Rocketman3

Probably (at least in my case), Starlink needs good vision on the northern sky. Any trees, poles, anything…., will cause a signal loss from the satellite. By putting the dish on the roof the sky view is often better. I also got the 150’ cable in case I need to put it a bit away. I have been thinking of adding a pole mounting option to my ladder too, but we will see how it goes. Also, if someone does take it - it’s useless to them… but I would still need to buy another. For me on roaming, Speed tests vary - at night it’s super screaming! During the day from 20Mbps to 100Mbps. But here is the practical aspect, a few days ago, My wife was on a Zoom video call and I was remote working on the vpn - no problems- other than once in a while, she might have a half- second pause as the satellites switched ( it was only noticed a couple of times during several hours of video calls. Plus no bandwidth limits!

I have it and gotta say “I LOVE IT!” Currently we are in the mountains where there is no cell signal - nada.(and so this message went over Starlink). But with Starlink our phones work and we both are remote working. For mounting- I got a 1x2 about 4’ long attached the Starlink to the board with two legs -opposite ends of the “X”. Then I attach the 1x2 to my solar mounts - so it doesn’t blow over. I have a spot on the front of my rig and a spot on the back - depending on the trees and the sky. I remove it for travel - for travel it goes in the front tv box - very nicely. I will post pictures later. you will need to secure it somehow - when I was testing it - one windy day it blew over.

Oh yea… those are fold out steps so I can reach the roof rack. And I also replaced the fenders with solid metal ones - so I can put weight on the - to reach the roof rack. I had broken the attached points on the original rear fenders. I also forgot to mention that for camping we got a Deep Sleep for Jeep air mattress that fits in the cargo area - so when we camp from the Jeep- the rear seats go down, the front seats go all the way forward and the air mattress makes a nice sleeping arrangement for two.

Ok - I’ll go first… we full-time and our hobbies with the Jeep are focused on camping (places where the MotorHome can’t go and 4x4 wheeling). Jeep JK upgrades include… Rockhard 4x4 bumper with tow hooks and other tow stuff (BlueOx tow bar & RViBrake2. Winch and a box of recovery gear TerraFlex 3” lift w/ Falcon Shocks FrontRunner roof rack w/ table, and storage for ax, shovel,bbq, bbq tank, step ladder and storage boxes. 270 batwing awing Rims & 33” tires. Some lights (and better headlights). We also travel with our bicycles in the cargo area. Yep we have fun with it!

You can run the A/C from the inverter but there is a LOT of things to be aware: (one of my next projects will be to re wire at the transfer switch so I can use the air conditioner) The A/C will do much better on lithium than lead. You will need a larger battery bank. At 540ah of lithium I would consider mine barely adequate. Your batteries need to be able to support the draw. Leads can only be down to 50% (you will need a battery monitor). Lithium’s bms’s can prevent enough amps from flowing. You will need a soft start ($300) on the standard air conditioners. I just replaced my bedroom A/C with the Rec-Pro. It comes with the soft start built in. It also uses a bit less power than the standard RV A/C’s. a few other items- even with my 1220w of solar - I only get about 800w so it makes it so I will be able to use it longer - but it won’t complete support it. I added a 30amp Dc-Dc charger to charge from the alternator (had to break the connection from the alternator to the house bank when I added lithiums). I hope to be able to run the rear A/C during the day when traveling-we will see… I figure I can run it for one or two hours a day and still have my batteries hit 100% that day when boondocking. If I need to run A/C’s all the time… I figure run the one off batteries for a while - the start the generator- run both and recharge the batteries- then go back to just one on batteries. Because these pull a lot of power you probably want to make sure all electrical connectors are done right.

Good Luck getting everything fixed! Your description brought an unrelated thought to my mind… We are full-timers and boondock a lot! This last year I heard of two different occasions where a MotorHome was stolen when the owners were away. I was thinking of a adding a switch somewhere that would prevent the rig from starting. (Even if the switch up front was hot wired). From your account- it I add a switch onto the wire between the neutral safety switch and the starting solenoid - the rig cannot be started without that switch being on. Is there any downside to doing that? Thanks!

I am also going to install a FASS pump soon, I also want to add a fuel pressure gauge. Please help me understand if I am interpreting my rig correctly… The first picture is where I am planning on installing the FASS pump. It is welded on so I will need to cut the bracket and use the bolt holes to bolt the FASS bracket on The second picture is the other fuel filter, to attach the gauge/sender unit, I just need to unscrew the brass piece (correct?). The red plastic cap was covering the brass piece. What is that for? It doesn’t look like a plug to me. The third picture is of the passenger side of the fuel tank. I see an unused extra connection (probably for the aqua hot that I don’t have). Can I just unscrew it to put the FASS return fuel there? Thanks! Just thought of another question… on the fuel filters - how do I know which side is input and output?

