granvillebarker

I've worked allot with RS-485 over the years, and if it turns out to be a module issue you can replace the RS-485 driver chip on the circuit board and see if it fixes the issue.   They are cheap, don't need programming and are a point of failure in RS-485 networks.     It's probably surface mounted though, so you'll need someone with good soldering skills.   

Hopefully it's just a loose cable though.

These guys are probably your best bet in getting new stuff that works with Aladdin:

https://silverleafelectronics.com/?page_id=2732

The pipe screws in the bottom of the aquahot, I had to remove mine to send the aquahot back once, i just unbolted it under the coach and had to have lots of room to swing it, but it just unscrewed.

My drivers seat is pretty loose.  I think it’s mostly due to being pushed accidentally by the slide on a few occasions over the years. Is there a way to fix the looseness?

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Granville Barker

On 12/31/2021 at 7:54 AM, Dr4Film said:

Yes, I looked at a Countess III with the TV on the back of the bathroom wall. I looked at another one where it was hanging from the ceiling. Then I saw one where they had a large storage area built at the foot of the bed with the TV mounted on the bed side with a mirrored storage area on the front. Photos included. I personally did not like that one as it chops up the openness of the bedroom area too much.

I believe that my 2006 Dynasty has nothing mounted to the wall so it is blank as I recall from the virtual video tour I had with the salesman.

 

Nice, I would hat that big thing at the foot of the bed.   We have a small thing at the foot of the bed that's padded on top, and has two drawers.  I like being able to lay in bed and watch the TV up front and the one in the back!   The kids always use the thing at the end of the bed for crawling up into the bed.

2 hours ago, Dr4Film said:

Granville, I don't have a photo of that specific view however I do have a few photos taken at various angles from the bed forward. Would you like to see those?

I wanted to see what is where the TV normally is in there.   Mine is on the back of the bathroom wall.

I want to see a pic from the bed foreward!

1 hour ago, Wheelsnkeels said:

Only issue is that they fit extremely tight in the opening and the supplied gaskets and mount couldn’t be used. 
 

First trip down the road 3 of the 4 lenses spider cracked in the outer lenses. Probably from mounting directly to the body not allowing for flexing. If performed again would suggest trimming the edges and using some form of gasket material as an insulator.  
The stress cracks did not effect functions and can only be noticed up close to the lights.

These didn't come with covers for the backs, but no other gaskets and mounts.   I was worried they may be under too much stress.  Thanks for your update, I'm going to go sand down the edges and make them fit better with less stress before the first trip down the road.

I also noticed Monaco drilled holes all around the bottom of the back of the old ones, so I'm going to add holes to the backs of the new ones and cover the sequential switch with a dab of silicon.    They are pretty sealed on the back, but don't want them filling up with water on the back.

Wow Richard, Beautiful coach,  I love that floorpan; its the same as ours 🙂.    Congratulations!!

One follow up about installation.   I chose to cut all the plugs off all the wires and wire everything up directly.  The LED light has a wire for brake, tail, turn, and backup lights.  The dynasty only had tail, and a combined turn/brake wire.   Since the backup light wire and real brake light wires are in the RRB, I ran extra wires from my RRB to each of the new tail lights for brake and reverse.   

I connected the reverse light wire to the real reverse light, preventing the dock light switch from turning them on.   The brake light wire really isn't needed, but I think the braked would do the sequential lighting, and running the extra wire surpasses the sequential listing on brake.

Now when I have the turn signal on and people keep flying by, I'll know it wasn't because they didn't see my signal.

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Granville Barker

05 Dynasty

8 minutes ago, RoadTripper2084 said:

FYI I think I found the product page for these:  https://www.ecklers.com/1973-1987-chevy-gmc-truck-sequential-led-taillight-assembly-with-stainless-trim-right-61-886072-1.html

These are nice, but a bit to spendy for my budget. Does anyone have a link to an LED bulb replacement that can be used inside the original taillight housings?

 

I had tried LED bulbs, they weren't nearly as bright.

Here are the links, that above one has trim that probably won't work.

