wolfe10

Use a digital voltmeter and check voltage the house battery bank. Many inverter/chargers will not charge if the battery voltage is extremely low. Let us know what you find.

You will use less propane by only running it on gas when you need hot water.

http://www.buckhornlake.com/ In Kerrville, TX (the hill country).

Pull out this month's FMCA Magazine (October 2015): An excellent article starting on page 44: "Servicing Diesel Aqua-Hot Systems". You can also sign in to the FMCA main website and pull up October 2015 and click on the article.

fhutson, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. Sorry, I don't have specific information on your coach. If the jacks are working, you should be able to locate it by the noise the motor makes when you deploy the jacks. Are you having a problem with the jacks? If so, what brand? Model if you have that info handy?

George, Were the ATS (Automatic Transfer Switch) not functioning, other 120 VAC appliances would not work either. Said another way, if both roof A/C's work, you KNOW the ATS is functioning properly as that proves that both hots as well as neutral are functioning from shore power.

rebane, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. Not sure it would do any long-term harm as long a you do go ahead and load it more. Particularly when exercising the generator (which I do monthly as recommended) I shoot for 50% load. Depending on coach and 120 VAC appliances, that could be: Roof A/C(s), block heater, water heater, space heater(s) etc.

If by "full charge" it went from float to bulk mode, voltage would have gone UP from around 13.2-13.5 VDC to 14 or a little higher. So, the lights should have been brighter when this occurred. See also my post above. Bottom line is that a digital voltmeter (start under $20) hooked up to the house battery bank and monitored when this occurs should tell you whether you are dealing with a charger/battery issue or something further "downstream" in the 12 VDC system.

ShellysRV, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. First step is to confirm that you do have 120 VAC to the inverter from the coach main 120 VAC breaker panel.

Stevebe2, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. Here is one site-- and they have installation guides online so you can see if this is something you want to tackle or have someone else do. It also includes suggested installation times: http://roadmasterinc.com/vehicle_guide/tow_bar_brackets.php

Yes, very different than air brakes. Sure, it may be possible for engine off/stepping on service brakes to release the parking brake-- never tried that one. But, your hydraulic over hydraulic service brakes will engage the electric boost motor if the engine is off and you step on the brake (you should hear it). Again, never tried it, but it is possible that that electric boost pump could also pressure up the emergency/parking brake. Let us know if this is what is happening.

The parking/emergency brake is spring applied, hydraulic pressure released. So, engine off, it absolutely should hold the coach. The engine has to be running (to provide hydraulic pressure) to release the parking brake. ONLY if the parking/emergency brake will not hold the coach against the engine at idle/transmission in gear do you need to look at adjustment/parts.

Herman, In the morning, call Monaco and ask them: Where is the low pressure sensor located? What is the PN? Check the sensor to wire connection-- good chance it is a bad/corroded connection. If not, see if you can find it locally (give you 90% chance of finding it).

I would start by weighing the coach when loaded as you will be using it (with full fuel). Individual wheel weights are best, but weighing all three axles is a good start. That will get you pretty close to being able to calculate how weights will end up with the lift and bike. Feel free to post your three axle's GAWR and actual loaded weights for better answers.

Ron, Could be a leak in the line from solenoid to ice maker. Could be nothing more than ice blocking/diverting water going into the ice mold. Complete defrost would by my first "repair".

Quite a lot of the "is it OK" depends on your coach and its reserve weight capacity on the rear axle. 1000 pounds 10' behind the rear axle puts well more than 1,000 pounds on the rear axle and removes weight front the front axle. That is fine on some chassis and leads to poor handling on others. What coach do you have and what is your rear axle GAWR and actual weight?

A word of caution. Roadmaster makes three completely different types of toad brakes. So, be sure you are doing an apples to apples comparison. As an example, we have the Roadmaster Invisibrake on our our toad and on the last one. Once it is installed, there is ZERO hook ups (other than cable to coach). So there is nothing to move in and our or set up in the toad. http://roadmasterinc.com/products/braking/sys_for_me.html

hsbsafety, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. Please tell us in what way it is failing.

Some converters and even some inverter/chargers turn themselves off at intervals to "test" battery charge state. Then turn themselves back on-- if needed in bulk mode, if no significant charging needed, back in float mode. So, best advice is to check with your converter or inverter/charger manufacturer to see if this is normal.

I agree with Rocky, these detectors do have a finite life. The only other cause would be that BOTH chassis and house battery banks voltages are low (as I recall on your model Foretravel the detector has a positive feed from both banks-- easy to verify)-- quite unlikely, particularly when you are driving. So, next time this happens, check voltage at the detector. If good, replace the detector.

Do you have any symptoms of fan controller failure? It should work as follows: Low speed (not off, as you need some air flow over the CAC even with low coolant temperature) until a few degrees above thermostatically controlled temperature. Said another way, if the thermostat is 190 degrees F, you only want the fan to kick to high if the coolant temperature is, say, 195-205. It should then switch to high and drop coolant temperature back to 190. If it does that, all is good. You would need much more chassis-specific information (from Freightliner, I assume) to be able to say what speed fan should run at what engine RPM/coolant temperature. But, unless the fan roars all the time or does not kick to high as described above, not sure I would be too concerned about it. But, as a Preventive Maintenance item, be sure to change the hydraulic filter(s) per Maintenance Schedule. Two basic types-- oil filter-type screw on and large fluid reservoir with stacked filters inside. Again Freightliner can tell you exactly what your chassis has.

This might be something to consider: http://sourcerv.com/conversion

You mention that Freightliner cleaned the radiator. MUCH more critically, did they clean the FRONT (front of coach) of the CAC (Charge Air Cooler)? This can not be done from the back of the coach-- it has to be done from the bedroom/closet-- access to the front of the CAC. The front of the CAC is where the vast majority of the cooling package is deposited. It really needs to be cleaned (from the front) at least once a year.

Two (virtually unrelated) questions: 1. Will going a few weeks/miles over suggested interval harm the engine? Probably not, particularly if using a high end/synthetic oil. 2. Will it void the warranty? Only if an oil related issue causes the problem AND the manufacturer wants to push it. I have no advice on this part other than to say, the chances are an oil related failure within the warranty period of a modern engine, particularly one related to oil change interval is extremely low.

Unless something has changed very recently, Michelin has made BOTH XZE and XRV. In fact, we used XZE's on our 1993 Foretravel.