kevinpvb

There have been several posts on this subject. I am starting a new post to keep from confusing the prior posts. Thank you everyone that takes the time to reply. We have had this coach (2011Fleetwood Discovery 42C) since November, 2010. This past May, we have moved onto the coach as full timers. Now that all components are getting full time use, we are finding many issues. This power issue started about a week ago. Every night at about 10 pm (coincidence?), we lose all power to the coach. The panel inside the coach says "no service". I go outside and check the power at the pole. The breaker is not tripped. The little green light on my plug is illuminated. The two red lights on my Surge Guard Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) are illuminated. As mentioned above, the panel inside the coach displays "No Service". I turn the shore power breaker off and unplug the cable. I turn on the generator and all power returns and the panel displays "generator". I turn off the generator and turn on both inverters (I have two Magnum MS2000). Power is restored. I turn off the inverters and plug the cable back into the campground power and turn the breaker back to the on position and the power is restored. Next night at around 10 pm, power goes out again completely. I asked the campground to check their electrical service and watched as their electrician check the 50 amp power outlet. Each leg checked out at between 118 and 125 volts. The total voltage when checked showed 225 volts. My next step is to get someone to check my ATS. One of the two inverters seem to be dedicated to the residential refrigerator. The other inverter is dedicated to the power outlets and air conditioners. About 2 months ago, I had to replace the inverter that controls the power to the coach. There was a problem with the internal relay that prevented the shore power from supplying power to the outlets. Everything has worked properly until this week. Any additional thoughts and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

I've had a similar problem. Rather than breaking, the way our Fleetwood Discovery screen latch was installed (I'm assuming that we have the same screen door latch system), it doesn't engage the bracket mounted on the door frame completely. As a result, the door tends to pop open. If nothing else, at least my problem is cheaper. The way I solved the problem was twofold. First, I took a good look at the entire setup. It looked to me like the rubber insulation was thick in order to provide adequate insulation while the main door was closed. Second, I bought some gasket material at Wal-Mart and cut out enough gasket material to add approximately one eighth of an inch. I took off the latch catch on the door frame and put the gasket material under it then reinstalled the catch. Now, the screen door will stay closed and it does not affect the operation of the main door. Based on your description of your problem, it makes sense that the pressure on your screen door latch might be coming from the same insulation. Maybe this solution might work for you. The gasket material cost me less than 5 bucks. And if you can't find it at Wal-Mart, you should be able to find it at any auto parts store. There will be enough left over for many other tweaking projects in the future. Kevin

Hello Everyone: Thanks for the information regarding the Flying J programs. This is the thing that makes this forum so valuable to me. It's like having a gazillion friends that have the same interest. I didn't know about any of the programs the Flying J has. I can see the value of getting the cash price while retaining the convenience and tracking ability of a credit card. Plus, getting to use the truck pumps and still getting the benefits is great. It will shorten my stops by at least 50% and probably more. Again, thanks for keeping me current. Kevin

Hello Everyone: I read almost all of the thoughts and replies. I wanted to add my two cents worth. I agree with the fee based thinking. Also, I feel bad for the Flying J workers that have to try to keep the dump site clean after the thoughtless users. I'd like to see the fee go directly to the folks that have to clean up after the slobs. I don't use the facility. So I have no issue with the charge. I'm not a full-timer yet, so I don't know how big an issue this is. I agree that costs of everything (except my salary) are going up like crazy. I'm really steamed about the dramatic rise in fuel costs. I thought that I heard that there is not a real spike in demand, unless it's somewhere else in the world. And I think that I've heard that there is no issue with supply either. So, if we're getting ripped off, it's at the pump itself. While we're on the subject, though, I like to weigh in of Flying J in general. I live in north Florida and my experience is limited to FL and GA. The Diesel prices that I see at Flying J here are generally a bit higher than other gas stations. Then, after the discount, it's about the same. Further more, I find myself going into the store to buy things I don't really need (which cost more than what I would normally pay at places like Wal-Mart) just to qualify for the discount. Maybe I'm missing something here. But, I don't see Flying J as a very RV friendly merchant. So, someone, please educate me. Finally, I'm in total agreement regarding Love's. I bought fuel in St. Augustine two weeks ago for $3.39 per gallon. Then, I stopped at a campground 50 miles south in Ormond Beach. Love's was selling their Diesel for $3.52. I'm not waiting for an organized boycott. I'm in the middle of a one man boycott of Love's. But, they don't care. They were busy as heck when I drove by.

