wamcneil

Thanks! I have been looking for coach info in others signatures recently and didn't see it. Figured we'd got lax about requiring coach info. Didn't realize it was system-wide... Got mine fixed now. Walter

What is your concern about the inverter? You've got a 2000w inverter, right? Don't worry about it. Your microwave is probably the only built-in appliance that will be a heavy load on the inverter (~1200w?). The refrigerator is trivial in terms of it's load on the inverter. But the refrigerator is a huge load on the batteries and will probably consume about 200 AH/day all by itself (definitely turn off the icemaker off as somebody else mentioned). That 200AH means that four GC batteries give you about 24hrs worth of running the refrigerator alone before you hit 50% on the batteries and should recharge. So, if you're driving from campsite to campsite, don't worry about it, the engine's alternator will keep everything charged up just fine. But if you're boondocking, plan on running the generator for an hour or more every morning and evening. Let the generator run the big loads like microwave, coffee maker etc while it charges the batteries. Cheers, Walter

In my opinion, there's not much more to say about black tanks that that... And I think folks tend to make it way more complicated than it needs to be. I've got kind of a unique perspective because I dump by gravity through a 1" hose adapter on the dump valves. For a variety of reasons, I didn't want to install a 3" or 4" waste line for my rv parking spot so I buried 100' of 1" PVC in the yard to connect the motorhome with the septic. I use the motorhome as an office during the week and use the restroom like any other restroom. I use no additives, have no odors and discharge the black tank about once a week . This setup has shown me that toilet paper and solids break down on their own pretty quickly and even a 3/4" dump hose will pass the slurry just fine. As long as David's guidelines above are followed, there really shouldn't be any issues. Anyway... back to the original issue of the gate valve getting fouled... I suspect the OP's problem is having paper slurry in the gateway while closing the valve, smashing it into the gate's channel. Maybe try flushing the toilet several times after the dump to try and clear most of the paper slurry from that area before closing the valve? My personal approach is to back-flush the black valve with water from the gray tank, but that's hard to do with a conventional 3" dump hose. Or maybe get a flushing elbow to rinse that area after you dump? Like this: https://www.amazon.com/Valterra-F02-4100-Hydroflush-Removable-Anti-siphon/dp/B0002UHVAA Cheers, Walter

Yeah. I haven't scrutinized my battery tray, but I bet it's just a super-heavy duty set of industrial drawer slides in there that could be replaced. At one point I was considering adding a 2nd tray above my 4xGC batteries. Couldn't find a standard size tray that was the same size. Cheers Walter

Ok. I think I found it! I believe it feeds the 'Domestic Hot' fuse panel in the front electrical bay

No, this is not solar. The diagram also shows temp sensors for the inverter and solar controller over on the right. My red highlights covered up some detail on the diagram. The diagram shows two wires going out that area. One is the "8ga Red to Solar Controller" labeled on the diagram, with a fuse also attached to the same pass-through bolt. The wire and circuit breaker I'm asking about is a big 2ga cable that is not labeled on the diagram.

Hi All, Hopefully somebody can tell me what the circuit breaker in my house battery bay is for. See attached wiring diagram. 2003 Dynasty. I found it on the wiring diagram, but it doesn't say what it's for or what it connects to. This is a klixon circuit breaker that is attached to a battery pass-through post BEFORE the battery isolation switch. Anybody know what this is for? Thanks, Walter

Parts.Cummins.com. For my 2003 isl 400’s serial number, Cummins says: 3940632 is the original P/N and has been superseded 5284903 is the new P/N Cheers Walter

I've only got experience with the one unit... but it looks to me like the slip joint wasn't intended to be taped and sealed. There's the duct stub screwed to the AC's bottom pan and the mating stub on top of the duct has a flared end to let it slide in. There's very little clearance in there so no practical way to tape the joint. There's no access hole in the bottom of my duct. My slip-joint appears to have bound up while setting the AC sometime in the past (maybe at the factory) and had compressed the top of the duct. The ductboard had become pretty comfortable in that compressed and deformed position and wouldn't stay in place when I pulled it back up in place. So I cut a thick wood shim to fill the space between the lower duct stub and the adjacent wood. Then screwed the duct stub into the shim and screwed the shim to the adjacent wood frame. That lifted the stub up where it wasn't compressing the duct below, holds it straight vertically and made the stub pretty rigid so that the part on the AC pan slid all the way down in without deforming the ductwork. I think it worked pretty well. Here's a bunch of pictures I took. In a couple you can see where I had to grind away some clearance for the long hold-down bolts. I think the new unit may have slightly different spacing. Cheers, Walter

Thanks! I've been lurking but hadn't had much to contribute lately... many house projects and the MH has been neglected the last few months. It's mostly been like summer in the TX hill country! Finally looking more like winter and gloomy today... Cheers, Water

"I see Walter's roof opening is surrounded with wood where mine is metal ( aluminum )." It doesn't show well in the pictures, but there's a steel frame in there with gussets at the corners. The four bolts are drilled through the corner gussets. This is 03 dynasty. Sounds like construction varies considerably with different models. My bolts could have lined up nicer, but I didn't have have cross-threading problems. Don't remember clearly, but I think the new bolt pattern on the AC pan may be slightly wider, and I had to grind away a little for clearance on the long bolts. Hope your install goes well! Walter

