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Date Posted |
Forum
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RE: Mount Rushmore to Glacier NP

FYI, be aware that you can't access the Going to the Sun road from the East side in Glacier NP if you're hauling almost any kind of trailer, or if your vehicle is beyond a 10-12 foot height. There are a few low-hanging rock outcroppings - designed this way intentionally to give the road a more scenic ride - and tight turns. Best to check this before you go. Most campgrounds are on the West side of the summit, and thus, only accessible from the West side.
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obiwancanoli
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03/27/22 10:49am |
Roads and Routes
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RE: Rice Ranch RV, Quartzsite

There are over 60 RV parks in Quartzsite, according to their self-published Tour Book... You can Googlemap the area to get an overhead view, but remember, this is the Arizona desert... it's rocks, scrub, and gravel. Some have picnic tables, most do not. Some have small sites, others more generous (ask!)... Some have trees (palms), but if you're looking for shade, Don't hold your breath...
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obiwancanoli
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01/08/22 07:56am |
RV Parks, Campgrounds and Attractions
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RE: Water Source

Only IF the Water Pump is ON AND you have the city Water fill tank valve in the wrong position. There should be no reason to have the Water Pump ON if on City Water. Doug
Duh... thanks.. never occurred to me to consider that... but it makes perfect sense, and so, another lesson learned.
Thanks again!
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obiwancanoli
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12/17/21 09:52pm |
Tech Issues
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Water Source

Noticed my fresh water level was on “E”, though I’m hooked up to water at the RV Park I’m at… I thought my water came from the hookup, but my empty water tank suggests otherwise… refilled the water tank, after 15 min, I was full again. Will my water always come from the on board tank, regardless if hooked up to city water?
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obiwancanoli
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12/14/21 02:29pm |
Tech Issues
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Target Shooting Near Quartzsite

Just wanted to do a little plinking, maybe some target shooting with a new firearm, and a few old.
If you're familiar with the area, I'm looking for a safe place to do some shooting, sure would appreciate a few tips, and maybe even directions from downtown Main St.
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obiwancanoli
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12/11/21 08:29pm |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: Does Anyone See A Need For a Portable Generator?

having recently used a Honda 2K to charge my house batteries (don't ask, long story, not relevant), the small generator was ruined due to the high demands of the coach charging system.
Sadly, you learned the hard way ! NEVER use the 12V outlet of a portable generator !! I don't know why they are even on most generators.
No idea how it was inferred that the 12V outlet was used, since nothing the OP wrote indicated that. In fact, nothing that the OP stated even indicates that the generator problem was directly due to using it to charge the coach batteries using the onboard charger. Chances are the generator is not ruined at all. First thing I would check is oil level. Those little Hondas have tiny crankcases- oil capacity is less than half a quart. But like any small gas engine, they use oil, and the harder the engine works the more oil it uses. It doesn't take much of a drop in oil level to trigger the generator's low oil shutoff, which will do exactly as the OP describes- the generator will start and run for a second or two, then die.
You know, I hadn't thought of that... I'll let my buddy know to check that... thanks!
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obiwancanoli
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11/06/21 11:14am |
Class A Motorhomes
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Refrigerator Smell - Yuck!

How do I eradicate the terrible fishy smell coming from my RV freezer? Scrubbing didn't work...
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obiwancanoli
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11/05/21 02:31pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: What happened to Winnebago in Australia?

:E They even put the door on the wrong side!!!!!
You probably do not know we drive on the Right Hand Side not Left Hand as in the US
Did they have jousting there in the middle ages? That's why Britain drives on the right...
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obiwancanoli
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11/03/21 06:56pm |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Does Anyone See A Need For a Portable Generator?

