richard5933

Volta has some interesting systems. If I had the budget I'd definitely consider a hybrid system the next time we look to modify what we've got. I hate running the generator, so anything that can extend quiet runs off battery would be a huge plus in my book.

Any idea where we can find the 'mandates'? I've found some which regard emissions and mileage, but that's it. Is there a specific information sheet or website you can point us towards to read something about lithium batteries might play into this? EPA is redoing the guidance and regs all the time, and every time the white house changes residents they futz with the deadline for these things making it really hard for us to follow.

Carl - have you seen something about a new EPA rule somewhere or are you just going by what you saw on the Liberty Coach advertising? From what I've been able to read online about EPA mandates with regard to batteries and RVs, the closest I've found is the Tier-4 compliance issues. They relate to diesel emissions, and generators will become an issue for companies in the coming years since they'll have to use the more expensive compliant models. Where do lithium batteries fit in with Tier-4 compliance? By using a larger battery bank with lithium batteries, manufacturers are able to use smaller generators than they otherwise would. They use the lithium battery bank run through a large inverter and to augment the smaller generator. Smaller generators cost less than larger, allowing them to use a Tier-4 compliant unit without spending more. I'm going to guess that the Tier-4 compliance issue is behind some manufacturers not installing generators at all and just relying on solar and lithium battery banks. Of course, this is all conjecture on my part. My thinking is that as the cost of lithium batteries comes down and charging rates get even faster, more and more alternative options like this will come to the market.

Sounds like the arrow is indicating the direction of travel of the coach, not the jacks.

I think Carl's just working off a hunch here. If you've got more information on this Carl please let us know, otherwise I'll worry about this when it's time to do so. The fact that lithium batteries have difficulty in freezing weather would by itself pretty much make them unusable as a drop-in replacement for flooded cell batteries, and large swaths of the country would be left in a bad way. Lithium batteries have their place in the right RV, but they are not for everyone and even a waste of money for some. You've got to weigh all the various issues and intended uses and then decide what's best for a particular situation. In the situation in this thread, the OP said that they don't boondock, so there would not be much of an upside to the added expense.

Welcome to the Forum. If you don't boondock, then I'm not sure that you'd ever get your money's worth out of Lithium batteries. In addition to the high cost of the batteries, switching to lithium batteries often requires changes to the 12v charging system if your current one is not able to charge at the required voltages. If your current charging system is working properly and not over charging your flooded cell batteries, they really shouldn't be losing that much water at all, considering that you're not boondocking. Unless you discharge your batteries they will remain at float/storage charge for the most part and you might only have to fill batteries once a month or so. I've got the fill system, and it takes me about 5 minutes to fill all four batteries, including setting up the water bottle & hand pump. It would be one less worry to do away with watering, but it's not all that much work. My suggestion would be to wait until your batteries show signs of age (not holding a charge, discharging more quickly) and then replace with AGM if you want to stop having to water them. You might have a slight reduction in capacity going from flooded cell to AGM, depending on what's available in the size you need.

Can't help directly with the tanks, but one suggestion is to fully investigate the source of the leak before pulling anything. I thought I had a leak like that once, as I saw water dripping from one of the lines above the fresh water tank. I followed the leak up through the ceiling of the bay, into the bathroom above it, and into the cabinet under the bathroom sink. There was a tiny water leak there which was running behind the tubing in the bathroom out of sight. The first place I noticed it was down below. It was an easy fix in the end, but without the sleuthing I would not have found it.

I would think your hunch is probably correct - not the best idea. That ladder is probably held on by some marginally effective hardware. Can you add a tote to your rear hitch for it?

Congratulations. Feels great to have a couple of success stories under your belt. I'm sure that the longer you own the rig you'll have many more projects in the success column like this. What tires did you end up with?

Yeah - I saw that. Guess I read 'upgrades' differently than redoing the interior. But, thanks for the correction.

Looks great. Would be amazing to see some 'before' photos, as well as a few 'in progress' photos as well. Has the interior been redone as well or just the outside?

It would be helpful if we knew just a bit more... What year is the coach, when were they replaced last, etc. Not knowing much about the situation, I'm going to say if you're starting to ask about replacing shocks it may be time. Not just on the tag axle, but all around. Our coach only had 40,000 miles on it when we got year before last. I thought it rode pretty good. Then on the way to the rally in Gillette I noticed it took just a bit longer to settle down after going through a slight dip in the road. Not enough to be a problem, but enough to notice. We had the shocks replaced all around. The difference in the ride was night and day. Fortunately, shocks are not one of the more expensive repair/maintenance items.

Thanks for pointing that out. My earlier post has been edited to reflect that.

