 12.0).
The converter (looks like a PD91XX could be 13.6 to 14.4.
Now, Come back and tell us what you found.
While you are waiting, clean all the wire terminals and check for the wire connection to be sound.
Matt
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Matt_Colie
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07/02/19 07:14am |
Tech Issues
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RE: I hate dinettes
I guess the designs were better once.
We have a very vintage (soon to qualify as antique) small A. The interior was carefully designed when it was built. We have a dinette and it has served us well. In the time when I used it as a shop for the living I made doing things for keep boat racers, that dinette served me well as center for the consultations with owners, as shop bench for the work on electronic instruments and a place to lay out my computer and papers as was required.
Now that the coach has been converted back to casual use, we use the dinette all the time. It is used during food preparation as it is across from the galley, and then to also partake of said meal and have a face to face discussion.
But then again, this coach was designed by thinking people some of whom were famous interior designers and it was all done near 50 years ago but it still is good today. All those that have remodeled these coaches gave up some function to do it.
Matt
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Matt_Colie
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06/30/19 08:08am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: How do you begin to plan for extended road trips?
Matt,
Another feature. When you add Favorites, they stay as favorites every time you open Maps. I've been adding spots we stop at for the future plus i have added locations I have been at since 2000 when I started saving waypoints. You must use the format xx.xxxxxxx -yy.yyyyyy. You can also share but I don't do that or know how to do it.
Chris
Chris,
Thanks for the pointer, and I have found that they made it easy to download individual states or "all regions" (~5GB). (The laptop is doing that now.) I would love to pull my address book over from SA that means I would have to translate it all to DD.dddddd and I hate working in that format. I also still can't make follow travel. So close, but still too far.....
I'm going to keep trying, but these days, I have to keep going on the coach repair.
Matt
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Matt_Colie
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06/29/19 07:11am |
Beginning RVing
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RE: When is the Robo Call Legislation taking effect?
Our home landline has been tied to Nomorobo.com for a couple of years now. So, when the phone rings, we wait for a second ring before we even think about answering it.
Verizon does a pretty good job of screening the cell calls, but the good one now is that someone spoofed my number and used it to send messages (I have no idea what the real content was) and many did not appreciate them. As a result, I got a carp* load of "stop" messages. I finally set a auto-reply that said I'm not reading any SMS and turned off notification. I just now turned it back on an dumped the trash.
Matt
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Matt_Colie
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06/28/19 06:41am |
Around the Campfire
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RE: Michigan to Yellowstone and back
The routes of both 14 and 14A have been flattened a straightened. The altitude is rough on an gas engine, but it was do-able. We managed to blow by a couple of little econoboxes on the way over Bighorn.
Then, there is also Rt-16, I can't tell you about that.
I hope you are dragging a towed or plan to rent a passcar in West Yellowstone. A coach that big will be a challenge to drive in a lot of the park.
Matt
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Matt_Colie
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06/27/19 08:39am |
Roads and Routes
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RE: Comments on proposed Return route from MI to TX
Samuel,
I doesn't pain me at all to tell you that Michigan's roads are abysmal. This is why I would suggest that you take 94 to 75 south to Toledo.
In short, get out of Michigan.
Look for gas once you get into OHIO.
There is a newer stretch of US24 that you can get from I-475 and that will take you to 469 at Fort Wayne.
We are now out of date for conditions of I-69 south from there.
Matt
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Matt_Colie
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06/27/19 08:28am |
Roads and Routes
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RE: How do you begin to plan for extended road trips?
Cross,
Thanks for the hint. I have a brand new Win10 to replace the laptop that got damaged earlier in the year. I found maps, but cannot find anyway to make it find an actual location. It missed by about 1/4 mile and on the wrong side of the road.
I wonder if the maps are installed or downloaded as needed.
I still miss the standalones that worked so well.
Matt
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Matt_Colie
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06/26/19 07:31am |
Beginning RVing
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RE: Paying for public campgrounds
Most checks are "wash proof" these days. Take a check and try it.
