Rocketman3

I would not put solid wire 12-2 romex into the movement part of the slide. Our Marine neighbors use a stranded 12ga for 110v wire (the kind that is rated for high voltage). I don’t know the letter codes. I think a 12 ga “extension cord” would be much better than romex.

I installed the Fisher-Paykel counter depth fridge in my 2000 Dynasty - we really like the fridge. Got it special ordered from Best Buy. For install - I had to drop the furnace 3-1/2” - it was mounted on the 2x4 - so I removed the 2x4 put in on the floor fixed the inlet and exhaust- then I could lower the shelf and the fridge would fit. to keep it in place added some blocking on the sides and top - so it can only slide in and not tip in or out. Also I added a 3/4” piece of plywood under the back between the wheels. Then when the fridge was in place drove screws through the bottom metal fridge plate into the wood. It has held great! a little trim on the sides and it looks good My brother-in-law is an appliance repair guy and I asked him his opinion on the Samsung and Fisher& Paykel - he said stay away from Samsung… and you will love the Fisher &Paykel until you have to order parts - then it will take a while. good luck

The reasons I put on Ez starts on my A/C’s is we have been in several parks when we want the air conditioner- but when the compressor kicks in- it drops the voltage low enough the transfer switch kills the power. Very frustrating… Yesterday, I installed the Ez start in our oem dometic unit. (I get the Bluetooth style), because it is cold I used the heat pump for the 5 starts. My first start used 27.4a for the startup and the final one used 15.3a. This unit is old enough- I didn’t put in on when I put the first on on - but I found I really like them. And I can easily pull it off when I replace the unit. we often find ourselves staying at relatives houses - with the ez start and our Victron Multiplus inverter we can run the bedroom A/C while plugged into a 15a cord and only drawing 10amps of it.

On the EZ start - I put it on one A/C (Rec-Pro 3800). The initial start up surge went from 27.9 amps to 16.5 amps.

I remember he used the “most” popular commercial penetration spray (don’t remember now what it was). I don’t remember what he used to break loose the bolts.

At our last annual service the tech noticed the carbon indicator that 2 of the gaskets had failed. I had him order (all 6) them in and replace them- he put penetration oil on them as soon as I gave him the go signal- then more the next morning - then more just as he started the job when parts arrived (abt noon). No broken bolts! Yea! Good Luck

One other issue of having the shore on and then starting the generator is when the transfer happens the sign waves of the power will not be in sync and probably not even close. (The same thing when running the generator then shutting it down and the transfer switch immediately switches back to grid). While this will be fine for some loads - it can cause problems for other items - especially stuff with computer chips in them.

Just after I bought my rig -83kmiles the mechanic noticed the lift pump was leaking- had him replace it. At about 100k I installed the FASS lift pump. I also installed two fuel pressure gauges on the fuel lines after all the fuel filters. A mechanical one to read in the engine bay, and one to display at the driver seat. I really like the gauges… it lets me know what fuel pressures are being fed to the engine and if/when I need to replace the fuel filters. Good Luck

My drivers map light is on the dash lights circuit. to turn it on it is like a “dome” light in a car. Turn the dash lights brightness all the way up - then it clicks on. Your may be different. Good Luck

Electric blankets don’t use much power. I find we use less power in the winter by having the electric blanket on at whatever comfort setting we want and have the furnace low. The furnace uses much more power - especially when it keeps coming on at night. I changed out my inverter to a Victron Multiplus 3000 (plus 540ah of lithium batteries). We run everything we want - microwave, computers, etc. Our only limits are air conditioner is limited to one hour - then need to start the generator. Good Luck

That is a good tip… Because we boondock a LOT! We have an extra pump but I have it setup so I can pump water into the MotorHome- we carry a couple of 4gal jugs and a 50 gallon bladder - it fits in the back of the Jeep. Bonus - if we have leftover water in our bladder we can wash the Jeep out in the boonies.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. From what I can tell, the fabricators don’t make a replacement for the Volvo football tanks. There was a different tank that was discontinued that they make - the big difference is how they bolt on - I would have to weld new brackets to use the nice alum tanks. i decided to go with @veraken idea and just ordered a new tank from Amazon. I also got some JB WELD and added it all around the cap area. That’s where they have been leaking - I figure some extra support for the plastic might be helpful. If this fix doesn’t work - I will get the alum custom ones and figure out the welding brackets. Thanks for all the help.

I just had my whole cool-pac replaced (radiator,CAC, & Hydraulic radiator). Source Engineering ordered it in & also I had them do it in Oregon. It runs a LOT cooler now! Mail. Escapees has a full - time mail service. You send your mail there (Fl or Tx), when they get a piece of mail for you they scan the envelope and email you - you then tell them to open &scan it. Then you tell them to discard or save it. Occasionally you give them an address and they mail all your saved mail to you. That’s my understanding- we currently “moved back in with my parents”. Lol. So we are in the mail by relatives. But several of our Full-time friends use mail forwarding service. Only you can answer the - keep what you have or get a new one. My opinion is every time we have been in a newer one, I like my setup and quality better. Since you are going full-time: consider adding a bunch of solar - especially if you plan on boondocking a bunch. (We have gone from 800w to 1200 to 1400 to 1500w of solar). Also consider putting in a Residential fridge. Lithium batteries have been very nice for us too. Good Luck - I hope you enjoy it - we do. Full-time for 2-1/2 years. For the vehicle- we got a Jeep JK Wrangler- then have done a bunch of stuff to it to make it better for us. Lifted- bigger tires- Roof Rack, Replaced front bumper (for towing brackets). Outfitted for camping in it. We keep our bicycles inside the Jeep (keeps them nice and out of the weather). BBQ & stepladder ride on the roof rack. The Jeep is easy to attach to flat tow. Hook up tow bar, attach safety cables, attach breakaway cable, attach light electrical cable, attach air cable (AirForce1 brake system). And put the jeeps transfer case in neutral. Verify all steps and done. About 5 min total.

