wamcneil

I didn't read all of that review, but in Final Verdict he thought the user interface isn't polished enough to justify its price, but he mostly didn't like it because the protocol is too secure for him to hack it for use with his highly complex self-developed automations systems. I'm wishing I'd tried one instead of the CCC 2. That's a high-volume product that should (IMO) absolutely be engineered a lot better than it is. I think I can forgive a clunky UI in the low-volume aftermarket unit, in exchange for a LOT more functionality. Other than an easier reading screen, I'm not a big fan of the CCC2. And I'm especially irritated that it's twice the size of the thermostat it replaced, AND it requires a BIG GRATUITOUS HOLE IN THE WALL behind it. Cheers, Walter

They're here! The box is very nice and tidy. All the seams welded, rivnuts on the fasteners. And the box is built exactly to my dimensions. Everything is glued together inside so I can't get a good look at the cells without peeling it all apart. The BMS is about the only part I can get to without peeling away a bunch of adhesive, foam and insulating panels. It's locates on the top. The BMS appears to be adequate.. It's 'advertised' as: Continuous charging current: 100A Continuous discharge current: 300A Maximum charging current: 150A Maximum charging voltage: 14.6A Minimum discharge voltage: 10V Low temperature protection Charging protection Automatic balancing I'm sure the discharge current is highly exaggerated. The BMS main conductors are twin 8-ga wires. They're charging now. Will probably be balancing the cells and testing the BMS over the next few days.

Nice. Interested to hear how they do on the trip.

Today's the day!!! 2-1/2 months later... Batteries are on the UPS truck for delivery.

Yeah... he did say that... I'm really curious to find out how he plugged into something other than a NEMA 14-50R receptacle!

X2. And NEMA 14-50r is the only dryer plug I have ever seen that an RV could be plugged into without getting pretty creative.

No, the 30a RV plug is 120v. It’s one hot, neutral and ground, just like the 3-prong outlets in the house. The one hot leg is jumpered to both hot legs inside the 30a-50a adapter. I doubt he could have done anything bad here unless he kludged his own adapter with kitchen utensils and tinfoil. And even if he did... I think the transfer switch will catch the hot neutral and not engage. Cheers Walter

What????? He doesn’t say what kind of dryer plug it is, so potentially there’s a problem if he’s got an old 3-wire dryer plug with no neutral conductor . Or if he somehow connected the old 3-wire 240v dryer plug like it was a 120v 30a RV plug. But if he’s got a 4-wire plug in his laundry room... there’s no difference between a NEMA 14-50R 240v outlet in your laundry room and the same NEMA 14-50R outlet in the RV park power pole. Except maybe the dryer circuit has a 30a breaker in it. (Which won’t hurt anything) True, there’s nothing in the RV that uses BOTH legs of 240v power, but make no mistake, 240v power is most certainly coming in to the RV through the 50a connector. Cheers Walter

Well, I’m hoping I don’t need to rapid-charge the batteries from the alternator, so no plan to modify the alternator at this point. DC/DC charger is on the short list. But initially I’ll just isolate the house from chassis and see how that works out. I figure I won’t be running a lot of house loads while underway, and I should still have solar underway too. So maybe I can just keep them isolated (except for the combiner relay). Ive got a small battery maintainer to plug into the block heater outlet to keep the chassis batteries charged while parked. 2 more days till the batteries arrive! Cheers Walter

Ugh. Almost 2 months later... and batteries still not arrived. They cleared customs, and then sat in the port in CA for couple weeks. Now finally in the possession of UPS and will arrive next week!

It’s been about 4 yr since I’ve looked at them. At that time there was very little selection in compact home-theater-in-a-box. Samsung was about the only one I could find that would fit my cabinet, I think Samsung discontinued them tho... Might be able to find a used one cheap on eBay without the speakers and reuse yours. Cheers Walter

If you replace the amp with a Samsung home theater, the Samsung TV remote will control both systems seamlessly (when linked via the HDMI cable). Samsung calls this “AnyNet”, but it works over a standard HDMI based communication protocol called HDMI-CEC. Both units turn on/off together, and the tv automatically knows audio is being handled by the home theater unit. I’ve got a Samsung compact ‘home theater in a box’ Blu-ray (HT-H4500 I think?) with Samsung TV. It all works very smoothly together. This setup worked with the 10-yr old (NOT-smart) Samsung TV that came with the motorhome and also the new one I replaced it with last Black Friday I believe you can get some (if not all) of that functionality through standard HDMI-CEC interface between various brands of components, but I've never tried it personally. It may be easier and more transparent between a Samsung TV and other Samsung components. Cheers Walter

