richard5933

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.

Post a few pictures and perhaps we'll have ideas.

Two thoughts... 1) The OP has stated a few times that the chassis and house batteries are connected. Not sure if this is through an isolator, through a solenoid, or through a mechanical connection (clamp). There should be a way to disconnect them if it is not automatic. If there is a battery isolator it should be keeping one battery bank from discharging the other, so when the engine is running there should be no way for both battery banks to simultaneously discharge like this. If there is a solenoid, then there should be a way to turn it off. If they are mechanically connected - they shouldn't be and that needs to be addresses. My guess is that the two battery banks are connected with a solenoid (boost switch) that's been left turned on when it shouldn't be. 2) If battery banks are both connected to the chassis alternator when the engine is running and both battery banks are discharging, then one of two possibilities exists: either the load on the battery banks exceeds the alternator's output, or the alternator has a problem and is not providing the proper charge. If this was my coach I'd disconnect the ground cable from the house battery bank and then test to see if the chassis alternator is charging the chassis batteries. Once it's determined that the alternator is functioning properly it would be time to work out the connection to the house battery bank. And a couple of other suggestions: -Has the output of the inverter/charger been tested when the coach is connected to shore power? I didn't see anything that verified the output of the charger side of the inverter/charger -Has the "microwave ordeal" been resolved? If not, then it almost sounds like the discharge is due to something still drawing hard from the batteries.

Almost every GPS has a way to mark a road as an avoidance. On my Garmin it's not that difficult, although I've only done it a time or two. By marking a particular stretch of road or even a small geographic area as a no-go zone the unit will never route through it. For a one-time route I'll just use a map and do it manually, but if it's an area I drive often I'd want to have the GPS avoid it. As much as people want to hate GPS units, they can do something maps cannot - they can route around accidents/traffic/road closures in real time. Apps like Waze can do that as well, but as far as I know the GPS units are the only way to automatically re-route in real time AND to have the height/weight of the RV taken into consideration. As much as I love a good map, driving a coach in traffic is just not the time I want to be reading the map if I have reason to re-route at the last minute.

Of course, as I was told when I registered my coach in Wisconsin, we are all subject to spot inspections if an officer deems it necessary. Since we look very much like a commercial coach, I do look in the mirrors for flashing lights every time we pass a weigh station.

Welcome to the forum. Just curious what the reason would be to have your tanks cleaned like that? Is there a problem or just routine maintenance?

Some shops will not do anything that requires them to work from inside a motor home, so there's a good chance they saw removing the radiator as the only route to the repair site. Not saying I agree with their approach (pun intended) but I do understand the reluctance of shops to send a grease-covered mechanic to work from inside a motor home that costs as much as some do nowadays. Especially if their bread-and-butter is working on commercial vehicles. Only takes one or two expensive carpet or upholstery damage claims to scare a shop from working through the hatch in the bedroom floor. Glad you got it resolved. Sometimes a motor home owners best tool is perseverance and determination.

Our plan of attack on all these types of things is to have a good working relationship with a shop where we take our coach regularly. We sometimes pay for a couple hours labor to have them inspect and find things wrong before we have a breakdown. Getting things fixed on our schedule at our regular shop is so much better than having a shop on the road start guessing at things. The Interstate location in Milwaukee works with us on pricing all the time, but that's because we've been taking our coaches their for a couple of years now for service. Realistically speaking, getting anything done on a diesel pusher is expensive. Posted hourly labor is $128/hr at the shop we use. Even getting a filter changed is going to be over $100, but with the cost of the filter and the labor it's not unexpected. There are good, reputable shops out there. But if you go in thinking that things will cost the same as on a car or pickup you'll be shocked and surprised. Back to the current issue with the check engine light...Do you know that it's the transmission? Any symptoms to indicate this or is it just a guess? Might there be a code that can be read on the dash to see what the reason is that the light is on? Before spending any money to get things repaired it might be beneficial to find out what caused the light to come on.

I also think you might have a connection or two working loose. Can you access the back side of the panel with the water pump switch? If so, check that all connections are firmly seated and tight.

Clarke Power Services - Central Ft Wayne Truck Center Stoops Freightliner McCormick Motors These are the first ones that pop up. I'm doing this on a PC. Perhaps their site is not compatible with the browser on a Kindle. I'm sure that you won't have to call more than one of these to schedule a fluid/filter change and/or diagnostic session.

https://www.allisontransmission.com/sales-service-locator Looks like you have a few choices in Ft. Wayne, including Clarke Power Services and others. Clarke looks to be a distributor as well, if that's worth anything.