jaf722

Thanks for the information. It was helpful. Unfortunately, because of the weather, we will probably go down I 95. Taking I-88 to I-81 to I-77 through the mountains may be more risky based on the weather forecast.

Thanks for the information. When at all possible, I try to travel on weekdays rather than weekends. I also try to not travel through major city hubs during rush hours. It isn't always possible, but I try.

Since my wife is nervous enough just traveling in a 40 ft. RV (only 1 yr. experience), I am not yet towing a car. So, we like to stay within walking distance to the ocean when possible. I used $80/day since a quick scan of the RV sites close to the ocean in FL looked like that was a good estimate. However, I'm not against paying LESS THAN that amount. Any help with RV sites going down from Albany, NY to FL would also be greatly appreciated. I thought we would make 2 stops before entering FL going down Rt. 95. One stop before Washington DC to avoid going throught DC in heavy traffic. Then an early start to get through DC, with the next stop somewhere off Rt 95 in mid-South Carolina (doesn't have to be close to the water). Then get into FL. and stay around a week or more somewhere like St. Augustine or somewhere about 50 miles N or S of where Rt. 4 intersects Rt. 95. Then take Rt. 4 down to the Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota area, or maybe as far S as Ft. Myers. Any suggestions? Thanks for the help!

We have a 40 ft pusher and because of a change in circumstances, will be leaving from New York and traveling to Florida in a few days. We plan on taking a few days to reach Florida, then would like maybe 3-4 total stops on the Atlantic & Gulf Coasts of FL, not going any further South than Port St. Lucie in the East and Sarasoto in the West. We should start our return trip around the end of February. Have not RV'ed to Florida before and we usually like to free-wheel it since our travel times are always varible making reservations ahead of time a problem. I know there are a significant number of RV sites in FL., but don't know how crowded it is down there in January-February. Would like to stay close to the ocean on both coasts and under $80/night, if possible. Is this possible or should I try to make reservations ahead of time? Any suggestions for RV Resorts that fit this bill? Thanks for any help you can give.

I don't have an ice maker myself, but I expect you can get antifreeze up to your ice maker when you are pumping antifreeze up to your other outlets using your electric water pump. I do the additional step of blowing out my lines then adding the RV antifreeze to them. It keeps the antifreeze from being diluted out, so in the Spring I can collect the antifreeze and use it again next Winter (only use it a second time, then use fresh antifreeze the 3rd year). With your ice maker, make sure the arm on the ice maker is down and water is out of the ice form. The ice maker will then be calling for water. Take paper towels and blot-out the water in the ice maker forms. Then using the same conditions, pump in your antifreeze. It should go to the ice maker form and you should see the red antifreeze in the ice form. If the ice form is good and red with antifreze, the waterline to the ice maker has been winterized.

I do carry a unmounted spare that has 39,000 miles on it. The reason I have this tire is I had a rear outside dual tire that got a slit in the side wall and could not be repared. I replaced both tires on that side, discarded the damaged tire and keep the remaining good tire as a spare. I have plenty of storage space to store the spare and actally store some small items inside the tire that I don't want to move around in the basement storage area.

Well, the electrical problem is in the Xantrex, Model RV2012 inverter/charger according to the dealer. They will have to ship it to a Xantrex repair facility in N.J. to find out the specifics of what went bad. They think it was a circuit board that handles the pass-through power and charging. Xantrex best guess is it could cost a min. of $200 to a max. of $800 to repair. Has anyone had any experience in inverter/charger repair for what I assume was an electrical surge from shore power? Xantrex doesn't make the Model RV2012 inverter/charger anymore. They make Model Model RV2012GS which is almost indentical to my model. However, it required a new remote control panel RC/GS since the inverter/charger is not compatible with my RC7 panel. The RV2012GS is around $1,500 and the RC/GS is another $305, so I'm leaning toward the repair. I also plan on adding surge protection to keep this from occuring again. The Surge Guard 50 AMP Hardwire Unit, 120/240V, 1750 Joules of power surge protection is current on sale from $377.59 to $323.79. Does anyone know if this is a good unit? Will it protect from close lighting strikes if we aren't arround to unplug the RV from shore power during an electrical storm?

I could only find one additional outlet in the basement and it wasn't a GFI outlet. It was for running an outside TV and had a cable TV connection next to the outlet. I checked all the basement compartments several times trying to find a possible GFI or circuit breaker that I may have missed and found none. Thanks for everyone's help but I have thrown in the towel and am bringing the RV to the dealer tomorrow. I have a few other issues for them to look at in addition to the one above. Since the electrical problem mentioned has the potential to be the most expensive, I had hoped to solve that one myself. Now, I hope they will be able to find the problem and resolve it. I'll report back what the problem was when it has been resolved. In the mean time, if any one has any other suggestions, please post them, just in case the dealer is stumped by the problem. Hope to report back soon!

