StellaTariche

RE: using an adjustable frame ladder propped against the front cap to clean windshield

Tom and I do the same thing, EXCEPT I have come so close to breaking my windshield with a extending frame ladder that flexes, I use this instead:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Gorilla-Ladders-4-6-ft-x-2-5-ft-Aluminum-Heavy-Duty-PRO-Slim-Fold-Work-Platform-4-Adjustable-Heights-375-lbs-Load-Capacity-GLWP-55A-2/310836452

It fold flat, has extending stabilizers, lets vertically challenged people (i.e. me) reach the top of the rig.

I only have to move it once to cover the whole windshield.

$160, but it fits in the second bay back on the drivers side, and folds flat.

Also great for waxing and polishing the sides where a normal ladder would be in the way.

I popped mine while learning how not to use the jacks. Yup, expensive lesson.

Direction in which you wash it depends on if you want vertical bug streaks or horizontal bug streaks.  The wipers will make them all semicircular almost immediately, so it is purely a appearance preference 🙂 

Ok, so I am (1) in the same boat (ok, land yacht ) as all of us, and (2) a physics junkie with two sons and a nephew who are all recent electrical engineer physics junkies.  I also have a staff of 12 EEs and MEs who all jumped in to this discussion. My neighbor who is also a Lt. Col and aeronautical engineer who teaches at the USAFA also chimed in. He has a phD in laminar flow dynamics and access to a Mach 6 wind tunnel at Purdue University if we want to try this on a scale model.
 

Two ideas:

(1) Create an artificial air deflector out of moving air. Aim it at the correct (calculated) constantly changing position and angle and deflect any and all bugs, rain, and potentially small rocks.   Examples of this working are the pointy nose-cones on the inlets of the SR-71 blackbird.  Same principle as the air deflector on pickup truck, Formula One cars and front motor class 8 trucks.

Note that my main office is (literally) on Kelly Johnson Blvd in Colorado Springs.  Kelly Johnson and his team designed the SR-71.

Pros:  it will work on our 40 ton loaf of bread shaped toys

Cons: biiiiiig fans needed (or we have to be driving about 175mph) for it to create a wind “shock wave” that will clear the top of the rig windshield. Might be a bit noisy 🙂 

The guys shared the math on bar napkins (Note: why yes. Yes alcohol was involved. You really needed to ask?). It seemed to be kosher.

(2) Lasers on the front. Hear me out…..

At 70 mph, they can easily track hundreds of bugs with an off the shelf Nvidia graphics card, some machine vision, and a couple sensors (high frame rate cameras) and zap them.  We do it already (Lead Free Design, my company) when sorting items to be recycled moving on a quickly moving treadmill. We track each fast moving piece of unknown material with cameras in 3 dimensions, very quickly zap each piece of material several times with a special laser called LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy), looks at the returned “fingerprint” reflected by the laser, based on the spectrum (Ai machine learning) decide what substances are in the material and which direction that piece needs to be heading, blast it with a tightly controlled column of air, and it ends up in the correct recycle material path/bin. In use this exact system at our partner’s labs in the EU (EARN - European Advanced Recycling Network).

Pros: Works really well for plastics, metals, and fingers. Knows (or can be taught) the difference between your index finger, a protected species of bird, and a giant Florida June bug.

Cons: DOT might want to have a say in this contraption. Expensive because ….. engineers.

  
- John

More realistically, there is an external clear conformal film (like window tint, but applied to the outside and perfectly clear) that can be applied to the outside of the windshield.  It blocks heat, protects against rock chips, bug juice rinses off with ease.  lasts about 3 years. Wipers don’t scratch it.   Couple of hundred bucks.  Works best on new windshields. 

Hey THANKS Andrew!  I was just starting a parametric search on SiliconExpert (cool but expensive software for finding parts).  You saved me a lot of time!

- John 

Harry, that is a very good question.

1-2 week lead time, so somebody has stock.

They offer original Eagle packaging, or Radwell re-packaging (two different SKUs).  Both were available.

These things are standard grommets used in electrical products. I see them all the time on BOMs.

I'll look for a cross reference.  They are a pretty common size made of nylon.

Amazing home much time and work a person will go through for a perceived pricing injustice, right?

I should be able to 3d print a tray of these for $2.  I'll let you know.  All the specs are on-line...

"When you get finished, you will want to replace the black plastic bushing that sits in the door edge where the deadbolt extends and retracts.

https://www.radwell.com/en-US/Buy/EAGLE PLASTICS/EAGLE PLASTICS/MP7510

"

DO NO BUY FROM RADWELL!

I saw this note and link that Harry posted and thought "THAT is the stupid little part I've been looking for. THANK YOU HARRY !"

So I called to order. Spoke with the rep Matthew.  Nice guy.  Kept going on about price matching...now I know why.

Minimum quantity = 10 pieces @ $0.35 (35 cents each).

"Ok, that seems reasonable"

"Handling charge = $15.00"

Ok, that seems excessive....

"UPS shipping charge = $18.70"

Ok, WTF????

