jstephens3

Just got a 2020 Fleetwood Discovery 38K. Owners manual says the house battery is in the rear roadside compartment. I've looked in that compartment 4 times - and all other compartments twice and can't find the switch. Put my RV in temp storage on Friday but can't shut off most systems with just the two battery cut-offs in the step will. Can anyone help with the exact location of the main disconnect switch?

Age, handicap, and need to get away from nagging minor problems with 40' 2007 Itasca every time we travel pushing move to newer coach. Must have king bed, stackable washer/dryer, and residential fridge. A little concerned with older (10-15 years?) rep of Fleetwood as not very reliable. Anyone have any experience or thoughts on newer Fleetwood? Lots of electronics and new/advanced features make the coach we found an attractive move up. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Ian - Thanks for the reply. The quickest (and most obvious) cause is that I have not lubed the mechanisms as per the manuals and I know that causes problems. One bit of truth, my wife has banned me from ever mounting the roof of our Class A - ( 6 or 7 years ago and rightly so). I know there are other problems as the plastic detent above the inside crank mechanism has fallen apart and come out of the mount in pieces. Given that I probably won't lube an extending mount like the batwing in the future, a fixed mount (perhaps just rotating) seems a more logical solution. I also appreciate your comments on the omni versus directional antenna and it certainly matches with what I've read. I guess I'm looking for comments from folks who have tried both and said the offset (ease of use vs lack of reception from more distant stations) is worth it. We are primarily interested in the major broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox). I'm willing to pay the extra for the Rayzar (directional with auto search and lock-on); but I'm really concerned about the reliability issues as reported in the online reviews from the past. Thanks again for you insights.

My old batwing antenna (with HD attachment) is getting too hard to elevate and rotate. I'm looking for advice on a replacement. I want a replacement that doesn't require elevation of the antenna to get a good signal. I'm considering the Winegard Rayzar RZ8500 as aiming is powered and automatic. The bad news is that all the reviews on Camping World are terrible. The plastic components break easily and the system gives continuing error codes. The good news (if there is any) is that the newest review is over 2 years old; many 4 and 5 years old. I would appreciate any comments on the reliability of the Rayzar antenna. I would also appreciate any comments on the performance of omni versus directional antennas. I've looked at the King Jack OA8500. A big drawback here is the knob for rotating the directional antenna is on the ceiling (7 ft) which is a distinct disadvantage for my 5'4" wife. The King OmniPro could be an option. Appreciate any comments and suggestions.

I’ve always followed the ‘Golden Rule’ of turning the 50 amp breaker off before plugging in or removing my shore power cable at RV parks. Yesterday, I had an electrician at my home to repair a bad household 20 amp circuit – it was a mechanical fault in the circuit breaker. While replacing the faulty 20 amp breaker, he questioned why I had the 50 amp breaker I use when I bring my RV home to load/unload turned off. He reasoned that all other circuits were on when we plugged various devices in and out of the household outlets; and constant use of the on/off switch would cause early failure of the circuit breaker, like the 20 amp one he just replaced. My only answer was that we’ve always done it that way in RV parks. Now I wonder why we do that. I do have an installed surge protector that takes about 30 seconds to self-test the line before activating the power to the RV. My questions are: do we need to keep turning power on and off at the breaker in RV parks and should I continue to do this at home? If so, why?

Thanks for your replies. I guess GasBuddy is the best option - and always the declining service and rising prices at Flying J at least offers convenience and advance notification of locations and prices.

In the past, I have been a great fan, and consistent customer, of Flying J. They have been always at or below the lowest prices around. Now that they've been bought out by Pilot, the prices have gone way up. Case in point - Flying J in Seffner FL was always below even my local stations. Now the price is (website as of 13 Jun) 3.99.9 for diesel. The price right up the street from me is 3.85.9. Has anyone found a better provider of diesel fuel for RVs across the country. We are about to start a major trip (FL - WA - CA - Mexico - FL) and at 14¢ per gallon, that's quite a big difference in total costs (even with their 3¢ a gallon discount for RV Club 'frequentfuelers).

Not that it helps much with the 2011 Explorer, but I've been towing a '99 Explorer since 2001. It's got 55,000 miles on the odometer, and about 100,000 miles being towed. I wonder at the problems with the battery. I've towed my Explorer many times for three days straight (never starting it up), using my Brake Buddy, and never had a discharged battery. Ford seems to have done a good job with engineering and quality - at least on my old Explorer. You might want to check with Ford, rather than a dealer, to get straight answers. We are planing on leaving in July - Tampa to Washington State, to Mexico, and then back home - still pulling the old '99 Explorer. I trust it!