richard5933

Any way that you can re-arrange things to bring your tongue weight down?

I agree - there is absolutely no reason to go with anything else if insurance is being used. You'll never have to worry about blinking check-engine lights, and any future owners won't have problems with emissions testing.

I set up the Zelle contact using the account number and routing number that they provided in the instructions. Then I sent an email to TCS to inform them of the transaction details. This was per the instructions I received from one of their managers. Email should be sent to their accounts receivables department: tcsar@tcsfuel.com What I sent them were the following details: Name on Account: Card Number: TCS 000000 Transaction Date: Transaction Amount: $ Sending Bank: They replied within a few hours with a confirmation they received the email. They will then manually match the transaction with your card and put the funds in your account. When I did this I first sent only $5. This was to make sure things were working. Once they confirmed receipt and I was able to see the funds on my TCS app, I went ahead and transferred over a few hundred dollars so I could use the card for fueling. For now I'm keeping the TCS card as a backup to the TSD card. The discounts aren't as good, and the convenience isn't there yet. That said, it's good to have multiple options and I will keep it funded with enough for at least one fill up for now. Perhaps the program will evolve into something more useful - hopefully.

Doesn't your comp insurance cover this? Maybe it is worth a call to your agent to see a claim would make economic sense.

There are two things to look for in a smart charger - amps and volts. Those numbers you're talking about are the amp output maximums. Obviously, the smaller the number the slower the charger is going to put power back into your chassis batteries. The batteries will only pull the amps that they need, so if you have a 20 amp charger and the batteries only need 2 amps that's all they'll take. If you get one with too low of an amperage output, it won't be able to keep up with the parasitic draw from your chassis systems. All those computers and onboard systems draw current even with the engine and key turned off. The more important issue on a charger is the voltage. What makes a smart charger smart is being able to vary the voltage output. A 12-volt battery needs a voltage higher than 12 volts to charge. Most smart chargers will start at a charge level of about 14.6 volts and stay there for a couple of hours. They will then lower to a mid-level. Mine drops to 13.6v and stays there for another 12-24 hours. After that time, the charger will drop to a maintenance voltage of only 13.2v on my unit. Each model will vary slightly, but for a flooded cell battery the voltage levels will be about the same. If you have AGM batteries you need to get one which has suitable voltage outputs for AGMs. If your trickle charger output doesn't drop down low enough it will continue to cause water to evaporate needlessly, possibly ruining your batteries. If the output is too low constantly, it will never charge your batteries. Another way to go is something like a Xantrex Echo Charger. Other companies make something similar. They are designed to pull up to 15 or so amps from your house battery charging system over to your chassis batteries, and they only do this when your house charger is charging. They make it simpler since they don't require you to remember to turn on/plug in another charger. They'll just work whenever your house system is charging, whether it's from the 120v charger or from the solar charger.

Or, possibly a bad ground. You've had an intermittent issue during recent travel with a low charging light coming on. If you had a failing ground connection it could cause such an issue. Possibly now that ground connection has failed totally and is not providing a good ground to the dash and/or starting system controls.

Curious how you're calculating this? The 5000# tow rating assumes that one has 5000# available in the GCWR after calculating the weight of the coach itself. Just because a tow hitch is rated to pull 5000# doesn't mean that the coach can safely do so, especially if it would put the combined weight over the limit. The weight rating on the rear axle is not the only factor in play here - also have to be concerned about the ability of the coach to pull the total combined weight, handle the load at speed, and to safely stop. That's why the vehicle weight rating is often lower than the combined limits of the individual axles. Unless I missed it, we still don't know the ACTUAL weight of the coach, or the GCWR of the rig. Jarjour - could you please fill us in on the specifics (actual weight of coach and GCWR of coach)? That would help greatly.