Just a thought if you don’t like steep mountain drops. On I-80 coming into SLC divert to I-84 to Ogden then south to I-15 back to I-80 and west to Nevada. I had an uncle that was a truck driver and he always took that route coming into SLC. I never understood until I drove my MotorHome down I-80. That’s a long downhill. The I84 route is a bit longer (I think about 45 min) but much more gradual. I think it’s funny that you are adding a foot switch for the engine brake… I have a foot switch and one of my next projects is to add a rocker switch for the brake…😎

I have a question on this topic… (I think) The guy who owned the rig before me added a garden hose shut off to the hose inlet. If I don’t shut it off the pump will cause a steady stream of water. I often wondered where the check valve was…. From the swan website it looks like it is right by the valve. The real question… How do you gain access to the back of that panel? To me it looks impossible- but I am sure I am missing something. My rig is a 2000 dynasty. I doubt I will fix it - just keep using the garden hose shutoff to keep it from leaking. But if it wasn’t too hard… wait this is plumbing- it’s always too hard!

I am using Victron’s Smartshunt. No display-all the info comes to my smartphone. It has a short range about 5 feet - probably because the Smartshunt is inside an all metal battery box. I also have used Victron’s BMV-712. Both worked great. I did have to run the cable into my rig - the Bluetooth range was much better - probably because the transmitter is in the display and the display was in the living space. I found I never looked at the display and always just looked at my phone, so I replaced it and gave it to my dad for his 5th wheel. Both are great products and once dialed in give great results. My favorite feature is a “Time Remaining” calculation that shows (at the current use rate -over the last three minutes) how long the batteries will last until they reach the set discharge floor (my lithium’s set at 20%- lead acid’s 50%). When boondocking I often check this as I am headed to bed - just to make sure there is plenty of power until morning (and we haven’t left something on).

I took the ground wires to the ground bar in the rear run bay (about 3’ to the left in my rig) and I just “abandon” the salesman switch wire (and ignore the actual switch). If I need it switched on or off - I use the Victron app.

2 bits of info - I don’t know enough to know if either are revenant… There are (at least) 2 types of coolant the old green stuff and OAT. They cannot be mixed. My understanding is the OAT is superior- but it costs more (and requires two flushes with distilled water). When I bought my rig a few years ago, the prior owner had a new coolant sensor that had a ground. The old one did not. It would give me low coolant warnings when it was started up - he said the fix was to replace the sensor. I had the mechanic do it at the first oil change. Worked well since then. Good luck!

Hello Everyone, on my 2000 Dynasty, I am looking for an ignition powered wire in my rear run bay. I am looking at adding a FASS pump and I have added a Victron Dc-Dc 30a charger to help charge my House lithium batteries when I am traveling. I have eliminated the dual battery isolater and physical separated the house and chassis sides. I want an ignition powered wire to run a relay so the Dc-Dc charger only runs when the motor does. I know of a bunch in the front fuse bay, but I don’t see any in the rear bay. where have others obtained ignition power to run the FASS pumps, etc. at the rear?

For the Salesman switches… I had two solenoids as well, first I just bypassed them by putting a wire from one side to another. On my rig, one switch goes to my house fuse panel, the other goes to my front run bay - it runs the dash 12v fans- plus other stuff. Now I have replaced them with Victron smart BP-65 (battery protect 65 amps). I believe this is the best item to replace them with. First they have a very low draw. Second, if the battery is getting low they shut down. I have them set to shutdown at 11.8v and 11.6v. (They will automatically restart about 12.3v). This should help extend the residential fridge run time (inverter stays on longer) if for some reason the batteries are going flat. I think the inverter will cut-off about 11.4v and the lithium bms cuts off at 11.0v. Third, one other nice thing is I can still switch them on/off - just use the Victron connect app. I have 1220w of solar and a 540ah diy battery & have never ran it that far down. (Except when doing the initial capacity test - need to do another to see how batteries are doing after a year). Good Luck.