$39.11 for 10 little plastic pieces, of which $35.61 is shipping handling and tax.  For a 35¢ piece of plastic.

I told them (nicely) to cancel the entire order.  I'm sure one of us can find another place that isn't such a blatant ripoff.

- John

On 3/30/2024 at 1:48 PM, Jlalpaugh said:

What TV mount did you use and how did you secure it to the ceiling? Thanks in advance. 

Hi Joe.  The TV mount was from Fry’s Electronics (no longer around), but there are similar ones on eBay and Amazon. It is mounted to the modified cabinet structure (scroll back a bunch of photos).

The “latch” is a sliding child door latch the pivots down and away when unlatched.  Again, from “Babies R Us” (no longer in business), but similar ones on line.  Mounted into a piece of covered wood which was attached securely to the ceiling structure.   

Below are some photos on the cabinet/ ceiling mount.  Mounting to the horizontal cabinet allows it to be stored screen up (protected). I painted the back of the TV to match the ceiling - had I had extra ceiling material, I would have either covered the back or made molded cover to hide all the connections.

the latch is a pivoting 90 degree safety latch. I believe it was designed to keep a door closed. When closed, it is effectively an angle iron covered in felt and non slip rubber.  When open, it pivots down and out of the way. Sliding it in line with the pivot unlocks it. It is very strong and will not slide open by itself, but takes only one hand to unlatch. It is PVC covered steel.

mounted properly, the screen is held up to the cloth covered ceiling and does not rattle or move. 

There are other ways to do this, including hiding a linear actuator in the cabinet to “push” the screen up to the ceiling for storage and lower for viewing. I might do that this summer when I make the 360 dash cam screen slide up/down and hide in the top of the dash.

On 3/31/2024 at 6:38 AM, dennis.mcdonaugh said:

Wow. That’s all I can say, just wow!  You and your boys did and incredible job. 

They are now age 24, 30, and 33.  They and their wives / fiancés saw your comments and the photos and laughed and told stories of those three months in the paint booth. Two are engineers. One is a successful construction company owner.

Yes I still have the Uberbounder, and Each asked to use it this summer.

Thank you for the kind words. 
 

FYI, the other reason not to do this is obsolescence...

USB-B specs (the typical rectangular USB ports seen in the pictures) are minimum 500ma for charging, although they typically can go up to 4 amps split between the multiple ports.  They also require deeper boxes. And their quality and safety varies greatly.  You should see what is inside them - scary if you certify electrical safety like I do.

BUT, everything is moving to USB-C smart charging (required by the EU, so will happen everywhere because of economies of scale). USB-C are backwards compatible with USB-B with tiny cheap dongles (4 for $10).

My company certifies electronic products for sale in the US and worldwide. Everyone is moving to USB C. I have not seen any high capacity battery powered devices using USB B in the last nine months.

USB-C smart charging ports negotiate with your USB-C devices to up the voltage and current to the max wattage the device can take - which changes during the charging time. My Macbook Air M2 charges at 100W off a USB C charger.

So, I compared charging my iPhone 15 and new iPad Pro v6 (both plugged at the same - a typical use case -  into one of these USB-B wall 2 amp per port wall chargers - I rewired the house 6 years ago and added them in a couple locations):

• USB-B charging: 2 to 7 hours, depending on the cable, how low the battery charge was.
• USB-C 100W small hub x 2 outlets with appropriate cable: 22 minutes when both were almost empty.

Better to leave the outlet as is and get a multiport smart charger.  There are even some that plug into the dual AC outlet - flush mount - and add 2 x 60W USB (60W total split between the ports) smart ports. More than enough to charge a USB-C laptop AND a phone at the same time.

For quality and safety, get a UL certified device.  While ETL and other safety certs may be ok, UL certs on AC outlets and chargers are more expensive for a reason. We also see CE (self certified) devices - I would NOT buy or use one.

Hope that helps.

- John

I too have this issue. Still is disconnected, so I'm interested in what others say too.

thanks,

- John

”Waxing your Beaver”
 

What a disappointment this thread turned out to be:

[scoffs]

Not at all what Google promised….

Tom,

Thanks for the education on the differences between home 240V systems, RV GenSet 240V and Pedestal 240V systems, capacities and wiring.

And since I don't want to see my skeleton light up (like those shocking cartoon electrocutions), I think I'll leave my wiring as is (or consult my engineers who are NEC electricians and CE Safety certification experts) 

best,

- John

On 8/29/2023 at 9:48 AM, Larry Laursen said:

John,  The 7.5 and 8.0 KW Onan generators use an inverter to give 2 legs of 120 volt ac. The 2 legs are in-phase and will show 0 volts when measured across the legs. Thus, you only get 120 volts and the neutral carries the sum of the current used on both legs. You potentially center tap the heater and wire 2 circuits to the heater.  However, I would only recommend for an electrician vs an EE who gets shocked by the toaster. 🤣LOL.  The 10 and 12 KW Onan generators are true 240/120 volt units.  However, the normal household W/D is 240 volts at 30 amps, which is  4 times the the power of 120 at 15 amps.  Anyone expecting similar performance is going to be very disappointed. 50 amp shore power is 240/120 however the internal wiring of the MH doesn't accommodate that to the W/D except on high line units.

