TomV48

3 hours ago, Dr4Film said:

My Coolant Surge Tank on my previous Windsor with the ISC had a High Level Mark and a Low Level Mark. Maybe they were labeled Hot & Cold, I can't specifically remember.

When the coolant was cold the level was close to the bottom mark and when it was hot at temperature it was at or over the high mark.

How large is your coolant tank and how is it marked?

Photo of Windsor Coolant Tank.

OUCH now I am jealous.  This just makes me wish I had held out to find a Rig with side radiator.   That all looks so nice and ACCESSIBLE.

4 minutes ago, Jdw12345 said:

I carry one of these on the coach at all times, pretty handy item to have along!

 For checking temps on everything! Tires, drive axle, brakes, engine, …………

https://www.amazon.com/Fluke-59-Laser-Infrared-Thermometer/dp/B00G1V3FG8/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2ED0RDFEFC6YQ&keywords=fluke+laser+temp+gun+thermometer&qid=1686356052&sprefix=Fluke+laser+temp+gun%2Caps%2C201&sr=8-4&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.006c50ae-5d4c-4777-9bc0-4513d670b6bc

ME TOO BUT Harbor Freight at about $20 as FLUKE would be over my budget

9 hours ago, Mocephus said:

Thanks Ivan, I had to correct the temp. It was actually 158 when the alarm sounded. 

Thank you IVAN but now for us mere mortals can you explain what solved the problem.  (IN OTHER WORDS WHAT CAUSED THE PROBLEM)

I would be alarmed if my tire temp hit 158 which I think is the default setting in our TST's.   I hit temp alarms with two wheels on our TOAD one day just 5 miles from home and found that I had positioned my Removable Brake Controller BADLY and caused the brakes to drag.  Easy Fix and according to my mechanic, no real damage to the brakes, but without the TRUSTY TST we could have had a TOAD with blazing tires and a real problem.

14 minutes ago, birdshill123 said:

When I look up the dimensions of a 1200 norcold it is 36 wide. The Samsung rf18 is only 33 wide. Why are users not installing full width fridge?

I have seen Mike Hughes' Samsung install and it is a beautiful fit  but I think it was a bit tall requiring accommodation.  Not sure about width issues.  The big issues when I shopped to maybe convert to Residential (which I would have done it the Extended Warranty Company hadn't come through with a brand new Norcold) seemed to be depth and height  My BRAND NEW Nocold 1210 says Width is like 32 3/4 inches or the like and so maybe the 36" comes from the width of the face which does not slide in to the cabinet or allows for Hing Swing out,  although I have never measured the clearances on ours.

1 hour ago, lwkhou said:

It was made by RCA.  It had a VCD, DC and FM radio.  Your TV would play through the speakers.  I removed mine when I install LCD RV's as it did not accommodate HDMI.  I currently use the in-ceiling radio speakers.  But would rather use the other speakers just haven't had time to figure it out.  This is what I use for the radio speakers.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004NEUK86?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0873Y5MQ5?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

I have a 2005 Diplomat which sounds like I had the same system you did.

Thank you I think it's beginning to look like it was a primitive system but simply one that took advantage of a 5.1 speaker system so if I go to look at the Pyle $98 tuner amp.  It offers Bluetooth HDMI in and HDMI out x2

21 hours ago, TomV48 said:

I have a 200 amp continuous duty cycle solenoid set up to activate from ignition power switched from the ignition relay delay.  IRD.  At one point while using that ird current source to activate my DC to DC Renogy controller I was back feeding 12VDC TO THAT IGNITION SOURCE LINE FROM THE IRD.  Outcome was the ignition switch no longer stut off the engine.  I quickly disconnected my back feeding lead and found a different way to wire it.      The moral, look for something else you did that is back feeding power to the ignition that is not allowing the engine to run on.

I was probably not entirely clear. To the solenoid I'm talking about is the solenoid that allows the truck charging circuit or the truck batteries to jumper across and charge the house batteries.   Not only did I inadvertently feedback 12 to the ignition trigger side of that coil, I can envision several ways and internal failure in that solenoid or other ignition charged points that could feed house or truck battery current over to the ignition and since they share a common ground the difference would be the same. Your ignition switch would no longer shut the engine down.  So if there's nothing else that you changed recently then I would explore possible feedback loop through any 12 volt source that is on an ignition controlled circuit

2 hours ago, Old Dog said:

Not the same by any means but in my rig the Bose surround sound system is connected to a combo am/fm/cd/DVD player in the AV cabinet. Thats the way it came from the factory. It was a "home" system completely separate from the dash "auto" system. Are there any removable panels the speaker wires could of been stuffed into? Can't believe some one would cut them. Also the wiring drawings have the AV system in the prints. Hope this helps.

Hi.  Thank you.  No it doesn't appear the wires were cut.  Just disconnected and laying in the cupboard.  Kind of unfamiliar looking connectors on the wires.   Do you have any brand name or model on the combo system.  So far other than spending too much money for residential componeythst may not fit the cabinet space, all I have found is a Pyle 5.1 receiver amp on Amazon for about $98 but would still need to squeeze a Blue Ray player in.   So still looking.  Gonna find some kind of audio out put to use to test and identify the leads and hopefully get to verify that the speakers are good.

