Gary Cole

Interesting, I can only imagine what would happen if I called my insurance company and told them that I wanted to rat out my neighbor down the street. I'm pretty sure that I would be immediately transferred to that always helpful service rep in Bangkok Thailand who doesn't speak a word of English. Have had the pleasure of speaking to him a couple of times in the past.

There are some members here who know a lot about your particular system. Can't reverse pump direction in a complex hydraulic system. If I had your system I would want to know if the spools are closed center or open center. Generally should know if one is going to manually operate a hydraulic system without possibly causing excessive high pressure. If the problem was the solenoid I would have jumped around it with a battery cable after I made sure the spool was in the correct position either manually or if no manual option with a jumper. Or using the control valve as you did. If the spools are open center then you can make that selection after the pump is started.

$2000 for a handful of Chinese Chiclets and 200 lines of code some guy probably wrote between lunch breaks 😳 I bought a Auduino how to book a few months ago. Thinking about a HVAC home automation project involving solar, active and passive. I would spend a month or so learning how to code the obviously simple program, Auduino code appears to be quite intuitive, build the $30 microprocessor board, install it. And then send a copy of the receipts for the book and the $30 board to them just for the satisfaction of denying the lousy bastards the $2000.00.

This has been a very informative discussion particularly for those of us who know next to nothing about the RV specific systems. Thought I would mention that for those who are into it as deep as JD is PC based 2 channel oscilloscopes with up to 25M Hz capability can be had for about $100.00. They are also capable of data logging which is a very useful feature. Another $100.00 will get you 4 channels and 75M Hz. Not pro stats but good enough for most applications.

Ken linear actuators in all lengths and capacities are available on Ebay. They used to be quite affordable. However for some reason the price had increased significantly the last time I looked. Still a bargain. Kind of fun to play around with. If you really want to impress the locals you can add a 2 channel RF remote for 10 bucks.

I agree. Solid conductor romex is barely adequate for a house. Much less a moving vibrating vehicle. I have replaced every 15/20 A romex cable which I have access to with mc cable w/ stranded conductors including any new wiring projects. I no longer follow the code however as I understand it many local authorities no longer adopt the NFPA article relating to RVs so NFPA 551 no longer applies. Which means that there is no applicable NEC code as applied to RVs. Maybe someone here knows more about it. If so heavy duty oil/water resistant 12 ga, fine strand conductor ( machine tool rated designed for flexibility), extension cord would be my first choice. Available at your neighborhood hardware stores everywhere and cheap. Let me find my sunglasses before I get flamed. 😄

I'm saving up for a wireless fuel nozzle.

Its nonsense to blame the oil companies. They promised they were going to make carbon energy unaffordable for the average American. That some people might not be able to afford to drive their cars or heat their homes as a consequence. John Kerry said that was a personal sacrifice which he and Mrs Heinz Ketchup were willing make.

What I said about -/+ caster holds if one is backing up.😀 Thanks for the correction Dave.

I agree with David that I would want to know why the steering wheel was not centered before I started playing around with it. It is reasonable to assume that it was centered when new. Even a few degrees off is indicative of a significant change somewhere. One can roughly check toe in and camber easily enough. Caster is a little more difficult but do-able. Reducing the amount of caster , rolling the axle back, is oftentimes a solution for a vehicle that has a tendency to wander. Verifying that the suspension, front and rear, and axles are square and parallel with the frame rails is a first step. The frame rails should also be level with one another and parallel. If your math is a little rusty trig calculators are available online. A handy tool is an electronic 2' level. If you want to find center when driving take into consideration the crown of the highway. High crown highways will cause a pull to the right.

the NHTSA agreed to begin the laborious and lengthy federal government rulemaking procedure.”

The US will finally allow adaptive beam headlights on new cars. “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is finally poised to legalize adaptive beam headlights in the US. On Tuesday, the NHTSA announced that it has issued a final rule that will update the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, which currently only allow for “dumb” high- and low-beam lights. Adaptive beam lights use a matrix of projectors, some of which can be turned off to shape the beam so the lights illuminate the road but don’t shine at an oncoming driver. (These are an advancement over the auto-high beam technology that you may have fitted to your current car.) The technology has been around for nearly two decades in Europe and Japan. Automakers have been asking the NHTSA to update its headlamp rules for some time now. In 2013, Toyota first petitioned the agency to allow for adaptive beam lights, and the NHTSA agreed to begin the laborious and lengthy federal government rulemaking procedure.” Wonder if these lights will become available in the after market sometime soon?