You need 2 each of these:

https://www.ecklers.com/1973-87-chevy-gmc-truck-sequential-led-taillight-assembly-left-61-393004-1.html

https://www.ecklers.com/1973-87-chevy-gmc-truck-sequential-led-taillight-assembly-right-61-392986-1.html

It’s taken a month to get these tail lights in, and luckily I ordered 8 as 3 were damaged in shipping.  (  two dynasty’s to do )

These are LED 70’s GM truck tail lights from ecklers.   
 

I’ll probably have to change the blinker module, I think they blink too fast now.

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Granville Barker

3 hours ago, Tom Wallis said:

What type of sensors do you have on that tanks?

It’s the Bluetooth SeeLevel: 

https://www.rvupgradestore.com/Garnet-709-BTP3-Seelevel-II-Tank-Monitoring-System-p/709-btp3-1003.htm

49 minutes ago, Tom Wallis said:

Here is a link to the switches I use:

https://smile.amazon.com/Sonoff-Temperature-Monitoring-Compatible-Assistant/dp/B07TC2KCGF/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3I5ZBS77CWSAN&keywords=sonoff+th16+with+temperature+sensor&qid=1640457346&sprefix=Sonoff+TH16+%2Caps%2C217&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzVlc2U09XS044MUsyJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwOTUyNjE4MjBZQTVHUks3OVU0QiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMDI1NzY4MUw4UThaUkdVRjUxSCZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

I control all of my sonoff devices with an app called eWeLink on my phone. I have several other sonoff devices around the house. I'm not familiar with esphome.

Nice, the TH16 is supported by esphome.   The advantage to me of esphome, is I don't have to install an app from china (eWeLink ), and replacing the code on the device with open-source code cuts down on the chance someone has a back door into my network.   

49 minutes ago, Tom Wallis said:

Here is a link to the Wyze camera I use:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DGR98VQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have six more Wyze cams around the house and I can see them all including the motorhome on the Wyze app on my phone. I also access the cameras with an app on my phone called Tiny Cam Pro. Sometimes I use it instead of the Wyze app because it allows me to see all cameras or several cameras live at once which the Wyze app won't do. Both the wifi hot spot and the Wyze cam are powered from 12 volts so no matter where I park the motorhome as long as it has cell service I can check in on it. And because I can rotate the camera from my phone I can look inside and out. It also records motion or sound events so if I mise the action I can see what happened after the fact. The memory card in the camera can record on a continuous loop and therefor facilitates it's use as a dash cam as well. Sorry but I'm also not familiar with RTSP.

 

 

rtsp (real-time streaming protocol) is a standard that's on allot of cameras.   Home Assistant has a module to display rtsp cameras in their app, but I think they also support Wyze.   I'd prefer rtsp just to keep it all on my own network.   Thanks for the link to the camera, I'm ordering one of those to try out.   That's pretty awesome for the price!

Here's a little display module that I've been playing with, this will most likely end up in the bathroom of the RV, cycling through tank levels.   It will be the device that reads the bluetooth levels from the see level and reports them over wifi to home assistant.   It has a 120mah battery that it can run for about an hour on with the display active.   Two buttons can be programmed to do whatever you want.   It has other sensors like and accelerometer and microphone that aren't yet supported by the esphome software.

This little guy was around $40 on amazon, I think.

11 minutes ago, Tom Wallis said:

I use Sonoff thermostatic switches inside my motorhome and in the water bay to turn on electric heaters and prevent things from freezing. They are linked to a cellular wifi hot spot in the motor home so no matter where it is parked I can monitor the temperature and humidity in the motorhome over the internet. I also have a rotating Wyze cam on the windshield hooked to the same hot spot. It serves as a dash cam while we're driving and a security camera when parked. This is not nearly as sophisticated as what Granville is doing but it doesn't take as much knowledge to accomplish. I consider myself a techy but his system may be above my pay grade. 

Tom, 

Most of the sonoff devices are esp based and can be flashed with esphome.   Which models do you have?   I've been looking at the Wyze cameras, does the one you have support rtsp?

Home Assistant can run on a raspberry pi, and they have an sd image you can put on an sd card, stick it in the pi, and when you plug it in home assistant starts running.   They also sell a box with home assistant on it as well.

17 hours ago, 1nolaguy said:

Very cool. I guess you do not boondock much. Any guess at what all this will require in the way or amps or watts?