The remote panel (RC7) for the Xantrex, Model RV2012 inverter/charger does indicate that the batteries are being charged when on shore power. I called Xantrex and they said the only fuse/breaker for the unit is the 25 amp pop-out breaker in the upper right on the front panel of the unit. It was not popped-out, but I pushed it in several time to make sure. There was no indication that it needed to be reset. I do appreciate your help Brett. This seems to be a difficult problem to solve!!!

Just did some additional checking. There must be 3 120 VAC outlets on a different circuit - Refrigerator, block heater and washing machine since all 3 of these outlets are hot using shore power or generator. There are no additional 120 VAC outlets hot using the generator vs shore power. The 2 AC units work on generator but I don't think I can test them on home shore power because it is only 15 amp, 120 V service.

Updated information: From either shore power or generator, only a few 120 VAC circuits work fine while most inside outlets DON'T work. ALL 120 VAC outlets DO work from inverter power (when shore power DISCONNECTED and generator OFF). It's too late tonight (10 p.m.) to check if there are any circuits that work from the inverter (when shore power disconnected and generator off) that DO work from shore power or generator (perhaps the microwave or other circuit that you can use from the inverter while dry camping)? I don't see anything in the manual referring to a "pass through" feature, but there is a 25 amp pop-out circuit breaker on the front panel of the inverter. It does not appear to be tripped, but I pushed it in several times to make sure. The inverter/charger is a Xantrex, Model RV2012, with a RC7 remote control mounted in the control center of the motor coach. There are 2 electrical panels with circuit breakers inside the RV on the opposite side of the RV where the shore power connects and the transfer swithch is located. One panel is the shore panel breakers and they are powered when on shore power, while the other small panel is the generator panel breakers are are powered when the generator is on the shore power disconnected.

Everything doesn't work on generator. On generator, the same inside 120 V outlets are dead. The only time the inside 120 V outlets are hot is when shore and generator power are "off" and the inverter is "on".

All the 120 V outlets "inside the coach" when connected to shore power are dead. There are 2 120 V outlets in comparments (refrig & block heater) that do have 120 V power. I could only find 2 GFI outlets - one in the bath and one under a kitchen cabinet, that are dead when on shore power. Also, when I have the inverter on and the 120 V outlets are active, both GFI's are not tripped. To be sure, I tested them and reset them. So, that's not the problem. All I can think of is there is either a hidden cicuit breaker or GFI on the shore line circuit side, but not on the generator side since the generator side does power all the 120 V outlets inside the coach. Any other ideas???

Hi Brett, Thanks for the welcome. I have the following results from your suggestions: With the inverter off and the following at the transfer switch: Shore power connected- power to shore line and 120 V side of transfer switch (left side). No power to Generator side of transfer switch(left side) Generator only - no power to shore cord. Power to 120 V and Generator sides of transfer switch Generator & Shore power on - Power to shore cord and to both 120 V and Genenerator sides of transfer switch With the invertor off, none of this situations delivered 120 V power to the inside receptacles.

Yes, I'm a newbie to the RV experience and am not having good luck yet. I purchased a used 04 Newmar Dutch Star 40' coach and was on my first camping trip. Unfortunately, we were hit by several electrical storms (thunder, lighting & heavy rain) the second night at the RV Park. I was hooked up to 50 amp service. A storm had just passed through so we turned on the TV, etc. Then, out of the blue, there was a lighting strike very close to the RV, if not on top of it (the crack and light were simultaneous), but there were no signs of a direct hit. However, after the strike, all 120V circuits inside the coach went dead, including the TV. I checked all the circuit breakers and blade fuses and none were tripped or blown. Both GFI receptacles were dead and couldn't be reset. All our battery operated circuits, however, were active. When I ran a lead to both TV's and microwave, they were all fine. When home, I checked the circuits as much as I could. It appeared the inverter was not running properly because when I disconnected shore power, the inverter did not power the 120V circuits. I thought maybe the close lighting strike may have confused some of the electronics in the coach, so I disconnected and shore power and battery power so the coach was completely dead. When battery and shore power was reestablished, the inverter worked again and powered the 120V inside circuits. However, when I plugged in to shore power, the 120V inside outlets go dead. I'm thinking this might be a problem with the Automatic Transfer Switch??? I hope it's not the inverter! It's a IOTA Automatic Transfer Switch ITS-50R. Any ideas or suggestions? I'm not very experienced in electrical matters, but can use a multimeter. I checked the 50 amp cord and the resistance was OK. The power to the transfer box was OK and I had two 120V outlets outside the living area of the coach active - one to the refrigerator and one to the engine block heater that was in the same compartment as the shore line, transfer switch, etc. I don't know what to do next. Thanks for any help you can give on this matter!! Frustrated Motor Coach Owner