raypesek

To me the "bottom line" on this subject is that any deterrent you can put in place cost effectively is better than just taking a chance. - What is my insurance deductible? - What are the indirect costs of a catalytic converter theft? Anger and a feeling of having been violated, possible canceled trips and loss of deposits along with family disappointment, more anger, time lost trying to find a replacement and someone who can do the work, more anger, etc. - If I experienced a catalytic converter theft, would I then pay out of pocket for some kind of anti-theft deterrent? For me, probably. The only other alternative is to experience a conttant, nagging worry, suffer a second loss, pay a second deductible, and have all the same problems getting a replacement again. So I simply decided to cut out all of the emotional and financial impact of an actual loss and install an anti-theft deterrent on my schedule. The total cost (because I did the work myself) was less than the insurance deductible cost of $500 if I suffered a theft. I hate spending money for things like this but hopefully I've minimized the chance of a future theft. Then again, maybe I'd get a new motorhome out of a catalytic converter theft, if I could afford a new one with the insurance payout at today's prices. See: https://muskoka411.com/vehicles-flipped-over-catalytic-converters-stolen-in-severn/

Let us know how that works out for you. :) The pics are not of ours.

Perhaps in your state and that only stops honest scrapyards from accepting stolen goods. In Ohio the law limits sellers to one catalytic converter per scrapyard per day. But the law does not apply to commercial sellers. So one enterprising thief got an LLC through State of Ohio and sold several every day.

Three of the people on that thread said they called FMCA and confirmed it. They also appear to have confirmed they are FMCA members. If this is a scam, and that's a big "if", then the FMCA may have lost some member contact information.

I've read of many people replacing the panel that way. But I'd suspect the controller module located in the base of the toilet more than a stuck membrane switch. If the membrane switch is physically stuck you should be able to pull the 30 amp (or so) fuse for the toilet, kill the toilet, and put the fuse back in. Or just kill all DC power for a half minute or so. If the toilet does not start up my money would go on the controller module instead. This is the controller for our Tecma Silence Plus 2G and is one of two links I found that claims to have it in stock: https://pdxrvwholesale.com/products/thetford-toilet-controller-36398 The other link: https://www.nwrvsupply.com/product/tecma-silence-plus-controller-36398/ Good luck, Ray

Sounds like a scam, right? But there are several posts on iRV2 that it's not. One person said they got a check for $177 but the check bounced and had to be replaced, which deposited OK. https://www.irv2.com/forums/f64/fmca-check-bounced-595059.html Anyone else here get a rebate check from FMCA for being a loyal customer with the hotspot, they sent me a check for $177 and I deposited it and it bounced! I contacted them and they said there was suspicious activity on their account and they were taking care of it. Right after I got the email about losing the two free nights a month at the FMCA campground? Someone needs to work on their timing... Ray

We've flat towed a 2020 Equinox Premier AWD with the 2.0L engine and the 9-speed transmission for two years. rossboyer's description of the charge line is accurate but using the RVi Towed Battery Controller as the charge controller will not work with an Equinox. People have reported the LSL one as working OK. The Equinox draws almost 8 amps out of the battery when set up for towing. Once I ripped out the RVi TBC and went to just a straight charge line with a fuse I no longer had battery problems. Based on watching Etrailer videos for the baseplate I chose the Demco baseplate and use a Roadmaster Nighthawk tow bar. The braking system is the Demco Stay-IN-Play DUO. The Roadmaster also looked like a good choice. With the Premier, because it has LED lights and a redesigned taillight assembly, you cannot install the separate LED light. You must use a diode kit instead, which is what I did. Here is a recent thread on a person who had their Blue Ox baseplate fail on their 2018 Equinox while towing: https://www.irv2.com/forums/f85/base-plate-ripped-off-frame-591290.html Ray

I'm noticing something odd with the new Franklin T9. I keep it plugged in inside a cabinet because we're on our winter trip and use it every day. It will give a message of "Battery fully charged" followed later by "Charging too long" or something similar. When the second message appears I know it because every device connected including the cameras disconnect and we have no Internet access. I need to unplug the cord and plug it back in or, usually, just reboot the device. If we're in the motorhome when it happens... I found a few threads where people reported the same thing. No, it's not the "Inactive time" setting because that's set to "Always on". Outside of putting a lamp timer on the charger, does anyone have a suggestion? Does the M2000 have this problem? Thanks, Ray

Thanks for the quick response and explanation. That actually is one thing I would not have thought of, given the size of the warehouse and all of the surrounding area.

Ugh. We just went to book a spot at the FMCA Campground in Newtown, OH, east of Cincinnati, during April and were greeted with this message: FMCA Campground will be closed from 03/28/2022 to 05/24/2022 Anybody know what's going on there? Ray

Wait, what? The M2000 hotspot costs an additional $250 in Year One from Calyx, additional to the $750? The Year One difference between FMCA ($640) and Calyx ($750) is $110. (I don't know if owning the hotspot is better than leasing it for us. When our first Franklin R910 went bad we got the Mifi 8000L for no charge from FMCA. That wouldn't happen out of warranty if we owned it.) Confusedly yours, Ray

To further prove your point, we moved from Bradenton, FL where we got roughly 3 - 5 M/bps with the Sprint Mifi 8000L. With the T-Mobile replacement Franklin T9 hotspot we usually got well under 1 M/bps during the day. We're now in Crystal River, FL. This campground was kind of a dead spot for Sprint and we usually got 1 - 2 M/bps here, but the coverage matched the Sprint map well so we knew it would be weak. But Netflix etc. still worked with very occasional buffering. With the T-Mobile T9 hotspot here in Crystal River we're consistently getting 16 - 20 M/bps anytime during the day and we're almost in the same spot as last year. Unfortunately next year we'll be in Bradenton for all three months because they changed to a 3-month minimum for 2023. So now I need to decide whether to keep the FMCA plan or upgrade to the Calyx M2000 plan (which obviously could change by a year from now). FMCA for Year 1 = 50 *12 or $600 + the $40 one-time device rental for a total of $640 FMCA for Year 2 = $600 Calyx for Year 1 = $750 Calyx for Year 2 = $500 So after Year 2 Calyx currently is ahead on price a bit with a more capable device, currently. Decisions, decisions... Ray

An Alcatel LinkZone 2has 5G capability? Not according to its specs. Where did you find that setting? We're changing cities next week so if this is not noticeably better I'll bid it a fond goodbye. The hotspot on my Verizon phone is good for 0.6 M/bps and it costs me nothing extra each month. Oh well, it was good while it lasted. Ray

We got 16.1 M/bps download at midnight last night and 0.60 M/bps at noon today with the new T-Mobile Franklin T9. Oh, well, what's a 100X change in speed between friends? And whoever would have thought that Sprint would be faster than T-Mobile in a major metropolitan area? Not me. We've experienced more buffering with Netflix in the last 20 hours since I changed from the Sprint hotspot to the T-Mobile hotspot than we experienced in the last two months in the same spot. Because we've had zero buffering before the change. Mama is not happy...

So I manually triggered a Check for Software Update on the T9 because the firmware was from mid-2020. An update was found and now I'm updated to April 2021. That's great T-Mobile tech work there, shipping out devices with old firmware. Nothing important in the release notes. Ignore those security updates. Smart battery and charging enhancements Enhanced security and device statistics/ reporting features