Dwight Lindsey

Vic: Read this thread on IRV2: https://www.irv2.com/forums/f115/taming-the-roadmaster-rr8r-chassis-315870.html Call Mike Hughes at Monaco Watts and talk with him: https://monacowatts.com/ Dwight Vic: You have an RR8S chassis, not the RR8R that's mentioned in the thread I quoted above. The story is pretty much the same. Here's a better thread to read: https://www.irv2.com/forums/f115/wandering-sway-bars-alignment-ride-height-oh-my-124491-16.html

Bob: You can try tapping the top of the water pump fairly hard with a small hammer or wrench. I did that and the pressure switch freed up and the pump worked for a number of months after that. I ended up replacing it at an inconvenient moment in a parking lot in Las Vegas, so even if you can get it working temporarily, you'll want to replace it. I don't know how your pump is mounted in your 09 Knight. In my 05 Knight I can get at it below the white panel. Getting the water fittings aligned and fastened required removing the wet bay heater, since I couldn't get my hands in quite the right position to align and tighten one of the fittings. At another time, because of a needed hose replacement on the hose reel, I cut the white panel with a saber saw, about 10 inches from the left. I was then able to remove the short left hand side and access the hose reel. After completing the hose replacement, I put the short side of the panel back in place and spliced it onto the larger side using an aluminum ruler, which I cut to length and drilled two rows of small holes in, left screws hold the left panel, right screws hold the right panel. Because I mounted the ruler with the ruled side toward the panel, I have the blank side of the ruler facing out and it looks pretty nice and professional. On my 05 Knight the right side of the panel has a lot more stuff hooked to it and removing it would be more work, but not any real problem. Monaco seems to have put that white panel in before the house, sidewalls and bay doors were installed, so it does not seem to me that the white panel can come out without cutting it. Dwight L

https://pacbrake.com/product/c18037-superlube/

Terry: Did you upgrade from a 2000 watt MSW to a 3000 watt hybrid? If so, did you need to change any cables or wires to carry the larger amperage? Dwight

I don't know anything about Xantrex and their upgrade path. Were I you I would look at that. I have a 2000 watt MSW Magnum and I've looked at replacing it with PSW Magnum and it seems to be a drop-in replacement. Same footprint, same cables . . . easy to do. Xantrex may have the same kind of easy upgrade path. Dwight

There seems to be power on the main breaker in the coach. So my guess is that the transfer switch is OK. What I'd do is plug the coach into a known good 110v outlet in the barn to make very sure you're not on 220v, then make sure the inverter circuit breakers are not tripped and the GFI is not tripped, then see where you are Dwight

One other thing to check is any GFI outlet(s). In our coach the GFI in the bathroom protects all or at least most of the outlets in the front of the coach, including the front TV. If the GFI is tripped, there won't be power in some or all of those outlets. Again, I don't have a Windsor . . .

In our coach there are two and only two 120v outlets that don't go through the inverter. They are on the right and left side of the bed. I don't know about the Windsor . . . if the Windsor also has some 120v outlets that don't go through the inverter, it would be interesting to see if there is power on those outlets.

I agree with Rick. If there is power at the main breaker in the coach, then the problem is not the transfer switch. What inverter is in the coach? Magnum? There are push button breakers on the Magnum that the new owners may not know about.

Be sure that your trailing arms are not cracked or broken. You should talk to Source Enginnering and have a look at their products for your rig: http://sourcerv.com/trailing_arm http://sourcerv.com/REK4 Dwight

Lyght power systems was an Indiana company that has been inactive since 2004: https://indiana-company.com/co/lyght-power-systems-inc I imagine that the LPT products were purchased by ESCO. Someone else may know the history better . . . Dwight

Looks like a video splitter of sorts. There's a new old stock for sale on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mito-Corp-RGB-NTSC-Controller-/401864806330 It seems to take a signal on a coax and convert it to NTSC (standard definition video) on RCA cables Dwight

The swap isn't difficult. The hardest part is getting the big stiff wires to behave and bend where you want them. The box of the ESCO is a bit bigger than the IOTA, but it fit in my bay just fine. At this far remove from my install a couple of years ago, I don't recall the IOTA very well (except for the melted contacts and burnt installation) so I can't verify the number of connections on the IOTA. As I recall, there are 3 wires each for shore power, generator and house, which gets to the 9 connections you mention on the IOTA. Then there's a ground bus bar that needs to connect to the chassis. On my coach there was a green ground wire that connected there. As long as you keep good track of which wires are shore, generator and house when you disconnect, it really isn't difficult.