The first thing I love about the Monaco link is how the claim to be "customer focused". Aren't they the same company that recently filed Chapter 11 and left all their customers holding the bag with regard to warranty claims? There are already a lot of intelligent and insightful replies to this original post. As an actual owner of a DEF equipped coach, I must say that while there is some added work, I haven't found it to be more than about 5 minutes per time when I've had to deal with the DEF itself. And, that doesn't happen every time I stop for fuel. I haven't had any trouble finding DEF. I'm not too keen on paying the extra money. But, it is what it is. No matter what I do, they're going to get it all anyway. I tell myself that some smart guy somewhere convinced everyone that the world would be a bit cleaner with this approach. And some smart sales person somewhere sold it to the government and to the industry. So, here I am. The Monaco approach is just a different way to achieve the same thing. I'm not smart enough to say which way is better or cheaper or longer lasting. But, given the way Monaco dumped on their owners in the past, I would be very reluctant to purchase one of their coaches. I've had conversations with the Spartan folks about usage. They tell me that their equipment uses DEF at a rate of 2% of the fuel. That means for 100 gallons of fuel, I can expect to use two gallons of DEF. I have a gauge on the dash telling me how much DEF I have in the tank. I carry one extra gallon on board because I'm just a risk adverse sort of person. So, if I'm silly enough to get into the middle of the desert, I've got enough DEF to carry me as far as 50 gallons of fuel will take me. I've seen DEF from $5 per gallon at my RV dealer to $7.99 and Pilot. As far as loss of bin space. I've had to give up about 6 inches in the rearmost bin on the passenger side. The DEF tank is five gallons and is built into the chassis behind the rear tag axle wheel with only the spout encroaching into the bin. All things considered, I'm spending what equates to between 1.4 and 2 cents a mile (50 gal. of fuel times 7 (conservative estimate pulling a toad) mpg divided by $5 to $8). The result is a slightly cleaner environment (in theory). One last thing about the Monaco link. They say that DEF freezes at 120 F. I believe that what they are trying to say is that DEF freezes as 12 degrees F. I would expect that the engine will warm the area above 12 degrees F relatively quickly. Maybe their writers and their proof readers were having a bad day. And following that logic, we shouldn't store DEF above 770 F. Well, that equates to 77 degrees F. We'd all better move to Canada. The inside of my coach approaches 105 degrees F when it's sitting in the sun without the AC. I would suspect that the bin areas get warmer than that. I'll have to do some research here. There are a lot of mitigating circumstances here. If I didn't know better, I would have to think that Monaco is trying to skew the truth to make their solution sound better. Good luck with your decision making. I hope I was able to provide some answers to your thought processes. Kevin

Hello All: I have a 2007 Fleetwood Discovery - 40X. The Kwikee entry steps are stuck in the retracted position (much better than the alternative ... I suppose). How can I start troubleshooting the problem? The convenience light is on under the coach, so I think that means that I have power to the steps. I can't pull the steps out by hand. I recently had the joints greased by my RV service facility. I've never had any problems with the steps before and I haven't noticed them acting sluggishly. All suggestions are welcomed.

Hi Brett: This is a timely thread. I have a 2007 Discovery that I bought new. I'm having issues with my House batteries too. I have 4 Trojan 6 volt flooded cell batteries. I can leave the coach connected to 50 amp shore power for several days and my Magnum Energy panel shows that the batteries are sitting at 13.1 volts and "float charging". I also have a solar trickle charger attached to the power grid. But, within one hour of disconnecting power, there is not enough stored power to start my generator. But, if I start my engine and let it run for about five minutes, I am able to start the generator. But, nothing seems to charge the House batteries enough to allow me to start the generator without additional input such as engine alternator or shore power. When I checked the batteries with my hygrometer, one battery showed two dead cells while the other three showed a 75% charge. I changed the battery with the dead cells. My RV service shop wanted $55 per battery to do a load test, $169 for each battery and $55 to replace each battery. That's a lot of money to see if I need to replace the batteries. Do you have any suggestions that I could follow before forking out the cash?