Ken - Welcome to the forum. Glad that you're here and adding to the discussion. We did something similar, so I'll try and hit your questions and explain how we did this... 1) You've already replaced the previous house battery bank with the new. Just connect them to the existing 12v power center like they were before. One thing that you'll have to verify is the charging voltages from your existing battery charger/converter. It was probably set up for flooded cell batteries, and your new Gel batteries might require different voltage levels for charging. You'll either need the manual for your existing charger/converter or a multi-meter to test the output manually. Consult the info from your new gel batteries to determine what charging voltage the manufacture recommends for the various stages of charging. 2) Shouldn't be affected by adding solar or changing batteries at all. 3) ATS (automatic transfer switch) usually is used to switch the 120v input from generator to shore power as required. Doesn't directly affect the 12v system, other than when there is 120v power available it will be used to power your battery charger/converter. If you are not getting battery charging from your current setup, you might check to see that the charger/converter is plugged in and that the proper circuit breaker is on. Now, about the solar... We added 560 watts of solar through a solar charge controller. The charge controller is connected to our house battery system parallel to the 120v charger/converter. In other words, we connected the positive output from the solar charge controller to the positive end of the battery bank, and we connected the negative output to the negative end of the battery bank. These are the same places that our 120v charger/converter connects. There is a manual-reset circuit breaker in between (in place of a fuse) which I can use to separate the systems if necessary by tripping the breaker. When solar is providing power, it piggy backs with the 120v charger/converter. The solar panels connect to our solar charge controller through a battery switch on the positive lead. This allows us to disconnect them from the charge controller for times we need to fully power down the system. Remember that the solar panels themselves do not turn off - if they are receiving light they are making power. You'll need to configure the output settings of the charge controller to provide the appropriate voltage levels for your gel batteries, just like with the 120v charger/converter. Manual should show you how. Couple of other notes... Don't skimp on wire size. The ability of a solar system to send power to the batteries is limited by the wiring being used. If you plan to add more solar later on, go ahead and install the wire size you'll need for the total that will be installed. Otherwise you'll have to run wiring to the roof again later on. The 12v wiring size between the panels and the charge controller will depend on the amperage being carried more than the voltage. We have 6 panels total, which are configured in a parallel/series configuration so that we have higher voltage but lower amperage. Allowed for smaller wiring. However, the wiring between our charge controller and the battery bank is quite heavy, since it needs to carry 30+ amps DC. We installed a 2000w inverter when I did the install. Initially I connected it to three dedicated outlets inside the coach so that we could have 120v available when dry camping. Since then I've done some expansion of that with additional connections as I've seen need. You only have 200 Ah of house batteries right now, which doesn't give you much capacity for using that 2000w inverter. That said, you might as well at least get it mounted and installed near the batteries while you're in there working. You can add to that later on, but at least you'll have the outlets on the inverter available to plug into when needed. Hope all this helps. Feel free to ask more questions if you need.

Possibly road slope had something to do with exaggerating the problem on the uphill side?

Yeah - marine wire is the 'good stuff' with each strand individually tinned all the way through and through. What I was referring to in the post above was tinning the ends together before inserting them into the screw terminal, so that when the screw terminal was tightened it had a solid mass to press against instead of a bunch of squirrely loose ends. I was taught to do this by the cigar-smoking ham radio old-timer that showed by brother and me how to build radios when we were kids. I've been doing this ever since without really thinking about if it is still best practice, and now I'm finding that it's not always so. I've actually had to unlearn a lot of what this guy taught us, like to not solder the connection between the grounding wire and ground rod for the ham shack, and to crimp rather than solder battery connector terminals. Using crimp ferrules on the ends of stranded wire seems to be much more common in the UK and the EU as well as in the marine world than it is in the RV industry. Takes more time and costs more. But, I suspect, in the end provides a more stable and safe connection.

I'd have to search again for the sources. I just did a quick search again, and found a few that mention tinning just the ends of the strands to help keep them in shape, but to avoid tinning the part of the stranded wire which will be placed under the screw terminal. Here's one piece about it I found: The reason for the prohibition is that when you fully tin a multistrand wire fully, the solder wicks between the strands of copper and forms a solid block, part of whose volume is metallic solder. When you clamp the solder and copper bundle you tighten the screw or clamp against the solder block, and in time the solder metal "creeps" under the compressive forces and the join loses tension. The wire can then either pull out or cause a high resistance connection with heating. There does seem to be an active debate in the electrical world about this, but from what I've seen I've two main points: For screw terminals, ferrules are the best bet. Second to that is to twist the wires gently and then use the screw terminal. Tinning can lead to a loosened connection over time. For spring-type clips and terminals, tinning the ends is okay because the spring can adjust if the wire changes shape/size slightly over time. Connections which may be subject to high heat should not be tinned or soldered, since the high heat will cause the solder to soften and loosen the connection.