That is an excellent summary Stephen. I did a similar analysis and discovered that it would be cheaper for me to run the generator rather than invest a large sum in solar panels and lithium batteries. Given the time I spend off grid I would never amortize the investment. I do have 675 watts of solar power which has proven to be cost effective in the long term given the reasonable investment.

If all else fails jump directly to the slide motor from the batteries. You can touch the conductors to the battery posts. Not enough amperage to be a hazard. If you don't have wire you could use extension cords or whatever you could scavenge. Swap polarity if the motor runs in the wrong direction.

Richard I hope it is not a bad cable. However I have removed ceiling and wall panels in order to install new cables a few times. New T lock is available and usually necessary as the existing deforms when it is removed. The female component is reusable if one carefully removes the T component in a gentle rolling action using a pair of pliers. On my Diplomat Monaco used 1/2" foamboard with fiberglass insulation above. The T lock is about a dollar a foot on Amazon. Good luck

What I find troubling about todays networked black box vehicles is the exorbitant cost of replacement components. Manufacturers are able to charge whatever they want because an aftermarket source does not exist for obvious reasons. $1000.00 for a box which cost $10.00 to design and manufacture in an overseas Asian factory is the new norm. The fact that the components are largely non repairable has to be seen as a plus for the vehicle manufacturers.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/new-senate-bill-farm-equipment-right-to-repair-rcna1396 No one person understands how the black boxes work these days. Much of the design and manufacturing work is by multiple contractors. Oftentimes the individual components on the circuit boards do not have a traceable part number or they are completely mysterious integrated chips. Obtaining the necessary software is next to impossible by design.

I like that. Did something similar and went ahead and installed the tv lift. A 65" tv in the lowered position falls just below the bottom of the window.

Lithium batteries: I gave some thought to lithium batteries. Bragging rights would be priceless at the watering hole.😁 However for the occasional boon docker such as myself a pencil cost analysis revealed that I could buy a bunch of cheap replacement lead acid batteries and run the generator a few hundred hrs when neccessary before I recovered the cost. I understand that it would be different for others. I think I used $3.00 gal for diesel back then. I did convert to 12 V 4D batteries. However the drawback is that if you lose one cell, which promptly happened after warranty expired with 1 battery, its going to be more expensive to replace a 4D than if you lose 1 cell in a 6 V bat.

Hope II"m not faced with this task anytime soon. Wonder if it would be advisable to replace all studs given the difficult access and hot/cold cycle they are subjected to.

Might be a self tapping screw fastening flooring to steel tube or angle. Looks like it was never fully sunk and the carpet layers did what carpet layers do best. Lucky it wasn't a brick.

Robert 26 ohms is a lot of resistance. An ohm reading taken with a typical meter with probe resistance zeroed out over a short circuit length as yours should be zero, i.e. less than test setup resolution with a typical hand held meter. Accurately measuring resistance of less than one ohm is a multistep process best left to the bench techs. Your voltage at the source is going to be actual battery voltage. Not the nominal battery rating of 12v. The 25 A is the rating of the fuse and not the actual load that the circuit is going to carry. Recommended design practice as to voltage drop across an electromechanical relay or switch is no more than .300 MV at full rated load. I would suggest that you measure the voltage at source and load with the headlamp energized and leave the ohm's law calcs to the math nerds.🙂

From what I've seen on this forum smart wheel controllers do a lot of stupid things.😏

A low resistance reading across the contacts does not necessarily mean a solenoid is OK. Still might not be able to provide low resistance path for heavy current draw which is required by the starter due to reduced contact area from normal wear. Contacts also need a minimum clamping pressure in order to conduct heavy current. A better way is to engage the solenoid and check for voltage potential across the posts while the solenoid is conducting a heavy current. Should zero or very close. Might have a bad cell in one of your start batteries. Disconnect them and check each one individually for resting voltage.

Silverleaf is a great product. However I'm not thrilled with duct taping a laptop to my dash. I use an Android app on all my other vehicles which accesses all OBD parameters. Has a fully customized screen and pairs with the in dash head units. Looks great on a 10" display. Costs the princely sum of $10.00 in the Google app store. Like to see Silverleaf port their software to Android so that I could use my existing 10" stereo head unit in my RV in a similar fashion.