richard5933

Just a thought... If you're having frost problems inside the fridge then perhaps you have moisture getting in. Might be that your door gasket is not sealing well enough to keep out the warm/moist air.

Welcome to the madness!

Have you thought about planting with native grasses that don't need to be watered? Or mowed? Makes me tired just thinking about mowing all that lawn. We have four acres, but now we only mow the 1/2 acre or so around the buildings - the rest is native pasture grasses and takes care of itself.

We often choose the Flying J just for their ease of in/out and because they have other services we need like dump station, scales, etc. With the Good Sam discount it's usually within a few cents of the cheaper guy across the street with the tiny lot. Even 4 or 5 cents difference is only a few bucks, and it's worth it to me to know that my bus will fit into their lots. They also have high-flow pumps so I'm not there all day trying to fill a 165-gallon tank.

Which is why I mentioned early on that I wouldn't change tire size without confirming with the manufacturer it's a good idea. We can look all we want at these things to check for clearance and other issues, but we'll never be able to consider all the factors involved in changing tire size. Everything may look good when the rig is sitting still, but hit a big bump while taking a tight turn and the tire might suddenly (and catastrophically) hit the frame. Since tires in the current size are available in a variety of styles and load ratings I'm not sure what the advantage to changing size would be other than reading somewhere that they ride better. Not that design engineers never make mistakes, but if something as simple as using a different tire size would have enabled the coach to ride and/or handle better you'd think they would have either put them on at the factory or made them an option.

Welcome to the forum. Glad to you have you here. To better answer your question, more information is needed. What will you be using the towed vehicle for? Do you prefer a car or truck? Big or small? Will you be towing on a dolly, trailer, or with all four wheels down? Etc. Etc. Etc. A good place to start is the Towing Guide from FMCA. https://familyrvingmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/TowableLineup-Update_FMC0118.pdf This lists current vehicles listed by the manufacturer as towable. Of course, there are also guides for past years so if you want a used vehicle just look in the guide for those years. The guides are on the FMCA magazine web page. You'll have to be logged in to view them.

Overload on a circuit can cause a few problems... Circuit breaker tripped? Circuit breaker failed? GFCI failed? Inverter/charger failed? Am I missing something?

One more thought... Has anyone checked to be sure that the water level in all the batteries is at the proper level? And that the connections to the batteries are not corroded and are properly tightened? Didn't want to miss the easy stuff.

Not sure I understand what's going on here. The chassis batteries discharge at rest. The house batteries discharge at rest. The chassis batteries are not charging when the engine is running. The inverter/charger can't charge the house batteries. Something simple is gumming up the works and should be discoverable by following a simple yes/no testing procedure. Two approaches - battery & inverter/charger. My hunch is that one of these is causing all the problems. My suggestion is to follow one path at a time. Your choice which to do first. If you can easily get the batteries to a place that can properly test them, that would be my first choice. If you have someone that can help you properly test the inverter/charger, then that could be first. Batteries: Take your batteries to a battery retailer and have them tested. There are dozens of truck repair centers in your area that can test your batteries. Probably could also get them tested at most decent auto supply houses. Napa would be my first choice if you have to choose blindly. My guess is that one or more of your batteries has crapped out and is causing the problem with them not taking a charge. One bad cell on one battery can mess up the whole battery bank. Same for your house batteries. They should hold a charge when not connected to anything. Have them tested. Until you get ALL the batteries tested or are certain they are good you really can't move forward. If a battery is bad, it's best to replace all the batteries on that battery bank (If one chassis battery is bad, replace both chassis batteries. Same for the house batteries.) IF the batteries all test good, then the next item to test would be the alternator since the chassis batteries are not charging with the engine running. It can be tested at the same truck repair places that tested the batteries. Inverter/Charger: If I remember, this thread started with a few 120v outlets that didn't work. If the batteries & alternator test good, then you've got something drawing down your batteries and/or not allowing them to charge. My first suspect would be the inverter/charger. A bad inverter/charger would certainly cause that. It could also be constantly discharging your house batteries trying to get the outlets powered, but in its malfunctioning state just can't do it. I'd also want to verify that the house and chassis batteries are not connected together when they shouldn't be. With the battery chargers off (all of them) if you disconnect the chassis batteries none of the chassis systems should be functioning and if you disconnect the house batteries none of the house systems should be functioning. If you disconnect one battery bank and items normally powered by that battery bank are still functioning then you have a cross connection. If your house and chassis batteries are connected together at all times, any problem with one side is going to draw down the other.