"I would only recommend for an electrician vs an EE who gets shocked by the toaster. 🤣LOL"

Me, the Toaster, and the fork
Every. Single. Saturday.
You'd think I'd learn, but no... 

On the subject of 120v vs 240v dryers….
 

(and I should know this but dont)

Why can’t we run a 240V dryer off the genset (Onan 7500w for me) or 50A service?

phase issues?

because a 240V dryer would sure work better, right?

Thanks,

- John, (the guy with a 5V EE degree who still gets shocked on the toaster on Saturday mornings)

Dave Pumphrey, thank you for the Napa part number.

Yup, it was the windshield washer pump.

Easy 10 minute fix.

- John

Wow Vince.  They did a great job on your coach.

Don, If you (1) have access to a +50' paint booth for two months, and (2) three teens who needed jobs as slave labor, and (3) are brave, you can do what we did:

(Scroll down - lots of pics of the repainting process at the link).  Cost of quality materials, slave labor, booth rental was about $15k.)

BTW, color sanding (final paint finishing to a mirror finish) can be done sooner with the right paint, HOWEVER, color sanding 1100 sq ft of paint is NOT fun at all :) 

- John

Mike's custom painting redid some clear coat on mine (orange peel). Re-cleared both side of the rig (not the caps - those were already color sanded and great)

Outstanding work. A lot less than anyplace else in US. Two years ago and perfect...

https://patrickpaintgroup.com/mikes-custom-painting/

ignore the passenger side roof radius where I had a disagreement with some trees - working on that this fall :(  

note from someone who used aluminum Pop-Rivets....

...don't.   The aluminum is not strong enough and will shear/break when you least expect it.

If you are going to pop rivet (especially without a backing washer), use stainless pop-rivets.

Hi Tom,

Unfortunately I have lots of experience with the dreaded "Death Wobble"

See here of details and photos of what can happen:

Because that year Cherokee and Grand Cherokee are marketed and advertised as Flat-towing ready (and they clearly are not without the expensive modifications)  Jeep corporate should pay for the fix (about $500+), although they will fight you..

Let me know if I can be of help.

- John Taylor

Yup. Exactly. 

I originally thought they were a great way to replace a starting battery, but (as my lab guys, who actually know what they are doing have said) “nope. Not for the casual RVuser”

I did some research into replacing the starting batteries with a couple of “super capacitor” banks. Each bank looks like a 6-pack of tall boy beer cans (or spray paint cans)

Pro:

• They last 20 years
• They require no maintenance
• They deliver an insane amount of starting current.  You’ll end up leaving the undersized wire to your starter in place to limit the current (home made fusible link)
• They work in very cold conditions
• You can place them under your bed with all your house lithium batteries
• They don’t weigh much.
• They can be hooked up in parallel with your lithium house bank which simplifies converter charging off solar, pedestal and genset 

Con:

• Expensive. Not insanely so, but still more.
• Our typical rig requires two - and they don’t combine the typical way two batteries do (because they are capacitors and have almost no internal resistance, so they sometimes combine electrically like capacitors and sometimes combine like batteries). Easy to hookup, but calculating your CCA (cold cranking amps) is different than lead acid batteries in parallel.  The manufacturer will help you.
• Alternator charging (as always) is the problem. When you ditch the lead acid bank, you will lose the “buffering” and “regulation” of the choppy signal coming out of your alternator.  So the charging circuit off the alternator must be modified to prevent unintended reverse voltage / current dumps (back EMF) and you might have to “smooth” the the alternator signal yourself.
• They can only crank the engine 4 or 5 times (for about 20-25 seconds of cranking) before the super capacitor must “recharge”.  Recharge means letting them sit in parallel with your big lithium house bank for about 15 minutes before trying again.
• Their ‘self discharge’ rate is higher than both lead acid and lithium batteries.  You’ll want to keep your rig plugged in or on solar if storing for a long time (months). You could wire in a disconnect, but the you’d have to wait 15 minutes for them to recharge off your lithium house bank before starting.

Interesting concept though if you want to rid yourself of lead acid batteries and go all Lithium. 

When my original pump died a few years ago, I put another pump in-line, leaving the original in place (evidently a common solution).

Still have yet to get my meter out and test - could very well be a burned out replacement in-line pump.

It is on the list...

Unintentionally funny for some of us and our rapidly aging parents:

         Someone asked what you call a “bathroom” when we were on a month’s tour.  “Depends”, said our guide….

Wipers work.

I replaced the washer pump a few years ago.

If I get out the meter and it shows no voltage, I still would need to know where the fuse for the pump was, so I figured I'll just ask the smart guys here....

thx

- John

Hi.  Before I pull out my meter, does anyone happen to know the fuse location for the windshield washer pump fuse?

Thanks,

- John

2000 Monaco Diplomat "Uberbounder"