Brian: OK, so you have 12v in the house. That's good. If I understand correctly, you don't have 110 volt power in the outlets when plugged into shore power. What exactly are you plugged into? 50 amp? 30 amp? 15 amp? Have you checked every outlet? If there's a ground fault outlet, be sure to check that and make sure it's not tripped. Most of the outlets in my coach, forward of the bathroom, are connected to a GFI in the bathroom. If your coach has an inverter, check that. There are circuit breakers on the inverter. When the circuit breakers on the inverter on my coach are popped, I only have power to two outlets in the bedroom. Don't ask how I know that . . . The 1998 Executive electrical schematic has a main panel and a sub panel. Do you have more than one panel? I don't know your coach at all, but I find it odd that the circuit breaker panel would be under the steps and not nearer to the power entrance. That diagram may also be instructive in another way: Shore power goes directly to the central 50 amp main breaker. So on that coach, checking for power at that breaker would be useful. Dwight

Brian: There's an electrical wiring diagram in our files section: On page 110, it seems that you have an ESCO transfer switch, or at least that was supposed to be installed on the coach when it was built:

Brian: Hopefully someone with a 98 executive will chime in. That's a high end coach and a different era than mine and things will be a lot different than my coach. But your transfer switch should be somewhere near the where the shore power cable enters the coach, probably on the roadside rear. A small battery drain when the batteries are on and the coach is not hooked to shore power is not unusual. Whether your battery drain is unusual I certainly don't know. If your batteries have been drained completely, they may have had their lives shortened and their capacity reduced. Do your ceiling lights work? If so, you're getting power from the house batteries. If the ceiling lights don't work, you should look for what we call the "salesman's switch", which cuts off all 12 volt power to the coach. The idea of this switch is that the salesman at the RV dealership could turn on all the lights and leaving the coach, hit one switch to turn them all off. Then when showing the coach, one switch lights it all up pretty for the customer. It's not useful to me or most folks, so many people bypass the relay that switch controls. If you locate the transfer switch and if you are very sure you know what you're doing, you can pull the cover off and see if you have power coming into and out of the transfer switch. The transfer switch should default to shore power, so it you're plugged in and the transfer switch is working at all and not completely fried, you'll have power on the output side of the switch. If that's so and you still have no power at the panel . . . then that's a puzzle indeed. Dwight An IOTA transfer switch will look something like this: Mine was mounted on the back wall of the compartment such that the label was vertical. Dwight

The transfer switch will be where shore power enters your coach. It is usually in the roadside rear compartment Can you describe your "no power" problem more completely? No power when plugged into shore power? No power when running on generator? No ceiling lights (which are usually DC)? Can you start the coach? If so, you've got power from the chassis battery. Dwight And there are no stupid questions . . .

I recommend the ESCO LPT50BRD https://www.escousa.net/electrical-supply/products-electrical/#cc-m-product-6625681554 It was recommended to me as the best one and it's what I've got now. Long story . . . I purchased the ESCO LPT50BRD and procrastinated getting it installed. We left for a week long camping trip near Yosemite National Park, at Bass Lake. I left the ESCO switch in the garage. The transfer switch failed on our first night out. We were a long way from our garage, so I called Camping World in Fresno. They had a TRC Transfer switch in stock, so I drove an hour in the toad, bought the switch and installed it. It worked for two nights at Escapees Park of Sierras in Coarsegold CA on shore power. When we moved to dry camping at Bass Lake, the transfer switch worked for about 4 hours on the generator and then failed. A call to TRC tech support confirmed that the circuit board had failed. The tech rep there talked me through switching the generator leads to the shore power side. Since the transfer switch (and most transfer switches) default to shore power, a dead circuit board defaulted us to shore power and by switching the leads we managed to continue the camping trip and go home through the very hot Central Valley of California with the roof airs working. I'm sure the TRC transfer switches are usually OK, but they seem more complicated than the ESCO. Dwight If anyone has an IOTA transfer switch, I highly recommend you replace it. But while you're waiting for the new switch to arrive and/or be installed, with all power off to the coach, you could take the cover off the IOTA and have a look at the contacts and the wiring. I suggest you don't touch anything unless you're very confident you know what you're doing. But if you see melted contacts or burnt insulation on the wiring, don't use it again until it's replaced. Mine was SEVERELY melted with blackened insulation on the wires. I'm surprised the coach didn't burn up and kill us. This is VERY SERIOUS stuff. Dwight

