Steve Hepfer

43 minutes ago, armstrong1869@gmail.com said:

Ok, I gotta ask... which units are you using?

chassis 2 - 12 v batteries & house is 4 - 6 volt.

I have the same setup using 2 - 12volt chassis and 4 - 6volt house. So if the house batteries are in parallel would I just need one unit for them and another for the chassis?

Interstate wet cell. I have them on equalizing status now after disconnecting electronics and leaving the caps off. It should be done in about 3 more hours and then switch back to float charge

through the charger on the Magnum Energy panel.

When equalizing chassis batters do you leave the coach plugged in to shore power?

What David said is correct. You have a duplex receptacle behind the refrigerator. One outlet (ice maker) is on the inverter and the other is not.

You aren't taking into consideration of service facilities that don't fix a problem correctly and you not only get water damage but built up concealed mold and mildew (I know from experience as we had to have the subfloor and carpet totally replaced due to poor repair). The added cost difference between plywood and AZEK is about $500 on a 36ft coach. To me that is cheap insurance. 

They should looking at a product called AZEK. It is a cellular PVC board the is waterproof, rot proof, and termite resistant. It also weighs less than wood. It cuts like butter and has the same or better pullout resistance for fasteners.

I have started experiencing a loud noise and grabbing from what seems like the front right wheel. This only happens after it sits overnight and after driving a short distance it goes away and everything is fine. Anyone else with a similar issue?

Dumping the air reduces the height of the jacks to level off. On our 2008 Diplomat they say to extend the slides, then dump the air, them level the coach. Make sure you check manufacturer recommended procedures 

then

8 hours ago, jacwjames said:

You indicate that this has not been a problem before and only happens now while driving.  This to me indicates it is a "shorting" problem where wires are either touching each other or ground.  Could be a place on the wire that has had it's insulation rubbed off compromised. 

My recommendation would be to disconnect the load side of the GFIC wires and see if it doesn't trip while driving.  If it stays on then the problem is down stream.  You will have to determine the route of the daisy chained outlets and isolate one at a time.  You might guess and disconnect one of the center outlets, reconnect the wires at the GFIC and see if stays in, if it does the problem is further down stream.  Not knowing the routing of the daisy chain will be the challenging part. 

I had to track down problem circuits in the new house I wired.  Even knowing how the circuits were wired it still was a challenge.  In two cases I actually had bad feeds from the main panel and concluded that the dry wallers or finish guy hit the homerun wire with a screw.  I found latter that the finisher was using longer screws to pull wall board in, drywallers used the standard 1 5/8" screws.   I had 2 home runs running the same general vicinity that both were shorted.  (do you know how hard it is to replace wires from the service panel to the individual rooms when the drywall is up and finished). 

So far the problem has not recurred. The first instance it tripped but was able to be reset. Later the indicator light was flashing red. I pushed the test button and then reset it.  It hasn't tripped since.

30 minutes ago, Bob Nodine said:

In addition to what Jim says I will add these thoughts. The way a GFIC works is there is a differential transformer between the White wire and the Black wire. There are different GFIC trip set points but the most common is 20 milliamps. As long as the difference of the current traveling out the black wire to the load versus the current traveling back on the white wire to the source is zero everything is fine. If the difference is 20 milliamps or more the GFIC will trip because some of that current must be in the safety ground (Green wire). Current in the safety ground can be caused by many things including capacitance in the winding of a motor leaking current to ground. Twenty milliamps is not a lot of current and that is why refrigerators have been known to trip GFIC circuits. You have eliminated that problem by moving the fridge to a different circuit. The output of the MSW inverter is basically a positive and negative square wave. A square wave is rich in harmonics in the rise and fall edges and the high frequencies could be leaking current to ground via the capacitance of the devices that are connected to the inverter. If you have recently added a new device to one of the outlets on the inverter you might try unplugging it as a test. Also remember that the coach grounding is changed between when the transfer switch is on shore power or the generator. Something could have changed in the generator. 

Bob, could the problem also be the house batteries? I have noticed that the panel stays on Float Charging at 13.4 volts. I can't recall the last time it said Full Charge - perhaps a few days ago in Florida. 