I will say YES a small one (100-200 watt inverter type precise size depends on your converter)
WHY... A Generac 1000 (True 1000 watt "Traditional" generator enclosed about as loud as a Honda EU-2000i at half load) will power a Progressive Dynamics 9180 (mine was a plug in module so I could feed JUST the converter) for a good 6-8 hours on a small tank of fuel.. The ONAN sucks between 3 and 8 gallons doing that. Though the noise is not much higher
But I liked being able to use the small one to top off the battery when needed instead of the big Onan.
Also,. from time to time I needed that thousand watts remote from the RV.. I have. for example an electric chain saw.
In fact, this was one reason I was considering it... When I boondock, I search the area for downed wood I can use for a campfire, and usually, that wood would have to be cut with a saw. Absent a battery operated model, unless I were close enough to the coach to plug in, a small portable generator would come in handy... but if that's the only reason to have it along, methinks a quality battery operated reciprocating saw (or something similar) would be perfectly fine...
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obiwancanoli
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11/03/21 06:54pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Does Anyone See A Need For a Portable Generator?

I'm thinking I don't need to have this tool along on my adventures, most of which, I expect, will be boondocking hither and yon... and, having recently used a Honda 2K to charge my house batteries (don't ask, long story, not relevant), the small generator was ruined due to the high demands of the coach charging system.
Thanks for your input,
MJ
MJ,
If you ruined that Honda trying to recover the house bank, you did something that was drastically wrong. I actually can't imagine what it might have been. What you should have done was connect the portable to the shore power feed and let the coach's charger do the job.
Matt
That's exactly what we did... the genny whined high and low throughout the charging process... now, maybe there was something wrong with the generator itself before starting the process, but there was no way to know this, as it appeared to work fine before starting
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obiwancanoli
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11/03/21 09:37am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Does Anyone See A Need For a Portable Generator?

Thanks, everyone, for your input. As I suspected, there's really no good reason to have an external generator. FWIW, I have 600W solar, 4 LiPo batteries (400Ah), and no, I don't really want to have to store gas for the genny onboard... yes, I agree it's a hassle, that was one reason I posed the question... and I, too, typically run my onboard generator when using a high Amp appliance.
As for the consequences to the external genny, I don't know why it didn't function properly after charging my battery bank... it would start and run briefly, then shut down. Can't tell you if time has healed it, for it belonged to someone else, and he used his all the time for his setup (pull behind trailer, no onboard genny)... thankfully, he had two.
I'll save the external genny for power outages at home...
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obiwancanoli
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11/03/21 07:14am |
Class A Motorhomes
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Does Anyone See A Need For a Portable Generator?

I have a 2017 Class A with an 8K onboard generator. Does anyone see a need to take a portable generator, and if so, would you kindly state your reasons?
I'm thinking I don't need to have this tool along on my adventures, most of which, I expect, will be boondocking hither and yon... and, having recently used a Honda 2K to charge my house batteries (don't ask, long story, not relevant), the small generator was ruined due to the high demands of the coach charging system.
Thanks for your input,
MJ
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obiwancanoli
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11/02/21 08:31pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Quartzite?

I'll be heading there for the first time, gotta go to the show... I'm shopping!
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obiwancanoli
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10/28/21 06:26pm |
RV Parks, Campgrounds and Attractions
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RE: Coach battery bank not working

Generally most coaches will not use chassis battery, but gets power from chassis when vehicle is running.
Just because a relay clicks does not mean it is good, the internals could be poor/bad.
Here is a basic 3 relay system,the "isolation" relay would be your emergency start relay.
I suspect a bad house battery relay,or it is not being turned on, or a bad positive connection somewhere from the house battery(s) to the relay.
https://www.irv2.com/attachments/photobucket/img_1009238_0_5ca4812947722f1d3c2c3cef1251dfeb.jpg
I recently had a problem with my solar, and on-board generator not recharging house batteries. Used an external generator to recharge back to 100%, but it pretty much destroyed generator's ability to work after that, as it revved up a lot, in spurts, while recharging over a period of about 5 hours.
Had a mobile tech come out, and he completed thorough diagnostics, during which he found two items of concern... first, there's an on/off switch at the top of the on-board generator that was in the off position, although it charged batteries for 3 weeks prior with no issues. No idea how it was flipped to "off", but flipped back on, and then generator charged batteries.
Second issue was that solar was not recharging house batteries, and diagnostics showed the "battery disconnect" module (housed in the electrical cord bay) showed 1V difference between chassis side (14.2V) and coach side (13.1V), and this, he said, was the problem, as they should both be reading same voltage.
So, am about to have this module replaced, and hope this resolves the charging dilemma...
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obiwancanoli
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10/21/21 11:05am |
Tech Issues
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Prescott, Payson, Roosevelt Lake, ???

