MarthaChuck
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Posts posted by MarthaChuck
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Just a heads up.
Possible electrical issues for you to check. (Sorry, this is so long winded)
Check your load center (electrical panels) terminus lugs for tightness at least annually. I do this for my basement lugs twice a year. Here is a prime example as to why you should include the load centers. (Our Northern Star is an '05 model).
The last two days our coach has experienced electrical issues. One of our appliance circuits would shut off and then turn back on at random. At first I thought were related to our coffee maker (it's older and I thought it might be going bad and shorting the breakers and tripping them).
Next up, I considered that may well be the GFI outlet that the coffee maker was plugged into. I tested it and then reset it. It worked fine. I plugged the coffee maker back in and it worked for a while and then turned off again. I then tested the voltage at the outlet. 123 volts. While I had the test leads in the outlet sockets we lost power again.
Then I thought maybe the outlet had a wire loose but upon removal and inspection everything was fine. So, onto the load centers. I pulled the covers off my two load centers, located the breaker that feeds that circuit.
My thinking at this point that is was possibly a weak breaker. It happens with age. The breaker was functioning perfectly. I turned it on and started to put the load center cover back on when I noticed two things that stuck out like a sore thumb.
First, I noticed a ground wire that was meant to ground one of the two load centers was not terminated to a grounding point. Second, one of my neutral wires looked odd. On close inspection I found that it was blackened and the white insulation where the wire entered the neutral bus was brown from the bus out and up the wire two inches or so.
I was lucky to have found both problems but the neutral wire could have easily caused a fire.
What happened? This is just a guess but it sure appeared that the neutral wire was incorrectly tightened down at the factory.
The lug (screw) that holds the wire into place was cross threaded. It was visibly crooked in the neutral buss and wasn't visibly tightened down far enough that it matched the other lugs for being flush with the bus.
I think whomever wired it, placed the wire in the bus, tightened the lug, and when it got tight they thought the lug had engaged the bare wire when in fact it just tightened because it was cross threaded and left the lug just sort of the wire which was floating inside the bus itself. I had to cut the wire back two inches to find un-burned copper and then re-installed it correctly.
Second, my load centers are side by side. When the smaller of the two was installed the ground wire was fun from the small box to the larger one without ever being terminated in the ground buss of the larger one.
Once these problems were fixed the problem stopped. Check your load centers, transfer switch, bi-directional relay and battery shut offs. It will pay off.
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I just had this happen to me. With the actuator loose and separated from the drive motor you should be able to manually lift the step cover. I just pulled mine up and used a block of wood to hold it there so I could unbolt the actuator piston from the step cover (the bolt and nut at the front right of your photo). Mine was repairable once I got access, two of the four bolts just worked loose and then the other two broke off (presumably from the stress of misalignment).
When the two parts separated it also ripped some wiring from inside the case (also repairable) if you can solder. Checking the voltage is a good idea but based on the photo it is likely still getting power to the motor portion of the assembly. If it is like mine, it was a mechanical failure followed by minor wiring damage when it separated.
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I need some help with a CAT 350 C7. This not the place obviously. What part of the FMCA website would I find the CAT gurus? Thanks
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I downloaded the app and registered it. My problem is that the maintenance items I am installating do not stay there meaning I put in for instance battery maintenance and when I click save it places me back where I started without saving the item. Another problem is that there is no on-line version for use with a PC or MAC that will sync with the mobile app. It would be so much easier to itemize our maintenance lists via a full size keyboard and have it sync to the mobile app. (if this exists, I haven't found it).
As for the developer needing information, that's nothing new. I would wager that hundreds/thousands of us are on a database somewhere. For me that isn't a big deal.
Screen Shot of the Apps opening page
deal.
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When we bought our Newmar Northern Star three years ago I decided that I was going to add some cabinetry, a television lift, and an electric fireplace. The idea was to get this portion of the project installed then eliminate the head banger TV and cabinet at the front of the coach. This is the first phase of that project. The couch on the left side of the photo below is what we removed.
When we left our sticks and bricks home we had a very nice 42" TV that we brought along for this project. I just needed to purchase and install a television lift, electric fireplace, cabinetry, and countertop. Piece of cake right? So, I ordered the lift which is a model "30003 Valueline" Touchstone lift and a 30" Touchstone Electric Fireplace. I got two 12"X12"X30" unfinished base cabinets from Menards and the necessary lumber to build the rest of the cabinetry. This is the lift and cabinetry build in the early stages of the installation. We opted for this arrangement so that we could utilize our window in an unobstructed fashion when the TV was not being used.
The framing and support for the counter top was fabricated from 1"X4"'s . The counter top itself was fabricated from 1/2" clear plywood. We were very fortunate to find a plastic laminate that almost matched our Corian counter tops in the galley.
This is the project just prior to staining the cabinets and installing the finished counter top.
Installation of the countertop. It is glued and screwed to the newly installed cabinetry
Finally the finished project
(I still need to re-staing the baseboard with another coat of brown stain)
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The trip was quite nice, great scenery, no big long uphill pulls and not much traffic. Thanks everyone.
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Thanks everyone, we leave tomorrow and we are taking Hiway 380
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We are leaving Elephant Butte, NM for Cleburne Texas on Tuesday morning. We are considering taking Hiway 380. Does anyone have experience traveling Highway 380 from San Antonio New Mexico (at I-25) to the Texas border? Is it big rig doable? Looking to avoid steep elevation changes or any condition that makes it a big rig unfriendly route. TIA
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10 hours ago, srflorie said:So did you get a full year or just to the end of your membership? If you got just to the end of your membership, was it prorated?
I got a full year starting from yesterday.
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I hope this helps others that find themselves up against not being able to purchase a "one year" RA policy two weeks after joining FMCA. I was given this phone number to call and get our policy in force 877-581-8581. I called and signed up in less than five minutes, no extra year membership into FMCA required. Have your VIN# ready when you call.
Overall it wasn't the big deal I thought it was. And, that's a good thing.
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I received an email from FMCA this afternoon. They said to call the RA program direct and that would circumvent the problem I was having. I will call tomorrow and post up the results. Ross my whole gripe was that I had no inkling of what to expect from FMCA when I joined. I would like to be a member a year and then evaluate whether I want to re-up rather than be forced to re-up just to get RA.
On the flip side I have already received more value in the way of correspondence from FMCA than I ever did with other clubs. Thanks for the advice though, it seems sound. Maybe I will do that next December.
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Here is my rant about RA from FMCA. I am a new member, joined the last week of December '18. I just got around to checking about RA from FMCA. After reading about the service I decided to take it for a year. Our rig is getting older and we wanted to make sure we could get help if something went wrong. So, I go to the FMCA RA link and input my information and get ready to pay and I get a pop up that says they cannot insure me because the period of coverage would be less than a year? I mean come on, new member, first time member and they want me to flip for another membership year before I have experienced the first year? Not kosher.
I find this sales tactic divisive. It is also a "bait and switch" tactic. Come on FMCA get your act together.
Check the lugs in your Load Center
in Electrical
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Yes, we had a transfer switch failure over two years ago. It was the result of a an unbonded neutral. (transfer switch was mentioned in the last sentence of my write up)I have been doing semi-annual inspections since. This one eluded me though. And, it just started acting up even though it appears to have been a 15 year old factory mistake.