hitechpete

How much solar do you currently have? We currently live in our Cedar Creek Champagne 38EFK, and our landlord kindly allowed me to install 4x 400 Watt ground mounted solar panels which we use solely to charge our 2 x12V batteries, I have however been able to maximise my 12V usage. I installed a programmable WiFi 120v socket on my converter, which allows my solar panels to power all my 12V appliances according to a schedule. I also installed the same type of device onto the mains input of my inverter, which powers my residential fridge. By programming this second device to interrupt the power (scheduled), it causes the inverter to power the fridge which since the converter is also off, has to pull its power from the batteries and therefore uses more solar power. As we live in the UK, the opportunity to generate solar power is mainly limited to the summer months, I have however produced 545kWh since 2022 (see the two screenshots below). I would imagine that any location giving regular sunshine would easily allow almost full power for most of the day.

The 10hz didn’t seem to to have any noticeable effect, though I suppose that in reality everything was 20% less efficient. Apparently several of the factory fitted generators had the ability to output 2 x 120 volt 180 degrees out of phase. I think it’s because you can’t see the flicker of an incandescent bulb at 50Hz.

Someone on a previous coach asked how my coach had been modified to use UK 240v 13A mains hookup, below is a brief description of what was done, allowing both A/C’s to be run concurrently (when required) along with British 250v 50Hz appliances: The conversion involved fitting a 5KVA transformer which converted the UK 230/240V into 120V@50Hz to feed the US appliances. The ATS output fed a secondary sub panel which supplied the 240v electrical equipment and also the 240 to 120v transformer, if the mains power failed our onboard Generac LPG generator provided 240V, it had opposed phase outputs which fed the ATS, the transformer then converted this to 120v again for the US spec equipment. The US power sockets had been replaced with UK spec 240v 13A using the original US wiring to provide 240v sockets throughout the coach, though several 120v sockets that were fed from the modified sine wave inverter were retained, as was the one feeding the Sharps convection microwave.

I live in the UK, when my washer dryer expired, I fitted a standard size domestic Hoover washer dryer. In my present 5th wheel I have a stacked domestic (Grundig) direct drive washer and above that a Grundig direct drive condenser dryer, both run off 240v.

What do you do for heating without the Propane tank?

We have a Fisher & Paykel “dishdrawer” fitted into our Cedar Creek 5th wheel, the best thing I ever bought myself:) The only issue will be water consumption if not on a hook up as they are not very water efficient.

Hi, I’m in the UK, nice coach. Engine parts and service parts, assuming it’s got a Cummins engine should be readily obtainable from Cummins distribution in Germany. This forum is a wealth of knowledge for any Monaco owner.

I had a similar issue with my 2000 Diplomat, gauges changed readings with headlights on/off, speedometer erratic voltmeter wrong etc. I clipped a known good earth onto the back of each gauge in turn, then wired a new earth to the last place it made any difference to readings. It also fixed my very erratic step cover.

I fitted COB type led bulbs into my rear indicators on my 2000 Diplomat similar to these:

A quick search on google brought up several results for Cummins distributors in Germany, when I needed parts for my 2000 Diplomat I bought them from Cummins in the UK, where I live.

Though the photos aren’t particularly clear it looks like the gel coat has come off to my eyes, if that’s so I would do as Dennis suggested above.

Salvage yard?

Thanks for sharing the design. I had a friend print me some of these, unfortunately the specified material is very brittle and several lugs broke., my friend then printed another set in Thermoplastic Polyurethane which solved the issue.

The ISB 5.9 engine is fitted to small DAF trucks in the UK, I personally have bought spares from DAF on several occasions for my 2000 Diplomat, it might be worth a try.

I reused the black trim pieces to finish the opening when I replaced my Norcold for a domestic “Beko” fridge in 2019. The black plastic was used to cover the brackets I had constructed to hod the front of the fridge securely into the opening, I also screwed 3 screws into the floor at the rear for insurance.

I had the same problem with my drivers side panel and to a lesser extent to main dashboard, I epoxied aluminium to the back, making holes in the metal slightly larger than the originals for clip in items (switches), then repaired the damage with car body filler and covered it all with carbon fibre automobile wrap. Photo 3 shows the end result on the dash, I can’t find my photos of the drivers side console.

AZ Expert on YouTube dis an extensive repair on a Winnebago, which involved peeling back the fibreglass and replacing the rotten plywood still attached to the coach:

My 2000 Diplomat stood idle and unmoved go a similar length of time while our daughter lived in it after her divorce, it started 1st turn of the key. I was also able to drive it off its campsite without any brake binding, though it had been parked with completely dry brakes.

Someone must have removed the internal fascia on the slide and then driven it out. With the fascia installed the slide is far too wide to fall through the opening.

The furnace only needs a connection to be made between the Blue wires in order for it to ignite, therefore any thermostat that is powered by a battery and has isolated contacts will work. See the photo below, I added an additional Suburban furnace to my Cedar Creek 5th wheel.

That looks like a Penguin 2 cover.

Can’t you fabricate something to sit in the recess and attach a light assembly to that?

I would agree with you, my 2000 Diplomat had an aluminium roof, riveted down the centre and overlapped with an aluminium backed tar tape which was also used on the slide roof joints.

Thanks for the explanation of Bump Tom. My 2000 Diplomat had a similar issue; I could never get the step cover to reliably move out and always suspected the pneumatic valve fitted to the outside of the front firewall. I also had issues with various gauges not displaying correct information re engine temp, fuel level, speed etc, as a last ditch attempt at a fix I installed an additional ground wire behind the speedometer, low and behold all the issues went away and the step cover began to work reliably!

I had my faulty LN alternator replaced with a Delco back in 2013, I believe that the original pulley was reused without issue. My only note would be that in order to turn on charging when first starting the engine, I had to raise the engine revs slightly, which wasn’t an issue for me. The same alternator is still working in 2023.