I'm planning to head to Arizona - specifically to visit family in and around the Phoenix area. I'm looking to find a great place to camp while I'm there, reasonably close enough to visit family, and where I might leave my rig undisturbed for a period of time. While I may be subject to 14-day limits, I'd still like to find a place where I can relax and enjoy the scenery, and perhaps some of the local sights and geography.
Do you have any suggestions? I generally check freecampsites.net, and RVParky, along with RV Trip Wizard... hoping some personal experiences will offer better perspective...
Thanks!
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obiwancanoli
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10/14/21 08:07pm |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: Solar Charging Issue

The problem appears to be that my solar array wasn't recharging the batteries. By this point, the generator switch (on the top of the genny itself) was flipped back to "on" (no idea how it was turned off), but the tech noted that the solar wasn't recharging the batteries. He advised that the Battery Disconnect module needed replacement, as each side of the BD module was of different voltage (14.1 vs. 13.1), indicating that the solar wasn't recharging the batteries... Have to assume this is a correct diagnosis, but would like other input to get a better idea of the process... thanks
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obiwancanoli
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10/11/21 03:13pm |
Tech Issues
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Solar Charging Issue

Thanks to Roger from Fixin' Dixon Mobile RV in Las Vegas, my boondocking adventure was able to continue... I'd been out for 3 weeks with no problems, after which my batteries refused to recharge via solar or generator. Hooked up a portable generator (2000W), and though that DID recharge batteries to 1005, it was hard on the Honda generator, and it refused to work after that...
Called several sources, all were unavailable for at least a week, then was referred to a mobile tech that took overflow work from Fixin' Dixon, and he came out 2 hours later - to the middle of nowhere on Lake Mead - performed diagnostics, and found an on/off switch enabling recharging was flipped to "OFF" somehow, and was not recharging batteries. Further, diagnostics found defective Battery Disconnect module (Battery Isolation Manager module in electrical cord bay) showed 14.1V on the Chassis side, and 13.1V on the Coach side... they should be equal... and so, have appt. to replace this. Meanwhile, after flipping on the switch on the generator, batteries were finally able to recharge from that alone (120W portable solar panel helped, but not enough).
My sincerest thanks to Roger of Fixin' Dixon in Las Vegas, a knowledgeable, helpful expert whose methodical testing and diagnostics alone were worth the price.
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obiwancanoli
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10/09/21 01:55pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: E7 error

A simple Google Search . . .
What is the E7 code on a Dometic thermostat? When you see this code, the system is telling you that all 120 AC power has been lost and the system cannot operate as it should. That loss of power is for all power modules connected to the system. Checking for a blown breaker is one way to fix this issue.
I guess it is easier for someone else to search for you
After I posted my inquiry, sir, I DID do a search... thank you for your input
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obiwancanoli
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09/17/21 08:23am |
Tech Issues
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E7 error

My Dometic thermostat is showing an E7 error... noticed first when heat pump wouldn't come on... later, the a/c showed same error... can I fix this? How? WHat does it mean?
Thanks
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obiwancanoli
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09/16/21 06:13pm |
Tech Issues
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Cargo Bay sliding tray install

I've got a 2017 Newmar Ventana LE, and am about to install a sliding storage tray from MORryde (36 x 90). While capacity is 800 pounds, I'm certain I'll never reach half of that.
There's about a 3" distance between the inside floor of the bay and the sheet metal underside, which suggests a nut and bolt approach. Every Youtube video I've seen, however, shows installs using only wood screws, suggesting there's a wood component as the next layer down from the carpeted flooring, but I can't find anything on this, in terms of type of wood, thickness, durability regarding such sliding tray installs, etc...
Looking for any information I can gather, as I have a smaller tray for a smaller compartment I can self-install, but want to do so properly. Will likely have my service guy install the larger tray, but still need advice...
Thanks!
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obiwancanoli
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09/05/21 10:13am |
Do It Yourself Modifications and Upgrades (DIY)
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