Hey, if you don’t want or need the battery capacity there’s nothing wrong with installing smaller batteries. I think the main reason golf cart batteries are so common is because they have traditionally provided the best overall cost -vs- capacity and useful life. If high capacity isn’t a priority for you, then maybe GC batteries are not the most cost effective option. Cheers Walter

When my water pump was failing, it looked like the seal between the pump and the engine was leaking. Which really confused me. Turns out there’s a drainage channel cast into the pump housing that catches a leak from the shaft seal and shunts it down to the bottom of the pump. I didn’t figure it out till after I pulled the pump and felt the loose bearings. Is there any chance that what you’re seeing is actually coming from the pump? Cheers Walter

If you go the magnum route, be aware that it requires one more wire than the xantrex setup. Maybe this is also the case with others, I wouldn’t know. On my rig, I found that the required wire (gen run signal, which the hour meter also uses) was in the harness and in a pigtail about 6’ from the inverter. But I’ve read stories about others going to great lengths to pull this wire back from the gen Cheers Walter

Nah. It won’t clog. At home, I gravity discharge through a 1” hose, into 1” pvc and eventually transition into 4” close to the septic tank. As long as only appropriate substances go into the toilet, it all breaks down into slush pretty quickly and there’s nothing bigger than 2” to begin with. Cheers Walter

My original setup had one KIB latching relay and also a continuous solenoid that was triggered by the output side of the latching relay. So the salesman switch controlled the KIB, and the KIB energized the continuous relay. I think the KIB is only rated for 60a, so a lot of the house loads went through the continuous relay. Do you have a similar arrangement or are all of your house loads going through the KIB? Maybe someone removed the secondary relay? After I swapped all the halogen lights for LED, I calculated that all of the house loads could be handled by just the KIB. So I removed the continuous solenoid and connected its loads to the KIB. It’s been doing the job just fine for about 4 years now. If you still have 80amps worth of halogen lights, plus all of the other house loads are going through the KIB, maybe high current is killing your relays? Cheers Walter

X2. Another benefit is power consumption. My continuous solenoid drew 750ma. That’s 18AH/d

Essex now sells an Avital brand wireless entry system to go with their keypad system (the two are completely separate). The avital (and I'm sure yours too) are just generic aftermarket keyless entry systems. Essex doesn't make a wireless system. They just remarket and have apparently changed several times over the years. Each of the keyfob buttons will be linked to a particular pair of wires on the wireless box (mine is inside the dash). When you press the unlock button it connects the two unlock wires together and grounds a solenoid in the run bay that actuates the lock. Likewise for the other buttons. The unused button on your keyfob is for a pair of wires that's not presently connected to anything. My keyfob has an extra button also that I've contemplated connecting to exterior lighting, but it would be a lot of work. I was able to utilize an existing wire in the coach harness to make the new wireless entry's 'dome light' output turn on the interior lights for a minute after unlocking the door. My original wireless box didn't have a dome light output, but I think that circuit was used with the optional viper alarm system. The essex door keypad also has several unused wires. Each of the function buttons (I think there are three provided) is a number that is pressed after entering the unlock code. Each activates a different wire on the back of the keypad. Only one of those circuits are used for the bay doors on my coach (linked to button 9). Cheers, Walter

For SAFETY, I throw some 2ft sections of railroad tie under the motorhome, just enough so I know it won’t crush me. cheers Walter

X2… one more note: your original inverter was probably wired with 2 legs of AC power in and 2 legs of AC power out. While you can reconfigure the AC power, if you want to keep the 2-in/2-out configuration, that will greatly limit your choice of inverters. Magnum me and ms Inverters are very similar to the original xantrex and will go in pretty easily Cheers Walter

It sounds like you have an Essex keyless entry system. The Essex keypad by the door is a stand-alone unit. The locking and unlocking functions are all inside the keypad itself, not in some ‘external control module’. There’s also going to be a Wireless module for the keyfob behind the dash. However, the Wieless module does not ‘control’ the the Essex keypad. The two systems are completely separate except for grounding the same coach relays that power the lock actuators. Check the keypad wiring under the arm rest if you think it’s not getting power. I think the Essex website has a wiring diagram. There’s pos and neg, and then several other wires that the unit connects to ground in order to actuate a lock circuit. Cheers Walter

Where is this bundle of wires you’re talking about ??? Are you talking about multiple strands inside a stranded wire (as opposed to solid wire)? like others said, replace those wire nuts with something better! cheers Walter

I'm pretty sure you just need a standard board out of a penguin. The presence of heat pump and other options should just be dip switch settings. The circuit board has terminals for the compressor, fan and a few other things. It's not something that's highly specialized or sophisticated. Have you checked ebay? I've got a non-functional penguin heat pump i could take the board off of.

Yeah, dometic doesn’t provide support… My new AC came with one half of a modular connector and I was having trouble finding the other half so I called to ask if I should have received the other half, and if not maybe give me a part number??? I did get someone on the phone. The answer was “Sorry. Call your reseller. We don’t answer questions “. While I haven’t actually changed a board, I have compared the boards in my original penguin to my new penguin II. The new penguin II has an ambient temperature sensor that the older ACs don’t have. Otherwise looks to me like the connections to the circuit board are all the same. So unless dometic changed the default mode on the reversing valve, I think the boards are all interchangeable. Cheers Walter

Are you serious? I’m pretty sure having to pull it twice is not working as designed, and probably means that if your latch goes any farther out of adjustment you won’t be able to open the door