2 hours ago, Flyinhy said:

My coach came with a Bose lifestyle surround sound system with a sub woofer mounted under my kitchen sink. I added a bluetooth receiver to one of the imput jacks. This system has a DVD player incorporated in it. 

Any chance you have a model # or spec for the system/DVD?

Thanks.  Tom

Just now, Wrayj1 said:

Have you considered a sound bar?

Of course, that is an option, but the sound still comes from the very front.    I would like to explore using what looks like a substantial investment in Built In Speakers first.

Going in to year four it is time to have good stereo TV sound in our 2005 HR Ambassador.

We have evidence of a surround Sound speaker system in our coach.  By that I mean a Sub Woofer in the cabinet under the dining table and five speakers in the ceiling; Front pair, Center Front and a Rear Pair

There appears to be wiring from those speakers in the cabinet above the driver's side window, but no evidence of what they may have connected to.  Now we also have three pairs of Auto Stereo type speakers which run just fine off the dash stereo which has been updated to a unit that lets DW bluetooth her music to the unit.  There are two speakers above the cab area, two more roughly above the kitchen/dinette area and two more in the bedroom.  They all work fine with reasonably good Auto Stereo sound. It is complete with an on off switch at DW's night stand, but of course no other control from the bedroom. 

What was originally connected to the Surround Sound speaker system?  We use an over the dash  32 inch flat panel smart TV and I took out that big garage door opener class mount from the original HUGE TV and cut the cabinet back so you do not automatically hit your head on it coming and going,  but the sound from the tiny TV speakers is not adequate for mere mortal hearing without turning it up until the speakers in the TV rattle.  

Any suggestions as to what was in there from NEW, what to put in NOW to utilize the Surround Sound speakers' potential and maybe even to incorporate a Blue Ray player?

Thanks for any ideas.

Tom

I have a 200 amp continuous duty cycle solenoid set up to activate from ignition power switched from the ignition relay delay.  IRD.  At one point while using that ird current source to activate my DC to DC Renogy controller I was back feeding 12VDC TO THAT IGNITION SOURCE LINE FROM THE IRD.  Outcome was the ignition switch no longer stut off the engine.  I quickly disconnected my back feeding lead and found a different way to wire it.      The moral, look for something else you did that is back feeding power to the ignition that is not allowing the engine to run on.

2 hours ago, Tom Cherry said:

Use a needle or a pin.  Check for voltage going to the LED/NEON contacts that power the status lights.  Are ALL the lights out?  If so, somewhere you lost the common ground. Start with the burner…its working.  If there is voltage…measure to a nearby ground. An AC round ground pin in any AC outlet is the same as the DC grround.  Then switch to electric heat. No status light….voltage to good ground. No sense in worrying about switches and indicator lights before you troubleshoot….

I lost one of my two, four light old school tank monitors. Looked and looked.  Tested and probed.  Turned out the digital display plug in strip was ever so slightly dislodged.the eye missed it, but loosened and pressed back tight and bingo lights.  Turns out even low current low voltage electrical connectors can suffer open circuit loose connection tiny corrosion and lose conductivity.

Nice.   I'm not too far away, did you get that from the dealer there in Victorville?   Amazing anything in this stinking state is that seemingly reasonable.

5 hours ago, VinceB said:

UPDATE:

Yes, that was it - thank you for the help.

I re-wired the GFCI - took the fridge/TV circuit off the load side and put it on the line side.  Everything working as it should now.

It is interesting to note that if I plug the coach into the 15a circuit in my RV bay which is on a GFCI, it will trip. If I plug into the 50a that has no GFCI everything is fine.

My theory, only anecdotally, is that such problems involve one or both GFCI's being wired/ interfaced wrong

The TECH on the "My RV Works, Inc." youtube page has recently posted a GREAT video explanation of how those things actually work and how to trouble shoot them.

Evidently it is more than getting poop and paper dried on the sensors

Have you seen any sign of actual leaking YET?

I would probably be wrong,,,,( I have learned most of what I know in life from trial and error----mostly error )  but absent being able to get a good installer to come over and help, that is what I might do.  Maybe a hair dryer (heat gun might get too hot) to warm things up and make it pliable.

His voltage seemed a bit low and I wondered if that was just the state of charge of his battery due to it sitting and passively discharging a little.

He was not too clear in the initial post.  Just that ignition was on.  Well ignition on with shall we say a battery that it less than fresh and fully charged could be the issue

My question is quite rudimentary. 

Is there a way to get those switches to release and come out from the top or do you have to pull the panel and pop them out from behind.

I have a couple, one in particular, my cruise control switch, that get warm during extended use. That tells me probably poor contacts in the switch causing resistance but I really do not want to take that panel off console if I can avoid it.  It has been cracked and damaged by people removing it previously and I don't want to compound the problem if I can avoid it.

5 hours ago, Dr4Film said:

Van, right on brother!

For those that like campfires I build and sell an RV Campfire Smoke Shifter that is guaranteed for lifetime.

I am one of those.  Put my chair right where you want the smoke to go.  If you want it changed, move my chair.