I know because it was tried with one of ours, the bank didn't even start to process it. They just called us and we cleared it up and that was that.
Matt
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Matt_Colie
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06/24/19 08:30am |
RV Lifestyle
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RE: The best camping spots are free.
A third Michigander here, and I am also a refugee from the east coast megopolis. That band used to be from navigable water 100 miles inland and it now is more like 150. That still leaves some of NY, but I try to avoid that as it is now a police state. It does leave a some of New Hampshire, a lot of Vermont and a big portion of Maine. There are also areas of Pennsylvania that are usable. There are national forest areas in all those states and some allow camping.
Even in these areas, if you want to bivouac for a week outside of a national forest, there may be a problem, but one or two nights can usually get by.
We just don't go there because I'm sure I would be breaking some law I never heard of. I just don't need that.
Matt
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Matt_Colie
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06/24/19 08:22am |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: How do you begin to plan for extended road trips?
We have some home issues that make being absent for more than 6 weeks a real big issue. We always planned with Streets and Trips and later with Street Atlas. Both were good for both planning and enroute navigation. With those gone, and there being no real replacement. I still use SA for a rough cut and then go to other means for the daily stuff. It is a whole lot harder than it used to be, but without the combined planner and enroute, that is how life is....
I like Furkot, but it is a web app and that is useless for enroute and it does not accept the overlays of the others. I have tried to work with Google Maps on the phone and a tablet, but if you don't get enough downloaded, you can drive off the edge of the world. That or end up with 1 mile resolution when you need 100 yard.
I have worked all the demos from RV Trip planner, but again, it is a web app and has that for a killer.
Copilot was pretty close, but they just changed owners and some things changed that I haven't figured out yet.
Fortunately, for much of my life, I have had a name tag that said "Navigator" and can go back working on paper charts with a parallel and dividers with no difficulty at all.
Matt
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Matt_Colie
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06/24/19 07:42am |
Beginning RVing
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RE: Paying for public campgrounds
We always have written a check. There are usually instructions on to whom it should be payable.
This has two advantages.
I does not deplete our supply of cash
And
If the box (or iron ranger) gets broken into (as happened once), the check is of no value to these cretins.
Matt
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Matt_Colie
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06/23/19 12:38pm |
RV Lifestyle
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RE: Generator Help - Blue Smoke
Bill,
At 20 years and less than 400 hours, I can make two suggestions.
The first and simplest is that the rings are gummed up. A couple of lube oil changes MAY fix that in about 50 running hours.
The rest are not simple given the service resistant install.
It may be that the valve guide seals have dried out or died. That is about the age that rubber parts start going bad all by themselves. The oil change may help this.
Last and not a suggestion is that there is something actually wrong, like a cracked piston.
I have seen these installed and they are not fun to work on.
Matt
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Matt_Colie
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06/22/19 10:37am |
Tech Issues
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RE: I-69 in Michigan
Michigan has higher fuel taxes than most of the surrounding states. But, what really frosts me is coming back into the state from the south on I-75...
There is the "Welcome to Michigan" sign and "BAM" there is the worst road you have seen in several hundred miles....
Some welcome - huh?
Matt
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Matt_Colie
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06/21/19 07:07am |
Roads and Routes
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RE: Flying J Dedicated RV Lanes
We haven't always had a small short coach. When we were towing, I looked for the RV lanes. One of those times, we got in line behind a coach-only. He finished fueling, then went inside - as nearly as I could guess - to have lunch. After every bit of an half of an hour, I backed and broke the rig. Then I went to a regular pump for fuel. Came back and picked up the tow (a car hauler). When I was ready to leave (now more than an hour) the owner sauntered back out and set up to dump his black tank.
Then another time, we got into the RV lane, only to find that the fuel pump was down and the exit was blocked (I have forgotten what by). So, we backed the rig out and went up the road for fuel. It was less expensive there than it would have been with the stack of discount cards....
We rarely tow these days, but I will never stop at an RV lane unless it is open and even then, it has to be worth the aggravation.
Matt
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Matt_Colie
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06/21/19 07:01am |
General RVing Issues
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