3 hours ago, Dwight Lindsey said:

Steve:

Do you have a Modified Sine Wave Inverter or a Pure Sine Wave Inverter?

I have a Magnum MSW inverter.  When I changed the GFCI in the bathroom (long story), the GFCI would trip all the time when on inverter.  I researched a bit and found that most GFCI outlets that I can purchase retail don't play well with MSW.

Xantrex did some tests and there's an application note that I can no longer find on the Xantrex website, but it's here on nanopdf.com:

https://nanopdf.com/download/gfci-compatabilities-output_pdf

Dwight

 

I have a MSW inverter but have never had this problem previously. How long should they last?

I've been having an issue with the GFCI outlet in the bathroom which also has the residential refrigerator on the same circuit. While driving down the road the GFCI tripped thereby shutting down the fridge since it is on the inverter. I plugged the fridge into the extra outlet which is not running through the inverter and ran the generator to keep it on. I noticed that the green power indicator light was not on so I reset the outlet and it stayed on. Later, again while driving, the red indicator light on the GFCI kept flashing on and off. It seems like this is only being effected while driving and once I park the GFCI stays on. I am wondering if I actually have a bad GFCI or could this somehow be related to the inverter or the battery bank not strong enough of a charge to keep the outlet on through the inverter. I did test the battery cells with a refractometer and the readings range from 1.24 to 1.31. Any help is appreciated since I'm on the road and traveling for 8 weeks

I need to clarify that both wiper arms do the same thing. When on low speed they both work but when on high speed they both drag very slow and stop. This however just started after I replaced the driver side arm which may or may not just be a coincidence. 

Both sides worked before I replaced the driver side arm even though the previous arm lost its tension. After I replaced the arm and there was strong tension then I started to experience a problem 

I recently started having trouble with the driver's side windshield wiper. When in low speed it seems to be working ok however when I switch it to high speed the arm drags very slow and stops without completing a cycle. Has anyone else had similar problems? I recently replaced the arm due to the old one not having enough tension and wouldn't make solid contact with the windshield. I have tried loosing the bolt slightly and that didn't help and have also checked for a bad ground which wasn't the problem. I'm thinking that I may have a bad motor but don't want to replace it if not necessary. Anyone else have similar issues and if so what was the fix? TIA

Steve Hepfer

2008 Monaco Diplomat 36PDQ

There should be a master kill switch by the front door. Perhaps someone with a 2001 Windsor can help you find it. There should be a banks of switches next to the passenger seat by the front door.

2 minutes ago, John Haggard said:

The salesman switch is 12 volt only.

And only part oof 12 volt system.

I didn't see the 120v part of the comment

Did someone accidentally hit the salesman switch?

I have a 200 watt Modified Sine Wave inverter running a new Samsung RF18 residential refrigerator. I leave the inverter on full time so if I change or loose power the unit will automatically stay on. Works fine so far with no complaints.

I have read recently of a few people that have purchased used RVs that still have the Norcold refrigerators and some or most of them may not have the original Owner's manual for it. I have recently replaced mine with a residential unit (Samsung RF18) and still have the original manuals for the Norcold. You are more than welcome to them and the first response will be the new proud owners. Send me a note with your address.

Steve Hepfer

Thanks Dennis. I will make sure that I get them clean to make sure and just keep an eye on things for awhile.

While recently camping we experienced what seemed like a short cycle on the front A/C. I then noticed that the Progressive EMS panel gave me an error code of PE2 which is an open ground. I reset the breaker at the pedestal and it didn't occur again. Any ideas on why it would read as an open ground and then go away? Is this likely something to do with the campground or our coach? TIA

MCD are rollup and not folding 

Rich: The MCD shades are roll-up style and not the pleated ones. They have an auto device that enables you to just release and let go and they will roll-up slowly. You can get them in either Shade / Black-out / Shade with Black-out. If you are somewhat handy they are also fairly easy to install yourself. We have the Shade with Black-out on ours and glad we switched. Let me know if you would like me to take a couple of photos so you can see what I am talking about.

They just need to have the tension adjusted if they are the pleated cloth type. The best fix is to replace them with the pull down MCD type. I switched ours and my wife and I  are now  happy campers.