I wonder if that happened on my rig? Mine has never worked… a few days ago I pulled out a plastic air deflector and found the wires were neatly cut. I recrimped them and now the light works- we will see if it works too well.

This is just an FYI… On my 23 year old rig a lot of the lights were dim- running lights - tail lights,etc. So I have replaced them with LED Lights. Over the last couple of years, I have replaced all the lower running lights and tail lights (turn, brake, running). I like the LED’s from M4 products- the 1157 bulb is really bright. However, all of a sudden the turn lights were not working correctly when the headlights were on. Each side of my taillights are two (GM?) taillights (one of them is upside down) - so I have two bulbs per side. I figured out that with one or two regular 1157 bulb - it was working correctly but with two LED bulbs - it was wacko. I think the flasher circuit just needs more draw than all LED will provide.

There are 2 different “Smartwheel’s”. Mine (a 2000 year) is a 2-wire - does not have lighted pads. For this one, you put the steering wheel flat and raise it up all the way - unsnap the plastic coverings around the column. You will see a brass(?) ring with a couple of electrical contacts - as you lay on the floor and look underneath the steering wheel. I clean the ring with a spray electronics cleaner and a Q-Tip. I also use the electrical cleaner and spray and clean each electric joint for the smartwheel controller as I plug them back in. If you have lighted pads 4-wire then you have an electric ribbon in the steering wheel - and you just replace it. My understanding- if I understand everything correctly is: The smartwheel controller sends 5v to the steering wheel- then when you press a button it drops the voltage and the controller senses the voltage drop and activates the appropriate device for that voltage. What I think is happened is somewhere the 5v voltage is fluctuating and the controller thinks it’s time to activate the wipers. It seems to get better (for a while) after I clean all the electrical connections- but then it happens again.

I am battling the wiper’s coming on by themselves issue. I think it due to the Smartwheel. When I clean the contact ring for the smartwheel and clean the all the connections - it doesn’t happen for a while. Then it starts happening again…. And the frequency increases until I clean everything again. Got so bad I would pull the fuse for the wipers. Let me know if you get it solved.

Here are a few tips (we full-time and boondock most of the time).mak The Victron Battery Monitors are GREAT! (Smartshunt or BMV712). Because all the power going back to battery runs through the shunt it is very accurate. If you plan on doing much boondocking this is required (in my opinion). It gives you the information to make proper decisions. Also you can figure out how many watts different items use. (For example - which lights are better (lower wattage). One of the most important helps is - should I run the generator and when to shut off the generator. Practice Boondocking in your driveway - Spend an evening in the rig with the lights on, etc. Plan your generator usage. If you plan on doing a LOT of boondocking - install a good solar system. (Ours is 1400w). Get out there and enjoy - then figure out what you need to change to help you enjoy it more.

At the Quartzsite RV show, I found a vendor that had an LED Motion light replacement. He had a Monaco and so had a base for his light that made it very nice and easy to install. Motion- Guard. The extra baseplate made it easy to install- nice and bright!

I have the Volvo plastic “football” surge tank that has gone bad again! It was replaced about 2 years ago… Then it went bad again… replaced it myself 6weeks ago. (Found it new a NAPA). Then today, I had my rig in to a mechanic- he said it’s leaking around the top. (Same place as last time!!!). Does anyone know of a another supplier? Or someplace than can build one from scratch… alum - steel - anything but plastic!

Just get a spare water pump, put “bleach water” in a 5 gallon bucket, then pump that water into your rig- through the hose. Then pump good water throughout to rinse.

If you full-time - next time you are needing batteries look at the Lithium batteries. They have three big disadvantages-cost, modifications needed & can’t charge below 32 F. They have several advantages: lighter, more power for the space,no absorbed time needed, are fine not being charged up. If/when you look at them- just look at the LiFePO4 chemistry- others are not safe for RV’s. Good luck with the fridge- to get you old grit out sawzall it in half - then the front door is plenty big.

If in doubt - get behind a full semi and just follow him up. When I was having overheating issues - often I would just follow a semi up on 3rd gear. In 4th my engine load (on my Silverleaf computer) would be 100% and I could pass semi’s. In 3rd and following a semi it was often about 60-70% load - but the RPM’s high which helped me keep the temperatures down. Your not in a race.

It has about 113,000 miles on it and 23 years…

The last several years my 2000 Dynasty kept overheating occasionally on Rocky Mountain climbs. I just slowed down and I could manage the temps ok. Then I noticed a repeat of a dirt clump on the lowest radiator (I thought that was the transmission cooler- but later on found out it was the fan/power steering cooler), I washed the clump off and it later reappeared - so I figured there was a small oozing leak there. - Time to get the cool pack replaced. (Did the CAC too). I knew I didn’t want to tackle that job, and who doesn’t like a trip to Oregon? So I had Source Engineering order the radiator into their shop. Those boxes are big! The right equipment to lift the rig. We were out of our rig only one night and they were done before noon. It was definitely time On our drive to the Oregon coast, the transmission temps were cooler. No big climbs yet… but I am sure the engine will run cooler on those when they happen. They did a good job. One other item they changed was OEM there was a big rubber flap on the rear of the radiator to seal the hot air from circulating around and going back into the radiator. They put up some sheet metal to accomplish the same thing. Which is great, I once had that rubber piece come off and the engine was getting too warm on a little climb. Expensive project, but I think it was worth it.