My IOTA transfer switch melted. No fire, but also no power from generator or shore power. I'd been warned. I'd bought a new transfer switch but had not installed it before the failure. So I was lucky. I repeat the warning. If you have an IOTA transfer switch, change it immediately! Dwight Another point: I had been habitually running the roof air conditioners while going down the road with the generator on. When it was time to shut off the airs, I would simply shut down the generator. In retrospect, this was STUPID! With a big load at the transfer switch, switching power sources must have resulted in arcing at the transfer switch. With my new ESCO transfer switch, I am now careful to shut down any big loads, especially the air conditioners, BEFORE switching power sources. Dwight

Bruce: Have a look at this document: https://help.brazelsrv.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045550852-RVA-Leveling-System-Turns-On-None-Of-The-Jacks-Deploy-Pump-Does-Not-Run A quick read would have me look at the "interlock relay", which is intended to prevent operation when the ignition key is on. Dwight

Lee: On my new Penguin II High Capacity (15,000 BTU) air conditioners, dip switch 8 needs to be set to ON, to enable the furnace. Once the dip switch is changed, you need to re-set the thermostat. You might try a re-set now and see if by chance it helps. I don't believe it could hurt: (CCC 2 System Only) Reset & Checkout 1. System Reset After setting the dip switches in the electronic control, do a system reset. a. Re-connect the 12 Vdc and 120 Vac power supplies. b. Make sure the CCC 2 thermostat is in the OFF mode. c. Simultaneously press the MODE and ZONE buttons. The LCD will display "IniT" and all available zones. d. Release the MODE and ZONE buttons. e. Press the ON/OFF button to exit system set up. f. When a dip switch is turned on after initial configuration, a system reset will need to be done before the CCC 2 thermostat will recognize the updated selection. FYI, I've run my Penguin IIs in very cold weather. As I recall vaguely, it was just above freezing. You might try it. They will put out heat and when the heat exchanger on the roof gets cold enough, they go into a defrost cycle. The CCC2 thermostat will then say "DEFROST". That cycle lasts a few minutes and then it goes back to heat again. Before I understood it, it was a bit disconcerting, but after reading the manual and finding the DEFROST message on the CCC2, I'm comfortable with it now. Dwight

John: I'm quite interested in the 360 degree camera system. I'm curious about how you did the install, particularly the routing of the wires. Is this something I can do in my 2005 Knight, which is pretty much like a quad slide Diplomat, without tearing up the interior? I'd like to add this if I can sort out how to do it. Dwight

David: Your 2003 Knight has well known issues with the trailing arms. Jim's 2008 diplomat doesn't have those particular issues. Source Engineering is definitely the go to source for knowledge and parts for your chassis. If I were you I'd call them and find out what they can offer you.

A google gets this page: https://pdxrvwholesale.com/t/dash-heater--ac-parts?page=2 As you'll see, the page is titled dash heater / ac parts So I'll bet it's for the dash heater and air conditioner. Dwight

Our carpet has been installed this way for about 8 years and it's in fine shape. This was new carpet and when we installed it we cut an extra piece from the carpet and had the edges bound, with the idea that when the installed carpet wore out we could replace it. We still have that piece of carpet, just in case. The carpet we installed then (I think it was 8 years ago) is still fine.