I don't boondock much, and when we do it's usually water related issues for us more than power.   The ESP modules don't use much power, but it all does add up.   I'm also on a binge to change all the 12v lights over to LED, I mainly have the bay lights and chassis running lights left to do.  

I've had most of this stuff on my workbench and tested the current draw, I'll make sure I post a table showing the current draw of each component.   I'll also include the before / after LED for the 12v lights as well, and where I down-sized fuses. 

2 hours ago, cbr046 said:

Went to https://esphome.io/index.html and ignited my imagination.  One application would be temp sensors in various parts of the coach.  Wet bay, fridge, HVAC ducts, dashboard ducts . . . building a connection platform and creating a user interface might be fun (NOT!). 

I didn't see anything about language, just the setup configurations.  Lots to learn (if I wanted to).  This could keep me up at night, but it's better than spider solitaire. 

- bob

 

That's the beauty of esphome, you don't really need to know a programming language, it's mostly just config files in a format called yaml.   Home Assistant also uses config files of the same format.   Behind the scenes it's mostly python and c++, but for the most part you don't have to deal with that.    I've had a few late nights with the stuff lately, great fun!!

Merry Christmas everyone, I recently read an article on adventurousway about how Matt has automated his RV.   
 

A few hundred dollars later and many hours of learning about esphome.io, I’m getting it all going.   I’m using 4 channel relay models and single channel relays to control all the lights in my dynasty.    All the original switches still work like they always did.  

In  the pic below you can see several 4 channel sonoff relay modules that have been modified and flashed with esphome firmware to make them work for my needs.

I will be putting together some articles on how I did all this to aid others in doing this as well.   I’m also available for consulting should you assistance in automating your RV.   
 

I have also written code for an esphome module to read Bluetooth tank levels from a garnet seelevel and publish them to home assistant.   I will share more on that and the display for the holding tanks I added to the bathroom with an esphome display module.   
 

Once it’s all setup, I will have control of all the lights and a few appliances, temperature monitoring of everything, remote viewing of the cameras, and holding tanks all in my home assistant app.  

Using home assistant you can just make things smarter having home assistant turn on and off devices based on other events.   

—

Granville Barker

2005 Dynasty

I have some leds that glow for a little bit after being cut off.    Is it still visble after some time?   
 

I recently converted one of those but I just got a roll of LEDs and installed them.   They are peel and stick with two wires on the end red / black.   

I’ve never seen a tire shop balance these big tires, they always add glass beads for that.

This is the first I've heard of these Centramatics wheel balancers.   The only benefit I saw was an increase in tire life, but I've had to replace my tires twice due to age, they hardly showed any wear.   

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Granville Barker

Spots were still available today, see you guys there!

Which new inverter / charger did you go with?   I’m about ready to upgrade, but the new units appear to be bigger than my current one.   Electronics should get much smaller over 18 years, not larger, right?

I’ve had them for almost a year now and couldn’t be happier.   Reviews sound skewed to me too.  
 

I am going to order soft starts for all three a/c with this sale.   That will put me a little closer to running them off the inverter when I upgrade the inverter and switch to a big LiPo4 batt bank.

Thanks as well, these are also on 05 Dynasty’s.

We are in Bryce Canyon for a few days, and it's mighty chilly here right now and especially at night.  (teens).   I pulled the cover off the front AH zone, just to make sure the fans were running, and immediately noticed how much more warm air was coming out.   The sofa zone was easy to uncover as well, and same thing.   My bedroom and kitchen zones don't have easily removable covers, but they will soon get enlarged significantly or re-attached with magnets so they are removable as well.   

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Granville Barker

05 Dynasty Countess

I’m like Ivan, I’ll stick to Transynd, I don’t like mixing brands.   As expensive as it is, I typically clean the tranny real well before dropping the filters and catch all the oil in a very clean pan, then reuse as much as possible if it doesn’t get contaminated by anything.   
 

On my dynasty they put a big protective frame bar under the granny that used to have to come off to get the filters out and it was always a pain to get it back on.   The bar drug on the road turning in a campground about 13 years ago, and bent it perfectly so It doesn’t block the filters anymore.

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Granville Barker

05 Dynasty Countess