I'd avoid any complicated system. Just get a good dash cam for your RV plus one for the toad that has both front and rear cameras. Or, just get a separate front/rear camera for your toad plus one in the front of the RV. They each will record what they see, and with the wide angle lenses on these things nowadays the two cameras on the toad will record quite a bit of the road. Ours has a 170-degree field of vision. Front and rear like that in the toad will be almost 360.

Didn't the OP ask about towing on a dolly? If so, assuming that the car does not have a live rear axle, what would be the problem of towing on a dolly with the front wheels on the dolly?

Not sure what the privacy concern is here. It's your own camera and you're the one with the ability to turn it on or off. If someone else were recording I could understand, but the camera in my vehicle is for my own protection. I'm not worried about the GPS telling someone where I am, as the video itself will do that itself. It's not like someone sitting in a "GPS Central Office" is monitoring every GPS unit in the world - they are not two way devices that can be tracked. Now, if you're using a cell phone to provide GPS, then that's a different story, but I'm not at all worried about a dash cam invading my own privacy.

True - you can easily check that part of it with an Ohm meter. If your gauge is wired like I described with the sending unit supplying the ground to the gauge, you can also run some tests to see if the gauge is working by making/breaking the ground connection to the gauge on the terminal that goes to the sending unit.

Welcome to the forum. Glad to have you here. A couple of thoughts, although I am by no means a tire expert. First about the size issue. My gut tells me that it's best to stick with the manufacturer's recommended size. Lots of issues can crop up when changing size, even if the outside diameter stays the same. There are clearance issues with the fender and wheel well to consider as well as handling issues. If your manual doesn't list the new size as recommended, then I'd call the manufacturer to ask before changing size. Also would be necessary to find out if it was okay to run one size in front and another in the rear. Second, if you have excessive wear on the inner edge I'd recommend getting that taken care of before doing anything with new tires. Is there a steering or front end issue? Alignment issue? Tires should wear evenly, so if they are not then something is wrong. About the tires themselves, we've got Firestone on our bus and we're quite happy with them. Looks like they have one in the 275/70r22.5 size.

Two thoughts on this... First, to me the potential benefits far outweigh the potential risks. Second, if one is worried about getting caught speeding, the remedy is to not speed. Not trying to sound like anyone's father, just saying. I had a good friend ask about this when I first got the camera. He was actually a clergyman, so I was surprised at his question. He asked why do I want not only a camera but one that could implicate me if I was at fault. My answer was simple - if I'm at fault then I will need to put on my big boy pants and take responsibility. As a rule, I don't speed and do my best to follow the posted rules of the road. But here's the primary reason I chose a camera with the GPS chip when I bought the second one. During the roadside investigation after the head-on collision last fall, the trooper asked about our speed just prior to the accident. He was trying to determine if there were any factors from my side that contributed to the collision. Was I taking meds? Did I have enough sleep the night before? Was I distracted? How much experience driving a bus did I have? etc, etc. But he was really focused on our speed. Fortunately for us, I had just recently replaced our speedometer with one which was GPS based. At the moment of impact the speedometer froze in position, 53 mph. Don't know exactly why - perhaps it was the impact, perhaps it lost power, perhaps there was help from above. Regardless, the trooper took the 53 mph reading from the speedometer as corroboration of my statement and asked no further questions. Would have been much easier to have this recorded on the dash cam, so it was on my must-have list for the next one.

I guess I misstated that...It requires an inverter IF you wish to run it from the batteries. Then a 1000-watt inverter will run it. Otherwise it is designed to run from 120v AC. Since most of us will have to run the fridge from batteries at some point, even if it's just driving from one pedestal to the next, in my mind I consider the inverter a required piece of the equation. If there is already an inverter in the coach, then this would be a non-issue as you could just plug in and go.