Good plan. Curious to know what caused the problem.

Hope I don't start a controversy with this bit of information, but when I reinstalled things I opted to use crimped ferrules on the ends of the stranded wires before inserting into the screw-down terminals. Years ago I learned that tinning them was no longer recommended. But, I did not like how the individual strands took a beating when crushed in the terminals. Every time I re-tightened them the strands splayed out further. Using crimped ferrules is apparently common practice in Europe. I couldn't find anything against the practice, so I got the appropriate kit and went at it. Gotta say, even though it was an extra step, it made for a much neater job in the end. Time will tell.

First step might be to determine whether the damage is restricted to the house wiring, the chassis wiring, or both. If it's just the house wiring you can hopefully do like mentioned above and manually retract slides and jacks. Then head to the nearest qualified shop.

I'm sure that the manufacturer would honor the warranty either way, the difference is in who makes the claim and how the reimbursement is handled. If the shop supplies and installs the unit and has to do warranty work later on, they can probably be reimbursed for the R&R as well as the repair to the machine itself. If you supply the machine, the shop may not be reimbursed the same way. I'm sure that there are variances in this, but sometimes it's just better to pay a few extra dollars to make things easier on ourselves in the end.

Quite common in my experience. Due to the age of our coach, I often will arrange for parts to be delivered from one of my sources directly to the shop. The shop will install the parts, but since I didn't use their supply chain their warranty will only cover the work they did for R&R. For the warranty on the part itself I have to go back to the supplier I use for parts. I understand the desire to save a few hundred dollars, but that extra expense might buy you more than a washing machine - it might buy you a good relationship with shop so that they stand behind your new washing machine should anything ever go awry. If you supply the machine and something should go wrong and require warranty work, the shop might have difficulty getting anything done from the factory warranty even if they wanted to. I'm sure that they have contracts with their suppliers that cover warranty work, but if they were not the purchaser of the machine they may have limited recourse for warranty problems. I've never installed a washing machine in an RV, but the 8 hours doesn't sound too out of bounds. The shop where I take our coach will spend 30-40 minutes just prepping the inside of the coach for any repairs that require a tech to come inside. They do this to protect the flooring, furniture, etc, and I don't expect them to do it for free. If the machine is one that was installed with a shoe horn, it might take lots longer to swap out than you'd think.

Guess it depends on the policy and the situation. I had always assumed that we were covered for rodent damage, and when I read your post I pulled my policy and looked deeper. Here's what it says under exclusions: Coverage under this Part VI will not apply for loss: 1. caused by insects, birds, or other animals, including rodents and other types of vermin, while the covered vehicle or non-owned vehicle is unoccupied and has been so for more than two weeks; Sounds like they won't cover it if the thing has been parked or unoccupied for more than two weeks. On the other hand, if we wake up one morning and discover that mice have caused damage while we slept it might be covered. Won't know for certain till a claim is made, and I hope that doesn't happen so I'll keep up with my mouse exclusion rounds.

Sorry to hear such a sad report, especially for your first posting. Hopefully the shop will be able to get things figured out and you will have some success against the insurance company. We lost a generator a couple of years ago due to damage from mice. They really enjoy chewing on certain types of wire insulation. There are tons of threads on the forum talking about keeping mice away. My theory is to block all their points of entry and to keep the area near the coach free from anything that could be attractive such as high weeds, leaf piles, etc. Sounds like it's time to pull out the long-form of your insurance policy and comb through the fine print. Unless there is some exclusion that covers things like that I'd assume it would be covered on the comprehensive portion of your policy. If you bought your policy through an independent agent you can give him/her a call. They might be able to go to bat for you.

Do you have a photo of the result? Is the white a uniform defect or only occurring in patches? Wood finishing is an art, and there are so many things that could go wrong that it's really hard to know for certain what caused the problem. Some finishes will 'blush' and turn a milky white if there is moisture trapped in the finish. This can be the result of applying the finish in humid conditions or to wood that has trapped moisture inside. There can also be problems with a reaction to the previous finish, using product that was beyond its useful life, contaminated surface, etc, etc. Did you use an oil-based poly or a waterborne? Which ever you used, you might try using the other in a small test area to see if the result is better. Waterborne polyurethane is much more user-friendly than oil-based. Hopefully you can do a test on the inside of a cabinet door or in some other inconspicuous spot with another product.