Not sure your math is correct, although it might be. You've got to use your View's ACTUAL weight, not the GVWR. The GCWR is the maximum combined weight of your coach plus the actual weight of whatever you're towing. You've got to use the actual weights of both vehicles when calculating this number. The GVWR is the max allowed weight of your View - ideally you'll weigh in at less than the GVWR. Have you had your View weighed? The weight you're looking for is with the View loaded as you would be when traveling down the road, including passengers, water in the tanks, propane, toys in the bays, food in the fridge, etc. Once you have that weight, you can determine how much you have remaining of your 5000 pounds tow capacity. If you are flat towing, your tongue weight is not relevant here. That only comes into play when you are towing on a dolly or trailer, but it sounds like you're planning to tow the Canyon with four wheels on the pavement. While the tongue weight is not relevant, the weight of the hitch and tow bar are - you've got to include those in the GCWR when doing the calculations. The GCWR includes everything that you will be rolling down the road, including the bits & pieces that hold the two vehicles together.

I was just finishing up winterizing our coach and came across something I'd forgotten - the batteries in the remote controls. Good thing too, as the batteries in one of them was already starting to ooze a bit. Just a reminder to pull the batteries from all the various remote controls in your coach so there won't be any surprises come spring time. This is also a good time to check the batteries in your smoke detector(s) and CO monitors if yours have batteries, especially if you leave the rig plugged in over the winter or run the heat.

Did they shut off the main battery disconnect?

If the batteries are known to be good you can cross that off the list. Do you know what it is that he tripped?

My first thing to do is take the start battery (batteries) to be checked. Sounds like you've had a charging/battery issue for a while, and finally the battery is not taking a charge. Start batteries can only be discharged to a low voltage situation so many times before they fail. Most NAPA stores can test batteries, and if you have a truck repair place near you that sells batteries they can probably test them as well. Once you get them tested, you'll either have that eliminated as the culprit or be able to remedy things right away. Of course, if it is the batteries the next thing to do is confirm that the engine's alternator is providing proper charge when you're running the engine.

Not to be repetitive, but if anyone is concerned about the safety of their RV's fresh water system there is one simple gold standard. Take a sample and send it for testing. It's simple to do, doesn't cost very much, and will tell you if there is any need for further action. In our county, this is the program: https://www.waukeshacounty.gov/watertest Likely your county health department has a similar program. Ours only costs $30 for a bacteriological test, a slight bit more if you want a full spectrum test. Do this at the beginning of the season and have peace of mind that your system is safe. If your test comes back positive for contamination, follow the directions from the health department to remedy, and then re-test to verify the problem is gone. If the test comes back negative, then fill 'er up and carry on and have a great season.

The hose is easy - demote your fresh water hose to other uses every year or so and then get a new one. There are a few nice options out there now which are reasonably priced, with a food-grade certification.

Agree. One note though, I have seen water boil advisories posted on city water systems. One campground we stayed in had a boil water advisory posted - apparently the municipality had a main break which led to contamination. Always a good idea to check the status of the water supply before connecting your rig to it.

If you are going to use this in a campground, it might be really difficult for the system to distinguish a true intruder from neighbors coming too close to your rig as they cut through a campsite, wildlife walking by, someone's dog being walked, etc. Not sure if having an audible alarm go off every time something came within a preset distance to your coach is going to be welcomed with open arms in a campground. That said, I understand the desire to be able to keep an eye on things, both when you're inside and when you are away from the campground. If you have reliable wifi, then any of the Ring type camera systems will work just fine. You could mount a few cameras inside and outside your coach and be notified of every movement detected.

First, welcome to the FMCA forum! Glad to have you here. What type of over-the-air antenna (OTA) do you have? We have different coaches, but our King OTA antenna is a pretty standard one so maybe it will be similar. On mine there is a wall plate where the TV attaches to the antenna. There is a power button on that wall plate, and if the power is on the green light is lit. When the power is on, the OTA antenna is connected. When I want to watch the campground's cable, all I have to do is connect their cable to the outside connection point and turn the OTA antenna off on the wall plate. When the OTA antenna is 'off' the cable connection is automatically connected to the wall plate. The one step that some forget is to rescan the channels on the TV so it will know what channels are available on the cable. Use the remote control for the TV to do this - go into the settings menu and find the area that mentions 'broadcast', then follow the prompts to automatically rescan. You'll select 'cable' if you're looking for cable channels. If you use an OTA antenna this should be familiar to you, as it needs to be done whenever you move to a new area to find the local channels.