Ok, so I've got this about ready to reassemble, but I'm having some 2nd thoughts. Could use some advice... At this point, I could put up a layer of 1/8" doorskin, and then foam/vinyl. But that might be a tremendous PITA and I'm wondering if there's a better way. First question is: why is there 3/4" plywood overhead in this section? It looks like the panel to the rear of it is 1-1/2" foam board with doorskin glued to the bottom face, and then foam/vinyl. This forward-most section is 3/4" foam, then 3/4" plywood, 1/8" doorskin and then foam/vinyl. I suspect that the 3/4" plywood is there to support the original heavy CRT TV and cabinetry. But now I've got a much lighter lcd TV and the TV cabinet has been cut back so it's almost flush with the adjacent cabinets. And I can hang the TV cabinet on the 2x2 steel tube running across just in front of the plywood. So I'm wondering if I could just remove the 3/4" plywood altogether and replace it with 3/4" foam. I figure it will be much easier to glue together 3/4" foam board, doorskin, then foam/vinyl on the workbench, and then install the ensemble all together. If I leave the plywood in place, I'm afraid I'll need to work overhead and install each piece separately. So what do y'all think? Is the 3/4" plywood there for any reason other than to support the TV cabinet? Thanks, Walter

Impressive!

Hi all, Couple-years ago my coolant reservoir was cracked and I couldn't find a reasonably-priced replacement, so I fixed it with epoxy. While I wasn't super-excited about trying to fix the poly tank with epoxy it has held up so far (not being pressurized...). Anyway, in the course of fixing my AH filler neck and searching for a new pressurized coolant tank, I came across this 6-qt reservoir: 6 Quart Natural Multi Purpose Tank with Mounting Tabs - 8.62" L x 4.17" W x 15.29" Hgt. (2.25" Neck) | U.S. Plastic Corp. That really looks like the original tank to me! Minus the AH logo... Might need to transfer the overflow tube. Maybe this is one for the parts list??? Cheers, Walter

I read a article in a boating magazine that also recommended this approach. Cheers Walter

I can vouch for this configuration. My rig came stock with two group 31s in parallel. Cheers Walter

Brilliant!

Ok, now it makes sense. Somebody mentioned a repair kit using heat-shrink. He’s using some kind of Uber-shrink instead of trying to get a hose clamp down in there. If I ever wind up clamping to that pipe, I’ll use an elbow hose to turn it horizontal and use a remote filler cap outboard where it can be. accessed by human hands! cheers Walter

Just a follow-up. The radiator cap brass filler neck is soldered to the top edge of a 1-1/2" OD steel tube coming out the top of the AH tank. Just the very top edge of the tube is soldered to the filler neck. It's not like the filler has a sleeve that fits down tight into the pipe and is soldered securely. It's just perched atop the tube and is soldered to the edge of the pipe only. This solder joint had cracked. Very little coolant was escaping, but the crack mainly allowed air to seep into the tank when cooling. So coolant gets pushed out to the overflow reservoir, and then air gets sucked back into the AH tank. I don't see any practical way to "fix" this with the AH in place, so I've plugged the tube with a 1-3/8" rubber expanding radiator test plug like Ivan did (1-3/8" is nominal. actual OD ~1.25"). My first attempt was to put a 1-1/8" test plug down through the filler neck and plug it with the filler neck in place, but that was a disaster. Plug got stuck in there and I couldn't get it back out. Thankfully I was able to pry up on the filler neck and get it to pop clean off the top of the tube. Presently I'm running the system unpressurized, and I think this would probably work just fine. But I have ordered a 2.5 L pressurized coolant reservoir and plan to put this in place of the original overflow bottle. My system displaces about 2-1/4 L between hot and cold, so I think this tank will suffice. The new tank has a pressure cap on it, so the overflow hose from the AH to the tank will be pressurized and I'll run a new 5/16" coolant hose for it. I do remember reading a thread where somebody got a short piece of radiator hose over the tube to extend it up and put a filler on the other end of the hose. I think this might be a 'better' fix, but I figure the top housing of the AH would need to be cut back to make room for the hose clamp and a tool to tighten it. Which I think would be a nightmare in this confined space... Looks like the newer AHs have a tube that extend higher than mine (mine is flush with the top of the housing). In that case, the hose repair would be a LOT easier. So, if you've got a leaking filler neck, don't despair. It's not that bad. Cheers, Walter

Where are the speakers located? Are they up close to the front? (Dash radio) or are they back towards the middle of the coach (surround sound for home theater) cheer Walter

Are you sure quickserve is giving the wrong P/N? Cummins seems to supersede parts pretty frequently. Entirely possible that your old part has been replaced at least once. Cheers Walter

Very nice!

Got my plug ordered! Thanks again

Thanks Ivan. That’s exactly what I need. I thought of trying to make some kind of hollow expanding bung like that, but I didn’t realize I could buy a ready-made test plug! How easily did your cap come off? Since there’s already a crack started, I wonder if I can work it up and down gently to get it off altogether. Thanks Walter