My understanding is that it's possible to use most any gauge that fits into the dash, but that usually the sending unit on the engine must match the gauge. Different gauges have different pressure ranges, and they operate with slightly different resistances. Check out www.speedhut.com as they have a great selection and it's possible to customize the gauge to get the bezel, face, etc to match your existing gauges. Get the matching sending unit for whatever gauge you buy. The way mechanical pressure gauges work is the sending unit makes/breaks the ground connection. The sending unit is a variable resistor, and the oil pressure is what changes the amount of resistance. As oil pressure goes up or down, the resistance to ground changes. The 12v+ goes to the gauge directly, the 12v- (ground) is fed to the gauge through the sending unit. On some sending units a full ground equals zero pressure and the more resistance to ground the higher pressure reading on the dash. On these gauge the needle will spike in the upper end if the sending unit wire is removed. On other sending units disconnecting the wire from the sending unit will drop the needle to zero. Reattach the wire and bring up the pressure and the ground will be applied to the gauge, bringing the needle up. One common fault is using teflon tape or pipe compound when installing the sending unit. If the sending unit is a single-wire sending unit, the threads in the sending unit must make an electrical connection to the engine block when installed or the gauge won't work. If there are two wires to the sending unit, one will go to ground and the other to the gauge. There may be other wires at the gauge itself, usually to provide power to the light in the gauge or to run other warning lights, etc.

We have two - one in the car and one in the coach. This is the one in our car: Z-Edge Z3 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018YRBQSK/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It was in our first coach, and it worked really well. As a matter of fact, when we had our head-on collision in our coach last fall the video from our dash cam was incredibly important. Without it, the trooper said the investigation would have gone on for months and we would have been sued by the family of the other driver. With the dash cam video, it was clear he crossed the center line. Video was super clear and the camera worked really well. After the trip, that camera went back into my car. Right now we have this one in our new coach: WheelWitness HD PRO Dash Cam with GPS https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OTZWJE2/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 We chose this one because of the quality of the video and because it has a GPS module. This records the speed and location as well as the video. It was relatively easy to set up. I ordered the hard wire kit for the Wheel Witness so that I could wire it directly into the 12v power in our coach and not have the power cord hanging across the dash. Found a 12v power line in the cabinet above the driver and it was an easy install. Which ever camera you get, just be sure to have it on all the time. You never know when you'll need it. We all pray we never do, but you never know.

If you dig into their website they have both types. They make a compressor unit that runs on 120v AC and requires a 1000w inverter, according to the info. They also have two options on the boiler units, one traditional and one with helium. They don't use electricity in their homes, but this company does certainly produce equipment that runs on electricity. The compressor unit seems like a great way to avoid remodeling the cabinetry while getting the reliability of a residential fridge. http://jc-refrigeration.com/products/ Scroll down on this page and you'll see the options.

I've got a HVAC repair guy in my Rolodex that will work on odd equipment like the vintage the basement a/c units in my coach. Many problems can be repaired, including changing out a compressor when necessary, if you've got a tech with the proper training and willingness to help. I wouldn't spend too much time worrying until you have need. No sense in wasting a good worry needlessly.

Theoretically, yes. You should be able to start and drive the coach with the house batteries disconnected as long as the chassis batteries are doing well and still connected. I say theoretically, however, because one never knows what might be connected to the house system instead of the chassis system. For instance, in our coach the GPS and dash radio are connected to the house system. You just have to be sure that all required systems (lights, gauges, etc) are functioning before taking off. As kaypsmith mentioned, you shouldn't attempt to start or drive the coach with the chassis batteries disconnected or non-functioning. If you are going to move the coach with a ground cable disconnected, you should tape end to be sure that it cannot accidentally make contact with a positive connection. I'd also zip tie it to keep it from flopping around for safety. You'd be in serious trouble if the negative cable accidentally contacted a positive terminal, so make sure that cannot happen.