In the bus conversion world it's common to mount a second alternator on the main engine which is dedicated to charging the house batteries while underway. Usually this is done because many bus chassis are 24v and the second alternator installed is 12v for the house system, but it seems like this might be a solution for coaches where the chassis alternator is being overtaxed by house systems. Every engine setup will be different, but I'd guess that most engines have options for adding additional accessories like a second alternator.

Have you confirmed a good ground connection? Not sure if you have a separate ground wire in the harness or not. I had a trailer once which used the ball hitch to make the ground connection, and it created a problem like you're describing. If you do have a separate ground wire in the harness, verify that the connection to the chassis is clean and tight on both the coach and the toad.

My guess is that there was no need to sanitize to and that there were no pathogens or contamination to harm you to begin with, as is probably the case with most fresh water systems on coaches which are cared for and used regularly. Possibly some stale taste or odor, but I don't know of anyone that's been harmed by either of those. However, for those rare times when someone has to reason to question the status of the fresh water tank/system, knowing how to take appropriate measures would be important.

F463736 - Another welcome to the forum. Glad you're here! The topic of sanitizing a water system on an RV is fraught with lots of controversy and DIY recipes. The tried-and-true method is by way of bleach. The chart you posted a link to shows that at room temperature, only bleach is fully effective. According to the chart, the vinegar method appears to be effective only if heated to 130 degrees. They spell out a method for using the water heater to heat the vinegar, as well as how to re-route it to the fresh water tank with a hose. Problem is practicality. The method spelled out would be painfully difficult for most to do since water heaters are typically only 6 to 10 gallons and fresh water tanks can often hold 80+ gallons. That's a lot of vinegar to heat and run through a little water heater, and by the time the last batch of vinegar was heated the stuff sitting in the fresh water tank would be cooled off enough to negate any benefit from the incoming hot vinegar. It has to be hot while making contact with the sides of the tank to effectively sanitize it. Perhaps it would work with a small tank. The other problem with this method is that nearly all RV water heaters are non-adjustable. There would be no way to push the temp up to 130 degrees manually. If someone is concerned about the safety of drinking from their freshwater tank/system, then a simple water test for about $25 will definitively tell you whether or not there is a problem. Most county health departments can run the test, and most have the test kit available. There are also mail-in options available. Doesn't need to be done often - once at the beginning of the season will let you know where things stand. If the test comes back showing the presence of anything worrisome, then remedial action can be taken based on the specific pathogen or contaminant you're trying to remove. The testing agency can provide specifics on how to do that. After the system and tank has been sanitized and flushed, a re-test should be done to confirm that the sanitizing was effective. If the test comes back clean, then the RV owner can use which ever method he/she prefers to freshen the system - bleach, hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, etc. Or, if the test comes back clean, you can do like we do and just fill 'er up and carry on. No need to fix something that isn't broken. As a side note regarding hydrogen peroxide...The chart you linked to showed it effective if a 3% solution is used, but only UNDILUTED (not mixed further with water). And only when heated to 130 degrees. At room temperature it doesn't appear that hydrogen peroxide is fully effective as a sanitizing agent.

That is easier, isn't it. Thanks for posting to link to that page.

Not sure if all coaches' air systems are similar to mine, but I've got one control valve on each side of the rear axle and a single valve up front. The rear each control one side of the coach for side-to-side adjustments, and the front one controls front-to-back adjustment. The write-up for this thing seems to indicate that one unit is needed for each 'axle group', and it sounds like they are designed to measure the weight on axles and not an interconnected air suspension system. How would that play with the way many coaches are designed, with control valves adjusting side-to-side or front-to-back?

Correct. It's not rocket science, which is why I'm so surprised my comment about checking the dual spacing is receiving such push back. It's simple to do, and it should be done whenever a change in tire size is made. Check the charts, compare to dual spacing of the wheels on the coach, and then carry on as needed.

Dual spacing is specified for each tire from the manufacturer. It's usually listed in the spec for the tire. When installing tires which are different from OEM, it's necessary to verify that the new ones will have adequate spacing. Since the specific requirements for each tire are available, why would anyone go with a generic rule of thumb?