On my Jeep, for towing - changed the bumper to a HardRock 4x4 front bumper and ordered the Blue-ox towing brackets (my MotorHome included the Blue-ox tow bar). I really like this bumper - looks good not too heavy (alum), solid, and I don’t have the tow bar attachments hanging below the bumper. For the tail -lights from e-trailer I got a kit so my tail lights would work - For braking - I use RVI Brake2 (it was also included). To power the RVIBrake I originally used a jump start battery that had a 12v outlet - later I made my own lithium battery w the 12v outlet - plus lots more stuff. I really like my setup - it’s easy, and I could tow my Jeep behind any vehicle with a 2” receiver (well any vehicle that my family has - they seem to all have big trucks). There are lots of choices- good luck!

On my 2000 Dynasty, I believe the main power switches kills power to everything, except the solar panel still charging. Different years can be different… since it happened twice - how old were the batteries… I say we’re because they probably need replaced.

Verify the heliotrope controller is the problem - maybe hook it back up and see if problem resurfaces. I replaced that controller with a Victron mppt 100/30. I also replaced the 85w roof panel with 420w of panels (two 210w panels). I just reused the wires. If you didn’t want to expand the solar the Victron 100/15 or 100/20 could replace it. I got a piece of plexiglass- spray painted the back of it black and put in on the wall in place of the old controller. Good Luck!

Here are some numbers… when I had my Norcold 1200, if it was on 120v it used about 470 watts of power - and had very little cycle off time. When it was on LP, the watts were very low (I never measured them - but I would guess 12 to 18 watts). My Residential Fridge (Fisher & Paykel) uses much less - I think about 80 watts - but it cycles down a lot more. converting both to 12v amps - The Norcold used 40amps. It will run on the inverter (if the plugs are set-up correctly) but it will drain (to the 50% level) the four 6v battery in 10 hours - if that was all that was running- in reality with lights on, etc. five hours and the batteries are completely empty. The residential uses about 7amps - with a lot more off-cycle time. Solar or generator for an hour in the morning and evening- will keep up with that demand. when I drove to Alaska, before I started each drive day - I would switch the Norcold to 120v - the alternator would keep it powered during the drive. I would switch it back to LP when the driving was done for the day. One day I forgot to switch it back - had to run the generator for a bit when I finally realized it.

Tom, I am looking to add a switch for my PAC-Brake, my short legged wife has a lot of difficulty reaching the floor pac brake switch, so I want to put a switch in parallel with it. just trying to figure out where to get a switch.

Kinda on this topic… where is everyone buying the Carling switches? I am looking for a specific one and having trouble finding it. Looking for a red switch cover - two red led’s. DPST (or SPST). Would love it to have anything about “BRAKE” on it, in the old contra style.

We2Dynasty, I have the same electrical bay. While I don’t have a comment on the ML-ACR, because I don’t need it, I will explain the changes I have made. 1. Kinda eliminate the salesman switch (continuous relays). I eliminated the two silver (bottom right corner) continuous relays. I replaced each one with a Victron Smart BP-65. This reduced the continuous load on my system (we boondock a lot). And I can still turn each off manually or if the voltage drops below the set point - they turn off. 2. Eliminated the big blue isolator. I bridged the alternator and chassis battery studs with a buss bar. 3. Added a Victron DC-DC Charger. In the physical place of the big blue isolator I added a DC-DC charger. I have a 540ah (self-made) lithium battery. And so I cannot have the alternator blindly charging the battery. I added the 30a dc-dc charger in case I need some extra power on a drive day. We have a large 1200 watt solar that provides all we need - if the sun is shining.

My dad’s 1210 died and we rebuilt it with the JC kit. It wasn’t too bad. (Died at 5 years - on the way home from Alaska). When I decide to replace my 22year old unit, I choose to go Residential - because we full- time. The JC kit was made much better than original. You will want a helper. We spent more time on the project- just because we were making the whole thing better. Good Luck!

The YouTube channel “AZ EXPERT” did a video on the Monaco door insides and adjustments. Maybe it will help. It helped us adjust the door so it latches much better! edited- I found the video we used! I like seeing how a real repair person fixes stuff.

Nope - it qualifies as a second home. Currently second homes qualify. but like anything tax related… things can change.

The solar credit must be used on a “home” - (must have someplace to sleep, kitchen, and bathroom- MotorHome’s qualify). Anything needed for the solar project is covered. The battery holds to solar energy- so it’s covered. The fridge will not be covered. (In a house if the roof needs upgraded to handle the solar - it’s covered). The solar credit is a non-refundable credit, so you must be paying federal taxes to use it. It is 26% in 2022 and 22% in 2023.