Usually it would be somewhere near the driver. The purpose of the switch is to engage the solenoid and use the house battery bank to help start the coach's engine. This is useful when you find yourself with a dead chassis battery. If you have a solenoid and it's engaged, then anything that drains the house battery bank will drain the chassis battery bank at the same time. I'm betting that the solenoid is engage right now and that's why both battery banks are draining together. Are the voltage readings of the chassis batteries and house batteries the same? Do they drop to the same voltage overnight? If they are the same and drop the same, then that would certainly indicate that they are joined electrically right now. I still suspect that you have something draining the batteries in the coach somewhere. When you did this, did you disconnect the ground cable from each battery bank? You might have multiple cable connected to ground terminals in your battery bank. The one you want to disconnect is the one going from the battery bank to the chassis/body of the coach. By disconnecting the ground cable from each battery bank you isolate them from the coach and eliminate anything that could be draining them. If, after the batteries are properly disconnected, they still drain down overnight then it's time to have the batteries changed out. They should not have a noticeable voltage drop overnight if they are in good condition. Remember though, the voltage will read higher while the stand-alone charger (or any charger) is connected. The reading will drop slowly over a few minutes until it stabilizes, and then should stay relatively stable overnight if there is no load on the batteries.

Before spending too much more time, my next step would be to test the batteries and the inverter/charger. Batteries can be tested by any good auto parts store. One bad cell on one battery can make the entire battery bank act wonky. The inverter/charger is not too difficult to test. You want to measure the 12v side to be certain it is providing adequate voltage to charge the batteries when it's turned on and in charge mode. When it's drawing from the batteries in order to provide 120v to outlets you want to measure the voltage at the 120v side. Hopefully someone with a similar inverter/charge can chime in with the specific voltage levels you are hoping to find on each end. All that said, if you put a stand alone charger on the batteries and the lights dimmed with it running, then either your load is larger than the stand alone charger can provide or a battery is failing/failed. Perhaps the inverter is still drawing from the batteries?? If the voltage drops on the chassis batteries while the engine is running, then either you have too large a load on them or the chassis alternator is not working properly. The same auto parts store that tests your batteries can test the output on your alternator. You can also test it with a multimeter - lots of videos on YouTube about this. You have a solenoid. Find the switch that controls it. It might be labeled as a starting booster. Perhaps whatever load is drawing down your house batteries is drawing down your chassis batteries - that could happen if this solenoid is switch or stuck in the 'connect' mode. I really believe that this problem will not be all that complicated once you find it. Finding it might be a bit of a hunt and search. Probably one component or system which is affecting all things downhill from it. To me, best approach would be to isolate and test each of the various components individually (chassis alternator, chassis batteries, house batteries, inverter/charger, etc.). Once you find the offending piece of the puzzle the remedy will be simple.

I was responding to the OP who stated they wanted to connect something to their onboard wireless network. I assumed that they had a workable connection to the internet for their wireless network which would work for this system. If you don't have reliable internet where you are parked and a hotspot is out of the question, then I don't know of any system like this that will be practical. They all rely on some type of connection to the internet, whether it be through an Ethernet cable, a wifi connection, or a hotspot. Absent an internet connection I just don't see how this would work. All that said, if the obstacle to using a hotspot is the purchase price, and if the only thing you'll be using the hotspot for would be something like one of these thermostats, then it might be possible to use a cell phone for your hotspot. The thermostat shouldn't use all that much data, and most smartphones can be set up to run a hotspot and be able to get your thermostat online. If you've got an old smartphone you're not using, it might not be that expensive to add it to your plan with the intention of using it as a hotspot for this purpose.

All you need is a simple Honeywell thermostat with wifi capability. This is what we have at home: https://www.amazon.com/Honeywell-Programmable-Thermostat-RTH6580WF-Requires/dp/B00Y6M2OUC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1535573095&sr=8-4&keywords=honeywell+wifi+thermostats I wanted to be able to monitor the temp in our house when we travel to be sure that things didn't freeze. I mounted the thermostat in the room I was concerned about but didn't actually connect it to the furnace (our furnace needs a different kind of thermostat that was much more expensive to make wifi). The thermostat (like any wifi thermostat) requires a power supply, so I just used a plug-in power supply: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075PN6NCV/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Total cost was under $100 and it was simple to connect the Honeywell thermostat to the wifi at home. You should be able to mount one of these in the RV and connect to the wifi so that it can notify you as needed. I believe this also can work with Alexa if you have that in your RV.