Not to forget checking the top of the wire cluster where you say water.   Sound like a job for more caulking.

Well I have nothing directly to the problem, but low voltage indication often means resistance at a connection or fuse contact. 

My water pump, making wimpy noises, was the first I knew that I had a voltage problem.  We found a high resistance at the contacts to my Salesman switch, which in our 2005 Ambassador is a Latching Relay so no load from the relay itself when activated.  We found that the contacts on the side had tell tale heat and were found to have some bi-metal corrosion and were just flat NOT TIGHT so clean all the ring connectors and tighten them and bingo no more notable heat at the connections (they were hot enough to burn your fingers) and voltage back up at the water pump by over a volt and a half.  I guess that in normal use the water pump is the highest amperage item so it showed up there first.

26 minutes ago, Bill R said:

@Gary 05 AMB DST The MSRP Sheet says the unit came with 4-6V Deep Cycle (not stated but I assume FLA) for the House and 2-12V Group 31 for the Chassis.  This is what I I plan to eventually be.  Transitioning first with 2 Group 31 Starting FLA batteries.  When the existing AGM Deep Cycle House batteries are exhausted, I will replace them with FLA Deep Cycle.  So back to factory for me as well.  I know this is all a personal choice with batteries.

That is definitely the old school GO TO.  And of course that is what my manual on our 05 AMB 34 shows, but they now make nice AGMs that will fit and for a long term investment, LiFePo's that will fit that four GC2 place.   Plus, if I never have to water another battery it will still be too soon.  They are even selling AGM/SLA batteries for most Automotive applications now too. There are probably four 12v AGMs out there that will fit the spot if GC2's in AGM are too hard to find. .  

GOOD choice. I hated to think what grows in any exposed vessel of water, especially what grows in a machine.

But I hope to never have to water an RV battery again.  Save that store bought water for my C-PAP.

Thank GOD for my AGM's and LiFePo's

"AGM's for starting are not my choice.  AGM's are more persnickety and DO require a different profile than FLA.  If you properly configured, and Magnum can tell you....the ME2012 for AGM, then it should be OK.  The FLA's are actually MORE robust."

I have contrary view.  I was so tired of FLA batteries that I had started with one auxiliary AGM the Blue Beer Can one in our first trailer as a stand alone in the bedroom to power my C-PAP.   I mixed FLA and AGM without a problem but as soon as the Blue Beer cans were full I pulled them off line.   Now ten or twelve years later that little puppy still holds a charge like new.    Same arrangement in our second trailer only TWO big Golf Cart batteries and the little Blue beer can as back up .

When We got this DP in the first of 2020, it had all Agm's.  Two big ones for the house and two Gr 31s for the chassis.  They all worked fine but they were really old.   I love the AGM.  But I love my LiFePo's more.  I put in LiFePo's for the house,  but the Chassis Batteries were still scary old, like ten years old,  so for peace of mind I decided that they needed replaced.   I found that Three of the highest CCA rated, Optima, Beer Can batteries fit in almost to a tee, where the two big Group 31 Agms had been and with more CCA.  I played with all sorts of really Expensive AGMs and found the most power for the money and square inches of battery tray available was the Optima

I was in a quandary to know how to charge them all when off grid.  House batteries charge using solar off grid and on hookup the Magnum,  was also set to charge LiFePo.  So I knocked out the boost relay/alternator cross feed to the house out.   I figure if I have to I can use big jumper cables where some rely upon the boost button,  I added a Renogy 40 amp DC-DC charger to the LiFePo's for the protection of the alternator and then strapped the Chassis batteries to them for cross charging/trickle charging,  with a Big old diode to cause a one way only charge and a half volt drop to not over charge the AGM chassis batteries. Thinking about replacing the cross feed diode with a simple 10 amp solar charger that will think LiFePo voltage is a solar source and then be a four stage charger specific to AGM chassis batteries.  10 amp PWM solar charger is actually half what I paid for that big old clunky Diode, and it mounts to the bulkhead easier.   That is so obvious but I never thought of it until I saw RV with Tito and he did it for his older Winnebago Gasser.  Still half of all I know about RVs came from YouTube.

Pretty sure what I have is also the Aquajet 55 ARV.  My documentation says it is a variable speed pump and should not require or be used with the pressure accumulator.   Sometimes it seems to make a little annoying chirp as it brings the system back to shut off pressure but it definitely steps up performance if you open to faucets at the same time in order to prevent loss of pressure at one.  I'm happier with it than I was with the single rate single flow pump I had in the Old Coach.

On 4/15/2023 at 6:26 AM, cbr046 said:

I doubt a dog did this one, but "The dog did it!" is not something you want to hear.  Previous owner put a 2" plumbing cap over the air brake control for just that reason.  Our dogs were small but figured a good idea and practice. 

- bob

 

So I do not have a dog, but any time I park  for any protracted period of time I release  the air pressure.  But yet I still feel a lot better with this thing on my emergency brake knob. Helps avoid accidents and it's one more layer of theft deterrent.   https://www.globalindustrial.com/p/universal-fit-air-brake-truck-lock-single-knob-keyed-differently